Warning sign of trouble ahead once Turnbull Government changes Native Title Act 1993?

Excerpt from Explanatory Memorandum for the Native Title Amendment (Indigenous Land Use Agreements) Bill 2017:

21. It is not thought likely that the Bill involves the acquisition of property otherwise than on just terms.

22. The Bill does however provide for compensation to persons for acquisition of property otherwise than on just terms should this be determined to have happened as a result of the operation of the amendments.

23. These provisions provide that, in the event that it is determined that a person’s proprietary rights have been affected without compensation as a result of the Act, the Commonwealth will be liable to pay a reasonable amount of compensation to that person.

Redfern Statement revisited in 2017

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) - National Voice for our Children, YouTube, 13 February 2017:

Media Release, 14 February 2017:

Australia’s leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peaks will today demand a new relationship with government as they deliver the historic Redfern Statement direct to the Prime Minister at Parliament House.

In the lead up to today’s 9th Closing the Gap Report to Parliament, the leaders will call on the Prime Minister to support the historic Redfern Statement, a road map to better address the appalling disadvantage gap between Australia’s First Peoples and non-Indigenous Australians by working with them as genuine partners.

National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples’s co-chair Mr Rod Little comments:

“After 25 years, eight Federal election cycles, seven Prime Ministers, eight Ministers for Indigenous Affairs, 400 recommendations, and countless policies, policy changes, reports, funding promises and funding cuts it’s time to draw a line in the sand.

“We need a new relationship that respects and harnesses our expertise, and guarantees us a seat at the table as equal partners when governments are making decisions about our lives.”

– Rod Little, National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples co-chair

The Redfern Statement was released during last year’s Federal Election campaign on 9 June by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders from health, justice, children and families, disability, and family violence prevention services.

The statement calls for changes across these sectors through structured engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and is supported by more than 30 major mainstream organisations including the Australian Medical Association and Law Council.

National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples’s co-chair Dr Jackie Huggins said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations have worked with our people on the ground for decades and have shown they have solutions.

“Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations deliver 2.5 million episodes of care a year in their local communities – and are the only health and leadership models making inroads on Close the Gap targets.

“Our teachers, education professionals and family violence experts are delivering real results on the ground in their communities every single day – despite chronic underfunding and an ad hoc policy approach based on three-year election cycles.

“Today we are seeking a new relationship, a genuine partnership and a commitment to ongoing structured engagement.”

– Dr Jackie Huggins, National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples co-chair

Read the full Redfern Statement.

Redfern Statement

See also: Closing the Gap: Prime Minister’s Report 2017

Without wide consultation with indigenous peoples the Turnbull Government is fast tracking amendments to the C'wealth Native Title Act 1993

Without wide consultation with indigenous peoples the Turnbull Government has tabled a retrospective bill, Native title amendment (indigenous land use agreements) bill 2017, in order to overturn Federal Court of Australia orders handed down in McGlade  v Native Title Registrar [2017] FCAFC 10 and ensure that projects such as foreign multinational Adani Mining Pty Ltd’s Galilee Basin complex comprising six open-cut & five underground coal mines and associated infrastructure can proceed.

As it now stands this bill appears to allow a weakening of the authority of Native Title holders identified and named by the Native Title Tribunal in decisions made under existing provisions in Native Title Act 1993 as well as those who may be named in future decisions.

However, this is a complex issue given the number of existing Indigenous Land Use Agreements which have been entered into across Australia and merits Parliament’s attention – though perhaps not the less than 24 hour express train ride Turnbull gave it in the Lower House.

On 16 February the bill passed the House of Representatives with a majority of 9 MPs and has been referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee which is expected to file a report on 17 March 2017.

Will the Abbott-Turnbull policy horror stories never stop?

The Liberal and National parties blindly driven by ideology and riddled with far-right extremists have altered existing social policies (sometimes out of all recognition) or created new punitive policies, which are increasing the distress of the old, the disabled, the sick, low income earners, the unemployed and indigenous people.

Here is yet another bad news story about the effect of these policies……..

ABC News, 3 December 2016:

The Federal Government's remote work-for-the-dole scheme is devastating Indigenous communities, with financial penalties causing insurmountable debt and social division, a report has found.

The Australian National University researchers described Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion's Community Development Programme (CDP) as a "policy disaster".

ANU researcher and co-author Dr Kirrily Jordan said financial penalties were being applied unfairly and an example of this could be found in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in Western Australia.

"The rental arrears across the whole lands, across 12 communities, have gone up from $50,000 to $350,000, in the short space of time since CDP's been introduced," she said.

ANU researcher Dr Inge Kral said she had spent 30 years working in remote communities and the latest scheme had left people struggling to feed themselves.

"People with no money in families, there's no money for food, there's certainly no money for clothes — people are starving, people are begging," she said.

"The whole infrastructure around stores is collapsing because there isn't the reliable secure income coming in."

According to the ANU report, the Centrelink-based system is impractical and devised by Canberra bureaucrats who are out-of-touch with remote community life.

Ms Kral also said people in remote areas were not being properly assessed for the disability pension and could be on the phone to Centrelink for "days", with little regard for language barriers.

"We are not kidding. This is not made up. People sit there for days," she said.

"Someone told me a story the other day about a man who really should be on a disability pension.

"They're now without money, they're on an eight-week no-payment penalty, they haven't eaten for three days, they've got no money coming in and they can't effectively engage with Centrelink by themselves.".

The scheme applies to about 34,000 people, mostly Indigenous, across Australia and was introduced by Mr Scullion in July last year.

CDP increased the number of work hours required for welfare payments to 25 per week, for at least 46 weeks a year.

The 7th Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report released today

Australian Government, Productivity Commission, 17 November 2016:

In April 2002, the Council of Australian Governments commissioned the Steering Committee to produce a regular report against key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage. The Steering Committee is advised by a working group made up of representatives from all Australian governments, the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report measures the wellbeing of Australia's Indigenous peoples. The report provides information about outcomes across a range of strategic areas such as early child development, education and training, healthy lives, economic participation, home environment, and safe and supportive communities. The report examines whether policies and programs are achieving positive outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

The most recent edition of the report is, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2016, released on Thursday 17 November 2016.

ABC News, 17 November 2016:

The report points to a failure of policy and oversight, with the commission estimating only 34 of 1,000 Indigenous programs are been properly evaluated by authorities.

Productivity Commission deputy chair Karen Chester told the ABC's AM program the findings are a wake up call for all levels of government about the reality of Indigenous wellbeing and whether the $30 billion budget is being properly spent.

"You want to know that money is being spent not just in terms of bang for buck for taxpayers, but that we're not short-changing Indigenous Australians," Ms Chester said.

"Of over a thousand policies and programs, we could only identify 34 across the whole of Australia that have been robustly and transparently evaluated.

"At the end of the day, we can't feign surprise that we're not seeing improvement across all these wellbeing indicators if we're not lifting the bonnet and evaluating if the policies and programs are working or not."

The report is being billed by the commission as "compulsory reading" and the most comprehensive report on Indigenous wellbeing undertaken in Australia….

But Ms Chester says it was now up to state, territory and federal governments to take the report on board to determine what is working and what is failing.

"I think the clock has been ticking for a while already," Ms Chester said.

"We have the data, we have the analysis and we know what indicators are linked to the others."

While the report includes case studies of examples of "things that work", it says the small number available underscores the lack of Indigenous programs that are being rigorously evaluated for effectiveness.

Excerpt from Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2016:

Key points

 This report measures the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, and was produced in consultation with governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Around 3 per cent of the Australian population are estimated as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin (based on 2011 Census data).  Outcomes have improved in a number of areas, including some COAG targets. For indicators with new data for this report: – Mortality rates for children improved between 1998 and 2014, particularly for 0<1 year olds, whose mortality rates more than halved (from 14 to 6 deaths per 1000 live births). – Education improvements included increases in the proportion of 20–24 year olds completing year 12 or above (from 2008 to 2014-15) and the proportion of 20–64 year olds with or working towards post-school qualifications (from 2002 to 2014-15). – The proportion of adults whose main income was from employment increased from 32 per cent in 2002 to 43 per cent in 2014-15, with household income increasing over this period. – The proportion of adults that recognised traditional lands increased from 70 per cent in 2002 to 74 per cent in 2014-15.  However, there has been little or no change for some indicators. – Rates of family and community violence were unchanged between 2002 and 2014-15 (around 22 per cent), and risky long-term alcohol use in 2014-15 was similar to 2002 (though lower than 2008). – The proportions of people learning and speaking Indigenous languages remained unchanged from 2008 to 2014-15.  Outcomes have worsened in some areas. – The proportion of adults reporting high levels of psychological distress increased from 27 per cent in 2004-05 to 33 per cent in 2014-15, and hospitalisations for self-harm increased by 56 per cent over this period. – The proportion of adults reporting substance misuse in the previous 12 months increased from 23 per cent in 2002 to 31 per cent in 2014-15. – The adult imprisonment rate increased 77 per cent between 2000 and 2015, and whilst the juvenile detention rate has decreased it is still 24 times the rate for non-Indigenous youth.  Change over time cannot be assessed for all the indicators — some indicators have no trend data; some indicators report on service use, and change over time might be due to changing access rather than changes in the underlying outcome; and some indicators have related measures that moved in different directions.  Finally, data alone cannot tell the complete story about the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, nor can it fully tell us why outcomes improve (or not) in different areas. To support the indicator reporting, case studies of 'things that work' are included in this report (a subset in this Overview). However, the relatively small number of case studies included reflects a lack of rigorously evaluated programs in the Indigenous policy area.

"I don't know who the dickhead is that thought up this incredible, brilliant idea; it's just a total waste of taxpayers' money" - Warren Mundine

Having read the following media release last Thursday I feel sympathy for Warren Mundine’s obvious sense of frustration at the announcement of yet another ‘make busy’ inquiry into the criminal justice system and indigenous incarceration.

It was only in March last year that the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committees began an Inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Experiences of Law Enforcement and Justice Services, which received fifty-one submissions and held hearings in Perth, Sydney and Canberra.

The final report was due on 25 August 2016, however as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pulled the plug on all current parliamentary inquiries on 9 May 2016 by calling a double dissolution federal election, time spent, taxpayers’ money and the efforts of concerned parties have come to naught.

Rather like most of the recommendations of previously completed state and federal inquiries into the Aboriginal experience of Australian society and its institutions.

UNCLASSIFIED

SENATOR THE HON GEORGE BRANDIS QC

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

LEADER OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE SENATE

SENATOR THE HON NIGEL SCULLION

MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE­

ALRC inquiry into incarceration rate of Indigenous Australians

Today we announce that the Turnbull Government will ask the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to examine the factors leading to the over representation of Indigenous Australians in our prison system, and consider what reforms to the law could ameliorate this national tragedy.

It has been 25 years since the final report of the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, but Indigenous Australians are still overrepresented in Australia’s prisons. In 1991, Indigenous Australians made up 14 per cent of our nation’s prison population; by 2015, this had increased to 27 per cent.

Other worrying statistics include the fact that Indigenous children and teenagers are 24 times more likely to be incarcerated than their non-Indigenous peers, while Indigenous women are 30 times more likely to be incarcerated.

The ALRC’s inquiry is a critical step for breaking through these disturbing trends. The terms of reference will be subject to consultation, particularly with Indigenous Australians, state and territory governments who have primary responsibility for our criminal justice frameworks, as well as the broader legal profession.

The Turnbull Government is committed to reducing Indigenous incarceration and has committed $256 million in 2016-17 through the Indigenous Advancement Strategy for activities to address the drivers and improve community safety.

27 October 2016

Queensland Government being sued to finally return other people's money

ABC News, 23 September 2016:

Lawyers say a class action in Queensland over unpaid wages to Aboriginal people is setting a national precedent, as dozens more come forward in other states to say they were not paid properly.

More than 300 people are suing the Queensland Government in the Federal Court, which held money in a trust that should have been paid to them as labourers or domestic workers more than half a century ago.

Rebecca Jancauskas, from Shine lawyers, said the class actions first directions hearing this week had revealed that the litigation proceedings would be speedy because of the advanced age of the claimants.

"It was clear that these claims are being taken seriously by federal court bench," she said.

"And proceedings have set the tone for litigation in other states where protectionist legislation was in place and wages were withheld from Indigenous people.

"So what we're doing at Shine is investigating bringing proceedings in other states — including the Northern Territory, Western Australia and NSW."……

The Queensland Government did set up a reparations scheme in 2002, but Ms Jancauskas said claimants only received between $2,000 and $7,000 for decades of work as labourers, stockmen or domestic servants.

"The amount they received through the reparations scheme was but a fraction of the money that the Government is holding in trust for them," Ms Jancauskas said.

"Had people received their entitlements through reparations schemes, then there would be no need for litigation to be pursued."

Those who took part in the scheme had to sign a deed of release, stopping them from taking further action.

But Ms Jancauskas said that would not stop them from participating in the litigation.

Australian Federal Election 2016: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations unite in The Redfern Statement

Media Release 9 June 2016, The Redfern Statement 2016:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations unite

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations unite The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) has united with other community leaders in Redfern this morning to call on political leaders to tackle inequality and disadvantage facing Australia’s First People as a federal election priority.

Dr Jackie Huggins, Co-Chair of National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples read from the Redfern Statement (the Statement), calling for an immediate restoration of the $534 million funding cut from the Indigenous Affairs Portfolio, to be invested into meaningful engagement, health, justice, preventing violence, early childhood and disability.

“The over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system is a national crisis. Both major parties are compelled to act - we cannot turn a blind eye” said Wayne Muir, CoChair of NATSILS.

“The Redfern Statement articulates a plan to properly address the crisis state of access to justice, which includes a call to immediately reversing planned funding cuts to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services due to come into effect in 2017 and committing to the development of an evidenced-based long term funding model so ATSILS can address unmet legal needs” Among its justice asks, the Statement calls for the next government to commit to implementing wrap-around service delivery models that seek to address and prevent the issues that underlie the legal problems facing women, children and families.

“It’s not enough that family law gets the leftovers after you’ve dealt with state and territory criminal law matters. We need a minimum of $25million per annum that is segregated and protected for a stand-alone family law practice in each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service across the country”. The Redfern Statement has been developed by national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak and representative bodies including:

National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, NATSILS, First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN), National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (NACCHO), National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS), Secretariat for National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), The Healing Foundation, and The National Health Leadership Forum (NHLF). The Statement also has the overarching support of The Change the Record Coalition, Close the Gap Steering Committee, and Family Matters campaigns. The Statement also has been endorsed by Reconciliation Australia and over 55 mainstream organisations, including the Australian Medical Association and Law Council.

Full transcript of The Redfern Statement 2016 here.

In which Tony Abbott once again demonstrates why he was never fit to hold office

"Cautionary note concerning the publication of this report

Aspects of this research were only made possible by the involvement and cooperation of community leaders and stakeholders in West Cairns and Aurukun. Their co-operation was based on an understanding that the information provided by local people would be used to find effective solutions to the problems as described in this report. The project team in turn gave a commitment that we would do our best to work with these communities to make them safer, especially for their children. For our part, the present research was always seen as the first phase of a longer-term project that would involve the implementation and evaluation of interventions designed to reduce the prevalence and impacts of sexual violence and abuse in these communities.

Because the focus of this work is on specific communities, it has not been possible to present the report without identifying the communities. While we have done our best to avoid presenting information that could identify individuals within these communities, we are mindful that identifying the communities themselves nevertheless presents significant risks. Publicly naming these communities, particularly in the context of the present findings concerning sexual violence and abuse, risks damaging the relationships and community commitment upon which the success of future prevention efforts so fundamentally relies. Community tensions are very real in both communities, and especially in Aurukun. Insensitive media reporting, for example, even if well intentioned, could inflame these tensions. We fear that such attention would focus on the problems alone, and yet again the voices of those working toward a better future in these communities would not be properly heard.

We understand and support the Queensland Government’s commitment to openness and public accountability, and we are mindful that the present research was conducted with public funding. We understand that in the normal course of events the present report would and should be made available to the public. However we strongly urge caution with respect to the timing and circumstances of making this report public. We believe some delay may be warranted to allow a properly-considered government response to this report to be formulated, and perhaps for some positive outcomes to be presented. We believe we owe that to the members and leaders of these communities." [Smallbone, S. et al, (2013), Preventing Youth Sexual Violence and Abuse in West Cairns and Aurukun: Establishing the scope, dimensions and dynamics of the problem, p. vii, report released 12 March 2016]

Sacked former prime minister Tony Abbott and the mainstream media obviously paid no heed to Page vii of this report, when an opportunistic Abbott rushed to journalists with a simplistic, punitive and appallingly ignorant response.

Stop treating indigenous abuse differently: Abbott TONY Abbott has called for law and order to be enforced in indigenous communities as it is elsewhere.

Responding to an alarming government finding that sexual abuse of and by kids was "normalised" in some of the state's indigenous communities, the former prime minister said there needed to be consequences for any law-breaker - regardless of their background or age.

"Part of the problem often (are those who say) there should be different standards in different places," Mr Abbott (pictured) said. "That is not something that is acceptable. We need to have the same reasonable expectation of people - whether they are male or female, black or white." Mr Abbott said the response was required in the wake of the "utterly scandalous" government findings, in a secret report that was revealed by The Courier-Mail

AAP Bulletin News, 21 March 2016:

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has urged authorities in north Queensland to arrest and charge alleged sex offenders as young as 10.

A Queensland report has revealed children are both victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Asked what to do about 10-year-old sex offenders in Aurukun, Mr Abbott told the Courier Mail: "They should be arrested, they should be charged, there are juvenile justice systems."

He said it was not acceptable to have different standards in different places.

"We need to have the same reasonable expectation of people, whether they are male or female, black or white, Christian or Muslim," said Mr Abbott.

The Cairns Post, 21 March 2016:

TONY Abbott (right) has controversially declared that Far North Queensland's 10-year-old sex offenders should be arrested, charged and forced through the juvenile justice system.

Commenting on an "utterly scandalous" report outlining distressing rates of child sexual assault, the former prime minister has demanded Australia end its different expectations for black and white communities, and law and order be enforced.

Many politicians remained floored by Professor Stephen Small-bone's The Preventing Youth Sexual Violence and Abuse in West Cairns and Aurukun report. But Mr Abbott, who has a strong record of engaging with indigenous Australians, including volunteering in Aurukun, said there needed to be consequences for any law breaker.

"The conditions are utterly scandalous and there needs to be a very strong response," he said.

Mr Abbott was asked what to do about 10-year-old sex offenders in Aurukun."They should be arrested. They should be charged. There are juvenile justice systems," he said.

The more reasoned response of the report:

BACKGROUND

The Courier Mail, 19 March 2016:

AURUKUN is again in the news and though the news is not new, it is not good. A report by researchers from Griffith University, led by Professor Stephen Smallbone, on youth sexual violence in Aurukun sat idle through three years of the Newman government before being released by Treasurer Curtis Pitt last weekend.

Ostensibly, then-premier Campbell Newman did not release the report because Aurukun Mayor Derek Walpo objected on the basis it would compromise the confidentiality of the children and families involved in the research. This may have been understandable but the failure to respond to the report is appalling. It was provided to the state more than two years ago.

How did things come to this tragic state? Many readers will think this is just the way things are in Aurukun. But it has not always been this way. In fact, things were once very different and how and why things deteriorated so badly is an important backstory.

We can talk about the many proximate causes of the crisis in Aurukun (grog, welfare dependency, unemployment) but its ultimate explanation lies in government violence starting with the Aurukun Takeover in 1978 by the Queensland government under then-premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

The takeover resulted in the Presbyterian Church being kicked out of Aurukun and replaced by the Queensland government. The Smallbone report is the bitter harvest of this original violence at the hands of the state.

Before the takeover respectful kinship relationships meant everything to the Wik people of Western Cape York. A hybrid of traditional and missionary authority and paternalism gave an order to the Aurukun mission that was shattered, and not replaced. Child neglect, homicides, suicides, violence and abuse were virtually unknown before 1985 when then local government minister Russ Hinze finally forced a canteen to open up against the objections of elders.

The first instalment of the state's takeover was the imposition of the local government structure. The second was the imposition of the canteen. This story of state violence began when Bjelke-Petersen's government seized control of the Aurukun's extensive bauxite reserves in 1975 and gave it to a French multinational, Pechiney. The Church supported legal and political campaigns by the Wik people against the state's actions. This is why Bjelke-Petersen and Hinze removed the Church and took over Aurukun.

Aurukun was no longer a mission. It was now a shire. But what was a shire? A shire needed revenue. The only viable source of revenue was to convert unemployment benefits received from the Commonwealth Government into canteen revenues for the shire council. The bodies of the Wik people would be the means through which this conversion of Commonwealth funding into state revenue, would take place. The young bodies and brains of infants would be victims of this money laundering.

Minus the paternalistic protection of the church, the Aurukun people were powerless to resist the shire council's introduction of a wet canteen. This was opposed by many in Aurukun, particular by a strong group of Wik women, but the battle was lost.

The rivers of grog started to flow and they flowed for two decades. The painful story of the collapse of family and clan relationships was now set in train. Serious assaults became commonplace. There were nine homicides in the five years after the opening of the local canteen. The Four Corners report by David Marr in 1990 declared the crime rate at Aurukun far worse than notorious American cities.

The actions of Bjelke-Peterson and Hinze were a form of state violence. The cycle of abuse and neglect that followed the grog chaos from 1985 was imprinted on the young children who were born in its wake……

It’s important to not let the scale of the problem obscure the fact that there are many upstanding individuals and families in Aurukun. The parents who send their kids to school every day, families that nurture and support their children, people who are seeking out a better life for their families, the very parents and grandparents that now stand proud as their children graduate from high school and university. Among them are strong natural leaders in Aurukun. And female leaders are the key.

This active leadership should buoy us and this ground-up movement must not be squashed by bureaucracy and service delivery jargon. These women, with the right support, are Aurukun’s last best hope.

The history that I name as state violence should stand as a reminder of what happens when governments take over and smother local leadership and structures. The colonisation of service delivery has not worked to date and will not work in the future.

Fiona Jose is executive general manager, Cape Operations, at Cape York Partnership

The self-styled Australian Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs* "just doesn't have knowledge"

The Sydney Morning Herald 15 March 2015:

A passionate supporter of recognition, Mr Dodson said he feared that indigenous people would fail to see value in it against the backdrop of cuts to programs, especially those supporting indigenous rangers and legal services, and the push to cut funding to remote communities.

"If moderate indigenous voices make their concerns known, many of the well-disposed Australians will say, 'If the Aboriginal people don't see much advantage or opportunity or progress in the recognition, why should we bother to take that step?'

"This is a serious matter. If you are going to recognise Aboriginal people, what is the substance of it? The substance we are seeing at the moment is this: 'We're going to close down communities, force you into assimilation kind of activities, deny your right to have sites protected, and reject your cultural base to exist.

"It's an appalling concept to be saying we want to recognise your culture and your ancient history and your continuing existence when, in fact, that continuing existence is one that, in reality, you are trying to wipe out."

Mr Dodson, 67, was the founding chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and became known as the "father of reconciliation". He was also a commissioner for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

After some four decades of advocacy for his people, Mr Dodson confessed he had never felt so disheartened at the direction of policy.

"I've normally been a fairly optimistic sort of individual in relation to Aboriginal affairs because there was always an avenue for dialogue with whoever was running the country, whether it was the Liberals or the Labor Party.

"Now you can't even have the debate."

He called on Mr Abbott to re-engage with indigenous leaders, saying the convening of a meeting was the crucial first step.

"We've got to get away from just thinking about program and policy and start thinking in terms of a relationship.

"Does Australia want to have a relationship with Aboriginal people, or does it not? Or does it simply want to improve the management and control systems over the lives of Aboriginal people? That's the seminal issue.

"Everything to date has been about management. How do we keep them in the reserves, isolated from the public? Then, how do we force them into some form of assimilation? And now? No one knows where it is going now.

"It's a full-on assault on those areas where languages and cultures at least have been sustained. That's a recipe for disaster because there is no evidence that people in the cities and the towns have fared any better."

Mr Dodson expressed doubts as to whether Mr Abbott was up to the task, saying the Prime Minister's remarks about those living on remote communities exercising a "lifestyle choice" highlighted his lack of understanding.

"I don't think he's capable of it, despite his good wishes or his best intentions. He just doesn't have knowledge and without knowledge he's not going to be able to do much to take the country forward around indigenous relationships and non-indigenous relationships. That's the sad part about it."

The Guardian 15 March 2015:

Tony Abbott has refused to concede that saying Aboriginal people who live in remote communities have made a “lifestyle choice” was a poor choice of words as the father of reconciliation issued a public plea to rebuild relations with Indigenous people.

The Australian prime minister has suffered near universal criticism from Aboriginal leaders over his “lifestyle choice” comments last week when he was defending the closure of Indigenous communities in Western Australia.

He has refused to apologise for the remarks and stood by them when asked if he would at least concede it was a poor choice of words.

“I’m not going to concede that. I accept people have a right to be critical of me, but I’m certainly not going to concede that,” he told Sky News on Saturday.

* "I want a new engagement with Aboriginal people to be one of the hallmarks of an incoming Coalition government and, if elected, this will start from week one with the establishment of a Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council." [Prime Minister Tony Abbott as then Opposition Leader on 10 August 2013]

February 2015 progress report on the 'Prime Minister for Indigenous Australia'

In 2008, led by the first Rudd Federal Labor Government, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) committed to six targets to reduce and/or eliminate the disadvantage faced by Indigenous Australians in life expectancy, child mortality, education and employment.

These were:

Prime Minister Tony Abbott entered the Australian Parliament in a 1994 by-election -becoming the Member for Warringah, an affluent electorate on Sydney’s North Shore. By 1996 he was part of the first Howard Government and by 1998 he was a minister.

In December 2007 he became an Opposition MP when the Coalition lost government. Two years after that he became Leader of the Opposition and in 2013 he returned to the government benches as prime minister.

To his credit he probably has had more contact with remote area indigenous communities than many other metropolitan-based parliamentarians.

However, despite his political self-promotion on the subject, his time ‘living’ in these remote communities by his own admission barely makes 42 days in 21 years.

Four out of five of these short living and working in community experiences occurred during the six years he spent on the Opposition benches between 2007 and 2013.

Once Abbott became prime minister he declared himself to be “Prime Minister for Indigenous Australia”.

On 12 February 2014 he released his first Closing The Gap: Prime Minister’s Report and stood in the House of Representatives and pledged a fair go for Aboriginal people during his first Closing The  Gap Statement.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s own Progress and priorities report 2014: Closing The Gap ended with a clear call to the Abbott Government in this Conclusion:

The commitment to close the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and life expectancy gap by 2030 was a watershed moment for the nation. Politicians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous health sector, and human rights organisations, made a public stand in committing to this agenda. As did the Australian public. To date almost 200,000 Australians have signed the close the gap pledge and approximately 140,000 Australians participated in last year’s National Close the Gap Day. This is the generation who has taken on the responsibility to end Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health inequality.

Because of this leadership, and the willingness to ‘draw a line in the sand’, we are seeing reductions in smoking rates and improvements in maternal and childhood health that will eventually flow into significant increases in life expectancy. This provides early positive signs that people on the ground are responding to the initiatives and demonstrates that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are taking responsibility for their health as they are being provided with increasing opportunities to do so.

Achieving health equality by 2030 is an ambitious yet achievable task. It is an agreed national priority and it is clear that the Australian public demand that government, in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their representatives, build on the close the gap platform to meet this challenge.

For this reason, the Close the Gap Campaign has stressed the need for the new Australian Government to stay the course, to ensure policy continuity and to strengthen the national effort. This term of government will be critical to achieving the 2030 goal and we call on the new Australian Government to not only ensure policy continuity in critical areas of the national effort to close the gap, but to take further steps in building on and strengthening the existing platform.

Since Tony Abbott's first report and statement a marked change has occurred and, thus far, he has overseen a $534 million funding cut to indigenous programs administered by the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Health portfolios budgeted over five years; more than $160 million of the cuts will come out of Indigenous health programs. The health savings will be redirected to the Medical Research Future Fund.

The Human Rights Commission Progress and priorities report 2015: Closing The Gap states:

The Campaign Steering Committee is also concerned that hard won Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health gains could be negatively impacted by proposed measures contained in the 2014–15 Budget. Potential cuts to the Tackling Indigenous Smoking programme are of particular concern and could hinder the significant progress made in reducing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking rates in recent years. Investment in early prevention activities saves on the provision of complex care into the future. These programmes also address and have started to make inroads into primary prevention, particularly in healthy eating, nutrition and physical activity.

This report recommended:

1. That the findings of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Measures Survey (NATSIHMS) are used to better target chronic conditions that are undetected in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. In particular, access to appropriate primary health care services to detect, treat and manage these conditions should be increased.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services should be the preferred services for this enhanced, targeted response.

2. That the Australian Government should continue to lead the COAG Closing the Gap Strategy.

3. That the Australian Government revisit its decision to discontinue the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee.

4. That connections between the Indigenous Advancement Strategy and the Closing the Gap Strategy are clearly articulated and developed in recognition of their capacity to mutually support the other’s priorities, including closing the health and life expectancy gap.

5. That the Tackling Indigenous Smoking programme is retained and funding is increased above current levels to enable consolidation, improvement and expansion of activities until the gap in the rates of smoking between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people closes.

6. That proxy indicators are developed to provide insights into the use and availability of health services on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and life expectancy outcomes.

7. The National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing provides the basis for a dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and social and emotional wellbeing plan. This is developed and implemented with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy 2013 and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Drug Strategy implementation processes in order to avoid duplication, be more efficient, and maximise opportunities in this critical field.

8. That Closing the Gap Targets to reduce imprisonment and violence rates are developed, and activity towards reaching the Targets is funded through justice reinvestment measures.

9. That the Implementation Plan for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan include the essential elements:

* Set targets to measure progress and outcomes;

* Develop a model of comprehensive core services across a person’s whole of life;

* Develop workforce, infrastructure, information management and funding strategies based on the core services model;

* A mapping of regions with relatively poor health outcomes and inadequate services. This will enable the identification of services gaps and the development of capacity building plans;

* Identify and eradicate systemic racism within the health system and improve access to and outcomes across primary, secondary and tertiary health care;

*Ensure that culture is reflected in practical ways throughout Implementation Plan actions as it is central to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people;

* Include a comprehensive address of the social and cultural determinants of health; and

* Establish partnership arrangements between the Australian Government and state and territory governments and between ACCHS and mainstream services providers at the regional level for the delivery of appropriate health services.

Abbott’s second prime ministerial report and statement to the Parliament will be of considerable interest and this morning (11 February 2015) The Australian published an article in which he attempts to soften the public reaction to this year’s report which covers his term as prime minister to date:

TONY Abbott will today declare “profound” disappointment with the nation’s efforts to lift indige­nous Australians out of disadvantage as his centrepiece Closing the Gap report shows stalled progress on half its indicators.

This article also reported:

Gap steering committee co-chair Mick Gooda will hand his own report to the Prime Minister…. It implores the government to maintain momentum on health targets.

Mr Gooda said ­budget decisions — such as cutting smoking programs and a possible GP co-payment — threatened hard-won gains. He also said discussions about federation reform were ­ominous and “could potentially signal a break with the spirit of the 1967 referendum” that had ­addressed the unsuitability of state and territory efforts to reduce indigenous disadvantage.

“It is right that these targets have a long timetable because they won’t be achieved in a year. But we risk going backward if programs that work are sent packing,” he said.

Health targets, he argued, were the base from which all other improvements sprang. They were also linked to the large prevalence of disability in the community.

“Alice Springs Hospital is like a war hospital with the number of amputations they are doing,” he said. “That comes from diabetes and chronic disease. You fix that, you stop contributing to another problem as well.”

UPDATE

Excerpt from Tony Abbott’s Closing The Gap: Prime Minister’s Report 2014:

Progress against the targets Key findings:

* While there has been a small improvement in Indigenous life expectancy, progress will need to accelerate considerably if the gap is to be closed by 2031.

*  The target to halve the gap in child mortality within a decade is on track to be met.

*  In 2012, 88 per cent of Indigenous children in remote areas were enrolled in a pre-school programme. Data for 2013, to show whether the 95 per cent benchmark for this target has been met, will be available later this year.

*New data on whether enrolled children are actually attending school should also be available later this year.

* Progress against the target to halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade has been disappointing. Only two out of eight areas have shown a significant improvement since 2008.

* The target to halve the gap for Indigenous people aged 20–24 in Year 12 or equivalent attainment rates by 2020 is on track to be met.

* No progress has been made against the target to halve the employment gap within a decade.

Excerpt from Tony Abbott’s Closing The Gap: Prime Minister’s Report 2015:

Based on the last three Closing The Gap prime minister’s reports the following is evident:

Between 1998 and 2013 the gap between mortality rates indigenous children under five and non-indigenous children in this same peer group has narrowed by 35 per cent. Unfortunately there is no data for 2014 in Abbott’s second prime minister’s report.

Indigenous mortality rates dropped by 12% between 1998 and 2011 with the gap between indigenous and non- indigenous mortality staying the same by 2011. Indigenous life expectancy data is drawn from the national census and is only published every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, so the 2013, 2014, and 2015 prime minister’s reports appear to all rely on the same figures.

Reliable up-to-date data on population numbers and life expectancy will not be available until around 2018. 
However, the rate at which indigenous life expectancy is growing is stated to be very slow. National indigenous mortality rates are not included in Abbott’s first prime minister’s report and only go up to 2006 in his second, even though more recent mortality rates are available at Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet : There were 2,620 deaths in Australia in 2012 where the deceased person was identified as Indigenous [4]. For NSW, Qld, WA, SA and the NT, the only jurisdictions with adequate identification of Indigenous status, the age-standardised death rate of 1,128 per 100,000 population for Indigenous people was 2.0 times the rate for their non-Indigenous counterparts.

More detailed information about death rates is available for the five-year period 2006-2010 for people living in NSW, Vic, Qld, WA, SA and the NT [5]. After age-adjustment, the death rate for Indigenous people living in those jurisdictions was 1.9 times the rate for non-Indigenous people (Table 1) [5]. The rates for Indigenous people were highest in the NT (1,541 per 100,000) and WA (1,431 per 100,000).

Pre-school enrolment in 2011 was 91%. Preschool enrolment had fallen by 2% since 2012 and was at 85% in 2013. 
It appears to have remained stagnant at that rate since Tony Abbott became prime minister and moved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander focused programs into the Dept. of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The enrolment target is not being met and, the overall government strategy appears to be failing.

The new baseline for the 2018 indigenous school attendance target appears to be based on data released in December 2014 which shows that; the Indigenous attendance rate was already 90 per cent or above in 2,046 (44 per cent) of the 4,605 schools for which an Indigenous attendance rate was published. The proportion of schools achieving the 90 per cent benchmark for Indigenous attendance in 2014 varies sharply by remoteness: 48 per cent of schools in metropolitan areas, 44 per cent in provincial; 21 per cent in remote and only 14 per cent in very remote areas.

There is still no progress in raising indigenous literacy and numeracy levels above those recorded in 1988 according to Abbott’s 2015 prime minister’s report.

The last three prime minister’s reports rely on NAPLAN data. For example, in the 2014 NAPLAN national report the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Year 3 students achieving at or above minimum national standards in reading was 20 per cent, for persuasive writing the gap was 19.1 per cent and, the numeracy gap for this same student group was 17.5 per cent. 

However, between 2009 and 2013 across all student bands included in NAPLAN data there have been literacy and numeracy gains for indigenous students.

The Gillard 2013 prime minister’s report stated that; In 2011, the proportion of Indigenous 20-to-24-year-olds with at least Year 12 or Certificate II was 53.9% which was a 6.5 percentage point increase on 2006 figures. 

According to the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (AATSIHS) quoted in Abbott’s first prime minister’s report; 59.1 per cent of Indigenous 20–24 year olds had a Year 12 or equivalent qualification in 2012–13, which represents a rise of 13.7 percentage points from 45.4 per cent in 2008. 

His second report indicates that the gap narrowed to 28 percentage points in 2012-13. There appears to be no data for his term in office.

Comparing both of Abbott’s prime minister’s reports it appears that his 2015 report contains no new data for the 2013-14 financial year, so the decline in the indigenous employment rate may possibly have deepened since September 2013.