The ACT Greens have called for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy to become an "interim national institution," but said it would operate differently to other institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia and the Australian War Memorial.
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The Tent Embassy should be supported by the National Capital Authority, the Greens said, as part of a way to use national institutions "to progress reconciliation".
The call was made in the ACT Greens' submission to the federal inquiry into funding and governance arrangements for Canberra's museums and galleries and other institutions. The inquiry's terms of reference also include "the process for establishing new institutions".
Greens spokesman for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Shane Rattenbury said the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of Old Parliament House should be given the same official standing as Parliament House and Old Parliament House.
"Until the Australian constitution contains a clause that gives Aboriginal people of our first nations respect and recognition towards a formal treaty, it would be appropriate for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy to be given standing as an interim national institution," Mr Rattenbury and fellow Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur said in the submission.
The Greens have not formally discussed the proposal with leaders of the Tent Embassy.
"We've had at various times, various members of the Greens have been over at the Tent Embassy for both events and just informal gatherings and these ideas have been turned over in conversations but we've not got to the point of formally sitting down and having that meeting," Mr Rattenbury said.
The Tent Embassy as a national institution wouldn't be expected to run with the same governance structures as other institutions, but with a "slightly different model" he said.
"I think it would need to be a model that reflected its history as a protest site and site that has been self-managed by Aboriginal people since its inception."
"It would be appropriate for the National Capital Authority to formally offer ongoing support to the Embassy, through regular provision of water, toilets, bathroom facilities, and waste collection. Now that the building that formerly hosted The Lobby restaurant is vacant, the ACT Greens suggest that the NCA considers how this might be used to support the Tent Embassy, and to promote indigenous culture and history," the submission said.
The Lobby restaurant was controversially occupied by Aboriginal activists in November last year, when leaders of the embassy demanded that they be able to use the empty restaurant for accommodation and kitchen and toilet facilities.
The National Capital Authority recently opened an expressions of interest process for new tenants for the restaurant.
The ACT Greens also want the Australian War Memorial to build a monument to Aboriginal people who fought against white settlers. The War Memorial is set to build a sculptural pavilion to commemorate the service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers later this year, but more is needed, Mr Rattenbury said.
The ACT Greens have also called for funding to be restored to national institutions that have faced efficiency dividends, protection from privatisation and the formation of a National Institutions Council to help institutions collaborate.
