Delegates of the Central Land Council today in Alice Springs, discussing their disappointment in recent comments spouted by Senator Jacinta Price and Senator Kerrynne Liddle.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price on Thursday made an address at the National Press Club, where she claimed that colonisation had a "positive impact" on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Responding to a journalist, who questioned her on the topic, Senator Price said there are "no ongoing negative impacts of colonisation".
"A positive impact? Absolutely. I mean, now we've got running water. We've got readily available food ... if we keep telling Aboriginal people that they are victims, we are effectively removing their agency and then giving them the expectation that someone else is responsible for their lives," she said.
She also suggested that if Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suffered intergenerational trauma, as would have descendants of British and Irish convicts.
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price prepares to address the National Press Club in Canberra, Thursday, September 14. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch/AAP Image
'An insult'
In a statement, CLC Executives said the remarks were "hurting members of our community and homelands". The organisation "reject her position".
"The Senator's denial of history and its ongoing impacts is disgraceful," they said.
"Her remarks are hurting the families of the Stolen Generation, those who lost their land, their wages and their opportunities.
"They are an insult to those who survived the Coniston Massacre, the hundreds of Warlpiri, Kaytetye and Anmatyerr families, who were terrorised and murdered in 1928."'
The land council said the remarks are "hurting the descendants or survivors of all the massacres that have been well documented and appear on the massacre map of Australia".
"What is not on the map is the administrative violence, pastoral violence, and wholescale theft of our land and waters," they said.
"There is a direct link between these historical truths and the gaps we want to close.
In response to Senator Price saying that Aboriginal people now have access to running water and readily available food, the organisation disagreed.
"Our families still do not all have access to affordable healthy food, drinkable water and sustainable water supplies," they said.
"Many of our communities live with water stress, food insecurity, exorbitant costs and living conditions that would not be tolerated by any other Australians."
Minister believes it a 'betrayal'
The CLC's response echoes that of Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, who told NITV in an exclusive interview that Price's comments were a "betrayal".
"That is completely offensive," she said.
"A statement like that denies what has been recognised academically, scientifically, medically.
"It denies the experience of so many First Nations families."
Burney said that denying the negative impacts of colonisation and frame them as positive, was a "betrayal" of people directly affected by policies introduced post-colonisation, such as the Stolen Generations.
"We only have to look at the Stolen Generations and the impacts that has had down the generations," she said.
"There are people from the Stolen Generations that are still alive that can tell you about what it means and I think it is a betrayal of those people."
She then offered compassion to those who may have been hurt by Price's comments.
"Your experience is real, your experience is believed and it is, particularly the Stolen Generations, one of the most shameful chapters in Australia’s history."
Addressing allegations by South Australian Senator
The CLC has also taken aim at South Australian Senator and Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence Kerrynne Liddle for her accusations about land council operations.
The Senator alleged that land council operations are not transparent and that "there needs to be an inquiry . . . to hold them to account, encourage transparency and get the best results for people who need it".
CLC said cemented its pride in the "record of good governance" and "strong democratic community engagement".
"The CLC is one of the very few organisations providing real assistance on the ground to some of the most remote and disadvantaged communities and homelands in Central Australia," they said.
"We do not understand why Senator Liddle does not support our work. We all want organisations delivering services to our people to be accountable and transparent."
CLC said it would be better for the Senator to look at "useful to look at how much government money allocated for alleviating Aboriginal disadvantage actually hits the ground" as opposed to "singling out our community-controlled land councils".
