{"id":68230,"date":"2026-08-09T12:55:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T12:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/68230\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T12:55:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T12:55:35","slug":"garma-festival-voice-defeat-leaves-indigenous-policy-adrift-mps-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/68230\/","title":{"rendered":"Garma Festival: Voice defeat leaves Indigenous policy adrift, MPs warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is quiet relief, even among some of opposition Indigenous Australians spokesman Julian Leeser\u2019s political adversaries, that he chose to stand on the stage on the opening day of the nation\u2019s biggest celebration of Aboriginal culture and deliver a broadside.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since the defeat of the voice, the Prime Minister has lost his direction on Indigenous affairs<\/a>,\u201d Leeser said.<\/p>\n

There were dozens of speeches and panel discussions over the following three days of the Garma Festival last weekend but no direct challenge to Leeser\u2019s claim that Indigenous policy was adrift.<\/p>\n

This was Leeser\u2019s fifth time at the Garma Festival in northeast Arnhem Land, the birthplace of land rights in Australia, and he has built a respectful rapport with senior Yolngu figures. He considers famed cultural curator Mayatili Marika a friend.<\/p>\n

This year Leeser and his wife brought their two children, aged four and eight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted them to experience the country, see the cultural richness of the Yolngu people and get a sense of their desire to walk in two worlds,\u201d Leeser said.<\/p>\n

But Leeser did not want his children to watch his keynote address<\/a>. His wife took them away from the Garrtjambal Auditorium on Friday last week so they would not hear the dark themes including rocketing Indigenous suicide rates.<\/p>\n

Leeser recounted the suicide figures \u2013 it is now the leading cause of death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 to 44 \u2013 as he called on Australia to try again in Indigenous policy.<\/p>\n

Leeser has called on the nation to do so a little more than three months since the murder of a five-year-old Warlpiri girl<\/a> in Alice Springs sent shockwaves around the country. <\/p>\n

Initially it was the little girl\u2019s grandfather, Robin Granites, who asked Australia to think about conditions, violence, alcohol and child safety at town camps such as the one where she was last seen. Granites wanted people to know the Old Timers town camp was \u201ca really nasty place for her to live\u201d. He showed media through the house where the little girl known in death as Kumanjayi Little Baby had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a lounge room on the night she vanished. She was allegedly murdered by 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis \u2013 unrelated to her \u2013 who was also staying there.<\/p>\n

Former federal Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt tells Inquirer that Leeser is right to say the nation desperately needs to talk about the direction of Indigenous policy. <\/p>\n

Like Leeser, Wyatt supported the proposal for an Indigenous advisory body enshrined in the Constitution. And, like Leeser, he has despaired at the return to the status quo since the voice was voted down at the referendum on October 14, 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve not had genuine discussion since the failure of the voice,\u201d Wyatt says.<\/p>\n

He says the nation\u2019s horror at the circumstances of Kumanjayi Little Baby\u2019s short life and death has forced the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat tragedy opened up the anger around the lack of action by governments,\u201d Wyatt says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to talk about how do we move forward the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wyatt says premiers and the Finocchiaro government in the Northern Territory must share the blame for the lack of leadership in Indigenous affairs.<\/p>\n

He sees the re-emergence of Cape York leader Noel Pearson at Garma<\/a> last weekend as significant in a climate where \u201cAboriginal people are scared to be leaders because of the backlash they cop\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat backlash is appalling,\u201d Wyatt says. \u201cThe racism is vile and we all receive it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearson returned to the festival, and to his reform agenda<\/a>, with a proposal for the commonwealth to sideline states and the Territory by dealing directly with remote communities on Indigenous affairs. His radical blueprint is underpinned by proposed new commonwealth legislation called the Personal Responsibility and Opportunity Act. <\/p>\n

Pearson\u2019s collaborator at the Cape York Institute, Fiona Jose, told the Garma Festival: \u201cThis will be Australia\u2019s version of the GI Bill, which guaranteed opportunity at scale in the US to millions of service personnel after the Second World War.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jose says the GI Bill guaranteed education and housing support and, in doing so, it rebuilt lives and rebuilt the nation by growing the American middle class.<\/p>\n

Pearson, Jose and others who work for and support the Cape York Institute believe the Personal Responsibility and Opportunity Act can apply the same principle to Australia\u2019s \u201cbottom million\u201d. Many, not all, of these \u201cbottom million\u201d Australians trapped in poverty are Indigenous.<\/p>\n

When families in Cape York \u2013 and across Australia \u2013 take responsibility by sending their children to school and meeting basic obligations, the Personal Responsibility and Opportunity Act will guarantee that child a quality education and a pathway to a real job as a legal entitlement. <\/p>\n

The proposed legislation would link responsibility with opportunity through a Responsibility and Opportunity Commission, which would work with each family and child on a case plan. Under the proposed legislation, community-controlled organisations such as Aboriginal health services would be funded to deliver support with \u201caccountability for real outcomes, not just activity\u201d. <\/p>\n

The legislation also would support poor families to save and build assets, including for home ownership, through platforms such as Cape York Institute\u2019s proposed Provident Fund.<\/p>\n

Pearson\u2019s proposal for the federal government to deal directly with remote Aboriginal communities has caught the most attention during the past week. <\/p>\n

The concept that governments should talk to, take advice from and gather intelligence from remote communities before developing policy or allocating funding is widely known to be good practice. It has been a slog to make it happen. <\/p>\n

In 2013, Pearson backed a nationwide project called Empowered Communities began testing results when Aboriginal communities discussed policy and spending with senior bureaucrats and made decisions jointly. Inner Sydney was one of the first trial areas.<\/p>\n

In the first year, the government learned from its talks with the Aboriginal community that more than half of the government funding considered \u2013 $1.01m out of $1.98m \u2013 was duplication and misdirection. <\/p>\n

Then, in 2021, the mutual benefits of government dealing directly with Indigenous leaders was highlighted in a report by eminent Indigenous leaders Marcia Langton and Tom Calma. They were asked by the Morrison government to oversee the design of a legislated Indigenous voice and recommended 35 local and regional voices.<\/p>\n

Pearson\u2019s blueprint<\/p>\n

While the Closing the Gap<\/a> national agreement signed by all states and territories in 2020 is a commitment by all governments to share decision-making with Aboriginal organisations, a Productivity Commission review in 2024 found it was often business as usual.<\/p>\n

Pearson says that under this proposal remote Australia becomes the sole jurisdiction of the commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese communities and their lands would still come under the shared jurisdiction of the relevant states and territories for most functions governed by the state\u2019s constitutional responsibilities, but the administrative relationship for Aboriginal affairs would lie with the commonwealth,\u201d Pearson says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be no need for Aboriginal affairs departments in the states and territories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would rationalise duplicated governmental systems and institutions. It would stop Indigenous affairs being the black hole for state and territory government budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearson\u2019s blueprint has started a debate about how to end Indigenous disadvantage that some voice proponents believe was not possible in the heat of the referendum debate.<\/p>\n

And it has drawn big thinkers into the debate. Langton and Calma, for example, say Pearson\u2019s proposal is similar to their report, which he did not support at the time.<\/p>\n

Uluru Dialogue lawyer Eddie Synot said this week that Pearson\u2019s proposal was different to and bolder than what Langton and Calma recommended five years ago, partly because their report did not call for the dismantling of state and territory bureaucracies in Indigenous affairs as Pearson does. <\/p>\n

The Uluru Dialogue has backed Pearson. Says co-chairwoman Megan Davis: \u201cThe message from community is clear. We dust ourselves off and keep pushing for structural reform.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is quiet relief, even among some of opposition Indigenous Australians spokesman Julian Leeser\u2019s political adversaries, that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[89332,89379,50034,89325,89329,89318,81009,89334,89339,42799,87023,38039,89350,89348,89310,89315,89360,89313,53710,89380,89371,58187,38321,89359,89321,89330,89381,43587,43942,28409,14913,36282,89352,89312,1518,61147,89349,22,23,7458,21,89328,33390,75894,4693,30091,2717,38020,89317,89378,18571,89346,89375,9715,36454,89344,39060,70372,31433,46648,89374,56452,89355,89373,37355,69846,89363,89309,77905,89376,42362,89335,3320,3337,77334,37392,85701,36287,8055,89358,8041,49012,150,44590,89316,89331,89337,51218,89354,89372,89323,89322,75879,7350,36240,89314,89342,89377,10188,46292,44019,89343,78714,1019,89353,51455,41189,89364,13518,89327,89324,56472,89361,39776,89362,89366,48390,89336,38099,41127,58607,37024,89311,89333,44012,62093,75953,40724,63031,89357,38609,89351,77901,89326,89319,37465,40910,41212,86999,43946,37489,36847,39248,41032,89383,56665,89382,89320,89367,41162,47042,43997,41845,75935,42885,89368,41547,42399,60716,89370,49791,36628,45004,89341,38715,89345,89338,89365,89347,89369,9562,89356,7944,89340],"class_list":["post-68230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-bottom-million","tag-s-biggest-celebration","tag-s-claim","tag-s-collaborator","tag-s-fifth-time","tag-s-grandfather","tag-s-horror","tag-s-political-adversaries","tag-s-short-life","tag-s-version","tag-15-to-44","tag-38039","tag-47-year-old-jefferson-lewis","tag-a-broadside","tag-a-climate","tag-a-five-year-old-warlpiri-girl","tag-a-friend-this-year","tag-a-legal-entitlement","tag-a-little","tag-a-lounge-room","tag-a-mattress","tag-a-pathway","tag-a-proposal","tag-a-quality-education","tag-a-real-job","tag-a-really-nasty-place","tag-a-respectful-rapport","tag-a-sense","tag-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people","tag-aboriginal-culture","tag-aboriginal-people","tag-action","tag-adrift-this","tag-alcohol-and-child-safety","tag-alice-springs","tag-almost-three-years","tag-an-indigenous-advisory-body","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australians","tag-austrlia","tag-basic-obligations","tag-cape-york","tag-cape-york-leader-noel-pearson","tag-child","tag-conditions","tag-death","tag-dozens","tag-education-and-housing-support","tag-famed-cultural-curator-mayatili-marika","tag-families","tag-fiona-jose","tag-four-and-eight","tag-friday","tag-garma","tag-genuine-discussion","tag-governments","tag-granites","tag-her","tag-his-children","tag-his-direction","tag-his-keynote-address","tag-his-radical-blueprint","tag-his-reform-agenda","tag-his-wife","tag-indigenous-affairs","tag-indigenous-affairs-he","tag-indigenous-leaders","tag-indigenous-policy","tag-indigenous-policy-leeser","tag-inquirer","tag-jose","tag-julian-leeser","tag-kumanjayi-little-baby","tag-land-rights","tag-last-week","tag-last-weekend","tag-leaders","tag-leadership","tag-leeser","tag-little-baby","tag-lives","tag-media","tag-millions","tag-more-than-three-months","tag-new-path","tag-no-direct-challenge","tag-noel-pearson","tag-northeast-arnhem-land","tag-october-14","tag-opportunity","tag-opposition-indigenous-australians-spokesman-julian-leeser","tag-pearson","tag-people","tag-poverty","tag-premiers","tag-proposed-new-commonwealth-legislation","tag-quiet-relief","tag-remote-communities","tag-responsibility","tag-robin-granites","tag-rocketing-indigenous-suicide-rates-leeser","tag-scale","tag-school","tag-senior-yolngu-figures","tag-service-personnel","tag-shockwaves","tag-speeches-and-panel-discussions","tag-states","tag-that-backlash","tag-that-tragedy","tag-the-agenda","tag-the-american-middle-class-pearson","tag-the-anger","tag-the-backlash","tag-the-birthplace","tag-the-blame","tag-the-cape-york-institute","tag-the-circumstances","tag-the-commonwealth","tag-the-constitution","tag-the-country","tag-the-cultural-richness","tag-the-dark-themes","tag-the-defeat","tag-the-direction","tag-the-failed-voice-referendum","tag-the-failure","tag-the-festival","tag-the-finocchiaro-government","tag-the-floor","tag-the-following-three-days","tag-the-garma-festival","tag-the-garrtjambal-auditorium","tag-the-gi-bill","tag-the-house","tag-the-issue","tag-the-lack","tag-the-leading-cause","tag-the-little-girl","tag-the-murder","tag-the-nation","tag-the-night","tag-the-northern-territory","tag-the-old-timers-town-camp","tag-the-one","tag-the-opening-day","tag-the-personal-responsibility-and-opportunity-act","tag-the-policy-debate","tag-the-prime-minister","tag-the-proposal","tag-the-racism","tag-the-re-emergence","tag-the-referendum","tag-the-return","tag-the-same-principle","tag-the-second-world-war","tag-the-stage","tag-the-status-quo","tag-the-suicide-figures","tag-the-territory","tag-the-us","tag-the-voice","tag-the-yolngu-people","tag-their-children","tag-their-desire","tag-their-silence-post-voice","tag-their-two-children","tag-there-former-federal-indigenous-australians-minister-ken-wyatt","tag-these-bottom-million-australians","tag-town-camps","tag-two-worlds","tag-violence","tag-wyatt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}