The director of the Northern Land Council, Mick Dodson, called yesterday for a separate Aboriginal government with direct relations with the Federal Government.
The idea was rejected as preposterous by the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Marshall Perron.
Mr Dodson said the education, health, housing, municipal services, roads, power and water services provided by the Northern Territory were not the sort of services Aboriginal people wanted.
“”You can hardly say the northern territory government acts in the interest of Aboriginal people,” he told ABC Radio.
He agreed that the existing political system was designed to keep Aborigines out of it.
However, the Minister for Education, Shane Stone, says that the departments of education and health employ a higher proportion of Aboriginal people than in the general population.
Until the death last month of Stanley Tipiloura, the Legislative Assembly had two Aborigines out of 25 members, or 16 per cent compared with 25 per cent in the total population. An Aboriginal smoke ceremony was held in the Chamber last week to free Mr Tipiloura’s spirit.
Mr Dodson said he would not use the term separate Aboriginal state.
“”I’ve used the term aboriginal government or self-government,” he said. “”We don’t have to abide by present institutions and structures. we are talking about the basic human right of self determination. Part of that self-determination is the right of people to decide how they will be governed, how they will frame their political institutions and structures.
“”It may be territorially based it may be part territorially based, and part not territorially based. Of course, in the Northern Territory there is a large area of Aboriginal land, so the question of territoriality in the Northern Territory is probably not such a problem.”
There could be four or five or 10 to 20 self-governing areas.
“”They would have nothing to do with the territory government. They would be a separate self-governing area. The whole proposal I’m suggesting is to get away from the territory government. They never asked for us to be part of statehood, they assumed Aboriginal people would join in the calls for statehood. We’re paid lip service to in that process.”
Mr Perron said that the Northern and Central Land Councils had enormous power and had a vested interest in the status quo.
“”Those who live on Aboriginal land have few rights, little say and no control,” he said.
(Land Councils are set up under the Federal Aboriginal land-rights legislation which applies only to the Northern Territory. Under that law, Aborigines can claim Crown land if they can show a continuous spiritual connection to it. The land, including mining rights, vests in a trust controlled by a land council and cannot be sold. About half the Northern Territory has been successfully claimed or is under claim.)
Mr Perron said the idea of a separate Aboriginal government was totally impractical, he said.
Aboriginal land all over Australia could be put together in a hotch-potch of land the size of South Australia, but the practicality of it was absurd. Were they going to have their own defence force? Were they going to control immigration on to and off their land. Would they have a parliament? Taxation powers. It could never be self-supporting.
“”I don’t mind a bit of healthy debate, but when they spell their concepts out it will be seen to be impractical,” he said.