Background
On 27 August 2002, the Australian Senate passed a motion requesting the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee to inquire into national progress towards reconciliation .

The inquiry focused on the response of the federal government to the documents of reconciliation produced by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation as well as the recommendations of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Dr William Jonas, in the Social Justice Report 2000 and Social Justice Report 2001.

The terms of reference are reporduced below. Submissions to the inquiry are closed.

The Committee's report, Reconciliation: Off Track, was released on 9th October 2003.

What you can do
Write letters to the Federal Minister and State and Territory Premiers / Chief Ministers.

Further information
• ANTaR's submission to the Inquiry
• ANTaR's  Tips and Suggestions for Submissions [html];   [Word version - 66KB]
• HREOC website
• ANTaR media release, 17/7/02: ANTaR Supports HREOC Calls For Senate Inquiry
• ANTaR media release, 16/5/02: Inquiry needed into reconciliation scandal

Terms of Reference
Terms of reference for the inquiry are set in the motion passed by the Senate:

(1) That the following matter be referred to the Legal and Constitutional References Committee for inquiry and report by March 2003:

Progress towards national reconciliation, including an examination of the adequacy and effectiveness of the Commonwealth Government's response to, and implementation of, the recommendations contained in the following documents:

(a) Reconciliation: Australia's Challenge: Final Report of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation to the Prime Minister and the Commonwealth Parliament;

(b) the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation's Roadmap for Reconciliation and the associated National Strategies to Advance Reconciliation; and

(c) the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner's social justice reports in 2000 and 2001 relating to reconciliation.

(2) That, in examining this matter, the committee have regard to the following:

(a) whether processes have been developed to enable and require government agencies to review their policies and programs against the documents referred to above;

(b) effective ways of implementing the recommendations of the documents referred to above, including an examination of funding arrangements;

(c) the adequacy and effectiveness of any targets, benchmarks, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that have been put in place to address Indigenous disadvantage and promote reconciliation, with particular reference to the consistency of these responses with the documents referred to above; and

(d) the consistency of the Government's responses to the recommendations contained in the documents referred to above with the needs and aspirations of Indigenous Australians as Australian citizens and First Nation Peoples.