Australia makes historic u-turn on aborigine rights

Australia adopted the United Nations’ declaration of indigenous rights today, reversing its earlier opposition in what the government said was an effort to “reset” relations between whites and Aborigines.

The support for the non-binding declaration is a largely symbolic step, but extends a dramatic shift in policy on Aborigines since prime minister Kevin Rudd was elected 17 months ago.

“In supporting the declaration Australia takes another important step towards resetting relations between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians,” indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin said at a ceremony in the capital Canberra that was broadcast nationally.

Australia was one of just four nations that voted against the UN declaration when it was adopted by the General Assembly in 2007.

The US, New Zealand and Canada were the other opponents, while 143 countries voted in favour and 11 abstained.

The former conservative government argued that the declaration could override existing laws and give unfair advantage to Aborigines, who are an impoverished and unhealthy minority after 220 years of white settlement in Australia.

The US has voiced similar objections and both countries said they had been shut out of the final negotiations on the text.

Aboriginal rights are often a contentious issue and arguments over traditional land ownership and special benefits have split the community in the past.

Mr Rudd’s centre-left government has adopted a less combative approach to indigenous affairs than his predecessor John Howard.

One of Mr Rudd’s first acts as prime minister was to offer a formal apology to Aborigines for past government injustices – a powerful gesture that Mr Howard had resisted for years.

The declaration affirms the equality of the world’s more than 370 million indigenous peoples and their right to maintain their own institutions, cultures and spiritual traditions. It also establishes standards to combat discrimination and marginalisation and eliminate human rights abuses against them.

At the ceremony, Ms Macklin said the government’s support for the declaration would not affect on existing laws, but accorded recognition to the special place that Aborigines had in Australia as the world’s oldest continuous indigenous culture.

Aborigines are a minority of some 400,000 in a population of 21 million. They are the poorest group in society and often live in squalid and overcrowded conditions in the Outback or on urban fringes where alcohol and drug abuse is rife.

Aborigines die – often from preventable diseases – on average 17 years younger than their fellow Australians.