UTSpeaks: No More Intervention Nicole Watson, Alison Vivian, Craig Longman - 24 April 2012

NO MORE INTERVENTION

UTSpeaks24 April 2012

Nicole WatsonAlison VivianCraig Longman

Senior ResearchersJumbunna Indigenous House of LearningUniversity of Technology, Sydney

Stronger Futures Discussion Paper• Views of Aboriginal people at centre of future

action• Progress over the last four years but much to be

done• Way that Intervention was first implemented –

without consultation – has caused ongoing anger, fear and distrust

• We must work in partnership with Aboriginal people, leaders and communities to develop directions and policies

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Article 19:States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.

[W]ithout the buy-in of indigenous peoples, through consultation, at the earliest stages of the development of Government initiatives, the effectiveness of Government programs, even those that are intended to specifically benefit indigenous peoples, can be crippled at the outset. Invariably, it appears that a lack of adequate consultation leads to conflictive situations, with indigenous expressions of anger and mistrust.

General Recommendation 32

Special measures are:

designed and implemented on the basis of prior consultation with affected communities and the active participation of such communities

Essential requirements to fulfill the duty to consult

1. Good faith negotiations with the object of achieving agreement or consent

2. Confidence building processes conducive to building consensus

Former Coalition Government

Free, prior and informed consent

inconsistent with Australia’s democratic system if Parliament’s ability to enact and amend legislation was subject to the consent of a particular subgroup of the population

What does effective consultation look like?

• Consultation process itself should be product of consensus• Consultations need to begin early and should, where necessary, be ongoing,

allowing for the opportunity for long-term, positive relationships to develop • Good faith negotiations towards mutually acceptable agreement prior to

decisions on being made• Genuine ability to influence decisions, rather than being mechanisms for

providing them with information about decisions already made • Power imbalance addressed with equal access to financial, human, technical

and material resources • Adequate timeframes should be built into consultation processes allowing for

fully informed responses

Legislative Package

• Social Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 (Cth)

• Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill 2011 (Cth)

• Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2011

Proposed Measures

• Income Management• SEAM (School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure)

• Alcohol Management • Government Area Management Powers• ‘Food Security’• Customary Law• Prohibition of Pornography / Requirements for Publically Funded Computers• 5 yr leases / Aboriginal Town Camps / Community Living Areas / Native Title

Future Acts Regime• Australian Crime Commission Powers

Implications for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities

• It will not work - Failure to achieve benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

• Continuing denial of rights to self-determination, the right to practice culture and disempowerment of individuals and communities.

• Related Trauma to Individuals and Communities

• Complexity, unpredictability.

Implications for Non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia

• Implications for Democracy• Implications for the character of the nation

and the ideals it espouses

UTSpeaks: No More Intervention Nicole Watson, Alison Vivian, Craig Longman - 24 April 2012