This article first appeared in The Australian, 6 December 2007

Develop or migrate? Jenny Macklin faces two Aboriginal futures

Hon. Gary Johns

The news that Jenny Macklin the incoming Minister with responsibility for Indigenous Affairs is thinking of replicating the NT intervention instigated by the Coalition, in other parts of Australia, is welcome indeed. She anticipates some changes and these will be closely observed by all of those who care about the future of Aboriginal people.

Jenny Macklin knows well that the drama occurring in the Territory is being played out across the north and in regional centres around Australia.

As the grog is cut off in remote Northern Territory people drift to the larger centres. The same can be observed in Fitzroy Crossing and Halls' Creek in the Kimberley and Kowanyama and Doomadgee in Cape York. The drinkers are moving in to Alice Springs and Broome and Derby and Cairns and Mt Isa. It may be possible to stabilise the situation, but it is not just drinkers who come to town, it is people in search of work and opportunity. Who would blame them, and with great respect to the need for safety in remote communities, there is more to life than aspiring to be part of a women's night patrol.

This is the politicians' greatest fear; the Aborigines are coming to town. Of course, if they were sober and skilled there would not be a problem. The problem is poor behaviour not race or culture. It is a drama that has been repeated numerous times in the last 200 years. People who are unprepared for the dominant society seek its benefits, but fail to understand its secrets. While Aboriginal leaders have been at pains to have whites understand the intimacies of Aboriginal society, there is no penalty in whites failing to do so. The penalty for Aborigines failing to understand white society is huge.

There is a race to stem the tide of human misery from remote Aboriginal society before les miserables come to town. The race is between those who want 'economic development' in remote communities and those who want to 'change the incentives to work' and allow people to chase work where economic development exists.

The key question facing Jenny Macklin is this. Can any amount of money for 'economic development' in a dysfunctional community with no economic base forestall the need to move to a decent job and decent facilities? I don't think so.

Each side has its problems. People coming to town without skills cause disquiet. But these are transitional problems. Like refugees, Aborigines can be cared for and trained to participate in the real economy. The normal rules, like compulsory school attendance for children, can be enforced. The advocates for 'economic development' have long term problems. In remote Australia there are few jobs outside mining and local service delivery. Many Aborigines will not hold down such jobs while effectively they are paid to not work. In this regard, the difference between CDEP and work-for-the-dole schemes is semantic. Neither create jobs, they employ otherwise unemployable people.

Economic development on Aboriginal land where there are no real economic drivers is the same false god as preserving culture and the sanctity of land rights---it stops people from developing.

The advice from the ex Governor of WA Lieutenant General John Sanderson to the WA Labor government for example, is typical of those who want to keep Aborigines 'down on the farm'.

At the 2007 Garran Oration in Canberra Sanderson berated Native Title as 'a weak form of title ... for a people whose entire existence is locked up in a deep genetic and spiritual connection to the land'. Sanderson wants stronger title, but does he mean commercially strong, or just emotionally strong? He should be aware that emotions do not pay the rent.

Sanderson thinks it 'is this form of cultural disempowerment and neglect that lies at the heart of Aboriginal despair and dysfunction. Like all victims, they are blamed for their own dysfunction and also for the necessity for the coercive laws that follow.' The real culprit is three generations of unemployment. Waiting around for another three generations to develop Aboriginal communities would condemn a lot of Aborigines.

Economic development may seem like a safe option, but it avoids the question of the long term future of Aborigines by giving the appearance of doing something. There may be some good prospects for economic development of Aboriginal land but unless there is a clear benefit for the cost, money should not be invested in the place, but rather in the people.

Gary Johns is a former minister in the Keating government and is President of the Bennelong Society. The Society will hold a re-assessment conference on the anniversary of the intervention in the NT, 21 June 2008.