Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

"BEYOND THE ELITES"

Chris Sidoti
National Spokesperson
Human Rights Council of Australia

Human rights are in full retreat in Australia after a pounding over the last five years. They have never been especially popular in this country and never especially well respected as far as indigenous Australians and many other minority groups are concerned.

Right back before the turn of the century, when the Australian constitution was being drafted, the Founding Fathers (they were all men) debated whether to include a Bill of Rights in the document. The majority rejected the idea because they feared it would interfere with their proposed White Australia Policy. They knew what human rights meant and they did not want a bar of them.

In more recent decades, everywhere else in the world authoritarian regimes rejected human rights as a product and a means of US or, more broadly, western imperialism, a weapon to dominate and control. But here in Australia, alone in the world, human rights were denigrated and opposed as left wing. Conservative parties opposed any attempt to provide better protection for human rights as revolutionary, even communist inspired. They successfully campaigned against the few meager attempts by generally unenthusiastic Labor Governments to introduce statutory forms of rights protection.

With the demise of communism, Australian conservative shifted their tactics against human rights. Now human rights are portrayed as the agenda of trendy chardonnay-swilling elites. They are painted as irrelevant to ordinary Australians or, worse still, if relevant, then antagonistic to the interests of ordinary Australians and so anti-democratic.

The attack on human rights has been accompanied by a new definition of elites. No longer are the elites defined as those with economic power or those with political power. They are defined as those who think - or, more specifically, as those who think differently from the Prime Minister. So some individuals with enormous wealth and power, such as radio shock jocks Alan Jones and John Laws, are not part of the elite but ordinary Australians. Even the Prime Minister is not part of the national elite but an ordinary Australian. As Gerard Henderson pointed out recently, Malcolm Turnbull was part of the elite when he headed the Australian Republican Movement but he is now an ordinary Australian as national treasurer of the Liberal Party. This transformation has occurred without any change in his economic status as a multi-millionaire. Others, including, I suspect, most of those who will hear or read this paper, are part of the newly defined elite. We are not elite because we are wealthy (we're not) or because we have power (we self evidently do not). We are elite because we think differently from the Prime Minister who has constructed himself to personify ordinary Australia. Our concern for human rights thus becomes an elite concern that is antithetical to the interests of the ordinary Australians the Prime Minister has invented.

Yet there have been few times in recent history when the human rights of ordinary people in this country have been so regularly infringed in law, policy and practice at both federal and state levels. A few examples are enough to give. Federal laws, policies and practices in relation to asylum seekers and indigenous peoples have been condemned by human rights authorities nationally and internationally. Law and order legislation, policies and practices in states and territories infringe more and more human rights. Laws relating to mandatory sentencing have received the most attention but they are but the worst examples. Laws about the use of public space, especially by young people, the collection of evidence and restriction of privacy and personal liberty also infringe basic rights.

The need for heightened community awareness of and support for human rights has rarely been greater and the task of effecting that awareness has rarely been more difficult. The challenge is to move human rights discourse beyond the elites, that is, we who think differently from the Prime Minister, to re-connect with people whose rights are being infringed, even though they might not know it or articulate it as such. Unless human rights go beyond these elites, the cause in Australia will be lost.

The initial challenge, however, is working out how to effect this change in human rights work. The events of these last five years point to a failure of longstanding methods of raising awareness of human rights and public and community education for human rights. We human rights advocates have to be honest and admit our failure. We need to develop a new and better understanding of the present political and economic environment in which we are working and of how to reach people more effectively.

Last year the Human Rights Council of Australia looked at these issues as part of a project on national values. The Council sought to develop a strategy for a broadly based program to promote positive, unifying values based on human rights and social justice. The National Australia Bank funded the initial feasibility study that resulted in a significant report on the present situation and the most effective strategies for change. Unfortunately the Council has not been able to attract the funds to enable it to implement the program.

I attach to these short comments the paper prepared by the Human Rights Council of Australia. I am convinced that, a year after its completion, the paper remains an accurate analysis of the present situation and the best available assessment of the strategic directions necessary to turn around the climate of opinion.

The struggle to build a human rights culture in Australia has always been a difficult one but it has never been more difficult than now. Unless we human rights academics, advocates and activists acknowledge our failures, revise our strategies and renew our commitment, the struggle will be lost for our generation.

INTERIM REPORT TO THE NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK

NATIONAL VALUES PROJECT

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

14 MAY 2000

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF PROJECT

METHODOLOGY

DEFINING THE ISSUES
Australia divided
Shifting political foundations
Lessons from voting patterns
Growing consensus
The need for action

LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS
Corporate Australia
Local government
Community sector
Political parties
Federal Government
Materials

CONCLUSIONS

OPTIONS FOR ACTION

REFERENCES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

During 1997 and 1998 the Human Rights Council of Australia became increasingly concerned about divisions in Australian society. The Council and its members, through their work in many parts of Australia and through the research and analysis they had access to, became convinced that these divisions were growing. The divisions were usually typified as being between city and country, haves and have-nots, elites and battlers, indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

The Council saw a need for a national campaign to strengthen key Australian values of respect, tolerance, diversity and a fair go as a timely and strategic response to these divisions. It approached the National Australian Bank (NAB) for funding assistance to enable it to undertake a feasibility study for a national campaign to strengthen values. This report is the result of the feasibility study.

The study identified continuing widespread alienation and anger in the Australian community. Although the symptoms and expression of the alienation and anger have changed over the last two years, these basic characteristics remain very much alive in the community and indeed may well be more deep-seated than previously. As in the recent past they continue to target the weaker and more vulnerable people and communities in Australia with damaging repercussions for Australian society as a whole.

As part of the study the Council undertook a survey of organisations, individuals and government at different levels. It found that its concerns were shared by most of those surveyed. There is widespread concern at the continuing tensions bubbling beneath the surface in many communities around Australia.

The survey also uncovered an inspiring level of commitment and a variety of responses to these challenges in corporate Australia, community organisations and local government. These responses have in some circumstances been driven by very practical concerns about the costs to organisations, businesses and communities of continuing division, intolerance and lack of respect for others.

The Council is convinced that the alienation and anger must be addressed effectively if they are not to become entrenched and lead to permanent damaging divisions. This will require positive programs to build social cohesion, not negative criticism that is easily characterised as an elite response.

The Council=s study indicates that a series of initiatives to learn from, build on, extend and sustain existing good practice would be the most strategic approach to strengthening the values underpinning a forward looking Australia, at ease with itself and respected in the region and wider world. It has found that, although the issues remain the same, the context has changed significantly over the last two years. As a result, the study establishes that a diverse approach is required rather than the kind of single focus national campaign originally envisaged.

This draft report therefore does not outline a national campaign. Rather it presents the conclusions of the Council=s study and provides a number of options for action, which could be taken up by the Council, the National Australia Bank and other potential sponsors.

The Council has concluded that

$ the alienation and divisions evident in Australia are widespread and can be characterised as a national phenomenon but they are particularly evident in outer urban and rural areas and are affected by specific factors in different places

$ the ways in which some businesses have operated have increased the sense of anger and alienation in regional and rural Australia

$ the business community and local government are among the key sectors concerned at the economic and social effects of division and the undermining of key values of respect and tolerance and in many ways are very active in seeking to address these issues

$ existing business and local government initiatives need to be built on and extended as both sectors could do significantly more to engage with the communities in which they operate and to promote tolerant communities and workplaces

$ the movement for reconciliation is one of the most significant developments in community action in recent years and particular and urgent attention should be given to the need to sustain and focus it after the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation closes its doors in December 2000

$ effective responses to divisions in the community must be location and often organisation specific, address specific local factors and target individuals and organisations influential within those communities.

The coming year, the Centenary of Federation, will see considerable focus on national goals and directions. The Centenary can provide an ideal environment in which to nurture the values of respect, tolerance and pluralism that have built modern Australia. Already Coles Myer has contributed $3 million to become the first patron of the Government program to commemorate the year. There is some urgency, therefore, in developing and implementing appropriate local initiatives, through partnerships between national organisations and local communities, to take advantage of the centenary year to promote national cohesion based on positive values.

The Human Rights Council of Australia suggests that, following discussion of this draft with the NAB, the report should be presented to a workshop of a small number of key people from business, government, non government organisations and communities from around Australia. This workshop could be funded from the existing NAB grant to the Council and would aim to provide guidance on future directions.

The Council is willing to explore with the NAB issues of implementation of any of the action proposals in this report or arising from the workshop, whether through the Council itself or through other organisations or individuals.

BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT

This project was first proposed by the Human Rights Council of Australia in 1997 out of concern that divisions in Australian society were increasing and that mainstream Australian values of respect, tolerance and pluralism were under severe strain. The Council was particularly concerned that these values were not finding expression at the community level.

The Council shared more general concern at the growth of Pauline Hanson=s One Nation (PHON). However, the Council considered that PHON was a symptom and a consequence of existing problems, not of itself the cause. In its view, the root causes of many people=s sense of alienation from established social and political institutions were not being addressed.

Many parts of Australia were experiencing economic and social dislocation due to changes in the rural economy, as a result of declining commodity prices, and broader changes as a result of technological developments and economic re-structuring. People were experiencing a decline in their standards of living, or at least a threat of that, and a decline in, or withdrawal of, basic support services. These experiences were contrasted with other areas and groups in Australia that benefited from economic growth and globalisation. The increasing sense of alienation by people left behind by wider economic progress led to attacks on Australia=s major economic, political and social institutions.

This increasing alienation was producing wider attacks on the most vulnerable groups in society and by growing inequalities. Programs to assist indigenous or other disadvantaged Australians access health or education services taken for granted by most Australians were criticised in the name of equality. Assumptions about the political consensus and core values of modern Australian society were shaken. Values of respect for others, tolerance, pluralism and the multicultural nature of Australian society were challenged. Relationships between the Federal Government and Indigenous people and their leaders were deteriorating. Australia=s good international reputation was suffering as a result.

Divisions between city and country and between those characterised as social and political elites and those characterised as ordinary Australians opened up on a range of issues. Concern at this was widely shared. Sections of rural Australia were concerned about the damage that could be done to Australia=s export industries to the region if a combination of protectionist policies and perceptions of racism took hold. Other struggling communities in parts of Australia were concerned that community division could impede their economic and social survival. Business became more concerned at the costs of a divided workforce and a divided community and of rhetoric targeting major banks and other companies.

Many prominent Australians and important sections of business and the media spoke forcefully against PHON but this had little apparent impact. The Council considered that in some cases public criticism of PHON by prominent leaders only served to reinforce perceptions of division between elite Australian opinion and ordinary Australians= experiences and views.

In its original proposal to the National Australia Bank, the Council maintained that a more effective response to these negative developments should be based on local communities and local people, through peer groups addressing issues where they arise, rather than on outsiders. It suggested that there was a need to train, equip and support people to do this.

The Council analysed the situation and concluded that the only effective focus for action was within local communities through community organisations, such as church groups, welfare groups, community services and neighbourhood centres, that have an on the ground presence throughout Australia=s cities, suburbs and towns. In their day to day interactions people involved in these organisations and networks are motivated and sympathetic to values of tolerance, pluralism and respect.

The Council prepared a project outline for a feasibility study of a community based approach to building positive national values. The National Australia Bank agred to fund the Council to
$ conduct a feasibility study on the approach
$ draft an implementation plan
$
$ secure organisational commitments from key non-government organisations and peak councils and
$ seek funding commitments for the implementation of the program from corporate and philanthropic organisations.

Implementation of the feasibility study suggested that a shift in strategy was required. The research indicated that organisational commitments from peak bodies would not deliver the results required. Consequently this objective was dropped in favour of developing options for further action. To do this the Council needed to identify and take greater account of what was currently being done. These steps have been the basis of the study to date and of this report. At this stage no specific funding commitments have been sought, although some government departments have indicated that funding might be forthcoming for specific initiatives and a senior political leader has offered to assist with introductions to potential funders in the business community.

METHODOLOGY

The Human Rights Council employed a consultant, Colin Menzies, with considerable experience in community development and the non-government sector to undertake the first part of the project, a literature search and strategic analysis of community values development. The consultant examined examples of community organising around values in Australia and internationally, researched how values are shaped and changed and investigated the potential to unite peak bodies around a defined campaign on values.

In summary, the consultant advised that personal attitudes are changed most effectively by positive experiences over a period of time and through Alearning by doing@. He stressed the importance of community leaders in shaping community attitudes. He found that communities under stress are most likely to be distrustful and resentful toward outsiders.

The consultant advised, and the Council accepted, that a national, centrally coordinated campaign as envisaged in the project proposal was not the most strategic approach to addressing the project=s longer term aims of reinforcing values of tolerance, respect and pluralism. In addition it was clear that a distinct national campaign would be unlikely to secure the necessary commitments from an already overburdened and under-resourced community sector.

The Council therefore turned to an examination of other initiatives for community action on values. In the time between the project proposal and project implementation there had been a significant development in broader understanding of the situation and acceptance of the Council=s analysis of the need for more community-based responses. A number of initiatives had appeared that warranted closer examination.

The Council re-allocated one of its staff, Patrick Earle, to undertake this further research. With the assistamnce of Council members he

$ conducted telephone interviews with a wide range of organisations and individuals in the private, government and non-government sectors across Australia

$ reviewed relevant written materials, including academic research, existing advocacy resources and evaluations of programs, followed where possible by interviews with the authors

$ circulated an outline of the project and a number of relevant questions to reconciliation and other networks linked through the internet and obtained responses to be fed into this reporting process

$ undertook a series of face to face meetings with key individuals and organisations.

The focus of the research was assisted by an examination of the voting patterns in Queensland, NSW and Victoria of recent state and federal elections to identify the constituencies in which PHON received a large vote. Voting patterns were identified as an important, though imperfect, indicator of areas where values of respect, tolerance and pluralism were under particular strain. While there is an increasing amount of research focusing on community well-being and on the factors that enable some communities to adapt, benefit from and to some extent manage change, there is little if any research attempting to correlate these indicators with voting behaviour.

Interviews undertaken for this study sought to explore the factors that might explain why some communities expressed their alienation in ways that indicate division within the community , through voting for PHON, rather than continuing trust in established institutions, through voting for established parties, while other communities did not.

Desk research and interviews also explored organisational responses to growing senses of division and sought to identify and assess existing community level initiatives aimed at building values of respect and tolerance.

The Council considered the results of the research by both the consultant and the Council officer and sought to develop its analysis of the present situation. Council members have wide experience in community programs and in public education. They brought this experience to bear and developing options for future programs to address the divisions identified by the research. This report reflects their consideration and discussion of these questions.

DEFINING THE ISSUES

Australia divided

The concerns prompting the Council=s project remain very alive. They are apparent in the issues that dominated the media in the last weeks of March and the first weeks of April 2000. Angry divisions over indigenous issues, mandatory sentencing laws and the treatment of asylum seekers dominated media coverage and federal parliament. Polling indicates a country deeply divided in its attitudes to Aboriginal reconciliation, immigration and asylum, criminal justice and disadvantage. People who are poor, unemployed and marginalised are still often scapegoated. Again these divisions have been portrayed as running between urban and rural Australia and between educated elites and ordinary Australians.

Certainly the divisions between country and city have not diminished. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission=s Bush Talks program and its National Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education have highlighted the basis of rural and remote Australians= grievances. They also highlighted practical examples from local communities of how problems could be addressed and barriers broken down.

The government clearly appreciates the importance of addressing the plight of regional and rural Australia and the Prime Minister and other ministers have given assurances of major initiatives and new expenditure. The rural summit, the focus on the bush and the Prime Minister=s commitment that there will be no further cuts to government services in rural and regional Australia have raised expectations. However, there is deep scepticism among rural Australians about the support that will be provided and the extent of substantive improvement they will see. People in rural and regional Australia and on the fringes of our towns and cities continue to feel ignored and alienated. The difficulty now is that, if these heightened expectations are dashed, the alienation is likely to increase further.

There are also positive trends that can be encouraged and promoted. One of Australia=s most divisive debates of recent years has been over Native Title. This issue has the potential to flare up again. The states and territories have to pass their own laws and the Senate has the power to reject them. Individual cases are still working their way through the courts. But there are also signs of changing relationships on the land and growing recognition of Indigenous Australians as significant stakeholders in local communities. The number of Indigenous Australian local councillors in NSW doubled at the 1999 election from thirteen to twenty-six.

The work of the Victorian Local Government Association and the People Together Project also point to local communities reinvigorating themselves and focusing on harmonious relationships as part of this. Other examples were presented to the Regional Australia Summit in October 1999.

Australia has also been damaged internationally by the divisions of the past few years. There has been unprecedented criticism of Australia from the UN, human rights treaty bodies and international human rights non-government organisations. Current and former leaders of the National Party have emphasised the possibility of damage to Australia=s trading relationships and its rural economy from simplistic, populist solutions to the problems facing regional Australia. Indigenous representatives report significant and increasing interest from the international media. On many occasions in the last few months the Prime Minister and senior ministers have been forced to defend his Government=s record before the international community. Domestic divisions have international repercussions that can cause further harm to our society and economy.

Shifting political foundations

While the capacity of PHON to regain support at the polls should not be underestimated, the Hanson phenomenon looks to have peaked and now to be in steep decline. In some states the party is imploding and in most places it is in serious trouble. The threat of a popular party of the far right, basing itself on policies of division, has for the moment receded. But it could recur.

Large numbers of Australians are unhappy with the major parties, and are electorally volatile. One Nation indicates that Australia=s party line can be invaded by an emotional populist appeal with a >victimised= mentality.

Some of the votes lost by PHON have been won by independents, particularly at State level. The primary vote for minor parties and independents in NSW for example increased from 8% in 1993 to 16% in 1996 to almost 25% in 1998. These independents have rung many of the same populist bells as PHON in describing and capitalising on rural frustration with the established social and economic institutions and anger at exclusion from the benefits of economic and social change and economic growth. Fortunately they all seem to have eschewed the politics of racial division. In a number of cases, most notable Peter Andren, the NSW independent in the House of Representatives, they have been notable for their willingness to take principled but unpopular stands. Significantly, when they have shown this leadership, their constituents have stood by them and they have maintained or even increased their support base.

The rise of the independents may indicate that established voter loyalties, particularly in regional and rural Australia, have been broken and that this has provided voters with a sense of power. It may even be that voters have responded to the major parties= focus on marginal seats by voting to make their seats marginal.

PHON has left a worrying legacy. The centre ground of political debate has shifted markedly on a range of issues that are critical to Australia=s future as a cohesive, successful nation, from immigration to indigenous affairs, crime and policies on rural Australia. The major political parties and many of their leaders seem less willingness by to play an educative or leadership role in addressing critical national issues and there seems a pre-occupation with following the shifts of opinion indicated by quantitative and qualitative polling.

The increasingly entrenched perception is that mainstream Australia is socially and economically conservative, opposed to immigration, hostile to minorities in general and to indigenous people in particular, tough on crime and open only to simplistic solutions to complex problems. There is an associated perception that values of respect, tolerance and pluralism, previously seen as mainstream to Australian society, have been rejected by many Australians and at least undermined with most. These perceptions have affected policy debates and the positions of the political parties.

Lessons from voting patterns

The patterns of votes received by PHON in the 1998 Queensland and federal elections and the 1999 New South Wales election provide useful insights into the nature of the divisions in today=s Australia. Academic analysis of these voting patterns reveals the demographics of PHON=s supporters and in turn correlations between levels of support for PHON and levels of alienation and poverty .

PHON support was highest on the fringes of urban centres and in rural Australia. In rural Australia it was highest in areas with a significant Indigenous population and where land title was still uncertain, western and north western NSW and much of Queensland. It was lowest in areas with significant multi-cultural or high income populations. Based on an analysis of the NSW elections Elaine Thompson has observed Ain terms of South East Asian ethnicity, familiarity has bred tolerance in NSW@.

On the urban fringes PHON has found fertile grounds for support in areas with unskilled workers in blue collar industries where high numbers of people either own or are purchasing their own homes and in areas with people who Aare seeking a semi-rural lifestyle but remain economically attached to urban type economic pursuits@.

In Queensland at least evidence suggests that employment in the agricultural sector is not so significant a factor in PHON support as employment in blue-collar industries.

A number of explanations for PHON=s low vote in Victoria have been proposed. These generally focus on Victoria=s small indigenous population, the relative absence of disputes over Native Title and a longer history and spread of multi-cultural communities across Australia. Strong leadership on positive values by the Liberal Premier, poor quality PHON candidates and a resurgence in community level activity also explain the failure of PHON to gain a foothold in Victoria.

Most electoral analysis of the PHON vote has focused on voting share in federal or state electorates. Important differences in income, occupation or ethnic diversity within electorates are ignored, therefore, as data are aggregated for each electorate as a whole. The NSW state seat of Dubbo, for example, takes in the prosperous and growing regional hub of Dubbo as well as poorer remote communities. The NSW federal seat of Farrer contains rural areas and towns that are ethnically diverse as well as areas that are essentially mono-cultural; it contains both thriving and struggling communities.

Only one study was found that had undertaken a booth by booth analysis cross-referenced by socio-economic data. This Queensland study highlights the great differences in socio-economic variables within electorates and the variations in the PHON vote at different booths. These variations support the contention that the PHON vote increases with distance from urban centres.

In the absence of booth by booth analysis in NSW any differences in voting patterns between relatively prosperous and harmonious communities, such as Wagga Wagga, Balranald and Dubbo, and relatively poorer and struggling communities in the smaller towns around the regional centres remain unknown. Similarly we do not know whether efforts to improve community relations in Moree were reflected at the ballot box through a lower vote for PHON. All of these regional centres are in electorates in which PHON had its highest share of the vote in NSW. It is thought that PHON polled well in rural Victoria in Mildura and Robinvale but again more detailed analysis is required before any conclusions can be drawn.

In undertaking this study the Council has been unable to identify any research that directly correlates harmonious and tolerant communities or levels of community sector activity with voting patterns. PHON=s share of the vote is an imperfect indicator of intolerant or divided communities but it is striking that PHON=s vote was highest in electorates with significant indigenous populations and where Native Title was still at issue.

It is arguable that general attitudes of intolerance in the urban fringes and rural Australia begin with hostility toward indigenous people and that addressing attitudes towards indigenous people and issues of Native Title in particular should be a priority focus for action in improving relationships. One person interviewed for this study made the point that the further one travels from urban centres the more values and attitudes are shaped by very local histories, experiences and relationships.

The Queensland study referred to above indicates that national or regional development strategies are likely to leave the economic and social situation of the alienated fringes of Australia=s cities and towns untouched. The same point probably applies to strategies aimed at addressing values. Other social researchers have reached similar conclusions that have become the basis in NSW for much more targeted strategies for strengthening communities. On the same basis the Council has concluded that work to foster more positive national values must be well focused and carefully targeted to have the greatest impact on those who are experiencing the greatest sense of alienation.

Shared concerns but differing strategies

Concern at growing divisions in Australian society is now widely shared. There have been many differences of view, however, on how these divisions are best addressed and healed. The Council considers that some strategies, although well intended, have in fact consolidated divisions rather than reduced them.

When PHON emerged in the latter part of the 1990s, counter-strategies largely focused on prominent individuals with power and influence, including former Prime Ministers, church and religious leaders, business and trade union leaders, media and arts celebrities and the broadsheet press, speaking out in opposition to Pauline Hanson and/or her policies. The people speaking out were perceived to have some responsibility for, or to have been silent in response to, the economic and social pain communities were experiencing through withdrawal of services and economic restructuring. To the extent that these strategies reached the people who voted or were likely to vote for PHON, they probably reinforced the perception that there was a conspiratorial national cabal of elites who did not understand and did not care about Aordinary Australians@. They probably reinforced the sense of alienation among PHON supporters and the divisions within communities.

Writing in the Future of Australian Multiculturalism, Professor Murray Groot notes that the audience profile of radio Ashock jocks@ of all media best correlates with the demographics of PHON's supporters. It is impossible to know whether the support of these radio announcers for many of the positions put forward by PHON pushed up the PHON vote but it is at least arguable. These radio celebrities have enormous audiences and so are carefully courted by those seeking their support. Former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party leader Tim Fischer highlighted the role of radio announcers in promoting populist and simple solutions to complex issues. It is notable that, when the Australian Bankers= Association decided to attempt to restore the reputation of the banks in the community, it decided to reach people through these same radio announcers, presumably on the basis that Ashock jocks@ do participate in shaping attitudes.

Hanson=s electoral star has waned over the last two years and there is now less sense of urgency to addressing the various prejudices to which she gave voice and legitimacy. Inaction has replaced the previous differences about strategy. This complacency came through in a number of interviews as part of this study. Among those who remain concerned, there seems to be a growing consensus that to be effective strategies must be based within communities.

The need for action

The Council recognises PHON as a symptom of deeper problems. Processes of change continue to make people feel insecure, alienated, disenfranchised and powerless. The pace of change in many communities is unlikely to slow in the near future at least. Small farmers are being forced off the land in many parts of rural Australia as farm holdings consolidate. Significant sections of the community are being left behind even as the economy achieves impressive growth figures. Notwithstanding the Prime Minister=s commitment, cuts in provision of services are likely to continue and to affect increasing numbers of people. Uncertainties about Native Title rights are also set to continue in many parts of Australia. Many people interviewed for this study highlighted the potential of this issue to flare up again as local and regional agreements are negotiated and land claims work their way through the courts.

This is one area in which corporate Australia could show real leadership: they have the skills and the resources and are not hindered by local fears.

The current project was proposed out of concern that divisions within Australia will continue and deepen unless the attitudes and values amplified by PHON are effectively addressed. Indeed unless addressed they could be exploited in the future with great damage to our nation domestically and internationally. The failure of PHON was ultimately due to its own internal dissensions and to the incompetence of its leaders. The potential for a more strategic and effective party of the extreme right to emerge cannot be excluded.

That is the negative side, the potential threat to our national cohesion and well-being. There is also a positive side, signs of hope in communities throughout rural and remote Australia that are thriving and growing, often in circumstances of great difficulty. Peter Kenyon has identified troubled communities that through leadership and vision have turned themselves around. Margot Kingston cites the example of Birdsville in southern Queensland which has built a prosperous relationship with Japan through premium organic beef exports and a program of exchange visits. Growing horticulture and viticulture industries have transformed regions, bringing greater prosperity, new people with new ideas and renewed emphasis on values of diversity, pluralism and tolerance.

Addressing these structural issues is beyond the scope and intention of the current project but it is clear from the number of initiatives focusing on supporting communities, promoting diversity and addressing intolerance that there is shared and widespread concern about the need for action. There are many examples of these initiatives.

In the face of the failure of the official process of reconciliation between indigenous and other Australians, a community movement for reconciliation has begun. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation has registered 369 local reconciliation groups across the country. Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) has over 200 local groups throughout Australia. These groups are in both urban and rural areas, including areas with high votes for PHON. ANTaR says that over one million people have signed Sorry Books.

The Victorian Local Government Association and the Australian Local Government Association highlight communities across Australia with programs to strengthen values of tolerance and respect for others. It is interesting to note in passing an increasing emphasis on using sport to break down barriers in and between divided communities and to address wider social problems.

The varied experiences of organisations, individuals and communities enable good practice to be consolidated and extended. In some instances there is a need to provide a greater focus for activities. Existing training and information materials need to be adapted for different uses. The sustainability of some positive developments, such as local reconciliation groups, is threatened by uncertainties over future support. Rather than developing a new national values campaign as originally proposed, the Council has identified as more effective and less costly an approach based on existing initiatives, strengthening and extending what is already underway, addressing barriers and problems within local communities and building coalitions within communities and across sectors and levels of activity throughout Australia.

LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS

There is little evidence of coherent strategies to challenge intolerant and divisive politics in our community but there are a number of interesting and hopeful initiatives.

Corporate Australia

Multi-national corporations and the Banks have borne much of the brunt of populist outrage in regional and rural Australia.

A frequent complaint that emerged in the community consultations of The People Together Project in Victoria was that corporate business did not make sufficient contribution to the communities in which it was located.

Its report The Power of Community noted positive signsin the growing focus on good corporate citizenship and the Prime Minister=s Community Business Partnerships initiative. The report itself made a number of practical suggestions for business involvement in supporting local communities.

Corporate/Government partnerships through the Centenary of Federation (Coles-Myer), Living in Harmony (Woolworths/MacDonalds) and Reconciliation (Qantas/Bodyshop) processes provide some positive examples.

? Telstra has been another target of people=s anger in rural and regional Australia. It has responded to this robust criticism in an unusual way. It specifically sought to reestablish relationships with communities and allay people=s concern about not being listened to by initiating Talking to Telstra, an extensive round of community consultations around Australia, beginning in 1998. This program involved up to 200 community consultations around Australia, with participants ranging from a few to 60-70.

Commitment to giving feedback on changes has apparently been honoured. In somc cases there were return visits to monitor progress. Telstra identified the following benefits from the program - they have dealt with individual issues, made improvements in service provision and established better relationships with local governments and stakeholder groups.

As a result of the consultations Telstra have established 100 Telstra traineeships in remote and rural Australia - local people who will be able to continue to live and work in their communities. Telstra have also appointed regional business development managers to provide Telstra with a face and action point. An Indigenous Employment Policy is in preparation. Telstra are set to begin another major round of consultations in May.

Other companies have also taken the initiative in addressing values and community relations at the national and local level.

? Berri launched a national advertising campaign called Talking Fruits in 1998. According to a spokesperson for the organisation the campaign originated from a desire to celebrate its own multicultural workforce, whom it saw as a positive and as representative of multicultural Australia. Since then the company has implemented an internal company policy on cultural diversity.

? Gwydir Valley Cotton Growers in Moree Shire (NSW) provides a more local example of a commercial enterprise that recognised a commercial interest in improving relations in a community that had attained an unenviable reputation for division, social problems and racism. The companies comprehensive Aboriginal Employment Strategy is complemented by support for the local rugby league team and a recognition of the need to change relationships in the wider community.

When black and white people work together, better outcomes are achieved. Together, we were able to create change in community thinking and have made Moree a better town for all to live in. Moree is now beginning to generate positive publicity. In time the town will start to grow, gaining more employment opportunities for all concerned.

An increasing number of companies and professional bodies are also looking internally to ensure that diversity inside their organisations is enhanced and contributes to the service they offer and better economic outcomes.

? The Australian Industries Group (AIG) has established a project AWinning with Cultural Diversity - three steps to a better workplace@ focussed on addressing the issues that can arise in culturally diverse workforces and on steps that can be taken to create a more productive working environment. AIG sees this work is as improving the service and training options AIG it offers its members.

? The Australian Graduate School of Management and the Monash Mount Eliza Business School are both focussing more on the issues of managing and benefiting from cultural diversity in the workplace.

? Mobil Oil Australia has adopted a Diversity and Inclusion Program aimed at increasing productivity through greater staff input and Abetter representing Mobil=s customer base within its workforce to gain increased knowledge of its customers and better customer service.@

? Hewlett-Packard Australia also has a new diversity program. It relates this to its Astrong drive to be an employer of choice@. The process apparently started with a council of senior managers defining the business case for a diversity program. AWe=re working in a global marketplaceY we know through research done in the US that there is a very strong correlation between good diversity practices and financial performance that can be seen over five to ten year periods@

While these are encouraging developments it seems that international practice remains ahead of Australian practice on both corporate support of local communities and philanthropic organisations and on programs valuing cultural diversity in the workplace.

In recognition of the importance of the corporate sector the Federal Government has funded
B=nai B=rith Anti-Defamation Inc in Victoria to conduct a two-phase project on tolerance training for companies. The first phase involves surveying a representative sample of medium to higher level management in a cross section of rural and urban industries Australia wide. Based on this they will introduce educational programs currently being used in companies in the United States.

Local Government

One of Australia=s most precious assets, economic as well as social, is our high level of community cohesion. If that is undermined and lost, we are all very much the poorer. Local Government=s fundamental role is to maintain the quality of community life in all its facets.

? The high costs of community division are being recognised by local governments across Australia. Moree Shire Council in NSW recognised that its reputation as a town beset by social problems and poor race relations was affecting its economic prospects and survival as a community. To attract investment and people it has focussed efforts and resources on improving relationships in the Shire and is apparently turning things around.

? The small town of Hyden in Western Australia, concerned at the loss of its young people conducted a survey to asked young people what sort of accommodation they wanted. On the basis of this the Council invested in building low maintenance, single person units for which there is now a waiting list.

? The Living Streets program in Liverpool, New South Wales is another example of recognition that breaking down the down the divisions between sections of the community (in this case between young and old and from different cultures) has benefits for the entire community. In this case street crime rates were drastically reduced and outdoor spaces were made safe and useable by the community. The negative reputation of the area was transformed.

The Local Government Community Services Association of Australia recently published AWorking Together to Develop our Communities - Good practice and benchmarking in Local Government community development and community services@

This report published in 1999 provides many good practice examples of how local government has (and by implication can) strengthen communities and community values of tolerance and social justice. It lists indicators of community well-being. It sets out for professional staff employed by local government their responsibility to address issues of equity and justice. It complements the report of the People Together Project in Victoria which features 35 good practice initiatives in communities across Australia.

The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) has a range of policies and initiatives on nurturing communities and improving community relationships. It has for example adopted and is implementing a national justice and equity strategy focussing on local government and indigenous people. ALGA can point to many examples of good practice across Australia and some are highlighted on its website (www.alga.com.au).

ALGA is currently collating the results of a survey that went to over 700 councils seeking information on the implementation of the strategy. A quick look at the returns suggests considerable activity is occurring.

ALGA=s Indigenous Issues Program Manager suggests that 20% of Councils are very committed and active on the Strategy, the majority are sympathetic but need a bit of prodding and around 15% are opposed to doing anything. As a consequence ALGA is likely to concentrate its limited resources on working with the sympathetic local governments that might need a bit of assistance.

Only a relatively small number of local government=s have adopted Indigenous policies that have significant resource implications such as employment strategies. Indigenous Australians continue to be underrepresented as elected Councillors and as Council employees and this under-representation becomes even more glaring in skilled, supervisory or management positions.

Councils appear to have been most active in implementing the justice and equity (and reconciliation) strategies when there have been groups in the community (such as local reconciliation groups) pushing them along. This was mentioned in relation to Kempsey and Eurobodalla for example, both of which have only recently made significant steps forward in generating better relationships between local government and Indigenous people and fostering relationships in the community.

In other situations, initiatives to tackle often sensitive issues of community relationships and allocation of resources are seen as very dependent on the personal commitment of the Mayor or General Manager.

As noted earlier the parts of regional and remote Australia that recorded the highest PHON (Northern Territory excepted) share of the vote are those with significant Indigenous populations and where exclusive land title is uncertain or contested. Often these parts of Australia are also witnessing a decline in the non-Aboriginal populations, while the Aboriginal population is growing relatively and absolutely. According to some this is leading to a wider acknowledgement of the need to change and build new community relationships based on respect and tolerance.

However, a lack of understanding of Native Title remains a key, continuing and exploitable source of division within important parts of rural and remote Australia.

In recent years ALGA with the support of the Federal Government, ATSIC and the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation has been developing and delivering training packages for local authorities on dealing with Native Title issues.

Athe primary purpose of ALGA=S involvement in addressing Indigenous issues was to prevent needless division of local communities@.

This training has been delivered in one-day workshops across Australia over the past two years. It covers a lot of ground, including how to come to local agreements and to calm anxieties and concerns through conveying accurate information to the community. The trainer reported that significant attitudinal (and behavioural) shifts did result from the training programs.

Although the process has not been evaluated the training material was viewed by two members of the project team and found to be very impressive. It is HRCA=s view that this material could and should adapted for use outside of local government circles and that it has the potential to make a significant contribution to overcoming the confusion that surrounds the Native Title issue.

Community Sector

The community sector in Australia is diverse and difficult to define. It includes Church and service organisations, overseas aid organisations with many thousands of supporters such as Community Aid Abroad and World Vision, youth and women=s organisations as well as social service providers.

Organisations such as Rotary and Apex are battling aging and declining memberships. Also facing declining memberships, the Guiding and Scouting Movements are seeking to extend their appeal and membership base so that it is more reflective of multi-cultural Australia. The Australian Cricket Board has also been making concerted efforts to appeal to multi-cultural Australia to secure the Cricket=s appeal and future. Some people suggest the influence of the Country Women=s Association (CWA) is declining as more women active on the land establish organisations such as the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women in Victoria.

Major charitable community organisations such as Mission Australia and the Salvation Army have expanded rapidly to provide what were previously core government services. These organisations generally have formal commitments to values of respect, tolerance and pluralism and to the process of reconciliation.

One of the most relevant developments in looking at community action on values is the extraordinary growth of local reconciliation groups. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (CAR) claims there are 369 of these groups throughout Australia, although they have not figure for the number of people involved.

CAR has assisted with the establishment and nurturing of many of these groups, in particular through a state based network of Australians For Reconciliation coordinators (paid consultants). While these local reconciliation groups are very diverse in many cases they clearly have the potential to influence the direction of their local government (see above re Kempsey and Eurobodalla).

It is unclear what will happen to these groups when CAR closes down at the end of 2000. In Victoria at least there are plans to establish a Victorian reconciliation foundation that will continue to nurture LRGs

Australian=s for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) claim to have over 200 groups across the country although this possibly double counts some LRGs. ANTaR have reorganised and have a new salaried National Coordinator.

The Australian Council for Overseas Aid has recently reestablished an indigenous working group although levels of activity in agencies and agency members are thought to have decreased.

A Refugee Alliance has recently been formed to bring together concerned organisations across Australia and it is possible that this alliance could be encouraged to take a community focussed strategy of building values of respect and tolerance.

In Victoria both the Uniting Church and the Catholic Archdiocese have social justice networks that include statewide databases of individuals and groups active on reconciliation issues. The Victorian Local Government Association straddles community and local government sectors and has been doing work on community values.

In South Australia, the Celebrating Diversity Coalition is a broad group which emerged in the face of One Nation. It apparently organised 12,000 people to march against Hanson, plus other festivals and events. The reconciliation movement has been strongly supported by faith communities in South Australia.

It is difficult to get an accurate picture of how active or effective organisations are in different States or communities. Decisions on whether approaching peak organisations or national secretariats is the most effective strategy for generating change or action at the community level need to be made on a case by case basis.

Political Parties

All the major established political parties have to a greater or lesser extent been shaken by the emergence of PHON. Now that the immediacy of this threat has gone it seems that complacency has reasserted itself.

Consequently it is difficult to point to examples of Agood practice@ where parties are seeking to change the way they operate (or to take other steps) to reestablish the trust they have clearly lost among significant sections of Australian society.

Tim Fischer, former leader of the National Party has suggested the need to be more honest and for politicians and parties to stop Agilding the lily@, but there is little sign of anyone following this advice.

In New South Wales the Labour Party has created Country Labour in a political tactic aimed at taking and keeping traditional National Party voters.

The only example of substantive change in political practice the project came across is the new participatory selection process Tim Fischer has initiated to find his successor in the seat of Farrer. This process involves a round of public consultations between constituents and prospective candidates, the results of which will be taken account of by the selection panel.

The possibility of using political party branches to help shift community attitudes was canvassed with senior Coalition and Labor Party figures. It was dismissed by Labor but it was felt that Coalition branches would be a useful avenue. They provide the sort of small group setting in which values and attitudes can be turned around and local Branches are always looking for outside speakers in order to make meetings attractive.

Federal Government

If only for reasons of political survival, the Federal Government has seen the need to address the growing urban/regional divide in Australia.

The Regional Australia Summit was a significant pep talk according to one interviewee and has helped to reassure key opinion in the bush that they are now being listened to. Implementing the outcomes of the Regional Australia Summit would address some of the structural issues giving rise to the sense of alienation felt in rural and regional Australia and their sense of exclusion from decision making. On the other hand a number of interviewees claimed that regional development funding has in fact continued to be cut.

The May 2000 Budget may provide additional funding for educational and health services in rural and remote Australia, but is more likely to focus on roads and telecommunications funding.

The point was made more than once that the increased political rhetoric on the bush only served to further alienate people doing it hard on the urban fringes and in regional Australia who do not see themselves as living in Athe bush@.

The Federal Government has launched or continued with a number of processes that are dealing more directly with values.

The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is coming to the end of its term. In its ten years it has engaged many sectors of Australian society and nurtured a grass roots movement that has helped to break down barriers between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians all over Australia. At this stage it remains unclear how this process will be continued after CAR closes, despite the acknowledgement that reconciliation is a long term national project. No seed funding has so far been committed by Government to the proposed Australian Reconciliation Foundation.

CAR itself has only the vaguest of plans for sustaining local reconciliation groups post 2000 and at this stage LRGs will have little if any input into the directions of the proposed Foundation.

Living in Harmony is the program funded by the Federal Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA). It consists primarily of 100 grant- funded projects across Australia. The bulk of the grants appear to be in areas where challenges to the values of respect, tolerance and pluralism are least pressing. At the same time the program=s analysis and objectives, with an emphasis on community level responses, are similar to the current HRCA project. The strategy is based on research that DIMA is not willing to share.

The scope of the projects varies greatly and they are in varying stages of implementation. Most are expected to be able to report on progress at least by October/November 2000.

Brief summaries of the projects appear on DIMA=s website (www.immi.gov.au/harmony/grants/)

A couple of the projects are worthwhile highlighting here as they may provide useful outcomes for further work in this area.

? ATesting ways to engage community influentials to improve race and ethnic relations@ - Charles Sturt University.

The project has identified nine pilot towns in rural Queensland, NSW and Vic to look at different approaches: Gympie, Cairns, Ipswich hinterland, Balranald, Griffith, Wagga Wagga, Kyabrim, Coolack, Morwell

Towns have been chosen to reflect different demographics -e.g. ethnic and indigenous mix, incomes and unemployment situation with aim of identifying how attitudes on race and ethnicity are developed and perpetuated. The project researchers feeling is that the further you get from the centre of major cities the more these attitudes are shaped by very particular histories of relationships and place. When the project has identified the community influentials (school librarian, motel owner, policeman, taxi driver etc) it will develop and conduct half-day workshops with a view to shifting attitudes. One point made by the principal researcher is that cohesive communities are not necessarily tolerant ones.

? The Dandenong Springvale School and Sports Project: Sports are for All! Dandenong Community Health Service/South Eastern Migrant Resource Centre -

Originally a Aturning the tide@ anti-drugs initiative that has been extended to tackle cultural exclusion - the fact that kids from ethnic backgrounds are not participating in sporting clubs - they are linking schools, sporting clubs and ethnic communities and providing clubs with cross-cultural awareness training.

Other projects in the Living in Harmony program are likely to come up with research, programs and materials relevant to the aims of the HRCA project. However, DIMA are unlikely to use the projects to good effect and give the impression of viewing the program primarily as one of bureaucratic administration of grants.

The other major dimension of the Living in Harmony program is the partnership agreements the government is seeking with corporate Australia, state and local governments and community organisations. They include with the NSW Rural Fire Service, Australian Cricket Board, Australian Local Government Association (with CAR), Victorians for Diversity.

While partnership funding is committed, DIMA indicated openness to receiving proposals from Australia companies to work on issues of, productive diversity or cultural diversity at work.

DIMA is planning a major conference for later in 2000 on the theme of productive diversity and they may be interested in funding initiatives focussing on internal company training programs.

Materials

Evaluations of material people have used in their work to strengthen values of respect, tolerance and pluralism are hard to find. Information on what works or is useful is therefore fairly anecdotal.

Face the Facts, an information booklet on race and Indigenous issues has been widely praised by people working on the ground and by journalists.

Rebutting the Myths, was produced by ATSIC and focuses on trying to set out the facts on Indigenous issues in general and specifically to set the record straight about some of the claims PHON was making.

Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation has produced masses of material, much of it high quality and glossy but of limited value as a tool for community action to change attitudes.

The CAR materials that have arguably had the most impact are the Study Circle kits. These have been produced since 1993. Many of the local community reconciliation groups began as study circles. Some have evolved into quite active groups.

Study circles are a community education technique begun in Sweden at the turn of the century and have been widely used around the world. In this case it the study circles consists of discussion guides for a series of eight self-facilitated meetings.

An evaluation of the study circles commissioned by CAR and conducted in 1998 informed the production of a second edition of the study circles in 1999. Overall the evaluation suggests the technique has been effective in deepening many people=s knowledge and sense of commitment to the issue of reconciliation. They have been most effective where

? People have been able to establish relationships with Indigenous people or Indigenous people have participated in the learning circle

? The process has been externally supported (by facilitators) or professionally validated (been part of professional training). In South Australia for example completion of the reconciliation study circle was made compulsory for health workers before professional contact with Indigenous patients was permitted.

The evaluation provides limited evidence that participation in study circles led to community advocacy through letter writing to the local papers for example.

The second edition of the Study Circles included statements made by PHON as a suggested basis for discussion.

It would be possible to produce Study Circle kits that would be more focussed on how to strengthen values and more action oriented.

The materials produced by ALGA on Native Title in particular have had a more limited audience but could usefully be adapted for other audiences.

CONCLUSIONS:

While the immediate electoral threat of PHON has receded the tensions, divisions and sense of alienation in Australian society remain open to exploitation. It would be a mistake to wait for this to happen before addressing the need to nurture the values that most Australian=s treasure.

On the basis of the project research some preliminary conclusions can be drawn:

? The Human Rights Council=s analysis of PHON that highlighted the need for community based action to respond to the strains on core values, is now more widely shared.

? The implosion of PHON has resulted in complacency within key institutions and organisations that previously saw urgency in the need for action

? The anger and frustration felt in many parts of Australia, retains the potential to be directed at the most vulnerable sections of society with divisive and destructive effects.

? While PHON was regarded as a national phenonomen the PHON vote was affected by very specific factors in different places and effective responses need to be location (and often organisation) specific.

? Attitudes are most effectively influenced over time, in non-threatening environments such as small peer groups

? There is currently a lot of activity and good practice going on at the community level that is broadly contributing to the strengthening of core values identified and that could be drawn on in any project addressing values.

? The business community and local government are among the key sectors concerned at the economic and social effects of division and the undermining of key values of respect and tolerance. This concern is reflected in high levels of activity.

? Institutions need to look at the processes by which they relate to and engage with communities. Adopting processes that enable people to be informed about and have a say in decisions that affect their communities would help overcome the sense of being ignored that communities in regional Australia have expressed.

? Local Government has significant potential for strengthening values in rural and remote Australia

? Strategies to address breakdowns in relations need to address specific local factors and target individuals and organisations that are influential within those communities

? The movement for reconciliation is one of the most significant developments in community action in recent years and particular and urgent attention should be given to the need to sustain and focus this movement after the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation closes its doors in December, 2000.

OPTIONS FOR ACTION

? Major companies with operations in regional and remote Australia could be encouraged to adopt a code of practice on relationships with the communities in which they operate. A workshop with key community specialists could begin to outline what should be in such a code. It may be that the recent experience of major Australian Mining Companies in negotiating agreements with Indigenous communities would offer some useful suggestions. The Talking to Telstra would also be relevant.

? As major sponsors of sport, Australian corporations could offer support to those community projects that have been using sport to break down community divisions and enhance respect for others. Of particular use would be support for some evaluative process involving current and recent project staff. The aim of the evaluative process would be to spread the lessons learnt and to feed into the priorities and programs of State Governments and the Australian Sports Commission. Gwydir Cotton Growers have given particular emphasis to their sponsorship of the local Moree Rugby League team. This initiative could be promoted in front of a significant global audience at the World Conference on Racism to be held in South Africa in September, 2001.

? Sponsorship should be sought for a program of speakers to address Coalition Party branches on values of respect, tolerance and diversity over the next two years. Coalition parties are mentioned rather than Labor because a senior Coalition figure suggested the idea. A senior Labour Party figure suggested it would be a waste of time for Labor Branches when the idea was canvassed (HRCA could assist with drawing up a list of speakers likely to be interested and of interest to Coalition Branches).

? A workshop to bring together key project coordinators from the Living in Harmony program together with other community practictioners with a view to mapping the way forward, including providing advice on what advocacy material would be most useful and what should be the priorities. As a follow up the possibility of funding State Council=s of Social Services to host workshops on the key lessons from Living in Harmony projects should be explored.

? Funding could be sought from the Council of Aboriginal Reconciliation to host a workshop bringing together representatives from local reconciliation groups in regional Australia to look at how these groups could be supported post 2000. The workshop should also focus on how reconciliation groups can most effectively relate to local government.

? Initiate discussions with the Centenary of Federation Foundation to explore the potential for feeding values and the lessons from CAR, Living in Harmony and other such programs into its work over the coming year

? Recurrent funding to the Australian Reconciliation Foundation for the support of local reconciliation groups

? Funding to assist the Australian Local Government Association extend its training program on Native Title to key stakeholders in the broader community.

There are a number of actions that the NAB could take the initiative on in relation to its own operations:

? Adopt and implement a program on cultural diversity in the workplace (if they haven=t done so) - funding to assist in this may be available from DIMA.
? Participate in the National Conference on Productive Diversity being organised by DIMA for late 2000
? take the initiative in offering to provide information sessions on Native Title to its customers in rural and remote Australia, based on the materials used by the Australian Local Government Association.
? provide training for its staff on Native Title, based on an adaptation of materials developed by the Australian Local Government Association
? pilot a staff training program based around the study circle kits prepared for the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation

REFERENCES

? AWorking Together to Develop our Communities - Good practice and benchmarking in Local Government community development and community services@ published by the Local Government Community Services Association of Australia in April 1999
? Howard=s Agenda, The 1998 Federal Election edited by M Simms and J Warhurst to be published UQP 2000. Elaine Thompson

? Disillusionment and Disenchantment at the Fringe: Explaining the Geography of the One Nation Party Vote at the Queensland Election, Rex Davis and Robert Stimson published in People and Place, vol 6 no 3.
? Unequal in Life - the distribution of social disadvantage in Victoria and New South Wales - by Tony Vinson and The Ignatious Centre for Social Policy and Research
? Pauline Hanson and the Power of the Media, Professor Murray Groot
? Bill Anscombe, Centre for Rural Social Research - Charles Sturt University
? Asa Wahlquist, Rural Business Writer, keynote address to Regional Australia Summit
? Living Streets Project Acquittal Document, Liverpool City Council
? National Agenda for Local Government, Australian Local Government Association
? The Power of Community - celebrating and promoting community in Victoria, Report of the Initiatives Reinvigorating Victorian Communities, People Together Project and Victorian Local Government Association.
? Maintaining the Momentum - ALGA Website
? The Perils of Pauline and the Popularity of Pauline, Murray Goot, Associate Professor, Macquarie
? Hanson=s Heartland, Who=s for One Nation and Why, Murray Goot
? Services for All - Promoting Access and Equity in Local Government, Australian Local Government Association
? Multicultarlism in Australia (MA Dissertation), Sayoko Isaza
? Evaluation Report of Australians for Reconciliation Study Circle Project, David Shores and Jo Crawford for the Australian Association of Adult and Community Education
? Demographic and Social Changes in Australia, keynote presentation to Regional Australia Summit
? Partnerships in Reconciliation - Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation
? Working Together - pamphlet prepared by Cotton Australia, Gwydir Valley Cotton Growers Association
? Working Out Agreements with Indigenous Australians - a new direction for local councils, Australian Local Government Association
? Working with Native Title, Linking Native Title with Council processes, Australian Local Government Association
? Commitments to Reconciliation - working document to be presented to Corroboree 2000.
? Progress on Reconciliation Strategies - Western Australia Reconciliation Advisory Group
? Time Running Out: Shaping Regional Australia=s Future, Standing Committee on Primary Industries and Regional Services, Parlt of Commonwealth of Australia