FED:Indigenous congress meets PM

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2011
FED:Indigenous congress meets PM

By Lisa Martin

CANBERRA, Dec 7 AAP - Aboriginal leaders have told Prime Minister Julia Gillard it
is time to play catch-up after six years without an indigenous representative body.

The co-chairs of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples met Ms Gillard
for the first time on Wednesday in Canberra.

Co-chair Les Malezer said it was about laying the groundwork for an ongoing relationship
with the federal government.

The congress had its first meeting in July, six years after the Howard government axed
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).

The independent body has a different structure to its predecessor, with 300 individual
members and links to 130 indigenous organisations, representing between 30,000 to 40,000
people.

The Gillard government will negotiate a formal agreement with the congress next year.

Congress co-chair Jody Broun said indigenous people had felt left out of the decision-making
process for six years.

"We want to put that front and centre so communities are involved in decision," she told AAP.

"(The time gap) has been damaging to the trust that had built up."

Mr Malezer warned that rebuilding trust with indigenous people would take time.

The six years without a formal indigenous representative group had led to bad laws and policy.

"I think it has been damaging," he said.

Both leaders were pleased Ms Gillard had thrown her support behind a referendum on
constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians.

An indigenous expert panel is due to report in January after year-long consultations
on the issue.

"All Australians have to see why this is important not just for Aboriginal people but
Australia as a whole," Ms Broun said.

The government's continuation of Northern Territory intervention policies was not discussed
during the meeting, but future talks were flagged.

AAP lpm/rl/psm/jmt

KEYWORD: INDIGENOUS (PIX TO COME)

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