Labor has broken ranks with the federal Government on Aboriginal affairs with a vow to ratify a UN declaration on indigenous rights rejected by the Howard Government as legitimising customary law, including practices "not acceptable in the modern world". Australia became one of only four countries to vote against the UN's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in New York on Thursday when it joined the US, New Zealand and Canada in refusing to ratify the protocol. But Labor indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin has committed a Rudd government to making Australia the 144th signatory to the protocol. Labor's move follows months of agreement between the two parties as Kevin Rudd has sought to avoid being wedged on indigenous affairs, even as the Howard Government has embarked on an unprecedented intervention in the Northern Territory, including land seizures, to combat alcohol and child abuse in indigenous communities. Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said ratification of the UN Declaration would make customary law superior to existing law and disadvantage non-indigenous Australians. Despite Labor insisting the declaration's provisions were non-binding, Mr Brough said "This puts one bunch of Australians in a privileged position over others. It does not recognise that all Australians should be the same under the law." The document acknowledges indigenous rights in a range of issues and addresses displacement, self-determination, intellectual property rights, collective rights, environmental issues and the right to maintain cultural traditions. The Howard Government has long expressed reservations over the use of customary law in indigenous communities and in June cited links between the misuse of some traditional law and child abuse when justifying its decision to seize control of Northern Territory indigenous communities. The debate about the UN declaration looks certain to spill into the campaign for the approaching federal election. Indigenous activist Mick Dodson said Australia's rejection of the declaration was unconscionable. "I find it very sad and it doesn't do us any honour at all," he said. However, the New Zealand minister responsible for indigenous policy, Parekura Horomia, a Maori, said the UN declaration was incompatible with New Zealand law. Source: Compiled by APN from media reports. 10 October, 2007
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