The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation
The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established in 1991 as a statutory authority under the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991. Its first Chairperson was Patrick Dodson.
The Council's main task was "to improve the relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider Australian community."
The Council comprised 25 community leaders "drawn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the industries which have most impact on Aboriginal people and from business and other sectors." Council members were appointed by the federal Government.
The Council was given a 10 year life, which ended on the 31st December 2000. In the final period of its term the Council focused on three key goals, one of which is the issue of "documents of reconciliation", in respect of which it sought to:
"Achieve recognition and respect for the unique position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Indigenous peoples of Australia through a national document of reconciliation and by acknowledgment within the Constitution of this country."
To this end, the Council, following an extensive community consultation process, produced a 'Document Towards Reconciliation' with a corresponding set of strategies, the 'Roadmap for Reconciliation'. These documents were launched at Corroboree 2000 at the Sydney Opera House on the 27th May 2000.
Following the launch, the Council produced a discussion paper, "Reconciliation Implementation and Framework Agreements Legislation", on the future legislative requirements of the reconciliation process. The discussion paper anticipated a central task of the Council's final few months to prepare final recommendations to go before the Commonwealth Parliament in December 2000.
ANTaR responded to the Council's 'Document Towards Reconciliation', 'Roadmap', and discussion paper calling for the Council to make the need for a direct negotiations process between indigenous people and the Government a centrepiece of its recommendations. View ANTaR's submission (pdf 252 K).
At the end of 2000, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation released its final report, with recommendations stressing the need for comprehensive action to address the significant issues of 'unfinished business'. This included a recommendation that the government initiate a process to unite Australians by way a formal agreement or treaty. Indigenous calls for a treaty process in Australia had re-emerged during 2000, in part prompted by the Council's consultations over its final recommendations.
The Council also proposed legislation to sustain some aspects of the reconciliation process, as well as the establishment of a foundation, Reconciliation Australia, to continue the Council's work.
The Federal Government took almost two years to formally respond to the Council's recommendations. The Government's response is disappointing, rejecting most of the Council's recommendations, including those which set out processes for formally advancing the reconciliation process. Even before release of the Government's response, Prime Minister Howard flatly rejected the idea of discussing the merits of a treaty process, branding the initiative as inappropriate and divisive.
In January 2001, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was replaced with a new private body, Reconciliation Australia. Federal Government funding for the new body and for the reconciliation process as a whole has been dramatically reduced (Reconciliation Australia received a once-only seed grant equal to approximately six month's operation costs for the former Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation).
Further information:
Council
for Aboriginal Reconciliation website
Council
for Aboriginal Reconciliation Final Report
Social
Justice Report 2001
