FED: Federal govt says no to self determination

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-1998
FED: Federal govt says no to self determination

CANBERRA, Dec 8 AAP - Aboriginal leaders are angry over federal government calls for the
removal of the words "self determination" from an international declaration on the rights of
indigenous people.

The non-binding declaration is now being negotiated at the United Nations in Geneva, but
the Australian government says self-determination might imply a right to secession.

Mick Dodson, a member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegation to the UN,
said the government was being mischievous and was wrongly suggesting Aborigines wanted to set
up black states.

"This is a mischievous misrepresentation of the position domestically in Australia," he
told Radio National.

"There is not one single indigenous group in Australia who have called for a separate
nation state.

"No-one is calling for that and that is mischievous and misleading to suggest that that is
what indigenous Australians are asking for."

If the government wanted greater assurances of security, Prime Minister John Howard could
include discussion of the meaning of self-determination in his preparation for a
reconciliation document with indigenous people, Mr Dodson said.

"The whole of the declaration ... is subject to international law and there is sufficient
protection for territorial integrity available now in international law," he said.

"But if Australia wants to be doubly safe why dont we negotiate some arrangement, some new
relationship in the context of a document for reconciliation?"

AAP daw/bwl/br

KEYWORD: INDIGENOUS

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