Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:The need for the Australian Government to support the adoption of the proposed United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples when it is put to the vote in the current session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Democrats have brought on this matter of urgency today because we believe it is an urgent matter. The United Nations General Assembly is sitting at present and it will be considering the issue of the adoption of a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples within the next week. It is doubly appropriate because of course we have the Prime Minister of Canada in Australia at the moment. He will be addressing an unofficial session of the Australian parliament tomorrow. Canada and Australia are two governments that have been less than supportive—in fact, they have been amongst the least supportive publicly—of adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

It needs to be stated up-front that this declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples would not be binding. It is nonetheless an internationally agreed mechanism for recognising the rights of indigenous peoples and it sets benchmarks which all countries should seek to meet in ensuring that their indigenous peoples’ rights are acknowledged, respected, enforced and implemented.

The Howard government has of course on a number of occasions been quite hostile to the United Nations and to various international treaties and conventions. It has sought to belittle them a number of times. But it is particularly relevant, I think, to note that in recent times there have been fervent references to international conventions and laws by the Howard government to justify and reinforce their actions—including, the intervention in the Northern Territory with regard to Aboriginal people. The Convention on the Rights of the Child in particular was referred to regularly by government speakers and by the minister as part of the reason why the government had to act—to ensure that the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child were properly respected and implemented. Certainly that is a convention that the Democrats support, and indeed we would like to see it actually reflected properly in Australian law.

We have even seen the government make fervent pleas referring to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to justify and reinforce its legislation and action to enable plebiscites on the amalgamations of local government in Queensland. So we are seeing in recent times what I think is a welcome number of statements by coalition government ministers referring to international conventions and international law which Australia has adopted as valuable benchmarks to justify actions here in Australia.

It is, I believe, a key moment for Australia and, indeed, for the global community to be adopting internationally agreed declarations setting out basic fundamental rights for indigenous peoples around the world and particularly ours in Australia. It is not engaging in self-flagellation or hairshirt politics or black armband politics, or any other pejorative phrases, to make the simple clear statement that Australia as a nation has failed its Indigenous peoples terribly over centuries. This has been done often unintentionally, often inadvertently, often unknowingly, but it is still a fact that we have done it. That is our legacy, that is our record, across the political spectrum, across all levels of government, across the decades. This covenant provides an opportunity for the Australian government to say, in conjunction with the global community, ‘We recognise these as fundamental rights for indigenous peoples and we will seek to commit to them.’

One of the areas that is often pointed to, and has in the past been pointed to by people speaking on behalf of the Australian government, as a problem in the declaration is the right of self-determination. So it is worth emphasising that, according to the very latest version that I understand is to be put to the United Nations General Assembly, article 46, part 1, specifically says:

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, people, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act contrary to the Charter of the United Nations or construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent States ...

So any suggestion that self-determination and the right to self-determination somehow threaten the territorial integrity of Australia or the political unity of Australia is a furphy. This declaration also has a recognition in article 3:

Indigenous peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

That is simply a repeat of part 1 of article 1 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Australia has long ratified, stating that all peoples, including of course indigenous peoples, have the right of self-determination.

It is important in the current debate—not debating the specifics of the policies whether in the Northern Territory or anywhere else—to take note of some of the overarching attitudes that have been expressed and the directions and comments that have been made by government leaders. These are attitudes that have been interpreted by many indigenous communities as supporting assimilation as the only way forward, as supporting paternalism as an adequate attitude. There have been government members in this Senate who have said that. I believe that it is clearly counter to the human rights of anybody to have governments adopting paternalism and assimilation, but this applies particularly to the rights of indigenous peoples. A crucial part of these declarations is recognising that indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, whilst retaining their rights to participate fully in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the state, of the nation, they are a part of. It is possible to do that. It is not only possible but desirable, not just for indigenous peoples but for the future of our state. The Democrats believe that adopting this declaration is a matter of urgency. We urge the Australian government to vote in support of it in the UN General Assembly within the next week, and we also urge the Canadian Prime Minister, who is a guest in our country at the moment, to consider doing the same on behalf of his nation. (Time expired.)