White Noise - Episode 1: The ATSIC Chronicles

Show Notes - Episode One – The ATSIC Chronicles: reflections from the journey and lessons for the Voice

For the White Noise Podcast’s first episode we gathered leaders in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission to discuss their reflections on the journey of the Commission and their insights on how the representative function of ATSIC can be drawn on to inform the development of the Voice to Parliament today.

This conversation was recorded on Jagera Country in Queensland and produced on Wurundjeri Country, in Naarm, Victoria. We pay our respects to the elders, past and present, of these Countries, to our guests who share their cultural knowledge and experience as Aboriginal men resisting a settler-state in this conversation, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people listening to this conversation. We are privileged to witness this conversation about First Nations justice on unceded Aboriginal lands.

The White Noise podcast is a production of the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub at the University of Melbourne. You can find out more about us on our website, or by following us on Instagram.

The White Noise podcast is hosted by Jaynaya Dwyer, Research Fellow at the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub.

The soundtrack, White Noise, is written and performed by John Wayne (Yuggerabul Meriam Le). We are grateful to John Wayne for lending his voice to this program.

We are honoured to be joined by our guests, who generously shared their wisdom:

• Mick Gooda (Gangulu, Yiman)
• Geoff Scott (Wiradjuri)
• Eddie Cubillo (Larrakia, Wadjigan and Central Arrente) – the ILJH Director.

Our sincere to the staff of the MLS digital studio for the production of this podcast:

• Greta Robenstone – production
• Ben Chandler – Sound Mixing

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

Feedback

To send feedback on this episode or to make inquiries about the White Noise podcast please contact mls-indigenous@unimelb.edu.au

More information on the episode

You can learn more about the themes discussed in this episode through the following resources:

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission

• A compilation of senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices on the closure of ATSIC - National Museum of Australia, Reflections on ATSIC (Youtube, 13 October 2011)
• The Parliamentary Inquiry at the conclusion of ATSIC, considering transition to mainstreaming of ATSIC’s functions, contains analysis of the body from the perspective of the committee membership. There is useful outline of the structure, budget and formal role of ATSIC at Chapter 2.

Select Committee on the Administration of Indigenous Affairs ‘After ATSIC – life in the mainstream’ (Parliament of Australia, 8 March 2005)

The 1967 Referendum and First Nations representative bodies

• This blog post provides a history of Aboriginal representative structures at the federal and state level, putting ATSIC in a broader context of administrative arrangements
  Dani Larkin, Harry Hobbes, Dlyan Lino and Amy Maguire ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Law Reform and the return of the states’ (Indigenous Constitutional Law, 11 May 2022).

Looking forward - The Voice to Parliament and Uluru Statement from the Heart

• Read the Uluru Statement from the Heart and follow the Uluru Statement on Instagram
• The Prime Ministers Speech at Garma 2022 affirming his government’s commitment to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart and provides some initial information about the plans for a Voice to Parliament - In Full: PM Albanese unveiled proposal for Indigenous Voice to Parliament (Youtube, 30 Jul 2022)
• Professor Marcia Langton interview with Radio National provides commentary on the political reception to the voice
  Radio National, ‘Marcia Langton says details on the Voice to Parliament are clear’ (ABC, 29 July 2022)

The final report of consultation on the Voice to Parliament, lead by Professor Marcia Langton and Professor Tom Calma, which proposes a model for the Voice. Note this is an outcome of government-lead consultation, but there is not a full and finalised model of the Voice at this time. Professor Marcia Langton and Professor Tom Calma, Final Report to the Australian Government, Indigenous Voice Co-Design Process (National Indigenous Australians Agency, July 2021)