Tough Times, Tough Questions

Nyunggai Warren Mundine calls an extraordinary meeting of his Indigenous Advisory Council with Prime MInister Abbott and says the Commonwealth government must earn the trust of the Aboriginal community.

Full Interview - https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/warren-mundine-tough-times-questions-full-interview

In this interview Warren Mundine reveals his frustrations with the Abbott government’s decision-making particularly the failure to release the Forrest Review recommendations and actions with the budget. He has called an extraordinary meeting of his Indigenous Advisory Council with Prime Minister Abbott to discuss what he terms a major problem and failure. In addition Mundine reveals that he is deeply involved with the reform of the Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) and the Indigenous Land Council (ILC) . He says the government must earn the trust of the Indigenous community.

 

Excerpt: Mundine on the need extraordinary meeting with Prime Minister Abbott https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/forrest-review-mistake

Dilemma of Chairing Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council - https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/the-dilemma-and-difficulty-of-chairing-the-prime-ministers-advisory-council

 Indigenous Business Australia and the Indigenous Land Council - https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/warren-mundine-is-passionate-about-reforming-the-iba-and-ilc

Full Interview - https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/warren-mundine-tough-times-questions-f...

Warren Mundine argues that a business perspective needs to be applied to Commonwealth Aboriginal budget. That is what is driving his recent statements but he is also clearly frustrated at having to take the heat for what he regards as the poor decisions of the Abbott government particularly around the budget and welfare reform. He is particularly concerned about the failure of the government to release the Forrest Review recommendations in the budget announcements. This meant that the Aboriginal community was exposed to the full weight of the welfare reforms and budget cuts without any positive news about new employment initiatives. He has called an extraordinary meeting with Prime Minister Abbott to discuss what he sees as a major problem and says the government must earn the trust of the Aboriginal community.

In an interview conducted at his offices in Sydney, Mundine defends the role of his Indigenous Advisory Council in relation to the Abbott government budgetary cutbacks to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy and programs. He argues that he had stoutly defended the Aboriginal budget but lost that battle. He says he is proud that his council argued that any cuts should come from cutting waste rather than cutting programs. Without his role and the Indigenous Advisory Council, Mundine contends there would have been a 10 per cent not a 5 per cent cut.

Nevertheless Mundine is defensive about the cuts. He argues that his role is to advise and to push ideas not to take ultimate responsibility for government decisions. He indicated that there are also clear parameters for what his council can do. He had accepted these when he took the job.

Mundine argues that waste in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander spending is undeniable. Citing Productivity Commission figures he argues $50 billion had been spent on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander over the past decade. Citing a business example Mundine says this amount was Rio Tinto’s infrastructure budget for the Pilbara region, an investment that enabled them to generate billions in profits. Yet Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have little to show from the Commonwealth investment.

Things have to change, he contends and reform was the ultimate reason why he accepted the position as Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council.

What have we done wrong.. and I say we.. because I am now in the Advisory Council Chair and I can’t walk away from that  …but what have we been doing that we need to correct”.

Mundine argues that there is a misunderstanding about the role of his Council. Moving forward he sees the role of his Council is to identify $600 million of savings that will come from being more efficient in the delivery of Aboriginal programs not from direct cuts. He is adamant that savings are there and that they will be re-invested in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs. He quotes Productivity Commission’s figures that the cost of building an Aboriginal house was $600,000 under the Rudd government and says that we need to do something revolutionary, lets start taking the task of designing and building houses away from the capital cities and state capitals and start to make decisions on a regional basis. He believes that you could build one and a half houses for the $600,000 spent under the Rudd government.

“Let’s do something revolutionary, let’s do housing region by region… the type of house you build in cyclone country will be different from a house you build in Tasmania.. lets go and for God’s sake listen to what people are saying on the ground … lets look with our eyes… and build a house for that country and for what those people and those cultures want.”

While Mundine does not defend some of the recent actions of the Abbott government, he says that reform will always draw fire and concern. He reminds people that he accepted his role as Chair of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on the basis that there would be reform. He came to this position on the basis that there would be change. One of the big changes is the priority on education and making school a place where Aboriginal children want to be. He says he knew that people would be skeptical and concerned about any change. But he does not step back from change. There must be change.

“As soon as you talk about reform …even if people are living in mud at least its their mud and they know it.. They want to know:are you going to make us better or worse off?”.

In the most important parts of the interview Mundine admits that the Abbot government’s failure to release the Forrest Review into Employment and Training before or in conjunction with the Budget was a major mistake. He says that Aboriginal people distrust Coalition governments. He says that the Abbott government has to earn trust. But because it has now only announced budget cuts and a tough welfare reform agenda, he says it runs the danger of losing the confidence of Aboriginal communities. Mundine wants the Forrest Review reforms out in public as soon as possible and he has called an extraordinary meeting with the Prime Minister to ensure it occurs quicklyHe also reveals, for the first time publicly, that he is deeply interested in reforming Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) and the Indigenous Land Council (ILC) two central national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander institutions.

Links

Extraordinary Meeting with Prime Minister Abbott https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/forrest-review-mistake

Dilemma of Chairing Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council - https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/the-dilemma-and-difficulty-of-chairing-the-prime-ministers-advisory-council

 Indigenous Business Australia and the Indigenous Land Council - https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/warren-mundine-is-passionate-about-reforming-the-iba-and-ilc

Full Interview - https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/warren-mundine-tough-times-questions-f...

 

 This interview is a free download until 11am 16 June 2014. It will be discussed excusively on the Sandy Dann Radio Show, Goolarri Radio, Broome at 10am WST on Monday 16 June 2014