Indigenous Peoples Party formed
By Dave Riley
BRISBANE — Queensland has traditionally been the centre of Murri resistance in Australia, said Murri activist Sam Watson, addressing a Green Left Weekly forum on the recent political initiatives for an independent Black political party.
Watson sketched the history of black struggles since the 1967 Commonwealth referendum on Aboriginal franchise, which provided his first contact with political activism while still in high school. Later events like the 1972 Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra, demonstrations against the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act, the local defensive "Pig Patrols" and the formation of the Black Panthers were a rich and instructive history of indigenous resistance.
"But in 1992", he said, "when we looked back at what we had achieved, we decided that we did need our own political party." Watson pointed out that while some Murris had been active inside the ALP, it was for very little gain, except to learn a few things about party politics.
The snap state poll called by Premier Wayne Goss brought forward plans for the party, which had initially thought of standing only two or three candidates in the state election. Because the new Queensland Electoral Act required 500 members before a party could gain registration, the newly formed Australian Indigenous Peoples Party instead fielded a total of 14 candidates as independents in seats across the state.
"We had people who had never been involved in politics before working polling booths and leafleting", he said. AIPP candidates did well, especially considering how quickly the formation had come together. Since the election, the new party has spread to other states with a ticket already drawn up for the coming Northern Territory elections.
An inaugural national conference is planned for January and drafting committees are working up policy on issues such as housing, health and women's affairs.
For Watson, "the key task is to get Black people on the electoral roll and active in the seats we'll be running in. Our aim is to get six members up into parliament with the first item on the political agenda being a treaty." The Queensland AIPP is forming branches to contest the next state election and to campaign during state-wide council elections.
"We will not treat election day as the be all and end all of our political concept", said Watson. "Black political strategy is still very insular." Campaigns around international issues like East Timor and Bougainville should be taken up by the AIPP. Young supporters of the AIPP based in the Brisbane suburb of Kangaroo Point intend to form a youth wing of the party, and the party's new offices are to be opened shortly.