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Four Corners: The politics of native title

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Nationals Leader Tim Fischer
Four Corners: The politics of native title

SUBJECTS:  Civics and Citizenship, History

YEARS:  9–10


What were the politics surrounding the issue of native title in 1993?

Former prime minister Paul Keating's support for the granting of native title was not popular with all Australians. Many of his Labor colleagues were uncomfortable about it.

Listen as Tim Fischer, then leader of the National Party, declares his position on the Mabo decision.

This clip is fourth in a series of six.


Things to think about

  1. 1.In what has come to be known as the Mabo decision, in 1992 the High Court of Australia acknowledged that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have the right to claim ownership over country in which their families lived prior to British settlement. With Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating in favour of native title, what do you think the response of the opposition parties would be to Mabo?
  2. 2.What was the general reaction to the Wiradjuri people's claim for native title in NSW? What was Paul Keating's opinion? According to Keating, how did the Native Title Act affect the popularity of his government? What did Tim Fischer believe the Mabo decision meant for Australia?
  3. 3.Listen carefully to Tim Fischer's speech. On what grounds does he believe the dispossession of Indigenous Australians was inevitable? What evidence does he give to support the notion that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were 'stationary' and 'not highly developed'? Do you think Mr Fischer's argument is sound? Why or why not?
  4. 4.During the first phone call in the radio interview, the caller asks, 'I have to buy my land — why can't they buy theirs?' Paul Keating responds, 'If there had been a treaty in 1788 … the Crown (ie, the British) might have bought its land.' What point is Paul Keating making? Do you agree with him?

Date of broadcast: 7 May 2012


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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