Harris, Lochie --- "Recent Happenings" [2001] IndigLawB 27; (2001) 5(7) Indigenous Law Bulletin 24

Recent Happenings

Compiled by Lochie Harris

1 March

Shadow Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Bob McMullan MP announced that due to a decline in rural doctors who bulk bill, 20% of patients attending Indigenous health services in rural Australia are non-Indigenous patients.

4 March

13 years after work on the bridge was supposed to begin and approximately $25 million over-budget, the Hindmarsh Island Bridge was opened for use.

6 March

A test case clarifying the extent to which native title exists on pastoral leases was commenced in the High Court by the Miriuwung and Gajerrong people from the East Kimberley. The case is challenging the contention of the Howard government that pastoral leases automatically extinguish Native Title. In a qualified show of support the West Australian state government has acknowledged that it believes that pastoral leases and native title can co-exist.

11 March

The National Museum of Australia opened in Canberra under a cloud of controversy. Those exhibits devoted to the history of Australia’s Indigenous population prompted a full spectrum of responses. The Daily Telegraph described the museum as a ‘sneering ridicule for white Australia’ while The Australian was a little less critical, proclaiming the museum to be ‘a proud and honest monument to our national identity.’

15 March

The Cape York Land Council the Queensland Government and the resource multinational Comalco have signed a native title agreement covering the western Cape York Peninsula. The deal will deliver $5.5 million a year to a trust controlled by traditional owners. The contributions will increase as Comalco aluminum production in the area increases and as the price of aluminum rises.

22 March

The Tasmanian Parliament’s Upper House narrowly rejected a bill passed by the House of Representatives that would have returned around 50,000 hectares of land to Aboriginal ownership.

In a speech given to Murdoch University, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser went on record to criticise the Howard government for its treatment of Aborigines and repeated his call for a national apology.

In a National Press Club speech, Immigration, Reconciliation, Multicultural Affairs and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Phillip Ruddock said that reconciliation between black and white Australians could not be organised to a timetable or legislated by Government. The minister’s Parliamentary Secretary suggested to the press that saying ‘hello’ to a person from another ethnic group, watching the Aboriginal film Yolngu Boy or cooking an ethnic meal might be a more constructive way of achieving racial integration.

26 March

Deputy leader of the Democrats, Senator Aden Ridgeway, in a speech to the UN Human Rights Commission declared that Australia needed to move beyond the rhetoric of reconciliation and take active steps to resolve outstanding Indigenous issues. Senator Ridgeway told the UN body that ‘non-Indigenous Australians are keen to embrace the rhetoric of reconciliation so long as it doesn’t require them to take effective action to share the country’s abundant resources and political power.’

28 March

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and ATSIC launched a program aiming to place 2000 Indigenous people in private sector jobs. The program also aims to place 1540 Indigenous people in work training programs in the next two years.

29 March

The council of elders of the Yorta Yorta people announced their intention to appeal the full Federal Court’s decision to reject their native title claim to the High Court.