Women for Wik represents a phenomenal groundswell of mainstream opinion in support of Native Title. As a national grassroots women’s movement it includes all political persuasions, ethnic groups, churches, business professions, arts, universities, the rural sector, political parties. It is linked with key national women’s organisations and is rapidly having an effect on public opinion.

Since its launch in Sydney in July, which received national media coverage, there has been a mushrooming of Women for Wik groups in every capital city and many major regional centres.  Many thousands of women, including Roma Mitchell (former Governor of South Australia) Jane Lomax Smith (Lord Mayor of Adelaide) Caroline Jones, Hazel Hawke, Margaret Whitlam, Ruth Cracknell, Prof Marie Bashir, Wendy McCarthy, Judith Wright, Jane Campion, Jan Chapman, Diane Shteinmann have lent their support.  Inspired by Lady Deanes’s recent call at the National Reconciliation Conference for Australian women to take a lead in bringing the reconciliation process back on track, the women of Australia have taken her word in mobilising one of the most powerful national grassroots women’s movement since the Vietnam war.

What unites us all in spite of our diversity is the heart-felt recognition  that any amendment to the Native Title Act which leads to the defacto incremental extinguishment of Native Title is the end of the reconciliation process in our nation. A process which has been building for thirty years with bipartisan political support  and the good will of the Australian people.

For these reasons, in your deliberations on the Native Title Amendment Bill 1997 we ask you to  seriously take into account the views of Women for Wik.

Having been thoroughly briefed by a team of senior legal advisers, our position is that there are certain key amendments in this Bill which are completely unacceptable in a democracy.

The amendments we are referring to are those that would result in:

 
1. Permanent extinguishment of native title by validation of potentially invalid government acts in the period January 1994 to December 1996, where governments granted mining leases or clearing/cultivation permits over pastoral leasehold land.

2. Permanent extinguishment of native title over ’exclusive possession’ land tenures listed on the Schedule.

3. Permanent extinguishment of native title  over pastoral leases upgraded to 'full primary production' to the extent of the inconsistency.

4. Removing the right to negotiate from pastoral leasehold, national parks and reserves - thus reducing it to vestigial rumps of vacant crown land.

5. Creating a threshold test which is too onerous and is based on physical connection, tests which will mean that native title on pastoral leases where not extinguished outright or in all but name, will become almost impossible to establish.

 6. Providing a statutory access right which is dependent on the threshold test and on current physical access.

7. Imposing a sunset clause on claims.

8. We are also deeply concerned  that all amendments  leading to extinguishment will be in conflict with the Racial Discrimination  Act and international  agreements on human rights. This will obviously have the most serious implications  for democracy, for the lives of Aboriginal people as well as international opinion.

We reject these amendments as they are discriminatory against  the Aboriginal people and will lead to much greater uncertainty for pastoralists as well as indigenous people.

It is crucial in your deliberations over the proposed amendments that you take into consideration the significance of the momentum of public opinion so clearly articulated by Women for Wik.  To ignore this is to ignore the opinion of the so-called silent majority -the women voters.

We are all aware that the Parliamentary debate on native title is occurring at a turning point in Australian history. The voice of mainstream women which is now, and will be increasingly articulated by Women for Wik is firmly on the side of reconciliation with the Aboriginal people of Australia . The alternative is unthinkable.

We therefore request that this Joint House Committee on Native title show courage and moral leadership in recommending in its report that Parliament reject these key amendments.

We believe these key amendments will cause further unnecessary  suffering  for the Aboriginal people, social divisiveness in Australian society and risk our international standing as a democratic and just nation.

The reconciliation process, essential to the future well-being of Australian society will be then be brought back on track, for the benefit of all and not just a few.

The following organisations endorsed the Women for Wik submission to the Parliamentary Committee:

Australian Women Lawyers
Y.W.C.A. of Australia
Union of Australian Women
Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (representing 65,000
women)
Women’s Economic Think Tank.
Women and the Australian Church (WATAC) Inc.
Women’s Electoral Lobby (Australia) Inc.
Soroptimist International of the South West Pacific
Australian Education Union
United Nations Association ( Australia) Status of Women Network
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom(Australian Section)
National Women’s Justice Coalition Inc
Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia
Australian Feminist Law Foundation
Australian Women’s Party
Maternity Alliance
Australian Institute for Women’s Research and Policy
Homebirth Australia Inc.
Women’s Information and Referral Exchange
National Council of Single Mothers and their Children
Australian Women Against Poverty
Older Women’s Network (Australia ) Inc.
Network of Women in Further Education
Radical Women
The Australian National Committee on Refugee Women (ANCORW Co-
operative Ltd)
Victorian Women Lawyers Association
Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch)
North Queensland Women’s Legal Service Inc
National Union of Students NSW Branch Women’s Department
University of Queensland Student Union  Women’s Equal Opportunity
Collective
Social Justice Catalyst Committee of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan
Women of the Barkly
Glebe Women Writers Group
Griffith University Postgraduate Students’ Association
United Nations Association (W.A.) Status of Women Reference Group
North Queensland Combined Women’s Services Inc
QUT Student Guild Women’s Services Department
Feminist Alternative Townsville
Womens Electoral Lobby Tasmania
Griffith University Queensland  Gender Studies
Women’s Department of the Students’ Association Flinders University.
 RMIT University  Department Public Health, Family and Mental Health
Ailsa Burns  School of Behavioural Science Macquarie University
Anita Harris Women’s Studies School of Social Inquiry Deakin University
Wendy Weeks Associate Professor Social Work  University of Melbourne,
Glenice Watson Griffith University, Margaret Valadian Natascha McNamara,
Vicky Marquis, Professor Julie James Bailey, Ania Wilczynski Lecturer  in Law Sydney University, Caroline Denigan, Maureen Cummuskey, Viki Rutter,
Gail Close, Marilyn McHugh Social Policy Research Research Centre,
University of NSW, Catherine Cole, Carey Drake-Brockman, Dr Rosslyn
Reed.
Interactive Community Planning, Gainore Atkins, Janice Glass, Charmaine
Foley
The Missionary Franciscan Sisters
Sisters of St Joseph, Queensland
Sisters of Charity Queensland
Presentation Sisters Queensland
Sisters of the Good Shepherd Queensland
Visionary Women’s Conference
Australian Nursing Federation (W.A. Branch)
National Women’s Media Centre
Women in Film and Television
P.H.A. (Women’s Health Special Interest Group)
 

How to add your endorsement

If you or your organisation wish to endorse the Women for Wik submission to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Native Title ACT 1997,  you can do this by:
 

* writing a letter to express your endorsment. Address the letter to The Secretary
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 ph: 02 62773888 fax: 02 62773708  and

* posting or faxing a copy of your endorsement to Women for Wik (see contacts) so it can be added to the count.

Australian Citizens Statement on Native Title

ANTaR

Autralians for Native Title

Apology Australia