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You can help
with raising the profile of Indigenous issues by writing to the
new Leader of the Opposition, Mark Latham, urging his commitment
on key areas of Indigenous policy.
Below is the
suggested text of a letter you can send to Mr Latham. If you have
time, alter or re-word the letter to reflect your style or to include
further points which you feel are important. Personalised letters
have greater impact than a 'form letter'.
Post the letter
for maximum effect, or email it to him at <M.Latham.MP@aph.gov.au>
Thanks and happy
writing.
ANTaR
SUGGESTED
LETTER WORDING:
Hon Mark Latham
MP
Leader of the Opposition
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Mr Latham,
Congratulations
on your election as Leader of the Opposition.
A great many
Australians are looking to you to lead a genuine Opposition, a party
which will offer a real alternative to the mean-spirited policies
that have nurtured a climate of fear and racism in mainstream Australia.
It will not
be easy to reverse this negativity, but we are looking to you to
lead and to re-inspire Australians with the spirit that saw us welcome
asylum-seekers in the 70s and 80s and led hundreds of thousands
to walk for Reconciliation in 2000.
We want to see
respect for human rights restored as a fundamental principle of
Australian society.
We ask you to:
- develop policies
that will fully implement the recommendations of the Council for
Aboriginal Reconciliation and the Bringing Them Home Report -
recommendations that have been wilfully neglected by the Howard
Government.
- secure formal
recognition of the unique place of Indigenous peoples as the original
inhabitants and the traditional owners of the land.
- revisit the
Social Justice Package abandoned by the Howard Government - this
was the third component of the national agreement between the
Commonwealth and Indigenous leadership that led to the passage
of the Native Title Act in 1993.
- revisit the
racially-discriminatory 1998 Native Title amendments.
- reject the
divisive rhetoric of 'formal equality' which has been used by
the current Government to legitimise discrimination and prejudice
against minorities and the disadvantaged, and work towards an
understanding by all Australians of the role of 'substantive equality'
in creating a just and fair society.
With best wishes
to you and for Australia's future,
Yours sincerely,
<your name>
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