Aboriginal Provisional Government

The Aboriginal Provisional Government (APG) is an Indigenous Australian independence movement.

History

Earlier activity

In 1988 Michael Mansell, Clarrie Isaacs and other activists who later formed the APG, travelled to Libya using Aboriginal passports used by the group.^[1] Attempting to use the passports on their re-entry to Australia, they were initially refused entry to Australia.^[2]

Foundation of the APG

Due to the dependency of Aboriginal agencies on Australian government funding community leaders from the Pitjantjatjara, Wiradjuri, Yolngu and Eroa people formed the APG. To get around the conflicts caused by traditional clan based conflicts the clans created a political system that takes elements from the Aboriginal hierarchical structure and traditional western democratic principles.^[3] The founders of the APG are Bob Weatherall, Geoff Clark, Josie Crawshaw, Michael Mansell^[4], Kathy Craigie and other delegates from all states of Australia.^[5]

In preparation for the establishment of this State, the organization of a provisional government was elected.^[6] The APG assumes that existing programs for Aboriginal people with regard to health care, assistance for food and general care, education, accommodation and other problems that are in violation of the law are not the basic problem that the Aboriginal people have. The solution is they need their own law.

In the period from 1967 to 1976 there was a significant change, because in every state, an Aboriginal Legal Service was established and in 1976 the land rights of the Northern Territory too.^[7] The Federal Parliament recognized the National Aboriginal Conference (NAC) and for the first time this gave the Aborigines an opinion and an effective voice.

The APG was formally founded on 16 July 1990.^[6] Its stated purpose is to establish its own government and Aboriginal nation state. The APG views that the Indigenous people of Australia never relinquished their sovereignty and therefore Australian law and title over the country is null and void.^[8][6]

Bibliography

Notes

References

• Attwood, Bain; Markus, Andrew (1999). The struggle for aboriginal rights: a documentary history (1999 ed.). Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86448-584-4.  - Total pages: 375
• Jupp, James (2001). The Australian people: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people and their origins (2001 ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80789-0.  - Total pages: 940
• Prentis, Malcolm D. (2008). A Concise Companion to Aboriginal History (2008 ed.). Rosenberg. ISBN 978-1-877058-62-2.  - Total pages: 264
• Short, Damien (2008). Reconciliation and colonial power: indigenous rights in Australia (2008 ed.). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-4938-0.  - Total pages: 209