Australia to establish new Aborigine body

Australia’s federal government said it will set up a new national representative body for Aborigines to help close the gap between black and white Australians.

A proposal for the new body was unveiled in Canberra today.

It would be independent of the government and would serve as a less powerful version of a national Aboriginal organisation that between 1990 and 2005 administered billions of dollars in funds for indigenous programmes and whose leaders were elected by Aboriginal constituents.

The previous conservative government abolished that organisation in 2005 amid corruption and mismanagement allegations.

The new body will advise the government on Aboriginal issues but will not set policy or distribute funds.