The Canberra Times Letters Friday, March 10, 2000 Blick report on Aboriginal bodies I AM WRITING to express my disappointment with your journalist's unprofessional approach and factually wrong article "Herron used security chief to probe black groups'' (March 9, p.3). The Blick report resulted from concerns brought to my attention by both ATSIC and the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations regarding each other's conduct in relation to the appointment, by the registrar, of administrators to various Aboriginal corporations. As the minister responsible for the effective operation of both agencies, I appointed Mr Bill Blick to conduct an inquiry into the relationship between ATSIC and the registrar's office. Mr Blick did not inquire into the affairs or actions of Aboriginal corporations or "black groups'' as wrongly claimed by your journalist. The report's recommendations reflect this limited focus. Mr Blick did not conduct this inquiry in his capacity as Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, as implied by your journalist. He was appointed because he was independent of any of the parties involved, he had the necessary skills to conduct an investigation, and had previously been Deputy Secretary responsible for indigenous issues within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Had your journalist bothered to seek a response from my office, her false assertions would have been corrected. It is also false for The Canberra Times to claim that I refused to discuss the Blick report's contents. Your journalist did not even seek a comment from me on this issue. To make matters worse, she did not seek comment from the registrar. Instead she published comments from the Labor Party and did not seek to balance the article by giving me the opportunity to respond. (Senator) JOHN HERRON Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs [Editor's Note: Aban Contractor contacted the minister's office several times before the article was published seeking a copy of the Blick report and comments on her understanding of what the report contained. She was told initially that it was not a public document, later that a copy could not be found and later again that the department had been asked for a copy. A copy was delivered yesterday, after publication of the article. It confirms, as the article stated, that the report contained an extensive list of recommendations by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Bill Blick, ''about how ATSIC and the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations should deal with each other''.] -- ********************************* Make the Hunger Site your homepage! http://www.thehungersite.com/index.html ********************************* ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
