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The view outside one of the town camps in Alice Springs. A plan to compulsory acquire the town camps has been criticised. |
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'The world is watching' town camp takeover
Issue 189 - 29 Oct 2009
By Amy McQuire
NATIONAL
ISSUE 189, October 29, 2009: A human rights lawyer has called on the Rudd government to reconsider its plans to compulsory acquire the Alice Springs town camps, saying that it will not only "severely damage" Australia's international reputation, but also its relationship with Aboriginal people.
In July this year, Minister for Indigenous affairs Jenny Macklin announced that 16 of the 18 Alice Springs town camps had signed up to 40-year land leases in exchange for $138 million in federal government funding.
But the plan was put on hold after a federal court action, lead by Mt Nancy town camp resident Barbara Shaw, won a temporary injunction. The final Federal Court decision is still pending.
After the court found the federal government had not adequately informed tenants of the compulsory acquisition, Ms Macklin said she would send notices to the town camp residents.
But in a submission to the minister this week, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre's Ben Schokman calls on the federal government to reverse its decision, saying that going ahead with the plan would breach Australia's international obligations and wouldn't improve Aboriginal lives.
Mr Schokman said in a statement that without involving Aboriginal people in the process, there would be little chance of improvements.
"Compulsory acquisition removes the opportunity for any participation by Aboriginal people. Policies targeted at addressing Aboriginal disadvantage will only be effective if Aboriginal people are directly involved in their development and implementation," Mr Schokman said.
"Compulsory acquisition of the Alice Springs town camps would be a drastic measure that would severely damage and undermine the relationship between the federal government and Aboriginal Australians."
In the submission, Mr Schokman warned that a takeover would be discriminatory as it is "targeted at, and impact[s] specifically on, the Aboriginal people residing in the Alice Springs town camps".
"This raises concerns in relation to the right to equality and freedom from discrimination, which is an integral component of the international human rights normative framework," the submission says.
The submission further says that the compulsory acquisition could not be classed as a special measure as it would not be beneficial to Aboriginal residents and had not included the consent of the residents. It would also not be temporary.
Mr Schokman also warned that the compulsory acquisition would alert the international community.
"The world is watching Australia's treatment of its Aboriginal people, particularly since the United Nations last month labelled the Emergency Intervention policy racist," Mr Schokman said.
Earlier this year, UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya described the intervention as racist and discriminatory after concluding a tour around Australia.
The lease deal is also mentioned in an updated complaint to the United Nations, which raises concerns that the takeover threat would not have been possible if the Rudd government had reinstated the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA), bypassed to enact the emergency intervention laws.
It came after NIT revealed that Ms Macklin had accepted advice warning her government against formally consulting with Aboriginal people on the compulsory acquisition of their land, as it would be too expensive and work against a government court case if an action were to arise once the RDA was reinstated.
The explosive revelations were published in the midst of the town camp threat.
A petition signed by the town camp residents was expected to be given to Ms Macklin at the time of press.
 
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