Fed: Indigenous delegates express frustration with summit

AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-2008
Fed: Indigenous delegates express frustration with summit

By Adam Gartrell

CANBERRA, April 20 AAP - Several Australia 2020 delegates examining indigenous issues
have expressed frustration with the summit, with some complaining ideas were watered down.

Increased formal recognition of Aborigines - possibly in the form of a treaty - was
a top priority for many delegates.

The need for a new representative body and a new watchdog to oversee the government's
approach to indigenous issues also proved popular.

Delegates also pushed for better partnerships between indigenous people and business,
wider use of boarding schools for indigenous students, and the establishment of a future
fund for indigenous children.

Indigenous leader Patrick Dodson called for a change to the assimilationist ethos which
continued to underpin Aboriginal affairs, urging the need for a "new national dialogue".

But other delegates such as West Australian indigenous artist Brenda Croft took exception
to such terms.

"It just sounds really namby pamby to me, what does it mean?" she told her fellow delegates.

"I think there's a level of frustration that we're not getting to a ... point where
we can come up with anything concrete," she said of the summit.

A number of delegates also expressed dissatisfaction with a document meant to sum up
the group's ideas, and urged changes and additions.

Former Australian of the Year Fiona Stanley said the document had "watered down" delegate's
ideas and failed to capture the passion in the room.

"This is just wishy-washy," she said, generating applause throughout the room.

Prof Stanley later helped Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin make changes to the document.

Queensland indigenous leader Noel Pearson did not turn up to the summit today, after
criticising yesterday's sessions for failing to generate new ideas.

Mr Dodson called Mr Pearson's assessment "a bit harsh", but said he feared the ideas
generated at the summit may be eaten up by the same political machine which repeatedly
failed to act on reports into indigenous disadvantage.

"(Ideas) will be put back into the same framework, and it will be responded to on a
convenience basis, rather than on a reformist agenda," Mr Dodson said.

AAP ag/mfh/ht/bwl

KEYWORD: SUMMIT INDIGENOUS (WITH FACTBOX)

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