Andrew Forrest hailed as the voice for Indigenous

In the desert between Alice Springs and the Indian Ocean, the Ngaatyanjarra people have made a searing point about the policies that affect their lives.

Andrew Forrest.

In the desert between Alice Springs and the Indian Ocean, the Ngaatyanjarra people have made a searing point about the policies that affect their lives.

“There is already a very influential voice to parliament on Indigeno­us issues,” says Ngaat­yan­jarra shire president Damian McLean. “The voice just happens to be the voice of Andrew Forrest, expressed though the exhaustive ‘Creating Parity’ document published in 2014.” Mr McLean’s provocative­ claim that the Indig­enous voice is a non-Indigenous billionaire is published in the minutes of the latest meeting of leaders from each of the nine Aboriginal­ communities of the remote Ngaatanjarraku shire.

Mr McLean is not Indigenous either. He has lived on the lands, in Warburton, 1500km northeast of Perth, since 1982.

The Creating Parity report recommended what became the cashless debit card. The people of the lands opted out, but Mr McLean said many ended up with it anyway after stints in the regional city of Kalgoorlie.

Mr McLean’s complaint is as much about centralisation as it is about not being heard. He bristles that Mr Forrest’s recommend­ations informed government policy while at the same time the people of the lands had no direct line to Canberra.

It is a key aim of Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt to address this with a voice. He says Indigenous people in remote Australia say nobody is listening.

A spokesperson for Mr Forrest’s Generation One initiative, run by Indigenous woman Shel­ey Cable, said the recommendations of the 2014 Creating Parity report were informed through extensive consultation with Indigenous leaders and communities from across Australia.

The report was framed by ­forums attended by more than 1600 people, and more than 150 meetings with business and employment leaders, first Australian leaders and other experts, the spokesperson said.