The Wire

Federal Court Judge Peter Gray’s ruling that the Chair of ATSIC, Geoff Clark, was wrongfully suspended by the government has ended a long-running legal battle. Mr Clark has now officially been reinstated, but to what? The organisation he left behind has been reduced a skeleton of it’s former self, even as it’s future is still being debated by a Senate Committee. Mr Clark says it was worth the fight, to keep representing Indigenous people while he can. ATSIC Commissioner for Tasmania Rodney Dillon says he hopes Mr Clark can move the peak body forward now he has returned to the top job, but he says it will be difficult, given that Mr Clark is chairperson of an organisation that effectively doesn’t exist any more. Senator Vanstone disputes this claim, and says ATSIC still exists, but employees are being paid to do nothing while the legislation to abolish the peak body is debated. Labor’s shadow minister for Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation Senator Kerry O’Brien says the Government has made a shambles out of Geoff Clark’s suspension and the axing of ATSIC and accuses the Howard government of using Mr Clark’s suspension to damage ATSIC’s reputation and build support for its demise. With the election campaign in full swing, Senator O’Brien again outlined Labor’s policy to replace ATSIC with other elected bodies, both national and regional. Senator Vanstone says the coalition’s model of an advisory council is a better way of listening to Indigenous views. However, she is refusing to name the people appointed to the council now the election has been called, to keep those individuals out of the election crossfire. With elected representation of Indigenous people a thing of the past, Geoff Clark says the October 9 poll gives Indigenous Australians the ideal opportunity to make their voices heard, and affect the election outcome.