Establishment
ATSIC was established by Bob Hawke's Labor government through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989 (the ATSIC Act), which took effect on 5 March 1990.
While ATSIC's existence was always subject to the oversight of governments, who represent all Australians, ATSIC was a group of elected individuals whose main goal was the oversights that happened to Indigenous Australians. This included people from the many Aboriginal communities on the Australian mainland, Tasmania and other off-shore islands, and the ethnically distinct people from the many Melanesian communities inhabiting the islands of the Torres Strait, collectively known as Torres Strait Islanders. Later the Torres Strait Regional Authority took over responsibility for programs in the Torres Strait Islands.
The chairpersons of ATSIC were Lowitja O'Donoghue (1990-1996), Gatjil Djerrkura (1996-2000), Geoff Clark (2000-2004) and Lionel Quartermaine (2003-2004). ATSIC'S Deputy chairs included Ray Robinson.
Read more about this topic: Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Commission