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The business of Indigenous Affairs then and now

By Kevin Andrews - posted Wednesday, 27 April 2005


The responsibility to fashion a more balanced regime with effective disincentives and incentives is one the Australian Government is tackling with reforms to the welfare system. One model is New Zealand’s very effective “work-first welfare-second” reforms. Unemployment among Maoris has declined from 16 per cent in 1999 to just 8.9 per cent in December 2004.

Emphasising economic development

A greater emphasis on Indigenous economic independence - private jobs, incomes and enterprises - is growing in significance to policy makers as the Indigenous population grows. Thirty years ago, Australia’s small Indigenous population of 106,000 people was principally rural. But in 2001 there were 460,000 Indigenous Australians, only one quarter of them living in remote areas. It is also a very young population, with 70 per cent of Indigenous people under 25.

The Commonwealth has devised successful models in Indigenous Business Australia and the Home Ownership Program. There are also small business financing and skills transfer schemes, like the Business Development Program, the Indigenous Capital Assistance Scheme and Indigenous Community Volunteers. Some successful Indigenous enterprises, ranging from micro business to capital intensive mining operations, are flourishing. Entrepreneurial Indigenous people exist and are supported - but commercial developments, rates of homeownership and self employment are critically low. Indigenous commercial development cannot be examined without a discussion of the development of land rights.

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Land rights were given Commonwealth recognition in 1972 by Prime Minister William McMahon, with funds made available for buying properties not on reserves. Today, Indigenous ownership of the Northern Territory is approximately 44 per cent, in South Australia nearly 21 per cent; Western Australia, 14 per cent; for other jurisdictions, less than 3 per cent. The total is around 16 per cent of Australia’s land area.

The vast majority of Australians do not begrudge Indigenous communities being rich in sacred sites and natural resources. Many would like communities to acquire more, which is the general trend anyway. Nevertheless when so many communities are simultaneously asset rich and unacceptably poor, something is wrong.

Following the lead of Canada and the US, Australia created a system of land trusts and land councils to manage inalienable communal title. Of course, commercial development on inalienable land exists but decision making has been slow and complex. For three decades, workability and development were not seen as priorities. The general working principle was to build a system around subsistence from the land and waters. In turn, barriers to investment and involvement by Indigenous individuals and communities were created.

Warren Mundine, a National Indigenous Council member and President-elect of ALP National Executive, has initiated an important debate about homeownership on inalienable land. Mundine proposes to foster a “salt ‘n’ pepper” mixed ownership system. As he points out, many of the barriers to homeownership and commercial development on communal land are non-legal. Worthwhile future directions include fostering financial literacy and capacity building among Indigenous communities so as to make best use of existing programmes. His ideas may well successfully tackle overcrowding and poor sanitation in remote and rural communities.

An innovative, responsive, agile approach

Shared Responsibility Agreements and Indigenous Co-ordination Centres are at the heart of a new more innovative, responsive and agile approach to Indigenous Affairs. Indigenous communities nominate initiatives, programmes and policies that they need and want from the different Federal agencies. This is done through the ICCs, in a systematic, monitored, whole of government approach. In return, Indigenous communities will have to negotiate some mutual obligation requirements.

For Indigenous affairs, this represents an enormous shift in public service practice and delivery. The progress made with “no school, no pool” initiatives is heartening. Witness the rapid decline of trachoma among the young in the Mulan community following its “washing-faces for a new petrol bowser” deal with the government. Communities appear to be enthusiastic. By mid-2005, there should be 50 Shared Responsibility Agreements.

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Moving ahead with cautious optimism

Australian policy makers have been slow to realise that private property ownership and workforce participation would be healthy for Indigenous peoples. Deliberate insulation from the job market and enterprise created poverty and welfare dependence. Despite the gains in land rights, the capacity for greater economic independence was diminished.

The Howard Government is committed to an Indigenous Economic Independence Strategy, basing its thinking on two underlying considerations: first, rejecting the notion that Indigenous people are lesser economic beings; second, challenging a welfare culture in favour of an entrepreneurial culture. This is as noble a cause as political equality or addressing dispossession.

The way out of welfare is to build workforce participation and to find the economic and social multipliers that create opportunity and reduce hardship. The way forward needs effective public service delivery of education, health and other essential services. At the same time, we recognise some labour markets are limited. Programs of community development will remain an integral component of the new approach.

More Indigenous Australians must be given hope and opportunities to participate in the market and economy. To gain a job, to own property, to build their own wealth for the next generation, are prerequisites for Indigenous economic independence. If practical reconciliation means anything, it means this.

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Article edited by Margaret-Ann Williams.
If you'd like to be a volunteer editor too, click here.

Extracted from a speech by the Federal Minister of Employment and Workplace Relations to the Institute of Public Affairs, Kevin Andrews, April 13, 2005. The complete version can be found here.



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About the Author

Kevin Andrews is the federal Member for Menzies (Vic) and a former Minister in the Howard Liberal government.

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