The Sydney Morning Herald's political correspondent Laura Tingle has hit the nail on the head with her 11 July report on the Government's new "crackdown" on ATSIC, following the politically engineered attacks on the recent Kimberley regional development conference and on ATSIC as the main funding body.
Where are our "saviours" now I wonder -- now that the Government has launched the first missiles in the race election we weren't supposed to have?
Isn't this the very kind of malicious, ill-informed, divisive attack we were to have been saved from by the passage of the Native Title Amendment Bill? Weren't we supposed to have graciously accepted the winding back of our rights, so indigenous people would not be subject to the vilification and "horror" of an election based on race?
Senator Herron clearly not only knew all about the conference and the funding arrangements well in advance, he had been invited to attend. Despite being fully informed of the actual facts, he has deliberately fueled misinformation and done his best to perpetuate the myths that Aboriginal people are "rorting" taxpayers' funds. While he's about it, he has done his best to discredit one of the most highly respected individuals in the country and one of the most highly respected indigenous organisations.
Senator Herron had a responsibility to put the record straight. Instead he has sent a clear message to the Australian people that ignorant and malicious attacks on indigenous people and organisations are exactly what the Government has in mind in the lead-up to the next election.
The only consolation that can be drawn from this is that, long after Senator Herron and his advisers have faded into obscurity, Mr Patrick Dodson will be remembered with respect and affection as one of this nation's true leaders.
Olga Havnen,
Executive Officer
National Indigenous Working Group
Working Group
Deakin West (ACT)
