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Social Justice Commissioner argues a different approach to the Indigenous land tenure debate

16 February 2006 - The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner, Tom Calma, argues in the Native Title Report 2005 that the Australian Government's proposal to encourage individual leases on Indigenous land will not necessarily lead to improved economic outcomes for Indigenous people.

This year's Native Title Report, which was tabled in federal Parliament on Tuesday, assesses the issues and the potential impacts of the Indigenous land leasing proposal, as well as providing some alternative economic development strategies and initiatives.

Commissioner Calma said: "the National Indigenous Council's (NIC) Indigenous Land Tenure Principles are essentially the Australian Government's instrument to implement the land tenure proposal. If implemented in their current form, the principles breach international human rights standards and obligations".

"One of the NIC principles sets out an option to compulsorily acquire Indigenous land where consent to leases is 'unreasonably' withheld. This course of action is potentially discriminatory, as no other Australians are compulsorily required to lease their land."

The Commissioner's report raises issues about whether the NIC principles represent the views of Indigenous people. "The NIC is not an elected Indigenous body and it has not consulted with Indigenous communities about the proposed principles. Where is our free, prior and informed consent to a policy that will potentially have a large impact on our land interests?" Mr Calma asked.

"Native title is not designed to support Indigenous economic interests. In most cases it does little more than provide access to land. I also question the relevance of any leasing proposal because it is already possible to lease Indigenous land. To date, this existing option has not improved Indigenous economic development."

"International research demonstrates that converting Indigenous lands under communal title to freehold or leasehold title does not lead to improved outcomes for Indigenous peoples; economic or otherwise. In fact, countries that have converted Indigenous communal lands to individual leases are reversing these polices."

"The real issue is that governments have not developed comprehensive policy or legislation to lift the barriers that prevent Indigenous Australians from deriving economic benefit from land," said Commissioner Calma. "It is important to remember that much of the land under Indigenous title is marginal, arid and inaccessible."

"My report sets out alternate strategies in Australia and elsewhere that promote economic development and increase home ownership without putting existing rights to land at risk. These options include: setting up Indigenous business enterprise arrangements through Shared Responsibility Agreements; extending the Home Ownership Program administered by Indigenous Business Australia, or establishing a 'good renters program' to accumulate equity for Indigenous communities through rent payments.

"Any business enterprise will require government support, but first there is an urgent need to improve infrastructure and resources to remote communities before development can occur."

The Native Title Report 2005, chapter summary and media release are available online at www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/ntreport05/

Social Justice Commissioner says results mixed in the implementation of new arrangements for Indigenous affairs

Australia's sole independent watchdog on Indigenous rights and programs said the government's progress in implementing the new arrangements for Indigenous affairs over the past 12 months has been mixed - with some significant developments in promoting whole-of-government coordination, but some worrying gaps and challenges yet to be adequately addressed.

Tabled in federal Parliament on Tuesday, the Social Justice Report 2005 examines the implementation of the new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs, in a post-ATSIC environment, and considers whether they ensure the effective participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in decision making that affects their daily lives.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, said that the last two Social Justice Reports have provided a preliminary overview of the new arrangements and set an agenda to put the government on notice through rigorous monitoring and reporting, which this year's report does.

"Responsibility and accountability for Indigenous policy development and service delivery now lies squarely with the government. For Indigenous people the challenge of the new arrangements is to ensure that they have an appropriate voice in determining community priorities and rigorous accountability mechanisms are established so that successes can be identified and failures addressed," said Mr Calma.

"There have been substantial efforts made in the first 12 months of the new arrangements to identify processes for engaging with Indigenous peoples. Despite this, significant gaps remain in Indigenous representation at local, regional and national levels. Also, no mechanisms have been established to ensure the distinct issues of Torres Strait Islanders on the mainland are addressed."

Commissioner Calma said the first priority must be to establish regional representative bodies which can link to local, as well as state and national levels - Regional Partnership Agreements can provide a solid basis for this to occur.

"The absence of a framework for Indigenous representation at all levels of decision-making undermines and contradicts the aims of the new arrangements, and restricts the ability of Indigenous people to participate in decision-making processes," the Commissioner said.

"My report recommends that the federal Government, in partnership with state and territory governments, prioritise the negotiation of regional representative arrangements with Indigenous peoples. Representative bodies should be finalised and operational by 30 June 2006 in all Indigenous Coordination Centre regions."

An integral component of the new arrangements has been the negotiation of local level agreements within Indigenous communities, known as Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs), which are based on mutual obligation principles.

"The SRA process is clearly an evolving one. Presently the SRA process appears to lack some of the key elements necessary to ensure appropriate engagement of Indigenous communities. In particular, there are not transparent frameworks for government accountability, with an absence of sufficient benchmarking or targets in many agreements," Mr Calma said.

The Social Justice Report recommends that the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, in consultation with the Social Justice Commissioner, agree to guidelines to ensure that SRAs comply with human rights standards in relation to the process of their negotiating and their content (see the SRA fact sheet for further details).

Perhaps the most significant development over the past year has been the reform to the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) scheme. The reform to the CDEP is integral to the whole-of-government approach to delivering services, especially carrying out the details of SRAs (see the CDEP fact sheet for further details).

"Now that the new arrangements have been in place for over 12 months it is critical that steps be taken to ensure that the government's intended policy and program goals are properly monitored and outcomes appropriately evaluated. The new arrangements require rigorous monitoring and evaluation, especially the collection of performance information and data to support decision-making and to measure inputs and outputs," Mr Calma said.

The Social Justice Report also considers progress in achieving improvements in the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and sets out a human rights framework for achieving health equality within a generation. It also comments on a range of other reform processes impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, such as: changes to the Community Development Employment Program scheme; reforms of the federal Act governing Aboriginal associations and councils; as well as reforms to heritage protection, land rights, and native title.

For further information about the Social Justice Report 2005, including chapter summaries, facts sheets and media releases visit: www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/sjreport05/

Indigenous rights watchdog challenges governments to commit to health equality within a generation

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, has issued a challenge to Australian governments to address Indigenous health inequality and inequality of opportunity through a new campaign outlined in this year's Social Justice Report.

"There is no greater challenge to the Australian values of decency, fairness and egalitarianism than the inequality in health status between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the non-Indigenous population," said Mr Calma.

Tabled in federal Parliament on Tuesday, the Social Justice Report 2005 considers progress in achieving improvements in the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and sets out a human rights framework for achieving health equality within a generation.

Commissioner Calma said the major underlying cause of health inequality in Australia is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, in both remote and urban centres, do not enjoy equal access to primary health care or the same standard of infrastructure necessary for health (such as safe drinking water, healthy food sources, healthy housing and effective sewerage systems).

"The failure of the policies and programs over the past 20 years to achieve significant improvements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status, yet alone reduce the inequality gap, reveals the failure of governments to commit to an urgent plan of action which is funded to meet its outcomes. The Indigenous health campaign I am proposing directly addresses these two failings," Mr Calma said.

"The campaign recommends that governments commit to achieving equality of health status and life expectation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people within 25 years. This proceeds from governments committing to achieve equal access to primary health care and health infrastructure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within 10 years.

"The goal of health equality and equality of opportunity should be supported by targets and benchmarks over the short and medium term, which should be negotiated, with the full participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and committed to by all Australian governments."

This campaign seeks to place time-frames on the goal and aims of the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and the commitments of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to overcome Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage. It provides a long-term vision for government focussed activity.

"As a nation, we have never been as well placed to turn the current health crisis faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples around. In part, this is because the necessary commitments and mechanisms for whole-of-government coordination are now in place to achieve this. With new agreement making processes, we have an unprecedented opportunity to engage and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to overcome existing health inequalities," Mr Calma said.

The Social Justice Report also examines the implementation of the new arrangements for Indigenous affairs, in a post-ATSIC environment. It also comments on a range of other reform processes impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, such as: changes to the Community Development Employment Program scheme; reforms of the federal Act governing Aboriginal associations and councils; as well as reforms to heritage protection, land rights and native title.

For further information about the Social Justice Report 2005, including chapter summaries, facts sheets and media releases visit: www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/sjreport05/

Source: HREOC

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