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Embassy protestors to defy report findings

25 August 2005 -NATIONAL: Protestors at the long-running Aboriginal Tent Embassy say they will ignore any directive to move on while there is still widespread Indigenous disadvantage.

About a dozen protestors last week marched the few hundred metres to nearby Parliament House in Canberra calling for formal recognition of sovereignty for the country’s first inhabitants.

They are seeking a system of administration similar to that used for Indigenous inhabitants in Canada and the United States, and say they may head to the International Court of Justice if their demands are not met.

The Tent Embassy, situated on the lawns of old Parliament House, was first set up on Australia Day in 1972 to make a statement about land rights.

Over three decades there have been several attempts by governments to negotiate for its inhabitants to move after complaints the Embassy is an eyesore and an international embarrassment.

It was revealed recently that yet another consultant’s report had been launched, which could recommend the Tent Embassy be bulldozed and replaced with a permanent structure recognising the history of Indigenous Australians.

Tent embassy co-founder Michael Anderson said there was no incentive for protestors to leave, and a memorial was not appropriate because the struggle for rights wasn’t dead.

Statistics show Aboriginals are still the most jailed, impoverished, likely to die young, drop out of school and have the highest levels of smoking, obesity and diabetes in Australia.

As such, the Embassy would stay regardless of the report’s findings, Mr Anderson said.

“The Embassy itself demonstrates that Aboriginal people are disenchanted, they’re not happy, and that there are a lot of the issues that are yet to be dealt with,” he said.

“It’s representing the Indigenous population who still don’t have any influence within the bureaucracy or administration of this country - politically or legally - and unfortunately we’re a minority group within this nation.

“So until proper justice is done and they deal with the true issues ... the Embassy will always be there and it will always be an eyesore.”

Former Liberal Aboriginal affairs minister Fred Chaney said the Howard government was facing the same dilemma as had every government since 1975.

“They get their standing, if you like, by being there as a matter of protest, not as a matter of consent and arrangement,” he told ABC radio.

“I think that any sort of unilateral action by government would provide a focal point for unhappiness and concern amongst Aboriginal people generally ... it would create its own circumstance and it would become pretty untidy.”

Story from: AAP

Source:National Indigenous Times

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