Prior to the federal election last November, ANTaR promised that we would seek meetings with both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, to urge them to adopt a cross-party approach to the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Thank you for helping us to do this by making a donation and signing the Seven Steps for Justice pledge.

So ... how is the new government going?

Here are the seven steps we asked of the new government, together with the government's progress (indented):

1. Put in place adequately resourced plan including targets, benchmarks and a transparent evaluation process to meet the deadlines proposed by Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, to close the Indigenous life expectancy gap within a generation.

   At the National Indigenous Health Equaliity Summit that ANTaR helped organise in late March, the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader signed an historic Statement of Intent with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health leaders signaling a new partnership to close the 17 year life expectancy gap. However, funding in the recent budget fell short of what is required to achieve this. For that reason, ANTaR is calling on the Government to allocate a significant portion of its new $10 billion Nation Building Health Fund to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

2. Reform the Native Title and Northern Territory Aboriginal Land Rights Acts to restore land justice for Indigenous people and the timely resolution of claims.

   The Attorney General has announced that the Government will review the operation of the Native Title Act. However, it doesn't propose to amend the legislation to remove John Howard’s infamous Wik 10 point plan. Legislation is set to be introduced into parliament amending the NT Land Rights so that communities can lease land for shorter periods than the 99 years favoured by the previous government.

3. Introduce a Social Justice Package to complete the Federal Government response to the High Court's Native Title decision as promised by the former Prime Minister, Paul Keating.

   Although ANTaR lobbied successfully to have commitment to the Social Justice Package retained in the ALP platform, no progress has been made in relation to this since the Rudd Government has come to office.

4. Apologise to the Stolen Generations as part of the full implementation of the 54 Bringing Them Home report recommendations.

   ANTaR supported the National Sorry Day Committee in its negotiations with government leading up to the parliamentary apology and provided travel assistance and accommodation to Stolen Generations members attending the apology. ANTaR recently launched its Sorry is the First Step campaign to urge the Government to develop the comprehensive response to Bringing Them Home it promised in Opposition.

5. Replace the Northern Territory intervention with a child centred, evidence based approach to overcoming abuse and violence that is developed in conjunction with Aboriginal people and includes addressing historic backlogs in housing, infrastructure and education.

   The Government will reintroduce an amended CDEP program and did not proceed with the former government's plans to dismantle the permit system. ANTaR supports the Government’s review of the NT Intervention headed up by WA Aboriginal leader, Peter Yu. ANTaR is urging the Government to support Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma's 10 point plan to make the Intervention consistent with the Racial Discrimination Act.

6. Achieve constitutional change that entrenches the rights of Indigenous Australians in the legally binding body of the document, not just the preamble. This change could include a Treaty or some other agreement and should be consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

   The Government has said it will reverse the former government's opposition to the UN Declaration and has announced plans for a new bipartisan Commission to develop proposals for constitutional change. The form these proposals for change will take has not been decided.

7. Support and facilitate the establishment of an independent National Indigenous Representative Body the form of which should be negotiated with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

   The Government is moving ahead with plans to reintroduce a National Representative Body and will hold consultations over the form this will take. Professor Mick Dodson has been commissioned by Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, to research possible models.

What next?

With your support, progress has been made. There is still more to do, and with your continued support, together we can work hard to achieve the outstanding items in the Seven Steps:

• Make a donation
• Take part in our Sorry is the First Step campaign
• Subscribe to ANTaR's free monthly email bulletin (in the khaki box on the right) so we can tell you when we launch our new campaign in support of Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma's 10 point plan to make the Intervention consistent with the Racial Discrimination Act.