Michael Anderson condemns Peris-Kneebone “steamrolling”

By Laurie Forde

Labor had to get an Aboriginal person into federal parliament, and with the way the factions operate, particularly the rightwing AWU faction, that was not going to happen in the foreseeable future.

Politics are involved, as they should be. The power of the Aboriginal vote, particularly in the North is now being acknowledgwd, and that is good for
the Aboriginal cause.

If Crossin had a decent bone in her body, she would have stepped down when asked to. Doug Camerton is in the Senate only because he is supported by the Left faction, and he should keep his nose out of it. These Rudd supporters are the best chance Abbott has of becoming PM, with all that entails.

Peris will be the first Aboriginal woman in federal parliament, and that will do me. I don't care how she gets there.

I am presently engaged with trying to discover why Aboriginal ex-candidate for Leichhardt Norman Miller (see Koori Mail article by Darren Coyne) has been dropped by the Queensland branch.

The Labor Party should have a positive discrimination policy to lift the number of Aboriginal parliamentarians. The electorate has to be dragged out of their innate racism towards Aboriginal people and Gillard's selection of Nova Peris will be a step in that direction.

It is a message to the electorate that from now on the Aboriginal vote counts.

This is not about Nova but about Julia and the polls. She is being
used. --- Trudy

Labor source says Gillard's Peris move is revenge over Rudd

Labor Party senator Trish Crossin says she wants to nominate for preselection despite the prime minister endorsing Olympian Nova Peris to replace her.

AAP

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has dismissed claims she dumped NT senator Trish Crossin because she was a Kevin Rudd supporter, in order to recruit indigenous athlete Nova Peris to the Labor fold.

AAP

The Labor Party’s national executive has accepted Nova Peris as a member in the Northern Territory and says she can stand for preselection for first spot on the Territory’s senate ticket.

(AAP)

This is a huge disappointment to see another Aboriginal person cutting down our own in the public arena and to assume Nova has not been involved without knowing the local politics in the NT is arrogant .... Her family have always been actively involved and highly respected and I say good luck Nova you have been a great ambassador for our people in all aspects of your sporting career and as a strong Kudjeri from the top end ... Good luck in your new role we need more strong black women like yourself.
 
BTW her family were here in Sydney for the 88 Anti Bicentenary and her Aunty was arrested over the mining protests in Kakadu with Jacqui Katona ... Im sure she will be given some great mentoring up there in her new challenging role.
 
Yours In UNITY
 
Jody Chester
Wiradjuri Yinar

If we can't get along with the white fellas, and we can't get along with each other, what changes can we really expect? Get out of our bitterness and seek change with a right heart attitude. If we get our people in high places stop being crabs pulling each other back down, get a bit of humility, wisdom and courage, and sort out this mess that history has created. In reality, a big percentage of us don't know Nova's ability. I don't care what people think the Prime Minister's agenda is, Aboriginal people will get their justice, the tidal wave of change has already begun. Let's get our act together and stop being haters.

(From The Sydney Morning Herald)

THE move to parachute the Olympian Nova Peris into Parliament has re-ignited discussion about Julia Gillard's political judgment and the value of so-called ''celebrity'' candidates.

Reactions to Ms Peris's endorsement varied among indigenous leaders.

Jody Broun, who co-chairs the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, the indigenous peak body, said: ''You cannot have enough representation in any Parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples''.

The indigenous leaders Warren Mundine and Tom Calma agreed. Mr Mundine, a former Labor national secretary, said it was ''sad'' an indigenous candidate had to be parachuted in by executive power, but that the Prime Minister was right to be forceful.

Dr Calma, a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice commissioner, said Ms Peris ''is doing great work with indigenous youth and particularly girls in the Top End''.

Others view Ms Peris as a politically naive puppet.

"Unfortunately Nova doesn't realise she's being used by Julia Gillard," said Michael Anderson, a former leader of the Australian Black Power movement and a founder of the Aboriginal tent embassy.

"Ms Peris-Kneebone is only being used as a public relations exercise for Labor. She has not been involved in major political processes, rallies or otherwise. She has been missing in political action all the time."

The Northern Territory's Indigenous Advancement Minister, Alison Anderson, told the NT News that Ms Peris would be a "maid to do the sheets and serve the cups of tea".

(From the Herald Sun)

The Northern Territory's Indigenous Affairs Minister Alison Anderson said the Prime Minister was "dragged kicking to preselect an Aboriginal person." "I don't think Territorians know her, especially Aboriginal people out in remote Aboriginal communities," she said. "And I don't think she understands the poverty and disadvantage of the remote Territory,” “The Northern Territory News” reports.

She said Ms Peris would be treated like a "maid to do the sheets and serve the cups of tea".

Ms Anderson - who was a former NT Labor minister - said Aboriginal people were "welcome on the verandas of the Labor Party". "The Prime Minister has said that we will have a maid inside the house."

Former NT education minister Marion Scrymgour, who was Australia's first indigenous female minister, had stuck up her hand to run against Trish Crossin for preselection for the Senate ticket. She received a phone call from Ms Gillard letting her know the race was over. "Nova has been away for a long time," Ms Scrymgour said. "There are many issues up here, sure she's been backwards and forward... you're playing at a different level." Ms Scrymgour said she thought her strong views on the federal government's intervention in Aboriginal communities had counted against her. "If Canberra is afraid to have a person stand up in a robust way, have the debate on behalf of people in the Northern Territory, then I don't want to be part of that process," Ms Scrymgour told the ABC. "I think it is disgraceful," she said.

Prominent Aboriginal sovereignty campaigner Michael Anderson condemned Ms Gillard's choice of Ms Peris.  "I do not have confidence in her ability to stand up for and fight the hard fight that is coming our way," he said in a statement. "Ms Peris is only being used as a public relations exercise for Labor." Mr Anderson, who founded the tent embassy in Canberra 40 years ago, said he feared that Ms Peris would be used as a show pony for the Labor party at an international level. "Ms Nova Peris has not been involved in major political processes, rallies or otherwise. She has been missing in political action all the time," Mr Anderson said. "I appeal to Ms Nova Peris to rethink this offer so as to ensure that she is not a puppet of Julia Gillard's Labor party, otherwise we need her to come out and simply say that just because she is Aboriginal she is not our voice."

Prominent indigenous Australian and former party elder Warren Mundine has backed Julia Gillard's decision to endorse Nova Peris after he was among indigenous Australians overlooked in the past. He was set to be given Mark Arbib's vacant NSW Senate seat when he was shoved aside so Bob Carr could be parachuted in to become Foreign Affairs Minister at a time when the government was languishing in opinion polls. "She had a lay down misere in support for Warren Mundine and she chose to put Carr up, he hasn't done a bad job but he hasn't turned the polls for her," one MP said. "Warren's selection would have been the right thing to do." Mr Mundine said he was delighted for Ms Peris and felt a "wrong had been righted" in the Labor Party after 112 years without an Aboriginal representative in Federal Parliament.

Labor left co-convenor Senator Doug Cameron, a friend of Senator Crossin, said he was disappointed with Ms Gillard's interference in the NT Senate preselection process. "If we have a problem in the Northern Territory with indigenous representation we should have been dealing with this six months ago," he told ABC Radio. "We should be looking at how we attract talented Aboriginal people into the party, how we can make the party relevant to them." He said it was not relevant to be "parachuting people in and saying that soothes our conscience in terms of Aboriginal representation." "It's a short-term fix that belies a deeper problem," he said.

Trish Crossin says the decision to dump her from the ALP's number one spot on its NT Senate ticket was made “without consultation or negotiation with the NT branch of the ALP or my input". Ms Crossin was only told by Ms Gillard she was being replaced on Monday night. Labor Party members in the Northern Territory are seething. Branch president of the ALP in Alice Springs, Rowan Foley, said he was "gutted" by the move and it remained to be seen whether Ms Peris would perform well as a politician. "I am a little over duds being selected in the Labor Party," Mr Foley said.

Labor was swept from power in the Northern Territory five months ago, indigenous voters abandoning Labor for the Country Liberal Party. Former chief minister, Paul Henderson, said the prime minister's move was not the best decision that could have been made. "Ultimately it should be the rank and file members of the party who are allowed a vote."

One Labor MP described the move against Ms Crossin as revenge for the Senator's support of former prime minister, Kevin Rudd. "It is appalling, she seems to think that the party is her own little play thing, she is settling a score with someone who didn't support her in the leadership ballot, it stinks," the MP said.

After Ms Gillard said she was "very troubled" the party was without Aboriginal representation, backbenchers accused her of hypocrisy and of putting political expediency ahead of principle.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he welcomed more indigenous people in national politics but Ms Gillard had shown poor judgment.

The Prime Minister and Labor Party figures, including National Secretary George Wright, had plotted for almost two months to use the National Executive to install Olympic Gold medallist Ms Peris in the top Senate spot for the NT. Ms Gillard praised Ms Peris, saying that "Nova's selection is a matter of national significance".

Ms Peris, who runs an academy for indigenous girls, said she was "very honoured and humbled."

(Comment from the Sydney Morning Herald)

JULIA GILLARD has started the election year with what is either a cynical political stunt or a grand gesture towards Aboriginal reconciliation.

Her move to helicopter in Nova Peris as Labor's top Senate candidate for the Northern Territory is certainly a symbolic nod to inner city progressives. It is unclear whether that will reassure Aborigines in remote areas. Most of all, it highlights the consistent failure of Labor to deliver quality candidates through party processes.

Almost a year after being embroiled in the Aboriginal Tent Embassy protests against Tony Abbott, Gillard has bypassed party rules to make the hockey Olympian Peris her "captain's pick".  Long-serving Trish Crossin and rival indigenous candidate Marion Scrymgour miss out.

Gillard aims to build a legacy in what may well be her final months as Prime Minister. Constitutional change to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is part of that. To do that credibly, she wants an Aboriginal woman on her team who can also present a united front on the contentious welfare intervention in the Territory. Crossin could not meet the former and Scrymgour has joined then quit Labor while speaking out on welfare.

The big risk for Gillard is that voters will revolt, as they did at the recent Territory election when many Aborigines switched to the Country Liberals. Peris has no political experience and little recent connection to the NT. Still, she has worked hard in social affairs and deserves a chance to prove herself. That is something the Labor rules rarely care about, as former party president and overlooked candidate Warren Mundine has made clear.

In trying to become the first indigenous woman in federal parliament, Peris will have to work harder, especially given the divisiveness of the intervention policy and the indigenous swing to the Country Liberals. Labor has made progress on Aboriginal health while tinkering slightly with the Howard government's intervention. Peris has made clear she objected to how the intervention was implemented but on Tuesday pledged support for Labor's Stronger Futures laws passed last year, vowing Aboriginal voices will be heard.

As the Territory fight heats up, the Prime Minister will also be seeking to assert her national reconciliation credentials, just as Rudd did with his apology to the stolen generations. Gillard's potentially grandest gesture emerged from a deal with Greens and independents to hold a referendum this year to recognise indigenous peoples in the constitution.

Without bipartisan support, the government was forced to scale down its gesture to a process designed to build support for change. A bill introduced on the last sitting day of 2012 stresses recognition and the need for ministerial review within a year to decide the next step, without specifying discrimination or advancement.

That bill is before a joint parliamentary committee of which Crossin is chair. Its members include WA Liberal and Aborigine Ken Wyatt.

It was no accident the committee's public hearings began as Gillard announced the Peris move. It was no accident she invoked Whitlam and Lingiari; Keating and Redfern; Hawke and Uluru. Gillard said the Peris decision was of national importance.

Short of a referendum on Aborigines, Peris may Gillard's best option for a grand gesture on reconciliation. But another grand gesture would be improving Labor rules to ensure they delivered the best candidates, sports stars or not.

Agree with Michael Anderson. That senate seat is very important to those of us living in federally controlled remote communities of the NT. We only get two senate seats in the NT and the other will be won by Scullion, who belongs to the Intervention architects- liberal party.

Thank you Michael for offering your perspective. This is an important perspective that must be heard.

Having said this I fully support Nova Peris Kneebone getting into the Senate. I think she will be a great choice that will help improve things in the NT, both for the Indigenous folk and the settler Australians. Is the answer to all our problems, no, we still have a long way to go. Is she going to make everybody happy, no, but at the same time Nova Peris Kneebone will be no Uncle Tom.

You talk about "the hard fight coming our way". Yes we do face many, many difficulties ahead both internally as a nation and as a world. It would be wise to think carefully about these as no people, no country will be immune from these difficulties that are indeed coming our way. Together I believe we can stand but divided we will fall and if Australia as a nation falls then the result won't be good for anyone, including both Indigenous Australians and Settler Australians.

A Gillard Puppet and token Polition.... The voters will decided

Asked whether she fully supported the intervention, Peris said she believed something needed to be done but the way the intervention was implemented was wrong. “This government has the stronger futures legislation which now hopefully I’ll be a big part of that to ensure that voices of Aboriginal Australia is actually heard here at a federal level,” she said. “And I can ensure that these new programs are implemented the correct way.”

Peris attributed the CLP victory at last year’s NT poll to hard work by the CLP and Labor taking their eye off the mark. But she said that was now unravelling for the CLP. “As an Aboriginal woman I have seen and I’ve been around the ropes long and hard enough to know that Aboriginal people have been disappointed with government for a long time, hence the intervention,” she said. “I was in the midst of that and I saw firsthand that you can have policies but if you don’t have the right people implementing it, it’s never going to work.” Peris said she was proud, honoured and humbled to be part of Labor. “We are working very hard to win the next election and get the right people working,” she said.

AAP

Peris, now a grandmother, describes herself as an Aboriginal activist. She was a Treaty Ambassador for the defunct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and she’s set up a charity, Peris Enterprises, through which she advocates an active lifestyle and health checks for Indigenous children.

AAP

Former Northern Territory chief minister Paul Henderson, who announced his retirement from NT politics on Tuesday, said he supports Peris’s preselection. “I know Nova very well as a person, I’ve known her for many years. She’s a fantastic Territorian and great Australian,” he told Sky News. “I’m sure she’ll make a great contribution.” He paid tribute to the dedicated work of Senator Crossin over 15 years. Henderson maintained that NT Labor members should have a say in the preselection. Henderson’s NT Labor government lost power at the territory election last year, following a backlash from indigenous voters in remote communities.

AAP

Peris has lashed out at a smear campaign against her that has exposed deep divisions in the Labor Party and the indigenous community over her move into parliament. She denied "malicious and unfounded rumours" about her departure from the Territory's Education Department, the use of departmental assets and the ownership of furniture at three girls' schools.

Senior Labor figures in the Territory say the controversy is damaging the party's chances, particularly in the marginal seat of Lingiari, held by the ALP's Warren Snowdon.

The Territory's former Labor deputy chief minister and indigenous candidate Marion Scrymgour has indicated she will contest the Senate preselection, which will be conducted by a poll of the party's national executive on Tuesday. Her decision to enter the race sets up a three-way contest, with Senator Crossin also saying she will nominate.

Ms Scrymgour yesterday renewed her attacks on the Prime Minister, saying there was nothing Territorians hated more than Canberra "coming over their heads and saying, 'We know what's right for you' ".

Ms Scrymgour said indigenous voters were angry Ms Gillard had just "chucked a black face in front of them" and needed more than an elite sportsperson to represent them.

"It has got to be someone we know, someone that's going to work for us, that's going to do the hard yards," she said.

Senator Crossin, stunned by the Prime Minister's move, said she had received thousands of messages of support.

The central preselection has angered influential Territory indigenous figures such as Tracker Tilmouth, a Labor member and a former Central Land Council director. It also renewed criticisms from supporters of Kevin Rudd of Ms Gillard's judgment and leadership style for asking the national executive to dump a sitting member in favour of a candidate admitted to the party only this week.

Earlier, Mr Tilmouth joined other indigenous identities in the Territory, including Country Liberal Party member Alison Anderson, in attacking the plan to pre-select Ms Peris as having "nothing to do with Aboriginal people".

He said Aboriginal people had demonstrated at the Territory election last year, where they switched in significant numbers to the CLP, that they would "not be taken for granted" and recognised the power of their vote.

He said this had not been recognised by Ms Gillard and he doubted Ms Peris could win the support of NT indigenous voters.

(Subjectively culled from The Australian)

We all know that the "Captain's Pick" is a free ride. Why don't you earn it. You should be ashamed Gillard.

From "The Tracker" at http://tracker.org.au/2013/02/backtracker-pm-sends-a-shiver-down-the-bac..., "PM sends a shiver down the backbone"

By the time Senator Peris gets to Federal Parliament the polls also suggest that Chamber will have undergone a political transformation.

The polls suggest she’s heading for the Opposition benches.

The political and administrative support she now enjoys within the Gillard Government will have evaporated.

What impact, if any, she will have on the course of ALP policy and politics, particularly in opposition, only time will tell.

Meanwhile Senator Crossin, a productive and popular MP, gets on with the job.
She will continue in her current role until the writs are issued for the September election.

She has made it clear she will use that time to push for the establishment of a $30 million compensation fund for members of the Stolen Generations in the NT.

She’s been working with them on the compensation bid for the past four years and provided PM Gillard and Minister Macklin with a detailed brief in September last year.

The proposal, a matter of national significance, is still sitting on their desks.
One suspects it will quietly gather dust.