FED: Clark plans fighting fund to battle for job
By Rod McGuirk
CANBERRA, Aug 19 AAP - ATSIC's suspended boss Geoff Clark intends to bankroll his continuingleadership role through a so-called chairman's fighting fund.
Mr Clark told an ATSIC board meeting today of his plan despite being stripped of hischairman's perks and entitlements last week.
"It's a fighting fund to defend the rights of Aboriginal people in this country," MrClark told reporters after the meeting.
Mr Clark said he had to beg for a bed because ATSIC's top bureaucrat, Wayne Gibbons,agreed to cover his travel costs from Victoria to the Canberra board meeting but not hisaccommodation.
Mr Clark retains his $235,000 salary but maintains he cannot yet afford to challengeIndigenous Affairs Minister Philip Ruddock's decision to suspend him over convictionsrelating to a pub brawl in Victoria.
"I certainly will be challenging my suspension; that's just a matter of resources,"
Mr Clark said.
"I don't have the resources."
Mr Clark said he did not ask commissioners for financial help to fight his suspensionwhich will last until his appeal against convictions for obstructing police and riotousbehaviour are heard as early as November.
He faces the sack if his appeal fails.
"There are some entitlements that I'm entitled to and it's for them (commissioners)to decide if I'm still entitled to those things," Mr Clark said.
Mr Clark would not reveal his fund's structure, saying it was private.
But he planned to meet with unnamed indigenous leaders in the coming weeks on issuesincluding the fund and the current government review of ATSIC.
Mr Clark wants a reversal of the government's decision to give control of ATSIC's $1.2billion budget for the new agency, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services.
"I would have thought that in this review - that's why I'm concentrating so much energyin this review - that I will be able to recommend and gather up the support around thecountry from other indigenous leaders to make a stronger and better ATSIC," Mr Clark said.
Mr Clark said he would remain effective without the authority and finance of ATSIC behind him.
"I'm not going away, I think that I've got a lot to offer," he said.
"I don't need ATSIC, I never needed ATSIC in the first instance."
Some commissioners, including the ATSIC board's only woman Alison Anderson, boycottedMr Clark's address.
"We've got a new direction now," she told AAP.
Other commissioners invited their suspended leader to accompany them to ParliamentHouse where they met with the Australian Democrats to discuss conservation and heritagelegislation currently before the senate.
Mr Clark foreshadowed a meeting with Mr Ruddock and a possible request for an opportunityto address parliament about his suspension which can be overturned in the senate.
Mr Ruddock's spokesman said no approach for a meeting had been made by late today.
Mr Ruddock praised Mr Clark's acting replacement Lionel Quartermaine, the north Queenslandcommissioner elected yesterday as ATSIC's deputy commissioner.
"I certainly believe that we can have a very constructive relationship," Mr Ruddocktold ABC Radio.
AAP rmg/cc/mo
KEYWORD: ATSIC NIGHTLEAD
No comments:
Post a Comment