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Mundine’s comments not policy: Snowdon
Issue 70 - 08 Dec 2004
NATIONAL: Just a fortnight after ALP president Dr Carmen Lawrence called on her deputy vice president, Warren Mundine to reconsider his decision to join the new National Indigenous Council (NIC), another senior ALP caucus figure has issued a stern warning to the Aboriginal leader.
Opposition Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs, Warren Snowdon told NIT Mr Mundine had breached party policy after he [Mundine] issued a media statement over the weekend on party letterhead, calling on Aboriginal people to move on from ‘sorry debate’.
Mr Mundine also told media Aboriginal people must move away from communal land ownership (the Aboriginal land rights movement) and take up profit-making businesses and land development.
Mr Mundine’s stance on the NIC, an apology to the stolen generations and land rights are at odds with the ALP’s policies on the issues.
“It is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time and whilst I can understand the government having an agenda [such as welfare reform through mutual obligation], that doesn’t abrogate them from their responsibilities in relation to such things as an apology,” Mr Snowdon said.
“I know from within my own community that people who are most adversely affected by this - the members of the stolen generations - continue to want an apology.”
On the issue of land rights, Mr Snowdon said he thought prominent land rights campaigner Mick Dodson’s comments summed the issue up perfectly (Mr Dodson told ABC radio talk of abandoning land rights was “dangerous”, “silly, stupid, ill-thought out and dumb”).
Mr Snowdon did not call for Mr Mundine to resign from the National Indigenous Council, but he noted the Aboriginal leader had a “dilemma”.
“Warren has to work out how to juggle the two positions, otherwise there will be an apparent and real conflict of interest,” he said. “That was identified front and centre with the press release on ALP letterhead.
“I think he’s got a dilemma.
“If he wants to have a debate within the Labor Party on these issues he knows what the forums are but I note in the discussions about these matters at our [national] conference earlier this year, I can’t recall him intervening to try and persuade the Labor Party to move in the direction he seems to be supporting at the moment.”
ALP president, Dr Carmen Lawrence was also concerned about Mr Mundine’s use of party letterhead and emphasised Mr Mundine’s comments did not reflect party policy.
“As a private citizen Warren can say or think what he likes but an apology remains part of our agenda, as does the need to recognise Indigenous prior ownership and the native title rights that flow from that,” Dr Lawrence said.
But Mr Mundine last night remained unrepentant, saying his comments on land rights had been taken out of context and that his decision to join the NIC was “totally vindicated” by recent comments by Aboriginal leaders Pat and Mick Dodson (the Dodsons have been reported as saying they are prepared to work with the Howard government on welfare reform issues such as ‘mutual obligation’).
“I feel very vindicated by that,” Mr Mundine said. “I think it’s good [the Dodsons] are on board now - the government will get a good range of views, which is what it needs.”
On the issue of land rights, he said the point he was trying to make is that the system of communal land ownership hadn’t delivered most Aboriginal people from poverty.
“I wasn’t saying give up land rights - we’d be mad to do that,” Mr Mundine said.
“The land we’ve got we need to keep, but we need to now really look at how we can develop it. A community has to have an economic and social reason for being there.”
Mr Mundine said Aboriginal people had to stop “romanticising missions as wonderful places” and he pointed to Palm Island as an example.
“If you take away the death in custody and look at Palm Island, here’s an island off the coast of Queensland which every developer would love to have and yet 90 percent of our people are unemployed there.
“Palm Island has a dreadful history and it’s not Aboriginal people’s fault - they were dragged there away from their communities and thrown on this island and expected to live together.
“I’ll borrow a line here, it’s community safety and the economy stupid. If you don’t have those two mixed together you’re going to have problems.”
Mr Mundine said he saw his primary role as sparking discussions on Indigenous issues, both within the black and white communities and within the Labor Party, and that he had no intention of backing away from the debate.
“I don’t have all the answers but what I want to do is give people some ideas,” he said.
“Some people might think I’m a bloody idiot and some might think I might be onto something.
“And some people might think they’re going to silence me. I’m sorry to say it ain’t going to happen.”
 
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