Indigenous Australian – Samaya Argüello

Radical Heart, the inside story of the Uluru Statement of the Heart

Radical Heart

Shireen Morris

Melbourne University Publishing

Dr Shireen Morris is a constitutional lawyer and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Melbourne where she focuses on indigenous constitutional recognition. Hailing from Fijian-Indian immigrant parents who made their home in Melbourne, Morris worked for seven years on the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a statement that is controversial in terms of recognition of First Peoples with the Australian Constitution. Her book, Radical Heart is an exploration of her involvement in the campaign for constitutional recognition.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart came from a constitutional convention supported by the Referendum Council, a bipartisan council jointly appointed by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten. Though there was a focus on the calls to alter the Constitution in recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people the statement also called for reform around legislative change with the creation of a Makarrata Commission which would supervise agreements between the government and indigenous groups as well as the promotion of truth-telling in regard to indigenous culture, law, customs and, of course, the effects of colonialism.

Makarrata is a Yolngu word meaning “coming together after a struggle”, the name is suitable considering the injustices of the past.

Early on in Radical Heart, Morris announces that the lack of First People’s inclusion and participation in politics and the lack of Constitutional recognition is due in equal parts to politics as well as a “lack of morally courageous leadership”. Morris argues for the need for consistent and strong advocacy for indigenous recognition in the Australian Constitution, which would also require the formation of a constitutionally guaranteed indigenous advisory body, the Makarrata Commission. Makarrata is a Yolngu word meaning “coming together after a struggle”, the name is suitable considering the injustices of the past. Moving through the book it is not hard to see why Morris positions this statement front and centre given the complexities of the topic, and the voices involved – seemingly at times competing with each other.

Radical Heart is an important contribution to understanding the limits of constitutional reform in Australia as well as providing clear insights into exactly why this is required.

Morris’ strength lies in her ability to take readers on an intimate journey into the campaign around the Uluru Statement from the Heart, from personal stories about working with Noel Pearson, member of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians in 2011, who would admonish her work in front of policymakers in a bid to make her consider it more fully; to the delicate and often political tête-à-tête with constitutional defenders, left- and right-leaning politicians and key indigenous experts such as Marcia Langton.

Deeply telling, the lead up to the final chapter in which the Uluru Statement from the Heart is formally rejected sets out the ways in which government opposition and public uncertainty impacted upon recognition of not only the importance of the Statement but also its aims and future impacts on Australian legal, socio-cultural, political and educational frameworks. Radical Heart is an important contribution to understanding the limits of constitutional reform in Australia as well as providing clear insights into exactly why this is required.

Morris succinctly points out six key lies that need to be corrected when analysing governmental rejection of the Statement as being “neither desirable nor capable of winning acceptance at referendum” – collectively they showcase the fundamental misunderstanding of the role that indigenous Australians have within contemporary Australian society. They are at the heart of Australia and without giving the First Peoples a voice firmly enshrined in the Constitution, all Australians cannot move forward as a nation.

Aboriginal Human Rights Trajectory Crucial Reading

Originally published at Right Now : Human Rights in Australia

950109-6ba2e4de-fa0c-11e4-ae12-33869197e80f

Book review by Maya Borom

No Small Change: The Road to Recognition for Indigenous Australia | UQP

In 1967, a successful referendum was held to determine whether the Australian constitution should be altered to remove references that discriminated against Aboriginal people. Momentum has since been gathering around a proposal that the Australian constitution be changed to positively recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A new referendum has been proposed for 2017, some 50 years after the initial 1967 referendum.

Frank Brennan’s No Small Change: The Road to Recognition for Indigenous Australia is a comprehensive look at the path to constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians. Brennan takes the reader on a journey, which includes analysis of the lead-up to the 1967 referendum; the socio-political manoeuvrings of state ministers and government officers around Aboriginal affairs; frank discussion around perceived promises springing from the change to the constitution; and the tabled concerns of Aboriginal advocates around legislative protections and the constitutional framework.

Brennan, a law professor at the Australian Catholic University and adjunct professor at the College of Law and the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at the Australian National University, displays an expert understanding of the issues that indigenous Australians face in contemporary Australia. This is evidenced by him receiving an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to Aboriginal Australians.

His father is esteemed High Court Justice Brennan, who famously rejected the notion of terra nullius in the Mabo case (1992), though Brennan himself notes in the preface that his own introduction to the complexity of Aboriginal issues first emerged as a junior barrister in 1981 in Queensland.

Deftly written and all-inclusive, No Small Change: The Road to Recognition for Indigenous Australia is a must read for those interested in Aboriginal issues in the Australian socio-political landscape, particularly the teasing out of Aboriginal concerns around discrimination and adverse treatment arising from the changes to the constitution in 1967.

These issues most recently played out through inconsistent laws dealing with native title, while the treatment of Adam Goodes is further proof that overt racism continues to pose a real threat to indigenous Australians’ mental and physical health.

No Small Change: The Road to Recognition for Indigenous Australia is available from UQP.

Utopia by John Pilgers Film Review

This article was originally published at Right Now: Human Rights in Australia

Image: John Pilger

IMAGE: JOHN PILGER

By Maya Borom

John Pilgers documentary Utopia is a damning account of the seemingly apartheid-style laws and policies that successive Australian governments have placed on Indigenous Australians. The documentary highlights governmental inaction at it’s very worst and showcases the often collusionary nature of politics when dealing with Indigenous issues and welfare.

Almost 28 years have passed since Pilger first shot The Secret Country, an expose on the Aboriginal community living in Utopia in the Northern Territory, and how governmental (non) intervention impacted upon their lives. It’s release shocked audiences around the world who decried the lack of governmental infrastructure and intervention in health, schooling and general wellbeing. Pilger revisited the community in Utopia to see if anything had changed – unsurprisingly it had not.

The passage of 28 years and different federal governments failed to bring much needed infrastructure and support to Australia’s most vulnerable communities. Pilger documents that scant, if little health care is available to the community and medical experts voice their opinion as to the sub-standard facilities they are expected to practice in – including no electricity and open sewers. Utopia is a place where people die needlessly and have health issues that have all but been eradicated in countries similar to Australia’s socio-economic rating – indeed, the United Nations have routinely criticised Australia for it’s failure to adhere to human rights conventions regarding Indigenous rights.

Access to electricity, water, schooling and adequate housing are wishes on an Indigenous Australian’s list that gets longer and longer as Australia becomes more wealthy …

Inadequate housing also invariably leads to health issues, with stories of cockroaches embedding themselves in eardrums of children who must sleep outside due to a chronic housing shortage, or whose parents choose to sleep outside as they don’t wish to sleep inside condemned asbestos houses. Pilger illustrates how the lack of infrastructure is in stark contrast to that which is routinely viewed as a right in urbanised Australian suburbs. Access to electricity, water, schooling and adequate housing are wishes on an Indigenous Australian’s list that gets longer and longer as Australia becomes more wealthy within the global landscape and continues to ignore its Indigenous population.

Interestingly, Australia is the only Commonwealth nation that does not have a treaty with it’s Indigenous population – therefore no formal mechanism exists whereby Indigenous communities can participate equally in an exchange of goods or services (i.e. land rights, mining rights for infrastructure, education).

The film is not only about Utopia as a destination, it touches upon the wider issue of Indigenous deaths in custody, the Stolen Generation and the 2007 ‘Northern Territory Emergency Response’ (‘the Intervention’) imposed upon Indigenous communities in a misguided and fraudulent attempt at breaking down so called ‘paedophile rings’. Pilger demonstrates how the ABC’s Lateline in conjunction with a concerted media/governmental joint effort allowed for the demonisation of indigenous Australians – a legacy that is still being felt in 2014. He presents a convincing argument as to how the mainstream media, corporations and various sections of the government constructs and presents a derogative image of indigenous Australia that prevents the nation as a whole from moving forward in indigenous rights and responsibilities.

John Pilger’s Utopia is a must-see documentary for those interested in the plight of Australia’s Indigenous population and illustrates how the country must work together to ensure we move away from an apartheid system that creates an ever widening divide between Australians.