The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Australia adopted, may provide an avenue to transcend the paradox in the Labor Government's Indigenous policy, according to Dr Thalia Anthony.

In an opinion piece posted on ABC Unleashed, Dr Anthony argues that the Rudd Government's policy on Indigenous affairs has traversed two divergent paths of symbolism and pragmatism.

"On the one hand, the Labor party has recognised wrongs of the past - most notably on 13 February 2008 when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to the stolen generations," she writes.
"On the other hand, the Labor Government's Indigenous policy is shrouded in a pragmatism that undermines Indigenous peoples' rights to non-discrimination.

"This is clear in the Government's extension of the Northern Territory Intervention, which requires the ongoing suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)."

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