Chapter 2 THE COUNCIL -CHARTING THE WAY

The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established as a statutory authority on 2 September 1991 when the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991 received the Royal Assent.

Its first members were appointed on 15 December 1991. Like other appointees over the Council's life, they were prominent Australians drawn from Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and wider communities, bringing a comprehensive range of views and approaches to the Council's deliberations. A list of all members over the three terms of Council is included at Appendix 4.

All Council members are proud to be actively involved in the reconciliation process, and consider it an honour to be part of this noble enterprise to shape the future of our nation. Patrick Dodson, Chairperson, Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1991-97, (1992)

The preamble to the Act sets out some of the reasons for, and circumstances surrounding, the enactment of the legislation. The preamble reads:

Because:

(a) Australia was occupied by Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders who had settled for thousands of years, before British settlement at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788; and

(b) many Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders suffered dispossession and dispersal from their traditional lands by the British Crown; and

...whether this Council provides the impetus for the Australian population to look to its future with some hope and unity, I do not know. But it is my sincere hope that it will do just that... Dr Michael Wooldridge, Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (1991) Inaugural Council members stand on an imaginary map of Australia to indicate the places they come from, 1992. Photo: AUSPIC.

(c) to date, there has been no formal process of reconciliation between Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians; and

(d) by the year 2001, the centenary of Federation, it is most desirable that there be such a reconciliation; and

(e) as part of the reconciliation process, the Commonwealth will seek an ongoing national commitment from governments at all levels to cooperate and to coordinate with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission as appropriate to address progressively Aboriginal disadvantage and aspirations in relation to land, housing, law and justice, cultural heritage, education, employment, health, infrastructure, economic development and any other relevant matters in the decade leading to the centenary of Federation, 2001.

The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991 also stipulates that the Council must take account of the fact that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission has specific functions and responsibilities for matters involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, and that it must make use of ATSIC and its regional councils as the principal means of facilitating consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples. The ATSIC Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson have served as ex officio members of the Council throughout its life.

One of the outcomes of the extensive public consultation and cross-party discussion leading up to the establishment of the Council was strict accountability clauses in the legislation intended to keep the Council goal-oriented. These clauses called for strategic plans to be prepared for each triennium of the Council's life and for such plans to be approved by the Minister and laid before each House of the Parliament.

These plans demonstrate how over the nine years the Council built on its knowledge and experience, readjusted its programs and defined more specific goals as its work progressed.

Initial meetings of the Council concentrated on the task of strategic planning, including the adoption of a vision statement reflecting how the Council wished to see Australian society in the year 2001:

A united Australia which respects this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage; and provides justice and equity for all.

In the following years, this statement became widely recognised and broadly supported.

Strategic Plan 1992-95

The first strategic plan established goals and programs under the broad headings of communication, consultation, cooperation and community action for the period 1992-1995. Strategies were designed to:

• communicate with the nation about the process of reconciliation;
• consult the Australian community in order to advance the process of reconciliation;
• ensure that, at all levels of government and the community, there is a commitment to cooperate in furthering the process of reconciliation; and
• foster cooperative action to overcome disadvantage, and to increase understanding, with a focus on the local community level.

Council defined eight key issues as essential to the process of reconciliation in its first strategic plan. These issues were identified by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as essential to any understanding of their past, their position in the present and their hopes for the future. The key issues were the basis of the Council's community education program throughout its life. They are:

• a greater understanding of the importance of land and sea in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies;
• better relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider community;
• recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and heritage are a valued part of the Australian heritage;
• a sense for all Australians of a shared ownership of our history ;
• a greater awareness of the causes of disadvantage that prevent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from achieving fair and proper standards in health, housing, employment and education;
• a greater community response to addressing the underlying causes of the unacceptably high levels of custody for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
• greater opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to control their destinies ;
• agreement on whether the process of reconciliation would be advanced by a document or documents of reconciliation.

Committees of Council

Under the provision of section 17 of its legislation, in August 1992 the Council established six committees to assist its work. The Mining Committee sought ways to improve relations between the mining industry and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The Rural Committee identified key issues for reconciliation in the rural sector on which to base frameworks for practical initiatives. The Industry Committee worked to enhance employment prospects for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the private sector and to end discrimination in the workplace. The Media Committee developed information and public education strategies, and the Evaluation, Monitoring and Budget Committee monitored progress in terms of performance indicators and targets set by the Council.

The Opposition also believes that the process of reconciliation should work to establish agreed goals and annual benchmarks for progress in such areas as education, health, housing and infrastructure. Senator Grant Tambling, Country Liberal Party, Northern Territory (1991)

By the end of its first three-year term, the Council had identified the major issues, begun comprehensive social research, lifted the level of public awareness about the process in train, and started to form strategic partnerships to progress the goals of reconciliation. A major achievement of this term was the preparation, after extensive consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, of the report Going Forward - Social Justice for the First Australians which was presented to the Commonwealth Government on 17 March 1995.

Strategic Plan 1995-98

The second strategic plan - for the 1995-1998 triennium - capitalised on the opportunities and community goodwill generated by the awareness-raising activities of Council's first term. It sought to achieve demonstrable reconciliation outcomes in local communities and specific sectors, in line with Council's vision. Council's work focused on six core strategies which were to:

1. Promote and seek broad support for the Council's social justice recommendations contained in its March 1995 submission to the Commonwealth Government, Going Forward: Social Justice for the First Australians , and work for their adoption and implementation.

2. Facilitate general and specific reconciliation agreements between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and wider communities in localities, regions and sectors of Australian society.

3. Consolidate and extend 'advocate networks' of reconciliation supporters across the broadest possible range of communities, sectors and organisations.

4. Develop and implement effective reconciliation projects and initiatives at national, State/Territory, regional and local levels.

5. Determine whether reconciliation should be expressed in a document or documents, and assist the negotiation and formulation of such document/s where appropriate.

6. Mediate where appropriate to improve relations between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Australians.

The Council implemented the core strategies through three elements of reconciliation activity: Community Action, Communication and Public Awareness, and Consultation.

The Community Action element aimed to bring people together to work on issues of common concern, and to promote cooperative approaches and solutions. It also promoted positive change in local communities and community organisations to support reconciliation activities.

The Communication and Public Awareness element promoted better understanding, knowledge and attitudes in the broad community, and in targeted sectors, leading to support for, and involvement in, the reconciliation process.

The Consultation element sought and recorded the views of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the wider community about reconciliation and the key issues. Australians for Reconciliation coordinators acted within each State and Territory to promote reconciliation at a community level.

Members of the second-term Council. Photo: Gilbert Rossi.

In adopting this strategic plan, the Council stressed its view that the nation's ability to achieve reconciliation would be strongly influenced by the extent to which service-delivery organisations addressed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage.

After a minor restructuring, Council committees included the Executive Committee, Social Justice Committee, Resources Committee, Media, Education and Consultative Committee, Cultures, Heritage and Legal Committee, and Economic Committee.

By the end of the second term, the word 'reconciliation' was part of common parlance. By 1997 National Reconciliation Week had become established in the national calendar, organised largely by local communities. The Week of Prayer, established in 1993, had become the largest annual multi-faith observance in Australia. An estimated 96 new reconciliation groups sprang from the regional meetings feeding into the May 1997 Australian Reconciliation Convention.

The Convention gave Council the opportunity to pursue core elements of its statutory obligations under the Act, including the responsibility to explore the potential benefit and content of a document or documents of reconciliation. A major report to Parliament Weaving the Threads - progress towards reconciliation reported on the achievements of the second term and discussed the challenges of reconciliation. Its submission marked the end of the term of many foundation members of Council, including the inaugural Chairperson, Mr Patrick Dodson.

Strategic Plan 1998-2000

Strategic planning for Council's final term 1998-2000 took into account the outcomes of the Australian Reconciliation Convention in May 1997. Among other things, the convention helped to identify options for change most likely to gain the support of the Australian people. The plan focused on three key goals that sought to unite individuals, community groups, organisations, businesses and governments in their support of a national commitment to reconciliation. These goals were to:

Goal 1: Documents of Reconciliation

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 Australian Constitution.

Members of the third-term Council. Photo: Peter Chin

Goal 2: Partnerships in Reconciliation

Gain the commitment of governments, business, peak organisations and community groups to form partnerships which will achieve social and economic equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Goal 3: The People's Movement for Reconciliation

Encourage and support the people's movement for reconciliation to achieve justice and equity for all Australians, to embrace the unique place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the life of the nation and to ensure that the work of reconciliation continues beyond the life of the Council.

Media and Communication

The plan also highlighted the role of media liaison and public relations to promote:

• greater cultural awareness and understanding in the media;
• awareness and understanding, both within Australia and overseas, of the reconciliation process and Council's work;
• understanding of reconciliation and its importance for the nation; and
• positive attitudes towards the reconciliation process.

Council's committees then developed detailed operational plans, translating the strategic plan into separate tasks. The five committees for the final term were the Executive Committee, Documents of Reconciliation Committee, Partnerships in Reconciliation Committee, People's Movement for Reconciliation Committee, and Media and Communications Committee.

Highlights of Council's final term included the presentation of the documents of reconciliation to the people of Australia at Corroboree 2000 (see Chapter 7), and the extent of commitment to these documents summarised in Chapter 8.

As foreshadowed in the debate leading up to the establishment of the Council, the regular strategic planning process kept the Council focused and goal-oriented. The following chapters summarise the many initiatives and activities of the Council and its supporters as it implemented these plans over its decade of operation.