141
However, the policy for Aborigines went beyond this.
It recognised the need for positive discrimination. Special
provision for employment was to be provided in regions where
there was a concentration of Aboriginal people.
1
Above all, the policy recognised in positive terms the
Aboriginal search for identity.
Every Australian child was to be taught the history and
culture of Aboriginal and Island Australians, as an integral
part of the history of Australia.
The Labor Party, having introduced massive legislation at the
Commonwealth level, enjoyed only a short time in office. It was
succeeded by the Liberal/National Country Party Coalition in 1975.
11.23 Liberal/National Country Party Policy, 1975
——111⅝ W⅝, I I ⅝
The policy of self-determination initiated by the Labor Party
was modified by the Liberal/National Country Party Coalition to
one of self-management in its platform policy1 of 1975.
In the major guidelines of the Liberal/National Party policy,
self-management was outlined in the following way:
The Liberal and National Country Parties recognise
that if a policy of self-management is to be effective
Aborigines must play a leading role in their affairs.
This will include Aborigines playing a significant
role:
(a) in setting long term goals and objectives
which the government should pursue and the programmes
it should adopt in such areas as Aboriginal education,
housing, health, employment and legal aid;
(b) in setting the priorities for expenditure
on Aboriginal affairs within the context of overall
budget allocations; and
(c) in evaluating existing programmes and formulating
new ones (The Liberal and National Country Parties’
.. .. Aboriginal Affairs Policy, 1975).
*■
♦ +
1 See Appendix XIV, p. 561, Platform of Liberal and National
Country Party, 1975.