Laboring on land rights
By Graham Matthews
BRISBANE — Has Labor sold out on land rights? This was the question raised at Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly's monthly forum here on February 2, held at the Resistance Centre.
Thirty participants heard Les Malezer from the Foundation of Aboriginal and Islander Research Action and Angela Luvera from Resistance and the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) discuss the state Labor government's new native title legislation.
"Native title was meant to be a common law right", Malezer argued, adding that the result of legislation introduced by successive governments to curb this right has meant that "Aboriginal people are reduced to making a claim for a right they should already have".
"The last 10 to 15 years have added nothing to Aboriginal land rights", said Malezer, who is also deputy chairperson of the National Indigenous Working Group. "We've seen a watering down of the rights that were won earlier in the struggle."
Malezer expressed confidence in an Aboriginal fight back. "The challenge is to make ATSIC a genuine representative of Aboriginal people, not a sub-department of government", he said. But he expressed little confidence in the ALP, which he accused of "lacking [the] commitment" to overturn the Coalition's legislation, should it be elected to government federally.
Since December, the Queensland Indigenous Working Group has begun to oppose the state government's proposed Aboriginal heritage and native title legislation, Malezer explained. The legislation is deeply flawed, leaving the determination of Aboriginal heritage sites to the minister rather than Aboriginal people.
"There's an effort to ram the heritage legislation through, so that the [state Labor] government can continue its love affair with the mining companies", Malezer said.
The legislation needs the approval of the Senate before it can be ratified.
Luvera spoke about the conditions of life confronting Aboriginal people, including lower life expectancy, poor health care, high imprisonment rates and astronomic unemployment rates. Luvera stated the DSP's absolute support for Aboriginal land rights and for Aboriginal people's control of their own affairs.