FED: Strong interest in upcoming ATSIC poll, says Djerrkura

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-1999
FED: Strong interest in upcoming ATSIC poll, says Djerrkura

CANBERRA, Aug 16 AAP - Indigenous Australians had shown strong early interest in nominating
for the upcoming ATSIC elections, ATSIC chairman Gatjil Djerrkura said today.

Mr Djerrkura, who is yet to confirm whether he will run in the elections, said Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) staff in some areas had been inundated with
expressions of interest.

Potential candidates should act quickly in obtaining and completing their forms, he said in
a statement.

The candidates will vie for 387 positions on 35 regional ATSIC councils across Australia at
the October 9 elections.

Those new regional councillors will elect a commissioner for each of ATSIC's 16 national
zones, who will then in turn elect a new chairperson.

It is the first time ATSIC commissioners will elect their own chairperson rather than serve
under a government appointee.

Mr Djerrkura and former senior bureaucrat Charles Perkins are tipped to vie for the top
elected indigenous affairs post.

It comes amid soured relations between the federal government and ATSIC, which last year
passed a vote of no confidence in Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Herron.

Australia's second ever indigenous federal MP, Australian Democrats Senator Aden Ridgeway,
yesterday warned ATSIC needed to have a look at itself.

"I think ATSIC needs to look at itself in terms of its relationship with its minister, and
seek some improvement in that relationship," he told the Seven Network.

"It's simply not a criticism, it's stating a fact in terms of you have a government that
isn't Labor, you have a government that has a different way of doing business, and I don't
think that we've quite adjusted to how we go about doing business with this government."

All candidates for the ATSIC elections must be indigenous people and be entitled to vote in
the regional council ward in which they are standing.

They must have their nomination forms signed by at least four people willing to nominate
them as candidates, and pay a non refundable $50 fee.

Nominations close on September 8, with Mr Djerrkura advising potential candidates to secure
more than four nominators in case some of them were not enrolled in their ward.

AAP rmm/mfh/bm/br

KEYWORD: ATSIC

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