9 December 1987

7590 Wednesday, 9 December 1987 THE SPEAKER (Mr Barnett) took the Chair at 2.15 pin, and read prayers. SEX SHOPS Control: Petitions MRS BUCHANAN (Pilbara) [2.17 pm]: I have a petition requesting the Parliament to approve amendments to the Local Government district town planning scheme so as to prohibit the operation of sex shops and adult video/book shops within shopping centres. The petition bears 15 signatures and I certify that it conforms to the Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly. The SPEAKER: I direct that the petition be brought to the Table of the House. (See petition No 108.) Similar petitions were presented by Mr Tubby (60 persons), Mr Donovan (322 persons), Mr Evans (17 persons). Mr Cash (220 persons), Mr Peter Dowding (1.67 persons), M~r MacKinnon (18 persons), Mr Wiese (36 persons), Mr Court (147 persons), and Dr Alexander (36 persons). (See petitions Nos 109 to 117.) YOUTHFORCE, NARROGIN Closure: Petition MR WIESE (Narrogin) (2.22 pm]: I have a petition which reads as follows -- To the Honourable the Speaker and to members of Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia assembled. We the undersigned request that the Parliament: Act to save the Nan'ogin Youth Support Committee's employment support project. Youthforce, from closure by urging the Minister for Labour, Productivity and Employment and this State's Joblink Management Committee to reconsider their decision nor to refund this vital service to youth and unemployed persons in the upper great southern. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that you will give this matter earnest consideration, and your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray. The petition bear 494 signatures and I certify that it conforms to the Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly. The SPEAKER: I direct that the petition be brought to the Table of the House. (See petition No JI8.) ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS Compact: Matter of Public Importance THE SPEAKER: I have to advise that today within the allotted rime I received a letter from the member for Vasse indicating that he wished debated as a matter of public importance the "1compact of understanding and treaty" with Aborigines. Do members wish the matter to proceed? (Eight members rose in their places.) The SPEAKER: As sufficient members have risen, it is my intention to allow the debate to proceed uinder the normal guidelines, with half an hour allocated to speakers on my left and half an hour to speakers on my right. MR BLAIKIE (Vasse) [2.25 pm]: I move -- (Wednesday, 9 December 1987]159 7591 That this House objects to the State Government's commitment to support the Federal Government's compact of understanding and treaty with Aborigines on the basis that any such compact or treaty, will seek to divide Australians (including Aborigines) and will not unite them and calls on the Government to give a full explanation to the Parliament as to - (a) how it will approach the process of negotiating the treaty or compact; (b) with whom the treaty will be negotiated, and on whose authority those Aborigines will negotiate; (c) when the process of negotiation will commuence; (4) whether the compact or treaty will include Parliamentary representation of Aborigines by right, and (e) whether or not the State will be committed to assist the funding conmnitment delivered by the compact or treaty. This is a matter of public importance which needs to be brought forward. I have done so after a series of reports over the weekend following a conference that was attended by Government officers and Ministers for Aboriginal Affairs from various States. The people of Western Australia first knew there was going to be a treaty as a result of an article in The West Australian of 5 December, under the heading, "WA backs treaty with Aborigines," which reads in part as follows -- The WA Government has become the first to support the Federal Goverrnent's compact of understanding or taty with Aborigines for the Bicentenary. Details of the proposed treaty have not been released even though the start of the process will be announced next week. That statement was made in the name of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, who was the Chairmnan of the Australian Aboriginal Conference held in Perth last weekend. Prom inquiries I have made around Australia I understand that the question of whether a treaty was to be considered for Aborigines was not even an agenda item; but I have been tald that die Minister referred to a treaty during a speech he made to delegates and other people at a dinner held on Thursday evening at Observation City. That was the first inkling the people of Western Australia had that this Government had acted in what I believe is a unilateral way. That being the case, in Parlianment yesterday I asked the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs a question which read as follows -- (1) Following his reported ready response to agree with Prime Minister H-awke's promise of a compact of understanding with Aboriginal people, what other States have also given similar public or private support? (2) Would he give the House details of his publicly reported commitment to support a compact of understanding, and also indicate to the House in general terms what the compact is all about? I will not read all that the Minister said in reply; I will. simply read the firs sentence. I invite all members to refer to question 48 1, where they can read the full import of what the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs said. Mr Bryce: Everybody knows what the first sentence was. The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs is absent but those of us who remember what he said will measure your integrity if you say, "Let's read one sentence." Mr BLAIKIE: I invited other members to read the whole reply, should they so desire. I asked what the understanding was all about. The Minister replied -- I am not able to indicate to the House what the compact is all about, simply because I do not understand the details of it, and I imnagine at this stage even the author of such a scheme, the Prime Minister, is probably without that information. Members can read whatever else the Minister said but those were his opening remarks. The Minister said he did not understand what the scheme is about. Mr Bryce: Treating the black fellows wit a little decency really upsets the autocracy. 7592 [ASSEMBLY] Mr BLAIKIE: I take the strongest exception to the rerminology used by the Deputy Premier. I have not once referred to Aborigines in that way. I do not intend to. I intend in this debate to maintain a high level of decorum, which the Deputy Premier is not prepared to do. Mr Bryce: Bash the black fellows. Mr Lightfoot: What about you fellows? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I can see this debate going the same way as the one yesterday. I will lay the ground rules straight away. We will accept irnerjections provided the person on his feet is prepared to field them. I will not accept the cross-Chamber interjections and arguments such as that which has just occurred. If members wish to interject I accept them cowards the person on his feet only. Mr B LAIKIE: As I have said, the Minister clearly indicated he did not understand what the treaty or compact was about. What is the Government of Western Australia doing -- simply signing a blank cheque on a proposal which it does not understand? The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs issued a Press release on 3 December in which he said he supported the concept of a compact of understanding with the nation's Aboriginal community. The ankile continued that Mr Bridge. after careful thought, concluded that such a compact was a fine ideal and the Commonwealth had his support in proceeding to draft it. If there is to be a concept to be supported, surely the State must understand the ground rules. No indication has been given, and we do not know. The whole basis of the compact comnmenced in Alice Springs in September this year. During a visit by the Prime Minister he called on the need to seek a compact between the Aborigial population and the nation of Australia. At that stage it was widely reported that the reason the Prime Minister had made his offer was in fact to buy off some Aboriginal people who were threatening the bicentennial celebrations. Several members interjected. Mr BLAIKIE: Members may claim whatever they wish. I refer again to The Australian of 4 September in which an article reporting commuents attributed to the Premider, Mr Burke, reads -- In Perth Mr Burke was asked for his definition of a compact at a businessmen's lunch. He replied -- The definition of a compact is an arrangement for peace during the bicentennial celebrations. That was the Premier's assumption of what the Prime Minister's compact was all about. Where is the detail and commitment by which this State will be bound? Where is the explanation by the Government? There is none. A report from the Northern Territory News of 6 October under the headline, "Blacks want $20 billion a year" stated that Aborigines are considering an ambit claim for 40 per cent of Australia's land mass and an annual payment of seven per cent of the gross national product. The claim is part of the bicentennial treaty negotiations with the Federal Government. A conference of Aboriginal leaders in Alice Springs in June, stated that seven per cent of the gross national product, about $20 billion, would be paid direct to an Aboriginal body for self administration.

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