A vision for the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples

The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples is the most recent addition to the national self-determining infrastructure set up to deliver that promise that Charlie Perkins and others fought so hard for: that we are all equal, all free and all deserving of a chance to pursue our opportunity and experience happiness.

The Congress must have high and uncompromising standards. It must have the capacity to influence all Australians and it must be a beacon for years to come in the service of both the First Peoples and Australia. We are to choose hope over fear and unity of purpose over conflict. We must value who we are as First Peoples, where we have come from, and, given the opportunity, all we can be in an unprecedented period of change in the world.

In Australia, it appears that natural and cultural diversity is not viewed as a source of wealth nor a resource for modernity nor for current political models. We find it difficult to view our own diversity with the respect it deserves - let alone get respect from others.

We see a system of service delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by governments at both the federal and state levels that still struggles to deliver the most basic of services. We see a system that does not want us to be decision-makers, one with too many bureaucrats who do not see themselves as accountable to our people or as having responsibilities to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people benefit from their efforts. And we have seen limited engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the setting of policy and programs.

There is a sapping of confidence in and by our communities - a nagging fear that failure is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights. These and other circumstances are unacceptable and form part of the reasoning why a national representative body like the Congress is needed. What is demanded is a return to the truth and the certainty of the values that have underpinned our resilience throughout our history.

The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples has been established as an independent organization intent on creating a legacy. This Congress is a long term proposition which will evolve and change with the input of its membership. We have built the organization on elements that worked well in ATSIC and other national representative bodies and have used company law to allow for more entrepreneurial thinking and action.

All of our leaders at this time in history will need to have integrity, determination, charisma, vision, technical and interpersonal expertise, adaptability - and even the often overlooked quality of being an experienced follower. All these characteristics are crucial to helping us deal with and successfully come through particular times of adversity.

Membership and Vetting

To become a Congress member you must be over 18 and have the heritage (in that you must identify and be accepted by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community). In terms of organisations seeking to be members, agencies need to have at least 51% of the members and Board to be Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander; and the principle purpose and activity of the organisation needs to be in service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Ethics Council will then be responsible for ensuring the ethical conduct of representatives of the organization (based on the Nolan Principles of public office).

What can the National Congress be a vehicle for?

The primary objective of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples is to reconnect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the decision-making structures in Australia. Since the abolition of ATSIC, we have not had a national “voice” which could harness the collective energies and efforts of individuals in communities, service provider organizations and peak bodies. International evidence has shown that a clear and essential ingredient in overturning disadvantage is the close and respected involvement of the community itself. As one of our members has informed us: “We need to have as much influence as the mining companies do in parliamentary decision-making in Australia”.

We need to focus on the whole rather than parts, to build relationships rather than separate entities and to understand networks and feedback loops rather than assume that linear and deterministic cause and effect influences prevail.

The vision

Our evolution will be member-driven. We will be capable of engaging those with whom no one else can. We will grow and change as a result of input and advice from them so that we are representing them in ways of which they both need and can take pride. We will be focused on re-engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the decision-making processes in this country. We will strive to see the global in the local - the larger threats to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to our country and indeed, the world.

The deepest cause of devastation to our First People and our globe is found in a mode of consciousness that has established a radical discontinuity between humans, the other species we share the planet with and the eco-systems which supports all life. The National Congress has a role and a responsibility to shake the establishment at its very roots with all the passion and hope that we can muster. We will carry out the improvement in the circumstance of our lives and be part of the global infrastructure that facilitates a transition from a period of human devastation of First Peoples and the Earth to a period of time when all humans live in a mutually beneficial manner with the planet. Such a transition has no human historical parallel.

In order to ensure the planet is available for future generations we have to draw on our older knowledge and traditions that provide advice on how to live within the very structure and functioning of the planet itself. History is governed by those overarching moments that give shape and meaning to life by relating human venture to the larger destinies of the planet.

Mutual enhancement is the vision for the National Congress. There is much great work to be done by listening to our past and imagining a future. We are indeed fortunate to have the National Congress, not only to rebuild our relationships based on mutual respect, but for what it provides as a vehicle to assist the planet and all with whom we share this common lived experience.