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1, Introduction

Mi' Edc Dccral was the first Aboriginal tobe elected to an Australian State Parliamenl.He was elected to the Queenslandlegislative Assembly as the Member forCook on 7 December 19711and was defeatedon 12 November 1977.

2, Mr Eric Deeral

Eric Deeral was b01'l123 August 1932 at theHope Vale Missi011, Queensland. He is theson of Fred Deer'll, a labourer, and LilyBedford. Deeml was edtlCated at theWoorabinda Cenl1'a1schoo!' During WoddWar IT he was evacuated to Woorabindanear Rockhampton bllt retm'ned in 1950.He left school at 13 and held down variouspositions including labourer, bush workerand stockman, He also worked as a publicse.rvant and as such was the Chairman ofthe Hope Vale Mission Community Councilfrom the age of 25, betwecn1957 and 1970.He then became a liaison officcr with theQueensland AbOl'iginal A(falrs departmentin North Queensland befOIe beingappointed as a consultant to tile Ministel'for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr Neville Hewitt,in 1973.

Deeml mal'l'ied Katie John on 22 December1956 with Lutheran rites. They have sevenchildren; 3 sons and 4 daughlers.

During 1974, he was selected as theNational ParLy cancUdate for the electorateof Cook and won the scat against six othercandidates in thc 1974 general stateelection, He held the seat from 7 December1974 unLii he was defeated by Lhe ALP'sBob Scott at the next general election on 12November 1977 but at the 19711 eleclionDeer'll defeated the ALP's Bob Scott by 344voLes.

Queensland Parliamental'Y Library

Mr Eric Deeral MP 2

At the age of 42, DeerallVas the firstAboriginal in Australia to be elected to aState Parllament. At this Lime, Deeral and!vir Neville Bonner were the only twoAboriginal politicians in Australia.

Upon his election, newspaper reports saidill petfecl, deliberate Ellglisll thaL Deeral hadbecome .interested in politics throughreading, Newspaper repol'Ls also said thatDeeral described himself as colOl/red; tllrce-quarters Aborigillal mzd olle-quarler TorresSlI'nitlslnllder. He nlilde several interestingconunents induding the one where he saidboth white man and Abol'iginaIs wereracist. He said he believed this situationexisted because of a lack of conunu.nicatiollbetween the races and that he hoped toassist in this communication.

The Premier Joh Bjelke- Petersen welcomedDeeral's election, saying that he would playan important role in the advancement ofAborigines and Torres Stl'ait Islanders,describing him as very nble alld ngoodspeaker. Despite Deeral saying that hewould not mind being Aboriginal AffairsMinisLer, Deer'll was also careful to pointout that whilst in Parliament he would notonly be championing Aboriginal issues, butalso wanted improved roads, telephone,radio and Lelevisio11 conU1lunicalions,tourism development and theencouragemenL of other incluslTies foJ' theelectorate of Cook.

In his maiden speedl made in theQueensland Parliament on 18 March 1975,Deeml backed op his colis forimprovements to services in his electorate,listing some of the ilchievemenls all'eadymade induding improved rail services,school funding and Lhe installation of atelephone at Hopevale- He pointed out thathe was equally famj!jaJ' with English ,melhis native language, Kokoyiminir, but thathe firstly considered himself nil AI/slmlia/l

RESEARCH SECTION

Stateline Queensland Page 2 of2

Research Report

from Queellslmld as the Deerals had lived inthe electorate of Cook for over 20 000 years.He said he was not impressed byAboriginal and islanders and whitepeople's (lifJerellres bllt mlher by similmilies.He was very o·itical of the thenComlTIonweallh govel1lment policiestowards Aboriginal people, expressing hisconcern at several recent decisions.

After his first week in Parliament, MrDeeral was very vocal on Aboriginal andIslander issues. III March 1975 he wasreported 10 have said IIlal Aboriginesneeded U protection" such as that affordedby Queensland legislation but thaI it shouldnot be needed in 10 or 15 years. He is alsoreported to have said thnt militantAborigines have u a chip on their shoulder"and denied that Queensland was the mostracist State ill Australia.

As mentioned earlier, Deeral was defeatedat the subsequent slate election held in 1977by the ALP's Bob Scott, who went on tohold the seat fol' the next 12 years. Afterleaving Parliament, Deeral held severalconmlllnily positions. Tn 1988 he was arepl'esentative of the QueenslandAboriginal Co-ordination COlUlciJ. He wasalso a delegate to the World HeritageO(ganisation in Paris 1988 opposing thelisti.ng of rainforest al'eas in NOl·thQueensland. He also did work in the areaof land ri(ihts and as such Was chairman ofthe Legislalion Review Committee thatreviewed Queensland legislation impactingon aboriginal land rights du(ing the early19905.

As an elder in his community, Deel'al hasalso been involved in local justice issuesand studies. In October 1995, a grant of$80000 was made to Deeral to report on thepositive mle Elders could play in reducingthe numbe( of Aboriginal people inQueensland prisons and youth dete.ntion

Queensland Parliamentary Library

Mr Eric Deeral MP 3

centres. He was instrumental inestablishing eldel' visitor programs toseveral Queensland correctiollal centres. In'1998, he was appointed to the Wet TropksManagement Authority board and wasreappointed in December 2000 until 2003.He was also insll'umental in establishingthe Cooktol'm Museum and was recognisedfol' his efforts on that prOject by Senator IanMacdonald in July 2001.

In July 2002, Deeral was appointed interimchair of the Abol'iginal body, known as theYalanji Ang-narra Yimidihirr People'sCouncil, formed i11 response to theFitzgerald Cape York JlIstice Study.

More recently, J,e was involved in theHallds all Parliaml!llt inquiry Into Aborieina1and Torres Strait Islander peoples'participation in Queensland polilics. Healso contU,ues to be involved in aboriginaljustice issues as an elde( of the Gamay clanof the Guugu Yimithirr nation.

3. Additionaiinformation

Additional infonnation is attached to thisl'eport.

The foHowing is a photo taken or MI' Deeml(date unknown):

RESEARCH SECTION

ERIC DEERAL: Well what is wrong, I think, is because we are not co-ordinaled enough. We are notsupporting one anolher and that we need to really get together and support one another.

KIM LANDERS: Should indigenous people theretore fOlm their own political palty?

ERIC DEERAL: I'm juslilliltle bit concerned about that. I would like them, or anyonc, that we areall Auslralians and that we all should stand side by side and support one anothe(. And on Ibat, thereshould not be any class or raeist concepts in us getting a Mcmber in.

KIM LANDERS: The Parliamentary Committee has canvassed the idea of dedicated indigenousseats, similar to the Maori seats in the New Zealand Parliament. What do you think of thnt idea?

ERIC DEERAL: I still think we should stick within tbe system as it is now. Why? Because we areAush'alians and we should be able to all work together. There should not be any class system.

KJM LANDERS: So you WO\11dn't SUpp0l1 the other idea of setting up an entirely separateindigenmls Parliamenl in Queenslnnd?

ERIC DEERAL: No. Why? Because I come f(om a backgrolllld of having separate Aets andregulations which govemed us for years. I was born into that system.

KIM LANDERS: How long \mli! another indigenolls person is elected to the QueenslandParliament?

ERIC DEERAL: We need to change ollr OWIl attit\ldc bccause all there arc young peoplc right nowwho can, if they want to study politics, can and then go and join the p(esent parties and sort of thensce where they go from there. They've got better education and the time is right.

KIM LANDERS: Eric Deel'al, thankyou fO( joining liS.

ERIC DEERAL: Thank yOll.

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Q1Q.1 NSW IACTIYK;jTAS ISA IWAI NT

[ Search]

hltp:l/www.abc.net.Ru/stnteline/qldlcontentl2003/s90SI49.htlll 3/09/2007

Stateline Queensland Page 1 of2

n;h!'y(} About Us

ABC Homo R"dfo Tclovl$lon News Mo~e Subjects... Shop

Research RepOlt Mr Eric Deeral MP 4

Stateline QueenslandTranscript

Intel'view with former indigenous MP Eric Deeral

Broadcast: 18/0712003

Reporter: KIM LANDERS

E1iu1 li[illljl

K1M LANDERS: The State Government says the low interest loan scheme could be in place within ayear. It's almost 30 years since the first indigenous Member was elected to the QLlcenslandParliament. Eric Deeral was the National Party Member for the vast northern electorate of Cook,covering Cape York 11011h of Cairns, from 1974 to 1977. But he remains Queensland's onlyindigenous MP, despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people making up three percen~ of ompopulation. Now a Queensland Parliamentary Committee is trying to discover how to change that.Earlier 1spoke with Eric Dceral in Townsville.

KIM LANDERS: Eric Deeral, Welcome to Stateline.

ERIC DEERAL, FORMER QLD MP: Thallk you.

KIM LANDERS: What made you decide to run fot' Parliament in 1974'1

ERlC DEERAL: To be truthful 1did not decide to run for Parliament. It was decided by my Elders,the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders at a mceting at Palm island in' 64.

KIM LANDERS: So why did they choose you?

ERlC DEERAL: They saw a special something inl1le probably that I was capablc of being aMcmbcr for Cook. [just oheyed my Elders and [said well if the Eldcrs waut me to stand, I will standand with that I then accepted when the National Party or the Coalition Party decided that I should I'unas a candidate for thc electorate of Cook in '74.

KIM LANDERS: Does it trouble you that no other indigenous person has been elected to theQueensland Parlimncnt since then?

ERlC DEERAL: Yes it docs.

KIM LANDERS: And why do yOll think that is?

ERIC DEERAL: Because there needs to be, I thought I was the role model and I come from abackground of, a very different background to what our young people are now sort of yOll know.They've got better education, there nrc beller opportlll1ites, that we should have a Member it doesn'tmatter whether it's in the nOl1hem electorates, it should be anywhere.

KIM LANDERS: But it's not happening.

The following.is a photo of a paintin& ofEdc Deem! which hangs in the Indigenousalcove in the Parliamentary Al1l\exe.

Amore recent photo of Mr Decral:

This photo is located at:

http://www.bluelatitudes.com/photos4.ht!!1

Noel Pearson has an unpublished honotu'slhesis which contains information on

Queenslalld Parliamentary Library

DeeraL As it is unpublished, it can only beviewed at its originating university, theUniversity of Sydney. The details are:

Pearson, Noel, Ngalllll-NgllndynYl;Muuri-Bullggnga allli Mit/ill! Milli illGllllglI Yiwidilirr History. Hope VnleLlltilel'llll Mission 1900-1950,unpublished BA Hons thesis, Un.iversityof Sydney, 1986.

I hope this lni011l1ation is of use. Please donot hesitate to contact me if you requireadditional information.

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hltp:llwww.abc.net.au/staleline/qld/contentl2003/s905149.hlm 3/0912007 .

QUEENSLAND PARLIAMENTARY HANDBOOK 23

VO'l'ING'FOR THE

AUSTRALIAN ~TATE uy,1ER HOUSES

1965-1974

DEERAL, Eric

Electorate:

COOK

Party:

NATIONAL PARTY

Date of ElecHon:

7th December 1974.

---~ h~e.- 'n 0 NC91in A. Hughes

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DBPAR,!,HENT OF POLITICA~ SCn:~ICE

RllSEARCH SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCrENCES

AUSTRALIAN NATIOllAL ONIV~RSITY

CANBERRA 1981

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Parliamentary Service:Member of the following Government Party Committees:- Forestry, NationalParks and Wildlife Service; Health; Education and Cultural Activities; Aboriginaland Islanders Advancement and Fisheries.

Personal:Born Hope Vale Mission, 23rd August 1932, Married, seven children. Prior to elec-tion, special advisor to Minister for Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement.Interests-Pishing, Swimming, Football.

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QUESTIONNAIRE: ~lEl(BERS OF THE QWEESSLAl;D LEGISLATIVEASSEMBLY 1929-74

1. !Iame: ;go. ·r ,;!hllt J

2. Occupation[sl: ·H..!. I, tJ. ...!A'A'_...."'.t..::,., .~~.I---------r ~

261S AborlglJlUl Relics (9 ·MARcH 1976] Preser,atloR, &:C. t Bifl3. Exact date and place of birth: 'ti"'l"" t/'~ . g 3.- It - 3~.

that it had any inlrinsic value", nlthough theyknew it was. I do Dot think the Ministershouid allow these loop-holes in the legis·lation. Tbere are enougb Joop·holes in otherpieees of legislation passed by this Parfilllllent.1 suppOsc it is impossible to pass a perfectpiece of legislation. but ) do not think theMinister should deliberately introduce loop·holes such as the one I menliollcd. \Vhy letoO'endcr3 off because of ignorance? I h.webeen told over the yCar.5 t.bat ignorance ofthe luw is no CXCU$C, 1 do .nol think it. shouldbe m. excuse if people carry out wilful netsof deslrUcLioo of Aborig.innl relics.

Another thing which disgust.8 Ole is lheimitation of Aboriginal ("cUes. Theseim.itations are inflicted upon tourists. espec-ially ovcrsea.s visitors to Queensland. Copie5of boomerangs and Olher Aboriginal imple-ments arc being made. The Aboriginal raeei.~ being commCl'cialiscd but. tbis commerci..,l~iSitioo is Dot to the :ldvantal;e of theAbodpionl-race. I think tho Minl3ter shouldlook Into th.is 15ubjcct and tbat in tact thLc:imitalion should bo forbidden. Such desshould be forbidden. or produw should bebrnndcd clenrly Its be.inc only imilations.They should 110t be foist,ed on to unsu,pecl-iDg visitors to Ibis country. and they certainlyshould not have such a Iligh commercialvalue.

Moreton Islnnd now comes within tb~Greater Bri.qbane Are:!.. 1 suppose most hon-ourable. mcmbcn hove been to MarttanIsland and seen. the l!vidence there of p....'dAboriginal civHisntioM and Inrge concelltra-tion~ of members af the Aboriginal race.On many of my trips 10 the island I remem-ber scc.i.I1g tJJe desecration of the heaps ofeugarie shells created by the Aborigines:when they held feasts and cdebrn1ioDs.These big mounds bad been tom apart bypeople wbo threw the ,hell. In all directions,nnd I suppose very few of them l\rt lentodny. Things suen as these should bepreserved.

At one lime Brlbie Wand also had ilconcentra.tion of Abori~inn] rclics tnul dl\--played tbe rich history of tbe race, andi,o the SandJ:,'1ltc electorate tbere is stillevidence o[ tho Aboriginal people. Unfort-unately, it i.s now ralbcr slight because oflhc destruction-in some cases wilfuJ des·lnlctlon--Ihat bas tak~ place.

There was also evidence of AborigjnaJcivi1~Ii.OD in the Bumett River are.'l.. J spoketo my frienu and coUeague from BUDdabcrg:lOOm rock carvings there. He ref.reshed mymemory and said t..bn.l rock enrviof;S weresupposed to have been removed when theMondura-n D:un was conslrUctcd. but theywe.re nol. So fur£ber evidence of Lhe P::lStof the Aborigines Iuu been destroyed.

Rangers wer"" mentioned in connectionwith the by~hws under the Act. and I hopetb..:lt sufficient ruog,el'3 will be employed. Inrhe parkl::lncb in the Brisbane area ,'cry fewrangers arc ernplo~'ed. and I sincerely hopetbat where displays of Aboriginal art still

exist. mnny IQogcrs are nppainttd with powerand Rfllhorily Lo pOJice this very importantAct. It i. to be hoped that it is not yet100 late to preserve lbese relics fo.r pos-terity and rangers should be given fullauthority to mrlkc 3.n example of peoplewho attempt to deslroy Lbem. I do notthink it would be .nece3Sary 10 make 3Dexample or· many pt:opJe bc:fot'"C membersof Ihe ·public sal up and look notice. andrespected the provi:riom; of Ole legislation.

Mr. DEERAL (Cook) (3.43 p.m.): 1 h,,'elistened wilh in'le.resl to the comments ofthe Mioisler concerning tbc. 3ctivities of theDepartment of Aborigioal Dnd IslandersAdvQ.uccmem in the field of rue preservationof lelia. I hope tb:ll nIl bOQouruble me.m-bc-:u will agree th.al. ~\$ slaled by those:who h:we alre.ady spoken. we are dealinatwith something thnt must be prcscrved Asthe Minister llDd omen bnve said. once1best! things are lost lhey amnot be foundagain. The record of the deportment show.what it has achieved already in this arc:!.

A few yeats ago a very good lric::.nd ofmine wrote a. lette.r to me and said, "Couldr· bhve l'l bone with hum.!ln hair wrappedround it'?" She meant a pointing bon~. Wilen1 T~nd the letter r fclt awful about it becausethut lady was going to sell the bone Cor a-very big sum. A lot of that sort of thing i,happening now. I know that we have losta few things in the Cooktown attn. boc-auSt:of neglect and vandalism on the part orpeople who I t.hought were responSIblepeople. T know of a burial contnlner whicbwas carried in the 1.9305 from the Care.MelvUle wea into Cooktown and then us flttdown as Bloomfield. That bark. containerwas: p[

4. Father's nan:e and occupation: ab.....l 10,#,,). ,Le~ _

5. Hother's maiden nanoes: ~ ?'€.L-./fa,.l.

6. Date of mar.::iage: &2 dc ..""L 19SL

7. Haiden'na>ae of wife:~~i;j~·:-..,Li~\sd.85 .. "etflf d 4/lr t-LccLt. ,e76hMWt

2.

Matt.,. ofPublic InJ tilat are happening from theoutside but becnu..~ some of oUr own people,and some '''''bite people lOO, arc getting o.ntoolbe band wagon for tbeir own benefit. ]hope ti,at these things will eea,e.. If Mr. Myer..ads what 1 have 'aid, 1 hope Ibat he willuse common sense.

C1.osuau OF lRVtN1!BANK STATE TRI!ATMEl'ITWORKS

Mr. HANSON {port Curtis) (12.12 p.m.):1 have ill my electorate a situation of verygrave c.oncern, waich is s:bortly to be thesubje.et of ao applicalior. ~o the Mining\-Y~IIdcn's Court. Naturally, on an occa.,ionsucb .s !his it would be expected that 1would concenlrate on proQlO1hlg the intereslsof my electorate. I have done a wnsider-able amount of work in this .rea in tbe past.and I hope that lbere is a very suee=fulouteomc in the Warden's Court which is, Iunderstand, 10 be constituted very sbortly toconsider the lIracewell mi ning operation andits effecl on (be decent nnd dedicated farm-en of that area. However t 3S Sh3dow Min-ister for Mines, T musl bring forward another

1975

on their own. we cannot hope to instil inthem any desire 10 do better. At J8 yeliil1lof age a youth should be sent out to produc-tive employment and if we can till in theperiod from the time he leaves school untilhe tunl. J8 wHh same conslroctive train1n8.we gbould do s.o. 1 know we 3re doing betternow than we b!>ve done for the pMt 20yean. evea the past five years, but I feel weshould perha.ps ac:c-elera(o Ollr efforts towardsAbot'iginat advancement

'We should nol allow lhe scbool-le'lVeTs toremain out of work and drift into difficnHiescaused by examples giVOll 10 them byun..savoory clemculs on the Te~e and rc.sortto "gromie" drinking lIud won. J think iftIley are to be given an eXlUDple it shouldbe the best possible example and not Uteexample of lost and forlnm people frombroken home,s wilb drinking problems-tbefuture lhat con[ronu Ihem now. ·In the nameof advaneement, Utese malters should receivelbe eonsidoration of the Minister. This is UteJ\finisler's first Bill and when we place theword ..AdvanccJne.nC' in the LItle we shouldnot just ray Hp.-service to it hut use it toprovide an incentive for these people. Por·haps instead of the name of lbe Act or thename of the depnrtmeat being changed, areferendum of the people concerned couldbe OTganL,cd and lbey could be askedwhetber or Ilot lbey want lbe Act to remainin lorce.

Mr. DEERAL (Cook) (1l.1l p.m.): Inmaking my cOlllribution to tbc debate 00the Dm, I wish firsl to thank the bonourablemember for Cniros for some of the thingsIhal he snid which I believe are true.

The pOlicy of Ule QueensJnod departmenlis direcled towllTds Ihe assimilation of themajority of Aboriginn~ and Islander lleople.and that polity has rem~ined in force sincethe Aborigiml1s Protection Act was introduced.Today we :lIe clisc\lssing the changing ofthe word in the nam!!. from 4(Aff:a.its" to"Advancement.... 1 have seen improvementcome about, and I do not want the new~""iniste.r and his deparlment to stop nowsimply because some advance bllS alreadybeen made. The need for advancemeot isgreater today than il waS two yeDrs ago.

The honourable member for Cairns hasspoken about the communitic~. which areht the 16 reserves in QlIeensllUJd and on theislands, and I agree with him wholeheartedlylbat the Aboriginltl and Islander people havecome a loog way. They would have comeevell further if the Commonwealth Govern-ment had listened 10 the requests made toit by the community councillors and the[slander represenl3tives and 10 the adviceit rec~ived from them 3S to what theywanted. I k.now I am risht in saying thatpeople have !o visit 1be communities andthe towns themselves to see the confusion thalmembers of this AsscHlbly must now fry (0straighten ouL

As honourable members kllow. there arcthree groups of Aboriginal people in QueeDs-Iao~-tbose who live in reserves, those whoare just in between. and Utose who have.'ready made it and are living lilee anyother Australi:ms. We do not hear aboUIthese people. The potiey of the QueeoslandGovernment and (he policy of its department'I'M to try to have lhe Aborisinal and IsllllldeT'people assimilarcd nod to have all of usliving in one community. That has beenachieved and. as ) said earlier] in the lastfew years tJlings have come to R .!liop. Peopleare now tryiog fa feel their way, and lbeyare nsking themselves. "Whieb way will Wego?" As n Government. We must try togel the Aboriginal and Islander people 10rcalise Ihat we still want to help them achievew],at lbey are aiming for.

A" 1 have made trip~ with other honour-able members, we have seeo progress and wehave seell disappointment. My advice 10 lbeMinister and his department would be 10 callaDolher meeting of Ute advisory eouocil. Thesooner it is called Ibe sooner valuable advicewill be obtained. In Ibat way we can reallysay thal advancement will occur.

I commend th. Bill and thank the Ministerfor what be is doing.

Mr. TURNER (Worrego) (1l.I6 p.m.): Tnsupporting lbe Bill I commend tbe MinislerIlDd coagratlllate bim on presenting it andnlso on bis attitude towaTds his portfolio.lust r

370 Addr..s in Reply [18 MARCIl 19751 Address ill Reply

,

AIM

manpower shortage of trained welfare per-sonnel, but it· may also tend to bias ti,enature and structure of programmes fundedby Ibgional councils.

(Time expired.)

Mr. DEPUfY SPEAKER (Mr. W. D.Hewitt): Ordcr! The honourable member forCook. I remind lhe House Ulat this is thehonourable member's n!aiden speech.

Mr. DEERAL (Cook) ~5.15 p.m.): It iswith. pride and a deep sellse of humiHly thatI rise On behalf of lhe people of Cook tosupport the. affirmation of loyalty to HerMajesty the Queen.

I congratulate His. Excellency the Gov-ernor, Sir' Colin Hannah, ou his OpeningSpeech.

At the outsel I wish to thank lhe peopleof Cook for the trust they have plnced inple. I would also like to express myappreciation to all lhose who worked sohard on my Qchalf during tbe election cam·paign. .

In the short space of the past three ffi9"ths,and since I Was' elected, r have visited almostall parts of nw electorate-I point out tohonourable membe" that tbis is the equival·ent of travelling from here to Mackay, orhere to Canberra-much of it by light air-craft, boat and car. I have seen manyproblems, and I am glad to say that so farmy representations bave succeeded in gainingthe following improvements for the peopleof Cook- .

Continuation of the rail service fromNormanton to Croydon.

A teacher problem at Laura solved. Thechildren of Laura now enjoy the sameeducational benefits as thoso in oUler smallcommunities in Cook.

Free li£e-saving drugs kept at Kammba.Upgrading of the Engineers Wharf at

Thursday Island at a cost of $310,000.lmprovemeuts to tile Normanton School

amounting to $185,973. .Improvements to tbe Weipa School

amounting to $16,170.Repairs to the Thursday Island State

Scbool.Approval (or a maternal· and child

welfare clinic at E and initiat.ive areapplied. I can hear the knockers saying,"It WOll't work. It will be loa costly." 1dispute this: but if it is lrue, is it not belterto employ people on projcets creating wealth.eVen at a loss, than to pay lbem the doleand create noUling for the mOlley spent? Thepeople responsible (or handiog out casb forno effort are ctlndelllning tl,em to oblivion.No man can continually accept hand·outswithout losing his initiative and self-respect.Many Australians have lost their initiativeand self-respect because of lack of jobopporlunities. We must try to restore fueiJ'pride and initiative. .

I would like to sec more done for theAborigines and Islanders in apprenticesb.ipsfor YQung men. For outstanding students Iwould like to see scholarships given for suchvocations as commercial pilots. I inlend tokeep lhese malters before tile eyes of ourGovernment.

I would now like to tUIn to two majorissues lImt involve Aborigines, Islanders andall other Australians. These are the borderquestions, which are of great concern toIslanders, and the general question of thefuture of Abodginal and Islander people.As did tbe Premier, I went nnd consultedwith the peoples in the Torres Strnit Islandson their feelings, aud I must r&Ord that weare lhe only two political representatives whohave in fact done this. The leaders of thoTorres Strait Islanders and the people toldme Umt they do not want the border wilhNew Guinea changed. They do not want anypart of. their land or the walers around itg'ivcn away. They wish to continue theirtraditional friendly relations witb the peopleof New Guinea. I have also spoken wifhleaders of the peoille Inhabiting Ihe villageson the coast of New Guinoa aloDsside TorresStrait. They, too, do not waDt any change.I intend to continue to support strongly thestated wishes of the people of Ihe TorresStrait area.

For me this in an important occasion. Ithink it should be equally inlportant for everymember of tbis Assembly, regardless of party.1 am the first Aboriginal member of thisHouse and, I think, tbe first Aboriginal memobel' of any State Parliament Because of

.. ;

Aborigi.nal liaisonTHE rigoul's of State Pl\l'llamcnt hold no fears 'fOl' it,first aboriginal Mem1)al', 'Mr, Erie Deeral.. 01 ~1~ ',15 ~" ,; .ro-, 'I'

. ThinKS .had bQon 'h1:otlo 'N"EW· tor· Iha tlr.~ twa clays, hesaId: yesterday, And he ex-peeLed to bo teellng this Vlay

; '..ttlr .~h.e ne~t tew weeks. .

".,j B~I M,!ocerll. ~l, I~ looklrtw for. M'P'.. ',VM to "term In IlIRte I'RrUo-• mOll an the thlnge l\Q hop.. to 5,~, !o.°i~~~':ane (c lay l\ rnnJor ,01e .· 'In communl.Rflng between IhO. t~~l~e~~u~ ~~~~II:n~ D~h~OI~~~;

Address III Reply [18 MARCH 1975J Address III Reply 371

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children and they want to create securityfor them; they want to work together forthis. end. They want so many things incommon that I Oppose and rcsent theorydifferences and the friction and the intolernncethat they breed. .

I have already expressed my worry cOn-cerning many of lhe policies lhat nave beenput into practice by the Com01onweallhDepartment of Aboriginal Affairs. I haveexpressed my concern with tue attitude thatthe departmcnt has adopted. 1 am convincedtbat it represents in a grossly magnifiedway n return to Ihe old hand-out philosophyof past generations. I musl remind ,hon-ourable members that it was. Ibis philosophywhich did so much to destroy the initiativeand development of Aboriginal nnd Islanderpeople. I do not exclnde the Common-wealth from any participation in t!.lis field,but I feel lliat this should be Iim/te,d tothe provision of funds that can be used bythe Queensland Government for the over-all benefit of Qutenslandcrs and particularlythose who live in the remoto areas, manyof which' are in my electorate. The policy fol-lowed by tbis Commonwealth at tbe moment,is one lhat wiII inevllably lead, as 1 haveproviously said, ,to friction and intolerance,and I see little ebatlce of this changing.

The policy that bas been followed byQueensland has achieved a great deal. Ithas achieved .parliamentary representation.The development of communities in the Northwill play a major part .in our developmentwith increasing numbers of Aboriginal andIslander graduates in Universities, adequatehousing fOI' thousands of lleople and an excel-lent relationsbip between the majority ofcitizens and the statutory agencies .of tbeState.

All of this is important and it ltas beenlargely brought about because people baveworked together, in an enviroJllIlent 'that' isnot a centralist one. Decisions have beenmade by people on the spot Or people 'veryclose to what they are doing-a sltuatlonthat will not apply to a centralist organisa·tion such as the Commonweallb department.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, and honoUIablememberS-It is a great honour for me tobe a member of tllls Parliament. The peopleof Cook bave nlade me their member andwith tbe guidance of Almighty God, I wilido all in my power to honour that trust.

Mr. DEPlITY SPEAKER (Mr. W. D.Hewitt): The honourable member for Too-woomba North. This is the honourablemember's maiden speecb. I ask the Houseto extend him tbe usual courtesies.

,Dr. I,OCKWOOD (foowooDlba North)(5.34 p.m.): In taking part in this debatein reply to tho Opening Speech of His Excel-lency llie Goveruor of Queensland, Sir CoHnHannah, 1 associate Ibe electors of Too-woombn North with my expressions of loynltyto Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Eliza-beth If. She and the Royal Family nre

held in unique

ASSUMED f~Ud:O b~~~$O~~O ,~~~ ~~~ :n~~u~: ~f~t~'I\Ir Dte:ral WM de- save.n an.lI, a~ JQuJ' l\s "-0 their TCSCrvt:.S lot .\1.10.1'-

cland dcct.id l.t\ Ctdnu (oQuid wrilo QIU' Q3Dl~ 1rlnalr.)'C$terlb.y for.the ))ortb~atlUnost QU«l'osl::mdseat of Cook a.t't.e.r lwoWeekS ot COllJltln,f otpn:fe.roDC'c;s Ip. tboiJ6veQ,-l):uldid;\to rnt.e.

The tlntll flA'urol:we.le: Mr Deeral (Nf')~t;~d3~I$. Do\) .5cOlf

Tbe no\oJ plllfUa.m.e.n -l:ulan lh,t!ll at Ko)),,"-Vale l."tbuan M~lon011 ,Cilpo "York whero be\VlL., cbllinT\!lo r II"l'Abonvlh.1 _ st.t. 0'".dorAI - to Win _0 .r,atorat.o In A\liStrllll,,;th•• A1:orliIJl.1 ~n.to(1 My BUilnor, WI1'ehc~d on a Stattl.v.1dll b.ul.. .

The I!Ilootton oj' S;ilatG1!lon1to}· .11c1 M:o-~1~~~1 :~~:.l1~~~~'~~~~t;alj,,~~!Y. 1-WO ~bor.S"rlll1lor Bonner I". iJbu.1 and Mr Q"h:\ral

10lhJ Mr UJ,lk,·PoI.ri(n" Nallol1::a1 f~r,ylum - Which with thl•. jl!UI "at 'WIll hold~rO~ie~:.~;~t·~:~~'~h~r~G~~:e~~..:.u~tj~~tormJni hi, O'i\'n acvillrnmer\~. '.

Mr. Dec.-t Wilt d'olpred oleotetr 1n Oltlrnsye:sterdny fat tha nOtth.rnm03~ QlJlIClrt4:hm