29th May 2002

ANTaR and ATSIC collaborate on new Treaty Kit to promote community discussion

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), will today launch a Treaty Community Seminar kit developed in collaboration with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and designed to facilitate education and discussion about a treaty process in the Australian community (see Background, below).

ANTaR developed the Treaty Community Seminar kit in response to a request from ATSIC to assist with an education and awareness campaign in the non-Indigenous community on the issue of a treaty. Use of the kit by non-Indigenous community groups will complement a parallel education and consultation program currently being carried out by ATSIC in Indigenous communities. The kit is closely based on ATSIC's Indigenous program.

The kit has been designed as a do-it-yourself learning package for use by reconciliation groups, community organisations, high schools and tertiary institutions. It will be made available free of charge and can be downloaded from ANTaR's website: (www.antar.org.au).

"We hope this kit will be widely used by community groups across the country, and that it contributes to the realisation of informed discussion on treaty among non-Indigenous Australians", ANTaR National President, Phil Glendenning and ATSIC Chairman, Geoff Clark, say in the Foreword to the kit.

"ANTaR recognises that renewed calls for consideration of a treaty process mean raising the issue as the subject of extensive community education and informed debate", Mr Glendenning said today. "We've taken up the challenge and know that, given the opportunity, other non-Indigenous Australians will too. We take this opportunity to urge the federal government to do likewise."

Further information - Phil Glendenning 1419 013 758; David Cooper 02 9555 6138; 0418 486 310
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Background

Calls for serious consideration of a treaty process in Australia re-emerged in 2000. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation's Final Report, delivered in December 2000, recommended steps to implement a process to "unite all Australians by way of an agreement, or treaty, through which unresolved issues of reconciliation can be resolved".

The Council's recommendation followed a decision by the ATSIC Board of Commissioners that the treaty concept should be further advanced. The Board endorsed a broad strategy for progressing the treaty concept and approved the establishment of the National Treaty Support Group and the National Treaty Think Tank to provide guidance and advice.

On the day the Council's Final Report was released, the Prime Minister, John Howard, ruled out discussion about a treaty on the basis that it would be inappropriate and divisive. However, initial public response to the idea of a treaty has been positive with polls in 2001 indicating that a majority of Australians were amenable to the idea. Significantly, a recent Saulwick analysis showed that 74% of young Australians between the ages of 18 to 25 support a treaty (The Age, 7 October 2001).

The Social Justice Report 2001, released two weeks ago by HREOC Social Justice Commissioner, Dr Bill Jonas, criticised the Howard Government's failure to respond to or act on the recommendations of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. He said that the federal government "have quite deliberately sought to shut down debate and avoid any engagement about [the Council's recommendations]".