Views from Western Australia

Today Tom Calma delivered the final report of the Steering Committee for the creation of a new national representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to the Government.
The long awaited report - Our future in our hands - Creating a sustainable National Representative Body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - outlines a proposed model for a new national representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, which was designed and developed from 12 months of intensive consultations with Indigenous peoples.
Arriving at this stage has required an unprecedented level of consultation and negotiation in the highly contentious and politically-charged area of Indigenous affairs.  Firstly, Mr Calma facilitated a process to recruit 10 influential and innovative interlocutors from among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to comprise a Steering Committee. It then oversaw a rigorous, open and transparent selection process to select 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to attend a three-day workshop to maximise participation and contribution to developing the model.
The Steering committee used the workshop outcomes, online submission and survey processes, as well as focus groups, to guide the process and ultimately develop a preferred model for a new national representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Commissioner Calma said in his National Press Club address that establishing such a body is the most significant step in reconciliation and resetting the relationship between Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples since the National Apology. The handover of this model to Government is an historic moment for the nation’s Indigenous people.
Now there are two hurdles to overcome.  Firstly, whether Government accepts the model and is prepared to  adequately resource it.  Secondly, whether the Indigenous community embraces it.

No doubt there will be a rigorous debate on whether this is the right model and now is the right time.

This week the WA Govt formally withdrew its appeal against the Federal court’s decision on Native Title over Broome.This is as a result of a negotiated settlement with the native title claimants up there and the rep body was the KLC. This is potentially  a good sign for Noongars prgressing negotiations on the Willcox decision in relation to the ‘Single Noongar Claim’  as the Broome decision has a lot of parallels to the   the Noongar decision.