The recent apology and what went with it holds out hope that we are learning the needed new habits.
Friends of the University of Western Australia Library
Tuesday 11 March at 8:00pm
(preceded by the Annual General Meeting at 7.30pm)
Tattersalls Lecture Theatre
(opposite Psychology)
Crawley Campus
Hon Fred Chaney AO
The struggle for coherent policy in Aboriginal affairs
In a generally successful country, which provides a good life for most of us, Indigenous affairs is our area of greatest failure. We have yet to settle the relationship with the original inhabitants and they enjoy the worst social statistics of any section of the population. We need to learn new habits of respectful engagement if Indigenous people, themselves, are to find their way forward. The recent apology and what went with it holds out hope that we are learning the needed new habits.
About the Speaker
Fred Chaney was born in Perth in 1941. He practised law in New Guinea and Western Australia. He was involved in the Aboriginal Legal Service in a voluntary capacity in the early 1970s before entering the Senate in 1974. He was Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1983 to 1990 and a Member for Pearce in the House of Representatives from 1990-1993. Among his Ministerial appointments were Aboriginal Affairs, Social Security and Minister Assisting the Minister for National Development and Energy. From 1993-1995 he undertook research into Aboriginal Affairs at the University of Western Australia and was Chancellor of Murdoch University from 1995 to 2003. Fred is involved in Aboriginal education through the Graham (Polly) Farmer Foundation which he established at the request of Graham Farmer in 1995. He was Deputy President of the National Native Title Tribunal from 2000-2007. In 1997 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. He served as Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia Ltd from 2000-2005 and continues as a Director on the Board. In 2005 he was appointed Chairman of Desert Knowledge Australia. In 2007 he chaired the Consultation Committee on a Human Rights Act for Western Australia.
