Budget 2024: Labor accused of abandoning leadership, taking ‘path of least resistance’, says Tom Calma
Labor ‘has taken a sabbatical’ from showing leadership on Indigenous affairs and chosen the ‘path of least resistance’ in the budget, Indigenous leaders say.
Labor “has taken a sabbatical” from leadership on Indigenous affairs and chosen the “path of least resistance” in using the budget to focus on practical measures to close the gap, Aboriginal leaders say.
The government revealed on Tuesday that it would redirect the $20m set aside for local and regional voices while remaining silent on if and when it would set up a Makarrata Commission. One of the nation’s most respected Indigenous rights campaigners and voice architect, Tom Calma, warned Labor against leaving the setting up of consultative bodies such as local and regional voices to state governments.
“The commonwealth has got to have skin in the game,” he said. “This can’t be just the states and territories. If you don’t have the three tiers of government working on these initiatives collectively, there can be inefficiencies, duplications or the worst thing you can have is a gap.”
He said Indigenous affairs remained a “political football”.
Victoria implemented its own voice for Indigenous people in 2018, known as the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, while South Australia last month elected the members of its First Nations voice.
While The Australian understands Labor had been considering progressing regional and local voices – which would not have required constitutional change or even legislative reform – the budget revealed the government had ultimately ditched the idea and focused instead on a multi-billion-dollar suite of practical measures for Indigenous Australians.
Labor has also been clear that on treaty and agreement-making, which the Uluru Statement of the Heart said would be overseen by a Makarrata Commission, progress was already being made at a state and territory level.
But Professor Calma said a Makarrata Commission was needed to investigate whether the commonwealth could strike treaties and with whom.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said the government was focused on delivering housing, jobs, health and education, and justice. “We are investing to close the gap and we’re unlocking opportunities for First Nations people … We’re taking a commonsense and responsible approach, one that has listening to First Nations communities at its heart,” she said.
The Coalition of Peaks acting lead convener, Catherine Liddle, said decisions on how the Uluru Statement would be progressed needed to “be subject to an open and transparent process”.
She added that the reallocation of the $20m previously set aside for regional and local voices “should be in line with the government’s commitment, under the national agreement on closing the gap, to share decision-making with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”. “We cannot close the gap unless governments change the way they work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We need genuine partnerships, not tick-a-box consultation,” she said.
Chair of Uphold and Recognise, Sean Gordon, said the practical measures on housing and education were in line with the status quo, and what was “clearly missing” was representation of Aboriginal people on the ground.
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