Real Money and Their Money
In his book “To England with Love” Sir David Frost talks about Real Money. The money that one goes to work for and receives in a pay packet and spends at the local or the supermarket. He then differentiates between this and Their Money. That is Government money. Money that is spoken of in amounts that are incomprehensible to ordinary folk. Like the Health Budget or the Defence Budget.
I am not sure that Frost’s line of thinking on this matter has filtered into the Aboriginal Industry in Australia but one thing that I have learned about some Aboriginal people is that they seem to have no appreciation of where Government money comes from. They (and it happens often enough for it to be generalised) seem to have a notion that “The Government” is the keeper of some giant pile of money and the game is to find ways to get it from the Government (no matter which level).
The notion that the citizens, the people, us, actually contribute to this pile of money seems not to have occurred to the Aboriginal people or they choose to ignore that aspect of it all. Not paying tax perhaps leads to this state of mind.
There have been some significant attempts by the Aboriginal Industry in Australia to put in place a system that delivers a steady stream of this money to any Aboriginal organisation or individual who says they have a need. All have been successful for a time but the nirvana of a permanent system has so far evaded the Industry. It however is tenacious if nothing else and the quest continues.
Past large scale exploits of note include:
Aboriginal Land Rights. This has secured a lot of land (about 50% of the Northern Territory as an example) for Aboriginal people but the system does not bestow ownership of the land in the sense that it becomes an asset that can be sold or borrowed against. So no land sales and so no endless money trough. Working the land to create wealth has occurred but does not seem to be a popular option.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Many did well from it. At its zenith and when PM Howard abolished it, the Commissions budget stood at $1 billion per annum.
Then there was the Stolen Generation. Firstly having established that such a thing existed, it then fell to the Industry to establish a test case that proved compensation was payable to all of those that were stolen. Every player stood to win a prize (from The Government). No such circumstance was able to be proven. Again – no money tree.
Then there was the Yulara Statement seeking something called a Voice in the national parliament. Perhaps a way to reinstate ATSIC.
Now we have the new campaign. The quest for compensation for damage done to sacred sights and locations of spiritual significance by anybody but if the Industry can join a Government in an action then that is better. The first score is on the board. The Aboriginal people at Pine Creek in The Northern Territory have won an action in the High Courts against the Northern Territory Government for damage caused in road building. The Court awarded $2.5 million tax payer dollars and the Pine Creek Aboriginal People are to have a family meeting to decide what to do with the money.
Observers predict that the cost of this High Court precedent could run to billions of dollars. And predictably the first cab off the rank to test the precedent is one Galarrauy Yunnpingu. He wants Nabalco, Rio Tinto and the Government to compensate the Yolgnu people for damage to their spiritual places through mining for Bauxite on the Gove Peninsula for the last 50+ years.
We must all watch this development diligently. We perhaps might make the point to some of our Aboriginal brethren that it is our money that they are seeking to have the Government pay to them. That it is also to be used for such things as hospitals and the general health budget. Which as an aside I mention that the Aboriginal people, who constitute 25% of the population of the Northern Territory consume some 85% of the health budget. It might also be worth reiterating that over the last 50+ years of mining on the Gove Peninsula the Yolgnu people have received many millions in royalties from the miners who also spent many millions in consultative processes. One assumes to prevent any intersection with spiritual locations.
We are brow beaten into a level of sensitivity about things Aboriginal. Unfortunately this is never reciprocated. I, for example, refuse to be referred to in the negative as a non-aboriginal. I am indeed an Australian and I have made a lifelong taxation contribution to this country and continue to do so. I acknowledge and embrace like acting folk no matter ethnic or racial origins. I have little expectation of the worthiness of those that make no contribution and seek to have the contributors support them seemingly forever.