Post by Chips on May 28, 2008 9:44:29 GMT 9.5
Tiwi people want a better future, and to make their own decisions
May 28, 2008
The Federal Government has made a wise decision in keeping Mal Brough out of the indigenous policy commission and instead reserving places for experts and indigenous people ("Opposition pulls out of indigenous war cabinet", May 23).
As a resident of the Tiwi Islands for the past 3½ years, I have been deeply saddened by the path that Brough and his supporters on the Tiwi Land Council are pushing Tiwi people onto. Brough often speaks about "what indigenous people want" and claims that they ask for the things that he puts forward.
Brough said on Stateline NT last week that Tiwi people supported his housing project. When he was the indigenous affairs minister he said Tiwi people wanted 99-year leasing and to own their own homes.
But how is he to know what Tiwi people want? In my time on the islands I have never heard a Tiwi person express a desire to own a house. Yes, they want better housing - they don't want to share a house with 15 other people. But does this mean they want to do away with communal ownership of land (which is central to their culture) as Brough suggests? Of course not.
While the whitefellas on the Tiwi Land Council claim that Tiwi people want forestry and mining on their land, I have heard the old women lament that their land is being destroyed. One hundred Tiwi women signed a petition asking for the forestry to stop. Yes, they want jobs, but not at the expense of their land.
Professor Helen Hughes, from the conservative think-tank the Centre for Independent Studies, argues that indigenous people do not want bilingual education. Yes, Tiwi people want a better education for their children, but they value their language and culture above all. Some fear bilingual schooling because they have been told that English-only schools are the only way to get a proper education.
Of course Tiwi people want better health, housing and education. They want a better future for their children - but how exactly do we reach that future? Do we tell them that the only way forward is to lease their land to forestry and mining companies, and to teach their children to learn only English and try to become whitefellas?
Or do we allow them to create their own picture of what their future will look like, and allow them to make their own decisions about how to get there?
Samanti de Silva Bathurst Island
May 28, 2008
The Federal Government has made a wise decision in keeping Mal Brough out of the indigenous policy commission and instead reserving places for experts and indigenous people ("Opposition pulls out of indigenous war cabinet", May 23).
As a resident of the Tiwi Islands for the past 3½ years, I have been deeply saddened by the path that Brough and his supporters on the Tiwi Land Council are pushing Tiwi people onto. Brough often speaks about "what indigenous people want" and claims that they ask for the things that he puts forward.
Brough said on Stateline NT last week that Tiwi people supported his housing project. When he was the indigenous affairs minister he said Tiwi people wanted 99-year leasing and to own their own homes.
But how is he to know what Tiwi people want? In my time on the islands I have never heard a Tiwi person express a desire to own a house. Yes, they want better housing - they don't want to share a house with 15 other people. But does this mean they want to do away with communal ownership of land (which is central to their culture) as Brough suggests? Of course not.
While the whitefellas on the Tiwi Land Council claim that Tiwi people want forestry and mining on their land, I have heard the old women lament that their land is being destroyed. One hundred Tiwi women signed a petition asking for the forestry to stop. Yes, they want jobs, but not at the expense of their land.
Professor Helen Hughes, from the conservative think-tank the Centre for Independent Studies, argues that indigenous people do not want bilingual education. Yes, Tiwi people want a better education for their children, but they value their language and culture above all. Some fear bilingual schooling because they have been told that English-only schools are the only way to get a proper education.
Of course Tiwi people want better health, housing and education. They want a better future for their children - but how exactly do we reach that future? Do we tell them that the only way forward is to lease their land to forestry and mining companies, and to teach their children to learn only English and try to become whitefellas?
Or do we allow them to create their own picture of what their future will look like, and allow them to make their own decisions about how to get there?
Samanti de Silva Bathurst Island