Indigenous affairs - a new conversation

27 April 2009Two of Australia's foremost and outspoken Indigenous leaders, Warren Mundine and Marcia Langton, come together at the Sydney Institute to discuss the current state of Indigenous Affairs in Australia. The premise of their argument? That Australia needs a new conversation, and that conversation shouldn't be hamstrung around ideology and symbolism, it should be in tangible terms. It should be a conversation about money. Nationally and internationally we need economic reform, but perhaps foremost when it comes to Indigenous matters.

Make sure you watch right to the end for the brief Q+A session, where the issues really come into sharp focus, as they both talk personally and passionately about the intervention, human rights, women's liberation, economic reform, violence against women and children and the divisions within the Indigenous community.

Warren Mundine, AO, is an Indigenous leader, Chair of the Australian Indigenous Chamber of Commerce and former National President of the ALP. In 2005 he won the Bennelong Medal for service to the Australian Indigenous community.

Professor Marcia Langton is a leading Indigenous scholar and commentator. She holds the Foundation Chair in Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. She's authored government reports on the state of Indigenous Affairs and worked on the 1989 Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. In 1993 she was made a member of the Order of Australia.

This coversation was recorded on the eve of the first anniversary of The Apology, in light of a major economic overhaul and as those who oppose the intervention are about taking the matter to the United Nations.

 

Noticeboard

20 December 2011

On 18 November 2011, Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, announced the establishment of an independent panel of eminent community leaders to conduct an inquiry into Australian Government services to ensure they are responsive to the needs of Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

15 December 2011

We live in a 'wired society'. But how much are people affected by mental illness included in this? Does social media increase isolation or help people overcome it?

09 December 2011

The Historical Justice and Memory website now includes a daily newsblog.