Watch this space: the new National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples

Can the NCAFP achieve the two goals it has set out for itself? Will it become a powerful and independent think tank with real sway, at the same time as a pan-Indigenous (and un-homogenising) forum for the entire country? Time will tell - and time is what they need.

We should therefore be encouraged by the pledge of the Congress Co-Chair, Dr Kerry Arabena (Meriam), that “This is a long term proposition”. If she’s right, private enterprise, federal and state policy designers, and even local councils, will need to be keep an eye on the NCAFP. If she’s right, then the political discourse that emanates from the many pockets of Indigenous Australia - one that attracts attention to specifities but at the same time capitalises from a sense of pan-Indigeneity - can only strengthen. And only then will such a discourse permeate through those many misjudged preoccupations held in trust by our 21st century politicians, and make a mark on the mainstream media.

Perhaps this is all a bit overly optimistic. There are many impediments before the NCAFP, foremost among them set by the progenitors themselves. If Federal Government grants are to remain the main source of funding for the organisation, the NCAFP will probably run into some interpretative dilemmas down the track. And if the Federal Government simply ignores the NCAFP’s findings, and endorses only those it deems safe and inexpensive, then there will be no real purpose for it in the first place.

I suppose we better watch this space - and keep our fingers crossed. Federal Aboriginal policy in this country is so tidal (and even the smallest initiatives of this type are monitored with the highest levels of scrutiny), that the odds are already against the NCAFP even before it even gets going.