Bruce Reyburn
The Government's Native Title Bill passed in the House of
Representatives at approximately 9:15 pm Eastern Summer Time,
Thursday 25 November with a vote along party lines of 72 for
and 56 against.
It will now go to the Senate, which resumes on 7 December, and
a rush is on to get it passed before the end of the year. The
Opposition repeatedly questioned the need for this rush.
The lengthy debate on the Bill, however, consisted of a
cultural monologue from which the voice of the lawmen and
women of Australia's First Peoples was sorely missing.
'Justice for Aboriginal people' was the verbal game in play.
English was used exclusively in a House which has not
acknowledged that it is built on Aboriginal foundations and by
wealth expropriated from the living countries of First
Peoples. "Terra nullius was dead," we heard.
Nearly all the speakers seemed to accept it as natural that
the expression 'validation of title' meant the validation of
titles issued by the Crown and not validation of native title.
Under the Bill, native title to large areas of Australia held
under freehold and leasehold Crown title will be legislatively
extinguished.
This fact seemed lost on all the speakers, despite the many
statements of how they understood the very special
relationship that country has for Aboriginal people. Their
statements do not appear to be matched with any real
understanding and appear to be aimed to dress the speakers in
a refashioned version of Anglo-Australian respectability.
Under the terms of the Bill, recognition of native title will
be virtually restricted to the wastelands of the Crown.
The best part of Australia will be classified as being in
'category A' which extinguishes native title completely. In a
way, this creates a White Homeland out of the gains of two
hundred years of the doctrine and practices of terra nullius.
The Bill seeks to provide protection for this White Homeland
by placing freehold and leasehold land out of reach of common
law claims of by First Peoples to their birthright country.
Earlier in the day the Prime Minister, in response to an
approach by activist Michael Mansell to amend the legislation,
had emphatically announced that there would be no amendment
allowing First Peoples mineral rights. People who are seeking
to pursue such issues, outside of the package wrapped up by
the Prime Minister, are now being labelled as 'extremists'.
There has been no real questioning of the proclaimed right of
the Crown to extinguish native title, nor of the genocidal
consequences of such actions for First Peoples.
The two Green Senators, who hold part of the balance of power
in the Senate, yesterday rescheduled the statement of their
position on the passage of the Bill through the Senate until 6
December. They favour having the Bill referred to committees
for indepth examination and for there to be further
consultation with Aboriginal people.
On making this announcement they were immediately attacked by
members of the Black bureaucracy - who are part of the $2
billion per year Aborigine industry - as Australia wallows in
the plunder of resources intended to last for eternity. Snouts
are in the trough everwhere.
Using arguments which would have been howled down had they
been issued by someone with a white skin, ATSIC Chairwoman
Lois O'Donoghue accused the Greens of hi-jacking Aboriginal
authority.
Ms. O'Donoghue argued that it was not necessary for the
legislation to be discussed with Aboriginal people in remote
places. She compared the situation to that with non-Aboriginal
people, saying that it was not considered necessary to do this
for non-Aboriginal people. "If we are not representative, who
is?" asked Ms O'Donoghue.
This is a valid question. Just what is the constituency of the
refashioned Department of Aboriginal Affairs which is now
ATSIC? Is the drive for imperial honours as strong now as it
was formerly, with New Years Honours almost in reach?
The voice of the senior lawmen was missing. The voice of all
those who have been fighting for recognition of their rights
to land under pastoral leases was missing. They are clearly
not part of the elitist 'Category A Club'.
The fact that many First Peoples are expected to surrender
their rights to land under pastoral lease appeared to be lost
to the professional negotiators. These rights were negotiated
away in the Prime Minister's 'tastefully' furnished rooms in
Canberra.
In their minds, no doubt, the Government's promises of buying
up cattle stations soothes their conscience. But it will be
from the funds generated by the exloitation of the eternal
inheritance of other First Peoples which will fund these
purchases.
And to take this line is to totally miss the point of the
struggle on cattle stations - to obtain the deep equality
which comes from genuine recognition, acceptance and sharing.
It does not come from the segregation envisaged by the Bill.
The struggle never was about riches in European terms.
It is no co-incidence that the Bill is supported by the
Category A National Farmers Federation. The declaration that
leases extinguish native title will solve their problems of
legitimacy once and for all. They - and not the Blacks - will
be the only legitimate proprietors of the soil.
The alliance of the long term competitors for living countries
with the professional negotiators should send a clear warning
message in itself.
Enormous pressure will now be brought upon the Greens,
including inverted forms of racism from upwardly mobile
politicians defending their Black political base and abuse
from the hack writers of the mainstream media. The climate of
panic and fear is being successfully manipulated by invisible
forces to prevent careful consideration and proper debate.
Threatened with playing into hands of the stereotypical
'enemies' of First Peoples by forces pursuing other agendas,
it is unlikely that the Greens will withstand the pressure to
pass the Bill. Time is required to let the deeper issues to
come to the surface.
Party politics certainly failed Australia once again. A rebel
Labor politician was threatened with expulsion from the party
if he abstained. Not much chance of a conscience vote with a
million people unemployed.
The stand of the two Senators is the signs of a new green
shoot of hope. We have until 6 December for a bit of a miracle
to occur.
Now, if ever, is the time for the ancient order of the
Rainbow Serpent to make its appearance on the scene - and for
the singing voice of the lawmen to be heard.
Should be an interesting two weeks.