Mr McCLELLAND (12:24 PM) —The opposition opposes the government’s amendment. The government is seeking to remove amendments that were accepted by the Senate. Amendments (1) and (4) were moved by the Australian Labor Party and the purpose of those amendments was to extend the life of the ATSIC regional councils by six months in line with recommendation 4.3 of the report of the Senate Select Committee on the Administration of Indigenous Affairs tabled in parliament on 8 March this year.

Labor talked to the government about this proposal at the time and it is a shame that the government has decided not to support the proposal. There was some initial respect from the government for the proposition but regrettably it seems that the powers higher up the chain have prevented this commonsense measure from being accepted. The issue is essentially practical—to use the ‘p’ word, in the minister’s language—but it also goes to the right of Indigenous people to have a voice. The regional councils were established under the ATSIC structure and they have support in many regions. Many regional councils, for instance, are widely regarded as having been successful in providing grassroots representation and facilitating consultation. It is very much a case of the government’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater and leaving a vacuum.

Effective regional representative structures will be essential if the government’s proposed partnerships model is to work. The government’s ‘shared responsibility’ approach depends on its partnerships and agreements having credibility among Indigenous people. Evidence presented to the Senate select committee inquiry highlighted the confusion and serious concerns in Indigenous communities about how the new arrangements will work and what will happen in the transition period. Both this evidence and other stories that the Labor Party has been hearing from people on the ground indicate that the new arrangements are so far not working well at all. In fact, they appear to be nothing short of a bureaucratic nightmare. We can only hope, for the sake of Australia’s Indigenous people, that these are teething problems and that the bureaucracy will be able to make the new arrangements work, given a bit more time. Even Dr Shergold, in his evidence to the Senate committee, admitted that the change in the way of doing business represents a big adjustment for public servants. We are concerned that there will be nothing in place while that adjustment is occurring. Labor’s proposal to extend the life of regional councils is a rational attempt to give everyone a little more time to adjust, to ensure that the transition is smooth and to ensure that the rights of Indigenous people are represented in the interim period.