1000-strong meeting against Howard's 10-point plan
By Ben Courtice and Bridget Riggs
MELBOURNE — One thousand people attended an educational meeting organised by Defenders of Native Title (DONT) on August 28. Speakers demystified the concept of native title and rejected the 10-point Wik plan put forward by Howard as yet another theft from Aboriginal people.
Speakers were Parry Agius from the National Indigenous Working Group, historian Henry Reynolds, Sid Spindler from DONT, Jude Wallace from the civil rights organisation Liberty, John Richard from the Uniting Church, Jim Downie from the Australian Conservation Foundation and Richard Frankland from the Mirimbiak people.
The meeting expressed its solidarity with the land claim of the Victorian Yorta Yorta people.
The Wik court decision "did not take anything away from pastoralists", said Reynolds. He pointed out that in the 1850s clauses were put into pastoral leases that gave Aborigines access to the land as a form of compensation for their dispossession.
When Howard talks about "restoring the balance" on land rights, after the High Court "swung the pendulum too far" in favour of Aborigines, what he really means, said Reynolds, is returning to the situation before 1850.
The difference now, says Reynolds, is that we do not have the excuse of ignorance. Unlike the dispossession that occurred last century, we can help to stop the dispossession that is occurring now.
Jim Downie pointed out that to change the existing land management system would be dangerous for the environment. He referred to the decision to mine uranium at Jabiluka as the most recent example of this. The ACF is preparing an independent environmental impact study on the implications of the Wik case.
Sid Spindler criticised Gareth Evans' weak statement that "everything in the package is negotiable". He also condemned Howard's hypocrisy — "If he really abhors Hanson's policies, then why does he carry them out?"
Spindler said that DONT now has groups in 37 electorates, reflecting the level of support for native title.
DONT will be organising public forums around Melbourne in coming weeks. Phone (03) 9251 5200 for details.