Australia Day: British ‘benefited from dispossession of indigenous’

Indigenous leader Jackie Huggins has hit back at Tony Abbott’s claim that indigenous people have benefited from white settlement.

Jackie Huggins says British settlers benefited from the dispossession of indigenous people. Picture: Emma Murray.

Indigenous leader Jackie Huggins has hit back at Tony Abbott’s claim that indigenous people have benefited from the arrival of the First Fleet, saying the British who settled in Australia benefited from the dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Amid debate over changing the date of Australia Day, the former prime minister said British settlement had “on balance” been good for both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

“I would argue that what happened on the January 26, 1788 was on balance for everyone, Aboriginal people included, a good thing because it brought Western civilisation to this country, it brought Australia into the modern world,” Mr Abbott said yesterday.

Dr Huggins, co-chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, said she saw things differently.

“Well in fact I think British civilisation has benefited very well from the dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” Dr Huggins told ABC radio.

“Just to name a few: the land, the resources, the water, and grazing pastures and so on, so I think it’s about whose perception you’re looking at here, whether it’s a European’s or an Aboriginal’s.”

Highlighting a poll of 1600 people done by the national congress, which found that 83 per cent of participants supported changing the date of Australia Day, Dr Huggins said she was hopeful the date would eventually change, despite a lack of political will from all major parties other than the Greens at this stage.

“If it goes by our poll that we recently took, there is absolute need and people are saying to us that we want the date changed, so I think the will of the people, which is always great will win out in the end,” she said.

Asked about indigenous Affairs Minster Nigel Scullion’s claim last week that no Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person had raised the issue of the Australia Day date with him, Dr Huggins said her organisation had not pursued it with Mr Scullion.

“We haven’t specifically because we know that there are many other issues that we’ve been involved in with Minister Scullion around the Redfern statement alliance in terms of looking at how we engage more meaningfully with the government to overcome the employment, family violence, disability, child protection, incarceration rates, et cetera,” Dr Huggins said.

“So obviously we’ve had that discussion with him and we’ll continue to have discussions with government.

“I think unless specifically asked Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have lots going on, and that’s why we welcome this debate in terms of not only being an Australia Day debate but look to other issues that can springboard from this in terms of Aboriginal issues and policies.”