The idea of representation in the Whitlam vision of Indigenous administrative participation
Gough Whitlam reflected in 1985 that one of the ways he had sought as Prime Minister to advance Indigenous self-determination was ‘through improvements in the quality of Aboriginal administration and representation’. This seminar seeks to tie down the idea of representation in the Whitlam vision of Indigenous administrative participation. The seminar draws on the deliberations of those who were tasked with its investigation through the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration, HC Coombs and CD Rowley, and evidence from Barry Dexter and Charles Perkins in the newly established Department of Aboriginal Affairs. These four held differing views on Indigenous representation, but they all doubted the capacity of the bureaucracy to share power in the early 1970s. The Whitlam vision was more focussed on public sector employment as a means of skilling Indigenous people to support Indigenous organisations than as a means of securing Indigenous contributions to policy design and development within government. The latter was seen as the role of a national Indigenous representative body. The seminar will comment on the relevance of the Whitlam vision in the public sector today, drawing on research that suggests Indigenous careers are still highly mobile between government administration and the Indigenous sector of publicly funded organisations.
Biography
As a CAEPR Visiting Fellow, Elizabeth Ganter is promoting and extending her book about the tensions of representation for Indigenous public servants, Reluctant Representatives: blackfella bureaucrats speak in Australia's north. In 2018, Elizabeth is examining the current relevance of the original vision for Indigenous administrative participation from the Whitlam era. Elizabeth Ganter’s career includes 30 years in Indigenous affairs, mostly in the Northern Territory.