Government persists with assimilation policy in the wake of the referendum

In the 1967 Referendum, Australians voted to remove passages from the Constitution that stopped the federal government from managing Aboriginal affairs. Until this point, the passages had meant that Aboriginal affairs were only a state and territory responsibility.   

To set the government’s priorities, Prime Minister Harold Holt established the Council for Aboriginal Affairs (CAA). Following Holt’s unforeseen death that same year, Prime Minister John Gorton set his new government’s agenda.  

In this speech delivered to the 1968 Conference of Commonwealth and State Ministers Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Gorton discussed his intent for the states to continue to look after Aboriginal affairs. He said the CAA would support the states to do this.  

Gorton’s speech also confirmed his government’s commitment to assimilation. This went directly against recommendations from the CAA to rescind assimilation policies (Brennan 2015:60–64).  

Part of Gorton’s view of assimilation was that Aboriginal people shouldn’t need government payments. He said that to fully assimilate, Aboriginal people should be ‘self-supporting’, ‘economic[ally] independent’ and ‘able to stand on their own feet’. In his speech, he claimed that Aboriginal people were too dependent on ‘charity, social service benefits and similar benefits’.  

He also said that getting government payments went against the ‘concept of Aboriginal dignity’. 

Even though the federal government started to take some responsibility for Aboriginal people after the referendum result, Gorton’s speech shows his government’s negativity about the idea of equal access to social security.