Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 2.2: Challenges at the National Policy Level
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Mabo was extremely important in that, as was the Wik Decision.” 42 Noel
had thought—until the Queensland Wild Rivers Legislation 43 at least—that
land rights could be put on the back burner for the time being so that
there could be a focus on social issues such as reform in areas such as
health, education, housing. As Noel points out, it is important for “our
people [to take] responsibility for our lives, rebuilding families, rebuilding
the strength in our people and never succumbing to victimhood.” Noel
believes strongly that the key right of indigenous peoples is the right to
take charge, the right of indigenous peoples to take responsibility. The
challenge for indigenous peoples at the moment in Australia is how to
wrest that right to take responsibility from the state.
Granted, Queensland had gone a long way with land rights, and activists
like Noel Pearson believed that an understanding about land had been
reached. Unfortunately, however, some of the other Australian states
still lag far behind and land rights must remain a key focus. Until the
government finally recognizes that land is fundamental to our cultural
identity and our cultural sustainability—that it is fundamental to who we
are—we will not be able to move forward. And without due recognition of
land rights, the development reform that Noel talks about could remain a
perpetual challenge that evades resolution.
Unfortunately, therefore, there is still a long way to go to resolve our rights
over land.
As the Chief Executive Officer of the Goldfields Land and Sea Council, I
attended many meetings where I hear updates and progress reports from
bureaucrats about policy changes and legislative reform. We hear all the
time about what the government wants to do for Aboriginal people and
why this is important or why that is needed. But we are so caught up in
the legalese of the Native Title Act and the bureaucratic red tape of policy
reform that it is choking us. Bureaucrats should not be resented for doing
their jobs—but it is almost as if the Australian government has forgotten
that this is about people. The policy changes and legislative reform they
put forward directly affects people—they talk as if they have forgotten that
it is about indigenous peoples. It is about our lives.
Again—it is time to get back to basics.
If the government is serious about closing the gap between indigenous
and non-indigenous peoples then they have to seriously look at the
deficiencies of indigenous rights. The link between resolving native title
and associated rights, and the broader issues of health and well-being,
needs to be recognized and acknowledged. Native title was supposed