LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Friday, 2 December 1994 ______ Mr Speaker (The Hon. Kevin Richard Rozzoli) took the chair at 9.00 a.m. Mr Speaker offered the Prayer. ABORIGINAL RECONCILIATION Mr FAHEY (Southern Highlands - Premier, and Minister for Economic Development) [9.00]: I move: That this House: (1) notes that in 1991 the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia unanimously enacted the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991 to promote a process of reconciliation between the indigenous and wider Australian communities; (2) supports the concept of constructive reconciliation between indigenous and wider Australian communities; and (3) in acknowledgment of this support, adopts, as a vision shared by this House, the vision of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, namely, "A united Australia which respects this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, and provides justice and equity for all". This motion will, I trust, be accepted unanimously here today and its sentiments added to those of the nation's other legislative changes where similar motions have been adopted as resolutions. The success of the reconciliation process depends upon the goodwill and good faith of everyone involved. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established by a unanimous vote of the Commonwealth Parliament in 1991. It is working to achieve reconciliation by engendering respect in the community for the culture and achievements of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and an understanding of their unique position in our society. The people of New South Wales are represented on this council by the Hon. Helen Sham-Ho, MLC, who is chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Aboriginal affairs. On the road to reconciliation between the Aboriginal people and the wider community, recent years have seen a number of magnificent milestones, one of which was the declaration by the United Nations of 1993 as the International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples. As a government, we have already committed ourselves and the people of New South Wales to overcoming the disadvantage faced by so many indigenous Australians. And I am sure that our parliamentary colleagues will agree that it is our responsibility, as representatives of the people of New South Wales, to continue with such policies. My Government's decision in 1993 to raise Aboriginal affairs in this State to full departmental status - with our colleague the Hon. Jim Longley as Minister responsible for this portfolio - provides further evidence of this sense of commitment. The restructuring of the Office of Aboriginal Affairs to enable it to improve its community development technique, as well as its communication with, and its delivery of services to, Aboriginal people throughout this State has followed as a natural consequence. In recent years, the five-volume report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody has been significant in enabling the wider community to come to understand the unique place of Aboriginal people in our national life, and their special needs. The royal commission was established by the Commonwealth Government in 1987 in response to public concern at continuing reports of the deaths of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in custody in prison, police or juvenile institutions. It completed its work in 1991, finding that, although the deaths it investigated may have been premature, there was no common thread in them of abuse or racism: Aboriginal people in custody were not dying at a greater rate than non-Aboriginal people in similar circumstances; but an underlying pattern of social, cultural and legal factors had resulted in their gross overrepresentation in custodial care itself. In effect, too many Aboriginal people were being held in custody too often. The royal commission examined the causes for this imbalance in painstaking detail and found that the only solution was for Aboriginal people to take control of their own lives and to be empowered to act for their own betterment. The New South Wales Government supported the overwhelming majority of the royal commission's 339 recommendations, many of which directly involved State and Territory responsibilities. Since 1992, government agencies in this State have been implementing policy and program responses to the royal commission's recommendations to eliminate disadvantage for Aboriginal people and to return to them control of their own lives. A report outlining implementation actions on all the relevant recommendations was tabled recently in this Parliament. This motion is very much in keeping with the final recommendation contained in the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: That all political leaders and parties recognise that reconciliation between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities in Australia must be achieved if community division, discord and injustice to Aboriginal people are to be avoided. To this end, the Commission recommends that political leaders use their best endeavours to ensure bi-partisan support for the progress of reconciliation and that the urgency and necessity of that process be acknowledged. The New South Wales Government has also taken action in a number of other areas to address Aboriginal disadvantage, such as the passage earlier this year of the Native Title (New South Wales) Act. This Act will allow New South Wales to participate, Page 6228 to the extent necessary, in the national scheme established by the Commonwealth Government in the light of the High Court's Mabo decision. The New South Wales Government is also committed to the process of reconciliation through its endorsement at the Council of Australian Governments in Perth in December 1992 of the National Commitment to Improved Outcomes in the Delivery of Programs and Services for Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders. The national commitment recognised empowerment, self-determination and self-management as guiding principles for Aboriginal communities; and confirmed that the planning, funding and provision of programs and services is a legitimate interest of all spheres of government. For the past year, a New South Wales coordinating committee, chaired by the Director-General of the Office of Aboriginal Affairs, has been in operation. Its brief is to report on the efficiency, effectiveness and appropriateness of State policies and programs in the framework of the national commitment, and to advise on strategies which will improve outcomes in the delivery of services. The lines of communication forged under the national commitment have been of benefit to Aboriginal people throughout the State in areas from health services to policing and community welfare. The primary function of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is to heal the historic rift between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. The members of the council are predominantly Aborigines and they represent a variety of regions throughout Australia. I am sure that all honourable members will endorse the values and aspirations embodied in this motion, which I commend to the House. Mr CARR (Maroubra - Leader of the Opposition) [9.07]: The Opposition joins wholeheartedly with the Premier in support of this motion. By its imminent resolution we will attempt something more than an act of reconciliation with one section of the Australian people. In the deepest sense we seek a reconciliation with ourselves before history. We seek to reconcile the values we profess as a nation with the darker reality not only of the past but of the present and the future. In adopting this motion we should not be inhibited by the assertion that it implies a special attitude to one section of the Australian people only. It does, and so it should, and must, if the process of reconciliation is to have any chance of success. The recognition of uniqueness is the reverse side of the clause of the Australian Constitution of 1901 which placed the Aboriginal people outside the protection of the Australian national Parliament. It is the logical conclusion of the process which began with the removal of that clause by the overwhelming majority of the Australian people at the referendum of 1967. It is fitting on this bipartisan occasion to recall that that noble initiative came from a fine Australian, the late Harold Holt. When we consider that the referendum was 27 years ago and that during that period a whole generation has passed, we may regret how slowly the cause of justice, honour and humanity advances. Nevertheless, it moves. In this Parliament, in speaking to this motion, we should acknowledge the disproportionately high number of Aboriginal people in this State's prisons. It is a sad reflection on our justice system that that is so. The figures condemn the way we approach justice and draw attention to the social condition of Aboriginal people in this State. Patrick Dodson, the chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, said: Two events have provided significant opportunities to move ahead with the process of reconciliation. The first was the historical High Court decision of June 1992 which recognised native title and rejected the concept of terra nullius. The decision provides an opportunity to resolve long-standing issues about the best way of recognising the rights of indigenous people . The second event has been the celebration of 1993 as International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Mr LONGLEY (Pittwater - Minister for Community Services, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and Minister for the Ageing) [9.10]: As Minister for Aboriginal Affairs I am honoured to support the motion moved by the Premier; that is, that this House shares the vision statement of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation proclaimed as follows: A united Australia which represents this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, and provides justice and equity for all. The road to reconciliation - to this historic motion today - has been difficult. Since colonisation the conflicts between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians have been many, although our history books have not always reflected these facts.