An official of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has warned that the policies of Australia's new government suggest that the country is taking "a step backward" on the welfare of the country's indigenous people, the Aborigines.
The Revd Bob Scott, an Anglican clergyman from Aotearoa/New Zealand, who is an executive staff member in the WCC's Programme to Combat Racism, expressed deep "disappointment" about the attitude of the new government, after meeting an Australian delegation to the United Nations' forum on indigenous peoples, held in Geneva recently.
He made it clear that the WCC intended to continue to bring pressure to bear on the Australian Government and to support the Aboriginal struggle for justice and better living conditions.
Mr Scott told ENI that in meetings with an Australian delegation which came to Geneva to address the United Nations' forum on indigenous peoples early in August, the WCC had been informed of a radical change in attitude on Aboriginal policy under the new conservative government.
Lois O'Donoghue, an Aboriginal woman who is Chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), which oversees the management of government funding to Aboriginal communities, told the UN forum of her "deep sadness that indigenous peoples in Australia [are] facing a new period of political uncertainty under the coalition government".
"There [is] a changed and hostile attitude to indigenous affairs," Ms O'Donoghue said, adding that "indigenous people have reasons to fear this change in mood."
"Notwithstanding appalling health statistics, international condemnation of the high and increasing number of deaths in [police] custody and the impact of overt racism, there [seems] to be an ascendant mood of denial of indigenous needs," she told the forum.
Ms O'Donoghue told the forum that the new government was already seeking amendments to the Native Title Act of 1993. This legislation, passed by Paul Keating's government, recognised the traditional land rights of the Aboriginal communities. Ms O'Donoghue also said that the new government had no commitment to implementing the social justice package for indigenous people - concerning health, education and prisons.
Mr Scott told ENI that the WCC had monitored the treatment of Aborigines by team visits to Australia in 1981, 1991 and 1994. He said that the WCC was not surprised by the turn of events under Australia's new government.
Sections of Australia's mining industry generally oppose land rights for Aborigines. Much of the land claimed by Aborigines holds rich mineral deposits.
More than 700 people, including representatives of 232 indigenous peoples, nations and organisations, attended the UN forum on indigenous peoples. The forum is intended to monitor the conditions faced by indigenous peoples around the world.