Rob Riley: An Aboriginal Leader's Quest for Justice by Quentin Beresford

Author:Quentin Beresford [Beresford, Quentin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, Biography & Autobiography, Social Science, Anthropology, Australia & New Zealand, Political, History, Cultural & Social
ISBN: 9780855755027
Google: NlaMzEibZX8C
Goodreads: 3863393
Publisher: Aboriginal Studies Press
Published: 2006-01-15T13:32:35+00:00

Enemies Within: The End of the National Aboriginal Conference

When a journalist came to interview Rob Riley on 5 July 1985 at the empty Perth headquarters of the NAC, Rob had an air of defeat.1 By now he was tagged by the press as the ‘angry young man of black politics’ for his uncompromising attacks on governments. On this July day, though, he had only parting shots to fire. His once bustling office had fallen silent. The telephones had been removed and his staff were out looking for work. Rob was alone, making a final assessment of the Aboriginal rights movement which he had worked so tirelessly to build. The NAC, which had been the focus of this movement under his leadership, had been demolished, torn apart internally by dissension and disagreement, and externally by the federal government.

The contrast in personal styles of Rob and the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Clyde Holding, was largely responsible for the drama that ended Rob’s leadership. Rob was a conviction politician with an unshakeable political framework. He once explained his approach as ‘straight forward’; a willingness to voice opinions ‘when I’ve felt it necessary to do so’; ‘not being intimidated by people no matter how senior the position’; and ‘forceful/aggressive in defending the N.A.C.’s position’.2 Holding possessed similar forcefulness and had proved his commitment to ALP policy on Aboriginal affairs over several years, travelling the country with an almost robotic willingness to talk up Labor’s commitments in the portfolio. Yet he also belonged to the school of realist politics and accepted the dictates of political survival; the Party’s needs came first. Thus, Holding became an equally resolute defender of the federal government’s retreat on the heritage legislation, the public awareness campaign and the five principles of national land rights legislation. Opponents recall his desire to control events, his defensiveness when questioned, his intolerance of criticism, and his readiness to denigrate those who challenged him. ‘You either did it his way or you were on the outer’, is Michael Mansell’s recollection. Inevitably, Holding would have to confront the issue of how to deal with the uncompromising, articulate and dogged Chair of his advisory body.

Rob’s relationship with Holding started cordially enough. Rob had congratulated his Minister for his sincere approach on the occasion of Holding’s first NAC Executive meeting. However, the two men’s forceful personalities brought them into head-on clashes over ALP policy changes. Both relished a verbal joust and neither willingly took a backward step. Hostility between the two broke out in an NAC Executive meeting on 16 August 1984, when Holding was forced to defend the government’s backdown over the heritage legislation. Rob went public, accusing his Minister ‘of developing the Aboriginal Affairs Department at the expense of other Aboriginal bodies and of undermining the NAC and cutting its finances’.3

The two appeared together on the ABC’s current affairs program Pressure Point. Rob challenged the Minister over his handling of the portfolio, complaining that he was bypassing the NAC as the voice of Aboriginal people. Presenter

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