Page 1089 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 April 1994
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As we know, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs has been disbanded, but the other suggestion has not been taken up. He quoted Wilson Tuckey as saying that the best form of government is that which is closest to the people it must govern. He continued:
Local councils have personal knowledge of their Aboriginal communities, and also know to whom those communities look for leadership. Councils also have personal knowledge of special problems confronting their Aboriginal people, and resources available to address such problems as housing, education, health and employment.
Cedric Jacobs is the chairman of the One Australia movement. He continued:
Such a proposal would obviate the need for dozens of officials from the DAA to drive expensive four-wheel-drive vehicles all over the nation, while Aborigines camped by the roadside wonder how they could benefit from such wasteful endeavours.
He said that he has seen this himself. He went on to say:
The waste is deplorable, and Australians are simply not getting value for their hard-earned tax dollars.
He also quoted some of the ideas presented by the Goldfields and Western Desert Christian Aboriginal Movement in 1985 in Western Australia. He said that they had published an open letter which has gone largely unnoticed to date. I have seen this happen again and again. That open letter said:
We are writing to you now before policies are made, because we are very concerned about the future of our people if these policies become law. We believe that the present policies are a recipe for disaster.
Land rights being given only to groups means that there is a long-term acceptance that Aborigines as individuals or as families will own very little freehold land ...
A major problem is that there is nothing in [present] policies to motivate Aborigines except a return to old traditions on community land. There is no policy to encourage pride of race in a modern world: we believe present policies will make Aborigines more dependent. We do not believe in Land Rights! We believe in land ownership for Aborigines ...
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