Page 3804 - Week 14 - Thursday, 10 December 1992
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International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples
MR LAMONT: My question is directed to the Chief Minister. Can the Chief Minister tell the Assembly what the Government is doing to celebrate the International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the question. I think it is a most appropriate question because today is Human Rights Day and it is also the day which has seen the launch of the International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples. That year, as I am sure members know, will be celebrated throughout 1993. Madam Speaker, I would like to say also that it has always been my view that matters to do with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be dealt with in a bipartisan manner. I know that the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Kaine, shares that view. It is certainly the way to achieve the best possible outcomes for those peoples and I welcome that bipartisan approach.
The year will be a very significant and exciting one, I believe. There have already been some important developments in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. I think those developments indicate that we are entering a period in which we will see some real social and economic change for the indigenous peoples of this country. That change will occur through the empowerment of those people. The international year will give renewed prominence to those kinds of initiatives. Some of the recent initiatives which members will be aware of include the responses to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the commitment to a process of reconciliation, and the endorsement, as I mentioned yesterday, at the inaugural Council of Australian Governments meeting, of the national commitment to improved outcomes in the delivery of programs and services for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders.
Madam Speaker, my Government is very firmly committed to improving the status and the lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT and will be using the international year to give further impetus to that improvement. To mark the start of the year today I will be calling for nominations to the Aboriginal Advisory Council, which I announced in the 1992-93 ACT budget context. That council will be a very important means of facilitating consultation between the Government and our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. One of the items that I will be asking that council's advice on right at the start will be the international year and ways in which the ACT community, as a whole, can be involved in a year of recognition and of celebration of our Aboriginal heritage. The council will also be asked to provide advice to me on the distribution of funding for Aboriginal affairs, which again was announced in the 1992-93 budget. That will include celebratory activities as well as other actions in relation to the royal commission report.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to advise members today also that I have announced jointly with the acting chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Mr Sol Bellear, a package of initiatives under the national Aboriginal health strategy. This package is aimed at improving the health and well-being of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
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