I was just reading about the ineptitude of the National Indigenous Council, which is hardly the fault of those on it but the complete removal of any power from the indigenous population by the Howard Government. I was thinking that the Indigenous communities should put together their own Aboriginal rival advice council when I came across the article I’ve linked to.

It is a superb idea considering the increasingly important role of NGOs in the international arena it would not surprise me if the government was eventually forced to take them seriously. I also hope that they take their case to the international arena to increase pressure on the government as has happened before.

I guess my main concern is the mandate of this council. In these initial stages I would suggest that based of their broad membership they have a mandate but this is one that could easily be lost if they are not careful to impose innovative democratic measures. That said it is an opportunity to start ATSIC from scratch and hopefully develop a voting system that is effective.

EDIT: I meant to mention Dream on Black girl as the motivation for this post but somehow forgot to work that in. Stupid fucking whiteman.

An interesting comment byJohn Quiggin: on the Australian Blog Awards: “The left wing of Ozplogistan swept the awards, which is partly a reflection of who bothered to vote, but partly a reflection of the extent to which the left now dominates the virtual sphere in Australian politics, however poorly we may be doing In Real Life. When I started blogging in the distant days of 2002, right-wing bloggers dominated the scene. A year ago, I’d have said the balance was about the same as in the Australian electorate as a whole. Today, although there are some good right-wing and centre-right blogs, they are a distinct minority.”

I’m inclinded to agree and often wonder why. It seems that overall the left adapts to technology better – particularly in the rhelm of ICT. However the right often follows their lead in a much more sinister way (ie fake industry blogs etc).