The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission is to be revamped and made fully elected, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Robert Tickner, announced yesterday.
Mr Tickner said it was part of greater management of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of their own affairs. Under the changes, which would require legislation, the Minister would no longer appoint the chairperson and two commissioners.
(subs: next par is me backgrounding; it is not Tickner speaking, so leave it in existing tenses)
ATSIC was created in 1990, taking over many of the functions of the old Department of Aboriginal Affairs and some other bodies. It has a budget of about $600 million and a staff of more than 1000, 900 of whom are permanent and 420 of whom are Aboriginal or Islander. About $84 million of its budget is spent on administration and the rest on programs. ATSIC’s main functions are to devise and supervise government programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and give policy advice to the Government.
Mr Tickner said that under the proposed changes the number of ATSIC regional councils would be cut from 60 to 36. The chairs of those councils would be full-time. The 20 commissioners would also become full-time. The changes would not cost any more. The reduction in the number of councils would improve administration and efficiency and would be achieved through amalgamations in mostly non-urban areas with lower Aboriginal populations.
The proposals followed a report on the Act by commissioners in February.
Mr Tickner praised the work of the existing commission and its last appointed chairperson, Lois O’Donoghue.
Ms O’Donoghue, whose term ends in March next year, issued a statement welcomingthe changes, but she was not available for comment yesterday and her office did not know if she would stand for election to the new commission.
Mr Tickner said the work of ATSIC over the past three years “”has shown that the policy of empowerment of the people themselves, which is the fundamental principle of the Act really works”.