Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

On 23 April this year, the ABC Radio National Counterpoint program was titled ‘Nugget Coombs revisited’. The participants in this program were Gary Johns, President of the Bennelong Society and a former member of this place; Warren Mundine, a former president of the Australian Labor Party and CEO of New South Wales Native Title Services; Michael Duffy; and Paul Comrie-Thomson.

The program was most notable for its fatuous and, dare I say in most cases, intemperate assertions that had no basis in fact. It lacked any coherent or reasoned argument. In my view, it was both insulting and demeaning. The ostensible purpose of the program was, it appears, to deconstruct the contribution of Dr HC ‘Nugget’ Coombs to public policy in relation to Indigenous affairs in this country in the period since the 1967 referendum. It ascribed to him responsibility for what the participants at least saw as the failure of government policy and programs in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians since that time.

There is no doubt that Dr Coombs, among others, was a key participant in the policy debates around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs during the latter half of the last century, and most particularly in the latter third of the last century. In my view the image presented by the program was, however, quite ingenuous, because it was that Dr Coombs was an advocate of cocooning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians from change and participation in the broader Australian community.

This discussion was simplistic, ill-informed, showed no real appreciation of what Nugget was about and greatly exaggerated his influence on government policy. After all, he had no real role in government policy formulation from the Fraser government onwards. It is true that he was, and remained until his death, a great intellectual driving force in the public discourse on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights. But, unlike the participants in this Radio National discussion, I had the privilege and good fortune to work closely with Dr Coombs over a number of years, commencing in 1979 at the Australian National University here in Canberra.

What I learnt was that Dr Coombs was not an apologist for assimilation but that he was able to accept, acknowledge and respect that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians had systems of beliefs, practices, knowledge and a culture that should be supported. He understood their attachment to land and country. He understood the vital importance of culture and language maintenance to the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and individuals. He understood difference, that there were and are a large number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations across this country. He appreciated the different historical contexts and experiences that confronted Indigenous Australians depending upon where they were on the Australian landscape.

Importantly, Nugget was a strong believer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders having the right to make decisions about their own lives, although he was an avid believer in the value and importance of education. He was a critic of the failure of governments to research and develop an appropriate pedagogy that would comprehend the different learning styles and the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to deal with and acquire the skills envisaged in the mainstream curriculum. He saw the value of bilingual education and supported it.

He understood and advocated the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to interact with and participate in the broader economy. He understood and advocated the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to have access to employment options and/or the capacity to develop skills to be able to manage their own affairs, like other Australians. He was a key believer in adult education. He also had a strong desire to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in their belief and their desire to resist passive welfare, initially through proposals from remote communities in the north of Australia to only work for income through the CDEP program.

Unfortunately the time for my speech has run out, but I know that Nugget would never claim that he was always right. He saw great value in the need for debate, in the contest of ideas and in sound research and argument. Unlike the participants in this Radio National discussion, he demonstrated an interest in informed discussion and debate. (Time expired)

See this speech in context