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The threat to Aboriginal culture: assimilation or worse

By Gavin Mooney - posted Thursday, 10 March 2005


If, in this bordering-on-hegemonic neo-liberal world, one seeks to rubbish some particular social policy, philosophy or social experiment, and in doing so at the same time one wants to hide what might be seen otherwise as blatant racism, it is best to call for an open debate and for the avoidance of political correctness.

On this premise if one seeks to establish how Aboriginal people’s problems can be resolved, then simply arguing for them to be treated “the same” as everyone else is apparently the answer. If they are treated the same, the argument runs, they will have the same outcomes in terms of health, education, and so on.

Treating people equitably or fairly becomes equated with treating them equally, which in turn is equated with treating them the same. But this is all predicated upon the need for Aboriginal people to accept the obligation - their obligation - to be prepared to be the same, and then they can share equally in the benefits of Australian society or, more accurately, of non-Aboriginal Australian society.

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In a recent paper from the Centre for Independent Studies, Hughes and Warrin propose a new deal for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders living in remote communities. In fact it is an old deal: assimilation.

The finer details of the paper do not merit a run through here. In essence the argument is that, damn it, if only Aboriginal people would cease to be Aborigines, all would be well not only for them but for the rest of us. Welfare dependency would end, Aboriginal languages which keep Aboriginal people in isolation would end, separate health services would end (and they might have even greater access to private care than their non-Aboriginal counterparts), separate law and lore would end.

All the problems of remote Aboriginal communities are laid at the door of the “Coombs model” - what they call the “socialist utopia” model. Give Aborigines the same opportunities as everyone else in the neo-liberal market and all will be well. Hughes and Warin advocate the “liberal vision that saw ATSIC working in all occupations and living at the same standard as other Australians”. How is not explained: The market is the new religion and we do not need  to see behind the veil. We just need to have the faith.

“Apartheid” is imposed by Aboriginal people on white Australians and the racism in our society and institutions, which Aboriginal people face, is ignored and denied. The apartheid problems of Australia arise through Aboriginal people’s own “deliberate subjugation of English”. When Aboriginal people travel they don’t head for Bali, the joys of the Gold Coast or fly to private clinics in Melbourne or Sydney for their health care. Instead, Hughes and Warin state, they “tend to restrict themselves to Aboriginal communities when they seek health care, go shopping, visit relatives or attend conferences and training courses”. They use the fact that non-Aborigines need permits to visit some Aboriginal communities as the basis for their claim that apartheid exists in Australia and this is a concern to these authors. (This article is being written during a visit to South Africa. It is therefore doubly painful to see the twisted mentality that interprets apartheid in these terms.)

The communities’ cultural values - particularly with respect to land ownership - that are so much a part of Aboriginal culture, are swept aside by Hughes and Warin. “Communal ownership … impedes the productive use of land, employment creation and economic development … royalties on mining, fishing and other resources are paid communally, so that they inevitably lack transparency and encourage corruption.” Inevitably? Would not such communal concerns lead to greater transparency?

One of my Aboriginal friends, Barbara Henry, talks of her concerns about “assimilation by atrophy” for Aboriginal people. What she means, I believe, is that Aborigines are in danger of losing their identity and their culture because they grow weary. They are tired of fighting, trying to defend their culture. Simply, they may just give up and give in. They may cease to be Aborigines.

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There is then a need for non-Aboriginal Australia to recognise the dangers facing this ancient culture. If we do not acknowledge the damage we are currently doing - or at least the government elected in our name is doing - to Aboriginal people, there is a very real threat that Aboriginal culture will die. For ever thereafter, Aborigines will be simply “other Australians”. They may not be white but they will cease to be Aborigines.

The threat of losing Aboriginality from the Australian landscape is heightened by the sort of arguments put forward by Hughes and Warin. There is no concern of loss if assimilation occurs, which is in fact what they advocate.

Before writing this I talked to Aboriginal friends who expressed concern that responding to Hughes and Warin might simply give their argument more oxygen. That is clearly a risk. But there are wider and deeper issues at stake here and not just in the paper by Hughes and Warin.

Aboriginal culture and identity are under attack on many sides. ATSIC has been killed off and mainstreaming, which as Minister Vanstone put it allows Aboriginal people to be treated the same, is the government’s watchword. While the demise of ATSIC was no great loss in itself, the fact that the government at the same time killed off the principle of self-determination on which ATSIC was built is a very real worry. Kevin Andrews’ proposed revisions of the Community Development and Employment Projects, ironically called Building on Success, clearly emphasises the individual benefits of employment (no harm in that) but at the expense of the past efforts to build communities. Aboriginal Legal Services and Aboriginal Medical Services, at least in urban areas, are under threat.

The current efforts by the Federal government to push the idea of “mutual obligation” may be beneficial in the short term, but may lower the self-esteem of Aboriginal people and also shows no respect for Aboriginal culture.

The Federal government’s current concerted campaign against Aboriginal interests and efforts to promote assimilation are most serious for the future of Aboriginal identity and culture. This policy has support from influential voices in the media. Christopher Pearson in The Weekend Australian (March 5-6) gave space to supporting Hughes and Warin. That is perhaps not surprising. He is a close long-term friend of Tony Abbott and has been Howard’s speechwriter. According to Marion Maddox (in God under Howard) he was particularly active in opposing Aboriginal rights at the time of the debate on the Hindmarsh Bridge affair.

Again the fact the Hughes and Warin paper came from the Centre for Independent Studies is not surprising. Maddox tells hows Morgan, the mining magnate, “provided crucial seeding money to turn the Centre for Independent Studies into a significant opinion-shaper”. She writes of how on the issue of Indigenous claims over sacred sites, “Morgan’s speeches were apocalyptic, his fears primal”. As Hawke-Keating Labor embraced Indigenous rights and made noises about a treaty, Morgan’s rhetoric only escalated. When Hawke announced in June 1991 that a proposed Coronation Hill mine would be stopped to protect a sacred site, Morgan declared the decision a national disaster.

There is clear evidence that this government is intent on ridding Australia of its Indigenous people in all but name. They are aided and abetted in this task by sections of the media and often by think tank writers such as those from the Centre for Independent Studies. If Aboriginal people are lucky they can keep their artefacts and paintings and dancing just so long as they assimilate.

In the WA state election last month, Aborigines were the forgotten people. In the Federal election last year there was hardly a mention of Aboriginal people. An email from me to Julia Gillard as Opposition spokesperson made the suggestion that the age for eligibility to Medicare Gold for Aboriginal people be lowered from 75 for the rest of us to 55 or 60. Her office agreed but informed me that the ALP didn’t want to announce that pre-election as they might lose white votes!

Aboriginal colleagues are planning to set up a forum to debate Aboriginal life and culture and where it will be in 50 years time. My worry is that in 50 years time and perhaps much sooner Aboriginal culture and identity will be dead. There is a responsibility on non-Aboriginal Australians to realise just what it is that we face: the extermination of Aboriginal culture and the death of Aboriginal identity.

There is a need for us to fight to prevent this government and its allies in the media and elsewhere putting this threat into practice. The danger is real.

I believe that many people in Australia want to see Aboriginal people and their identity flourish, economically, socially and culturally. That flourishing must be set in Aboriginal cultural terms. Hughes, Warin and Pearson, and increasingly the Howard Government, want only Aborigines to flourish economically “like the rest of us” i.e. in their terms, not Aboriginal terms.

For Aboriginal people but also for non-Aboriginal people like me, it is time to say “Enough!” and stand up and fight alongside Aboriginal people for their right to be Aboriginal people - and now, as it may soon be too late.

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Article edited by Maggie Dunphy.
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About the Author

Gavin Mooney is a health economist and Honorary Professor at the Universities of Sydney and Cape Town. He is also the Co-convenor of the WA Social Justice Network . See www.gavinmooney.com.

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