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Government’s repatriation world’s best practice failure
by Bob Weatherall world’s best practice Indigenous repatriation program needs to be run and controlled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the support of Government and without Government interference. The Australian Government’s Indigenous Repatriation Policy fails to achieve this due to a lack of an holistic approach to repatriating back to country excluding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from
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control of remains and access to resources provision of grossly inadequate resources lack of commitment to finalise unfinished business of repatriations of all Indigenous ancestral remains The current policy fails to take into account the recommendations of numerous reviews of previous Government repatriation programs or the expert advice provided by Aboriginal cultural experts. The consequence of this unfinished business has numerous
adverse effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The delay denies Indigenous people enacting their ancestor’s last rights. This contributes to the continuous injustice and inability of Indigenous people to heal. Aboriginal organisations should be afforded the primary responsibility to develop and manage an effective repatriation program and be resourced to complete the repatriation of the 10,000’s of ancestral remains and sacred objects without delay.
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