User:Thomas.nadarajan/sandbox

Answers to Module 7 Seminar 2

This is my own work.

It is of JPEG format.

It illustrates the name evolution of the NAC.

Choosing the public domain license.

Will add to the history section of my stub

Will describe the file as the evolution of the name of the NAC.

The National Aboriginal Conference (NAC) was a national organisation established by the Australian Government to represent Indigenous Australians, that is Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The NAC was originally established as the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee in 1973 by the Whitlam Government with a principal function to advise the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the Minister on issues of concern to ATSI peoples. Its members were elected by Indigenous people.³ The reorganisation of the Committee into the National Aboriginal Conference did little to fundamentally alter the characteristics of the original Committee: The Conference’s members too were selected by Indigenous peoples, and it remained in an advisory role.

Although Indigenous leaders desired the Conference (and previously the Committee) to take on a greater and more direct role in the creation of policy, the organisation maintained an advisory role over the course of its existence. However, these leaders found political leverage in the Conference. They utilised this leverage, and through actions on the international stage and in domestic media campaigns, the Conference was able to exert pressure on the Governments of the day to adopt a more involved approach to Aboriginal affairs.

The Conference is known for its recommendation of a form of treaty between Aboriginal peoples and the Australian Government, using the Yolngu word makarrata to describe this.

Relations between the Conference and the Commonwealth Government progressively deteriorated over the course of its life, and the Conference was eventually abolished by the Hawke Government in 1985.

History

Founding and Early History

The National Aboriginal Consultative Committee was established by the Whitlam Government in 1973 and this later morphed into the National Aboriginal Conference. The Consultative Committee had an original purpose to provide the Commonwealth Government with advice on issues pertaining to Aboriginal people. However, this purpose did not align with the expectations of Aboriginal leaders who sought self-determination and a representative body which would provide the mechanisms for this self-determination.

The first meeting of the Committee occurred in December 1973. Subsequently, one of the first tasks conducted by the Committee was the creation of the Committee's constitution. The proposal enumerated powers and functions of the Committee which were aligned with the conception of an autonomous body held by Aboriginal leaders, but this proposal was rejected by the Whitlam Government. This drafting process also included the proposal to retitle the Committee as the ‘National Aboriginal Congress’. This proposal too was rejected by the Whitlam government. However, the Committee defied the rejection of the Whitlam government and operated colloquially under the ‘National Aboriginal Congress’ name.

Restructuring

By 1976, as frustrations grew in Aboriginal communities with the absence of a true representative institution and the effectiveness of the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee in advancing the interests of Aboriginals, the Federal Executive Council acknowledged these concerns. The new Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in the Fraser Government, Ian Viner, in an address to the Committee, spoke of the "frustrations you as members suffer in trying to achieve an impossible task".

Viner and his Department later in 1976, established and inquiry to examine the perceived failings of the NACC and the relationship between the NACC and the government, in terms of funding and other forms of support. The response to this inquiry was the restructuring of the Committee into the National Aboriginal Conference. However, the restructuring of the organisation did not provide the mechanisms for self-determination sought by Aboriginal leaders as, like its predecessor, the Conference had no direct policy-making or law-making power.

The newly reorganised Conference initially operated in the same limited advisory role of its predecessor. However, a string of actions on the international stage, including through the dispatch of a delegation to the United Nations in 1976, increased the domestic influence of the Conference. These international actions were considered "an embarrassment"² for the Commonwealth Government and prompted the government to seek meetings with NAC members.

References

Category:Indigenous Australian politics Category:1973 establishments in Australia Category:Organisations serving Indigenous Australians Category:Public policy in Australia Category:1985 disestablishments in Australia