Aboriginal People and Local Government. A Shepparton Story by Gillian Louise Nieman BA(Hons), MA (Public Policy & Governance) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Deakin University April 2014 Dedicated to Pam Nieman champion of the “fair go” and Clive Mander my Dad, who always knew I could do it Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the people who have helped me complete this thesis; in particular those whom I will not name, but who willingly gave their time to participate in my project. I especially acknowledge the contribution of staff and Councillors from the City of Greater Shepparton, Yorta Yorta Nation, Bangerang people, and the Shepparton Region Reconciliation Group; also Dr Michael Tynan, Paul Briggs OAM and Sharon Atkinson for their help and encouragement. Table of Contents Aboriginal People and Local Government. A Shepparton Story ............ 9 The Shepparton Chronicles i. Prologue .......................................................... 9 PART 1: Introduction – The Calling ........................................ 10 How I will tell the Story ......................................................................................... 11 1. First Interlocution: The players in the Story ............................................... 15 Introducing the players .......................................................................................... 15 1.1 Australia – the mise-en-scène .......................................................................... 15 1.2 Local government ............................................................................................ 15 1.3 The City of Greater Shepparton ...................................................................... 16 1.4 Yorta Yorta Nation and the Bangerang people ............................................... 17 1.5 Myself ........................................................................................................... 17 The Shepparton ChroniclesI. The struggle ................................................... 18 2. Second Interlocution: The voice of this Calling ......................................... 20 2.1 Knocking before I enter ................................................................................... 20 2.2 Learning to worry ............................................................................................ 20 The Shepparton ChroniclesII. A valuable partner in Reconciliation? ....... 21 PART 2: About Australia – setting the scene ......................... 23 A little drop of Australia ........................................................................................ 23 The Shepparton ChroniclesIII. The Closing The Gap Campaign: Driver Of Policy? .............................................................................................................. 24 3. Third Interlocution: Are we making progress...? ........................................ 25 3.1 Who are we? .................................................................................................... 25 3.2 We are the invaders ......................................................................................... 26 3.3 Treaty ........................................................................................................... 27 1 3.4 Reconciliation .................................................................................................. 29 3.5 The non-Aboriginal problem? ......................................................................... 35 3.5.1 Aboriginal disadvantage or government dysfunction? ................................. 36 The Shepparton Chronicles IV. Talking With A Lot Of People .................... 37 The Shepparton ChroniclesV. Reflection ...................................................... 41 4. Fourth Interlocution. Progress...or just going round in circles? ................. 43 4.1 Assimilation and Closing The Gap .................................................................. 43 4.2 Assimilation or integration? ............................................................................ 45 4.3 Times change in the seventies .......................................................................... 47 4.4 Self-determination ............................................................................................ 47 4.5 Conclusion: Assimilation is "about what whitefellas want" ............................ 49 The Shepparton Chronicles VI. The Long-Awaited Meeting With An Eminent Aboriginal Australian ...................................................................... 51 5. Fifth Interlocution: Is Australia a racist country? ....................................... 53 5.1 Racism in Shepparton. ..................................................................................... 54 5.2 What is racism? ............................................................................................... 56 5.3 Is racism the same as nationalism? ................................................................. 57 5.3.1 The rise of a mean spirit ............................................................................... 57 5.3.2 What is a nation? .......................................................................................... 59 5.3.3 The Cronulla riot: defending our nation? .................................................... 59 5.3.4 The cult of forgetfulness ................................................................................ 60 5.4 Race: a "biological fiction" ............................................................................. 61 5.5 Ideology ........................................................................................................... 62 5.6 Institutional racism .......................................................................................... 64 5.6.1 Lingering colonial thinking .......................................................................... 64 5.6.2 My own institutionalist mindset .................................................................... 65 5.7 "I'm not racist..." .............................................................................................. 65 Dr Carmen Lawrence speaks at the Dungala-Kaiela Oration ...................... 65 2 5.8 Normative racism ............................................................................................. 68 5.9 Lateral violence - internalised racism ............................................................. 71 5.10 Cultural safety - the wall of racism ............................................................... 72 5.11 Healing from the damage .............................................................................. 73 Epilogue to Racism .......................................................................................... 74 Interlude. Reflection ........................................................................................ 75 Conclusion to Part 2. Australia ...................................................................... 76 The Shepparton ChroniclesVII. Reconciliation Australia ........................... 76 Part 3. About Local Government – conservative institution or catalyst for change? ................................................................. 78 6. Sixth Interlocution: Local Government – a valuable partner? .................. 79 6.1 The Victorian local government revolution ..................................................... 79 6.1.1 Setting the scene for amalgamations ............................................................ 80 6.1.2 Local government's growing community focus "ossifies" ............................. 81 6.1.3 Restructuring local government for "efficiency" .......................................... 82 6.2 The Kennett era and New Public Management (NPM) ................................... 83 6.2.1 The demise of democracy? ............................................................................ 84 6.2.2 How does NPM affect Aboriginal people? ................................................... 87 6.3 Local government in Victoria after Kennett .................................................... 88 6.3.1 Regarding Agreements .................................................................................. 89 6.3.2 Desire for dialogue ....................................................................................... 90 6.4 Local government at the crossroads ................................................................ 91 6.4.1 "Regimes" as the "new" institutionalism ...................................................... 91 6.4.2 Dollery Wallis and Allen present three models for debate ........................... 93 6.4.3 What kind of municipality is the City of Greater Shepparton? .................... 94 The Shepparton ChroniclesVIII. Getting moving ......................................... 94 3 6.5 Local government's new directions .................................................................. 95 6.6 "Can local government create conditions in which Aboriginal culture can flourish and reconciliation blossom?" ................................................................... 98 6.6.1 Returning to the original question ................................................................ 98 6.6.2 Aboriginal Australians are not just another minority group ........................ 99 6.7 The return of politics to local government .................................................... 100 6.7.1 Revolution? ................................................................................................