ATSIC's achievements and strengths: Implications for institutional reform

Abstract

'ATSIC's achievements and strengths: Implications for institutional reform' by Will Sanders.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) has been criticized from many sides in the fifteen years since it was established. But what about ATSIC’s achievements and strengths? CAEPR Fellow Will Sanders argues that, over its fourteen year history, ATSIC has indeed achieved much and displayed considerable strengths. He discusses ATSIC’s achievements and strengths under six headings:

- political participation of Indigenous people, - a national Indigenous voice increasingly independent of government, - distinctive, appropriate programs, - regionalism, - working with States and Territories, and - distinctive Torres Strait Islander arrangements.

I believe all these areas of achievement and strength are signifi cant and need to be built on in current processes of institutional reform. My concluding comments begin with some of the fi ndings of the fi nal report of the 2003 ATSIC review panel, which sought to restructure rather than abolish ATSIC. This approach refl ected the fi ndings of an earlier Public Discussion Paper produced by the review which noted that there was ‘overwhelming support among key stakeholders’ for a national body representative of Indigenous people’s interests even though there was ‘very little support for ATSIC’s current performance’ (Hannaford, Collins and Huggins 2003: 24). I too would argue that there is support and a need for a national Indigenous representative body and that ATSIC should not be abolished unless, or until, some replacement representative arrangement is negotiated with Indigenous people.