Howard wastes Indigenous money by ignoring ATSIC review recommendations
The Howard Government's decision on ATSIC has already cost one million dollars in Indigenous money, say the Australian Democrats.
Democrats Indigenous Affairs spokesperson, Senator Aden Ridgeway, said the ATSIC review provided a chance to make valuable structural changes to the organisation, a chance which the Government has now squandered.
"The review did recommend far reaching changes but it did not advocate annihilating national Indigenous representation altogether," said Senator Ridgeway.
"Australian taxpayers are entitled to ask this Government why that money has been wasted.
"Indigenous Australians especially have little reason to trust anything this Government says.
"Who will oversee the Government departments who will be responsible for Indigenous programs; who will monitor their actions, where are the benchmarks and targets, where is the accountability?
"The Democrats can see no reason to support legislation to get rid of ATSIC as it will remove any effective national representation.
"The type of change in Indigenous representation is almost irreversible and the Prime Minister knows that.
"We saw the long and tortuous process of creating ATSIC in the first place and the Democrats will not be part of this wholesale demolition of national Indigenous representation," concluded Senator Ridgeway.
