Aboriginal Upper House seat proposal rejected by Tasmanian Government, Indigenous group
Updated
The State Government and some Aboriginal groups have rejected a push for a separate Upper House electorate for Tasmania's Indigenous community.
Tasmania's Aboriginal Centre (TAC) is proposing a single Tasmanian Aboriginal electorate be created as part of a major shake-up of the state's Legislative Council electoral boundaries.
TAC spokesman Michael Mansell presented the proposal at an Electoral Redistribution Tribunal hearing in Launceston this morning.
"[Aboriginal people] have no hope of electing their own to Parliament and have little or no incentive to participate in the electoral process," he said.
"To remedy this ... the tribunal needs to recommend a statewide electoral division, made up of Aboriginal candidates elected by Aboriginal voters."
The suggestion was rubbished by Government spokesman and Infrastructure Minister Rene Hidding.
"This has been on [the TAC's] radar for some time but the Tasmanian Government doesn't support it," he said.
"We think that Tasmanians should be one man, one vote, and we think the structure of Tasmanian politics is about right and that special seats is not something that we support.
"There's nothing to stop a Tasmanian Aboriginal from being elected to the Tasmanian Parliament - we'd encourage all of them to nominate."
Calls for more Indigenous people in major parties
Tasmanian Regional Aboriginal Communities Alliance chairman Rodney Dillon said he wanted to see more Aboriginal candidates run for seats with the major parties.
"What I support is for the Liberal Party, the Labor Party and the Greens to start making a concerted effort to get Aboriginal people within their parties," he said.
"Governments make decisions without involving us.
"The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs should be Aboriginal."
He said the idea of an electorate for Aboriginal people was problematic.
"If you've got a hung parliament, you've got one person making decisions for the wider Tasmania, that would concern me," Mr Dillon said.
He suggested an Aboriginal electorate would be more beneficial on a federal level.
"State Government doesn't fund very much in Tasmania, and I think the Federal Government is where they do fund the Aboriginal organisations throughout Australia," he said.
"That's where we need to be - where the funding is being allocated from."
Topics: government-and-politics, aboriginal, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, launceston-7250, tas
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