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Howard calls for 'New Reconciliation' referendum for indigenous people

By Tim Johnston

11 October 2007 - The International Herald Tribune - The Australian prime minister, John Howard, proposed a referendum Thursday to change the country's Constitution to recognize the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia's history.

Howard, who is expected to call parliamentary elections in the next few days, said Thursday that he wanted what he described as a "New Reconciliation" with the country's indigenous people.

"If re-elected, I will put to the Australian people within 18 months a referendum to formally recognize indigenous Australians in our Constitution, their history as the first inhabitants of our country, their unique heritage of culture and languages and their special, though not separate, place within a reconciled, indivisible nation," he told an audience at the center-right Sydney Institute.

Eileen Cummings, a former government advisor on Aboriginal affairs and prominent spokeswoman for the community, describes Howard's proposal as both uncontroversial and a gambit to spruce up his election fortunes.

"He's trying every trick in the book," she said. "The whole legislation is aimed at mainstreaming us, to change the Aboriginal people. They've tried it before and it hasn't worked."

From the foundation of the first British colony where Sydney now stands, the relationship between white Australians and the continent's original inhabitants has been rocky. While Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders gradually regained some of their rights in the latter half of last century, many still live in significantly disadvantaged circumstances.

The indigenous population constitutes some 2.7 percent of Australians, and many live in abject poverty in isolated rural communities, grappling with the connected challenges of lack of education, unemployment, alcoholism, and health problems.

Howard said he wanted to encourage indigenous Australians to help themselves while maintaining their connection to their history and culture.

"The central goal is to address the cancer of passive welfare and to create opportunity through education, employment and home ownership," he said.

But his plan will provide little comfort for those who accuse his government of trying to make indigenous Australians more like white people.

"At its core is the need for Aboriginal Australia to join the mainstream economy as the foundation of economic and social progress," Howard said.

For most Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, their culture and history is indelibly tied to their land. Apart from a few tourist ventures, there are few economic opportunities in the remote villages where many indigenous Australians live.

It will be hard for many to enter fully into the mainstream economy, as Howard wishes, without moving to economic hubs and abandoning their land in the process. "What he's going to do is move people into the town centers, and that is where all the problems have occurred," said Cummings.

Previous governments have also struggled to design policies to assist indigenous Australians, with limited success. The paternalistic policies that replaced the brutality of the early years were finally superceded by a program of "empowerment" in the last quarter of the last century, but for the vast majority the increase in rights has not led to much improvement in their circumstances.

In his speech, Howard recognized that many of today's problems have roots embedded deep in the country's history. "I have always acknowledged the past mistreatment of Aboriginal people and have frequently said that the treatment of indigenous Australians represents the most blemished chapter in the history of our country," he said.

But he stopped short of apologizing.

"It would, I believe, only reinforce a culture of victimhood and take us backwards," he said.

Source; International Herald Tribune

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