There was something familiar about John Howard’s 14 hand-picked Muslim
moderates filing obediently from Parliament House yesterday carrying
their prime ministerial riding instructions on how to tackle the mad
mullahs in their midst.

Close observers of Indigenous politics knew the formula well. And while
John Howard basks in the PR glow of his tightly-managed Muslim summit,
it’s worth reflecting on his tactics. It’s becoming a standard Howard technique: pick a tame group of
ambitious “representatives” of a troublesome minority, give them some
limited authority and narrow terms of reference, and watch them
reproduce your agenda.

Although the PM assiduously chose moderates for his meeting, some
colourful characters slipped through: witness Liberal wannabe Hajji
Abdul Rahman (Ray) Deen, the Islamic leader who reckons September 11
was a conspiracy, who was whisked away by Parliament House security
officers when he refused to answer questions from waiting media.
He may benefit from the media training for Muslim leaders being flagged
at yesterday’s meeting.

Just how much of yesterday’s agenda challenged the PM’s comfort
zone? Michelle Grattan asked the question today, and came up with
this answer: very little. The 11-point statement was mostly motherhood, and the only significant
friction centred on the Muslims’ unhelpful insistence that Australia’s
involvement in the war in Iraq did increase its terror profile.

Now compare yesterday’s exercise with this government’s handling of
Indigenous policy. First, Howard had minister Amanda Vanstone gut, then
sack, the elected representative council, ATSIC – which no-one denies
had some serious, probably terminal, problems. Then the
government appointed a new peak Indigenous advisory body, the National
Indigenous Council (NIC).

The NIC is incredibly unpopular within many Indigenous communities, who
see its government appointed members as mere vessels for prevailing
policy. Among the council’s controversial proposals is a move to
dismantle communal land titles. The council’s chair, Sue Gordon, has
been unable to win authority by asserting the NIC’s independence.

One prominent NIC member is Warren Mundine, who is the next President
of the ALP. Lately, he’s been talking up the Howard Government’s
Indigenous home ownership plan.

The Government dresses this up as bipartisan politics, but Labor
eyebrows have been raised over the fact that their man is happily
promoting Howard
Government Indigenous policy. So far, no-one is saying much
publicly; a sad reflection of the fragile mess the ALP is in
nationally. Would Paul Keating or Bob Hawke have allowed an ALP
President to
develop policy for the Liberal Party contrary to ALP platform?
Utterly unthinkable.

It’s a warning to Muslims that this government will do what it can to co-opt them under the guise of national unity.