Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens also support this motion and note in today’s paper Amnesty International’s ad, which is addressed to the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, and to the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. They ask the respective governments to support this declaration. The ad says:

This week the United Nations is set to take a long overdue step when it votes on the adoption of a new Declaration recognising the fundamental rights of Indigenous peoples. Amnesty International members throughout Australia and Canada call on you to make it clear that your governments are prepared to join the world in supporting its adoption.

In Australia, in Canada and around the world, Indigenous peoples are universally among the most marginalised and persecuted people on the planet. There is no question that concerted international attention is needed if these grave abuses are to be addressed. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be central to these efforts.

It has taken more than two decades to get this far. In June 2006, the first major hurdle was cleared when the UN Human Rights Council adopted the Declaration. However, Australia and Canada joined forces with other governments and were instrumental in blocking its adoption at the UN General Assembly earlier this year.

Today an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations have indicated they support the Declaration and are prepared to vote for its adoption. At long last there may be an international human rights instrument which delivers minimum human rights standards for Indigenous peoples. Canada and Australia should be among the global champions of this Declaration.

At this significant point in history, it is our hope and expectation that your governments will no longer stand in opposition to the Declaration. Indigenous peoples need your support, and certainly deserve no less.

We hear today that the government cannot possibly support the declaration because it is so rushed. It has been over two decades. Two decades! How long do you need to support this declaration? How long do you need to study it? It is longer than my son’s lifetime—and he is 18. He has not been in this world as long as you have been talking about this declaration.

There are seven states, I understand, who have major objections to this declaration, and I find that deeply objectionable. But when you scratch beneath the surface you probably do not have to scratch too far to realise why the Australian government does not want to support this declaration—because it does not want to expose itself perhaps to accusations of violations under this declaration. When you look at the racially discriminatory legislation which has just been adopted by this government and which takes away people’s land, their rights to control their income and their decision making, it is no wonder that the government does not want to support this declaration. It is no wonder that this government does not want to support this declaration when it is still presiding over a 17-year gap in the life expectancy of our Indigenous peoples, when it is still underfunding medical and health requirements for our Indigenous peoples in a major way and when it is still underfunding their housing requirements in a major way. Last year we saw the report from the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, which showed the parlous state of housing in our Aboriginal communities.

Of course, the declaration calls on states to work closely with indigenous peoples, ensuring the protection of their rights pertaining to such things as self-determination, education, cultural identity and the use of lands, territories and resources essential to indigenous people’s livelihoods and ways of living. Did we see that with the legislation that just passed through this chamber? No, we certainly did not. There was no consultation with indigenous peoples around that legislation, which had to be exempted from the Racial Discrimination Act because it quite clearly contravenes it. It is no wonder that this government needs a little bit more time—maybe a quarter of a century. We have now had 24 years—maybe we need another year or two! Let us take it over the quarter-century mark to see if we can protect it.

This government has also gone about systematically undermining and removing representative organisations for Indigenous peoples, undermining their ability to make decisions, and has not addressed the issues that are so pertinently covered by this declaration. This is an important declaration, and I would have thought this government would have been proud to be one of the first to sign up. (Time expired)