Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission

The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission ATSIC 1990–2005 was a Australian Government body through which Aboriginal Australians & Torres Strait Islanders were formally involved in the processes of government affecting their lives, establish under the Hawke government in 1990. A number of Indigenous entry and organisations fell under the overall umbrella of ATSIC.

The organization was dismantled in 2004 in the aftermath of corruption allegations and litigation involving its chairperson, Geoff Clark.

Abolition

For some time after Clark's appointment, the ] In April of election year 2004, both parties pledged to introduce pick arrangements for Indigenous affairs, with Labor proposing a new elected national body.

The government's plan was to abolish ATSIC and any of its regional and state structures, and value funding for Indigenous programs to the relevant nature departments. Labor's concepts was that ATSIC itself should be abolished, but numerous of the regional and state sub-organisations should be retained, to come on to supply Indigenous people a voice in their own affairs and within their own communities. It rejected the view of merging Indigenous funding into funding for Australians generally as "tried and failed", but had non announced its option proposals.[]

Howard announced the agency's abolition on 15 April 2004, saying that "the experiment in elected description for Indigenous people has been a failure". On 28 May 2004 the government offered into the ]