Views from Western Australia

It hasn’t taken long for the Premier, Colin Barnett, to show his true colours in his newly acquired native title portfolio. It is clear from his recent speech at a meeting of business leaders that the native title rights and interests of Traditional Owners are not high on his list of priorities.

In Opposition Mr Barnett lobbied hard to try and protect the rights of Traditional Owners over the Woodside development on the Burrup Peninsula – yet now he is in Government those positive messages have become a distant memory.

Mr Barnett’s "unashamedly pro-development" stance means that once again Indigenous rights and interests over land will be subordinated in favour of mining. A development at any costs approach will not provide any benefits for Indigenous communities in the Kimberley.

If this is the position of the new State Government in Western Australia then there is not much hope for the future of Indigenous rights.

Until Traditional Owners have an equal seat at the table in negotiations over land there is no hope of closing the gap for Aboriginal people – Traditional Owners, under the Native Title Act, have the right to negotiate over mining development on land, which has the potential to provide significant long term economic and social benefits for communities.

The State Government will achieve a much more positive outcome if they were to sit down and talk to the Traditional Owners and negotiate for the future of Indigenous people in WA.

Within days of handballing Ministerial responsibility for Native Title back to the Premier, the WA Treasurer and Minister for Housing, Troy Buswell, has thrown a left hook at Aboriginal people by suggesting Native Title and heritage issues are holding up the provision of housing in remote communities.

Stephen Hall, the Chairperson of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation in WA said: “The Minister is using the disadvantage faced by Aboriginal people in relation to the provision of housing to undermine their Native Title rights. This is sneaky politics that seeks to avoid negotiation by driving a truck through it. It seems the Minister wants to go back to a time when ‘terra nullius’ was the basis that government operated on. It is interventionist at its worst.”

This also follows recent parliamentary debate on the appointment of Peter Conran as the Director of Department of The Premier And Cabinet; Conran was John Howard’s principal advisor on Native Title.

“After Buswell saying no thanks to Premier Colin Barnett on responsibility for Native Title; next thing you know he is sinking in the boot in relation to Native Title claims. Buswell’s logic on this is consistent with the logic behind the Northern Territory Intervention. It’s also pretty ironic that this comes immediately after a man described in parliament last week as “a right-wing native title warrior” is made responsible for the administration of Government in WA.” said Mr Hall

I have read a number of reviews of this movie from US critics and overall they have panned it.  So I went along last night wondering if  producer Baz Luhrmann had really got it so wrong.  While not a particular fan of ‘epic style’ movies; i think the US critics got it wrong - not Baz - as they did not understand the story!   Sure it had the usual elements of a great saga: family, war,  action, along with a cattle station, a corrupt business rival and romance . Nevertheless, it was essentially a story about how Australia treated its Indigenous people for most of the last century.  It told the story of ‘drovers boys’, it showed that the ‘Stolen Generation’ was essentially about the abuse of Aboriginal women by white men, it showed the role of the police in child removal, it showed the role of the churches in running the institutions, it showed the various ways mothers tried to stop the removal, it displayed an element of the authorities dismissal of the feelings those mothers had for their children, it demonstrated the disregard some of those white fathers had for their children.  It also had some very strong symbolism and the roles played by two Aboriginal men - especially the grandfather figure - who gave it a real edginess.  In my view this film is a worthy successor to ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’; as it takes the story, to the next level.