Ruddock's changes to ATSIC further disempower Indigneous Australians

Philip Ruddock's recent decision is a case in point and he has been accompanied most vociferously by the likes of Peter Howson, who continue to espouse that service delivery based on need for one racial group in this country is tantamount to "separatism".

It is this prevailing attitude that has made Indigenous Australians tax-eaters rather than tax-makers thereby compounding the fact that organisations like ATSIC and the newly proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services Agency, will forever delegate responsibility for Indigenous lives to faceless white bureaucrats rather than Indigenous people themselves.

The problems within Indigenous communities are not incurable and nor can they be achieved by well-meaning but small economic initiatives alone.

First, there is an urgent need to develop a uniform, consistent and accurate national database on Indigenous demography. I have repeatedly called upon the Howard government to undertake this important measure so that the effectiveness of programs and services delivered and expenditure can be measured.

Second, currently there are no national benchmarks and standards to address Indigenous disadvantage. Without these, how is it possible to measure government performance, measure Indigenous community self-sufficiency and achievement, and provide some level of confidence to the broader community that their taxpayer dollars are getting results?

Philip Ruddock's decision will lead to an increasing financial dependence by black people upon white society for three main reasons.

First, he has excluded Indigenous people from the decision-making processes and no thought has been given to the compounding effect of diminishing the power of ATSIC upon Indigenous people and likewise, their service delivery organisations.

Second, his government lacks vision and he has been unable to enunciate clearly defined goals and ways of reaching them.

Third, we Indigenous people do not suffer from a lack of policy but rather a lack of implementation and unless the Howard government is prepared to make some serious financial commitments in this year's budget, then it is unlikely that anything will be cured.

Finally, governments need to be reminded that every time history repeats itself, the price goes up and the cost to taxpayers of the government's mismanagement of Indigenous Affairs is rising daily.