FED: ATSIC heads clash over Ruddock appointment

AAP General News (Australia)
12-20-2000
FED: ATSIC heads clash over Ruddock appointment

CANBERRA, Dec 20 AAP - Leaders of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
today clashed over the appointment of Philip Ruddock as new Aboriginal Affairs Minister.

ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark today said it didn't matter that Mr Ruddock also held the
Immigration portfolio, a contrast to his statement yesterday when he expressed disappointment
that Mr Ruddock would hold two portfolios.

"As an Aboriginal Affairs Minister we don't need a nursemaid and I think what we need
is advocacy within the cabinet and that is really what we are after," Mr Clark told ABC
radio today.

"And if that signals a change of the Prime Minister in terms of the importance of Aboriginal
Affairs we would welcome it."

He said a sole Aboriginal portfolio was not required because in the past ministers
had wasted a lot of time learning fundamentals in Aboriginal communities.

"So hopefully Philip Ruddock has got across the line on some of those broader issues
and hopefully he is now ready to advocate some of the big change."

But Mr Clark's deputy Sugar Ray Robinson angrily rejected the shared portfolio system.

"I think it is a cop out by the federal government," he told ABC radio.

He said immigration would take precedence over Aboriginal Affairs.

"I think that the issues concerning Aboriginal people on a national basis and an international
basis warrants that the Aboriginal Affairs portfolio has its own minister."

Mr Howard today reiterated that he had confidence in Mr Ruddock's capacity to handle
both portfolios.

"Philip is very competent, he is always in charge of the detail and with the arrangements
I have made for a parliamentary secretary he will be able to handle the job with great
ease," he told ABC.

AAP msl/mg

KEYWORD: RESHUFFLE ATSIC

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