- Future Aboriginal leaders outraged by "racist" Federal Intervention
- Reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory - Petition
- A year of NT Intervention - Amnesty International Australia
- Traditional owners locked out of sacred McArthur River site
- National protest against the Federal Intervention into (NT) Aboriginal lands
Action, not words, needed to close gap on indigenous health
Paul Toohey | September 30, 2008
DAVID Timber knows that he, as a 55-year-old Aboriginal man should -- statistically, at least -- be dead.
"I've been thinking about that lately, but I'm still alive," says Mr Timber, self-described "head bloke" of a little Aboriginal enclave in inner-city Darwin, the town camp known as One-Mile Dam.
Told of a report commissioned by Reconciliation Australia, which argues it would be financially beneficial for governments to close the gap on Aboriginal disadvantage, Mr Timber feels it has merely unearthed a self-evident truth.
"I've always agreed with that and believed in that," he says.
Submitted by admin on 30 September, 2008 - 12:42.
Rally to support Top End Aboriginal Communities
Dear Supporter of Aboriginal people,
You can help get the voices of Aboriginal people heard as they struggle under the NT Intervention legislation!
On the 30th September the Northern Territory Emergency Responses Independent Review is to hand its report to the Federal Government. A report that people living in prescribed areas feel will not truly reflect their experience of the Intervention. Partly because they have not been asked or consulted and partly because of the limitation in questions and scope of the Independent review panel. So that those voices can be heard, a Convergence is happening in Alice Springs from the 29th September to the 4th October, with a speak out in Darwin and Roadtrip Against Racism in the preceeding days.
The plan for the Convergence is as follows:
"
Future Aboriginal leaders outraged by "racist" Federal Intervention
Letters to the editor re: NT intervention, written by the youth that attended the Tasmanian Aboriginal Youth Leadership Program.
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"10 Aboriginal youth aged 12-14 from around Tasmania, met at Bridport (June 08) to take part in the Tasmanian Aboriginal Youth Leadership program.
Part of the program included discussions on the NT intervention / Invasion, each participant then wrote letters to the editor in relation to the Intervention. Two of the letters have so far been sent to the local newspapers and have been published."
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"The youth also mentioned that they would somehow like to let all the blackfullas up that way know, that even though we are a long way away, we are thinking of them, and are doing everything we can to try to stop this racist Intervention. We have travelled to Hobart and protested when Jenny Maclaine came down here, and were on the news chanting “JENNY MACLAINE, GO BACK HOME, LEAVE OUR PAKANA KIDS ALONE”, We protested the Intervention during John Howard’s visit to Tasmania last year, while wearing T-shirts with pictures of John Howard pointing and saying “I want your kids”. We held a rally on the parliament house lawns for the National day of action against the NT intervention and have written many letters to the editor and press releases."
- Nala Mansell (Youth Worker) Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre |
Letter to the editor
NT Invasion
Nunami Sculthorpe-Green
Aged 15
Hobart-Tasmania
A year later, the race-based Northern Territory Intervention continues to disempower
Aborigines in the Northern Territory and strip them of their basic human rights.
While the rest of Australia is free to receive their pension cheques, Aborigines
in the Northern Territory are being forced to line up in queues to receive
food vouchers.
They are also being forced to move from their traditional homelands and assimilate
into the cities.
This policy, that the Government claims is not racist, is in fact so racist that amendments
had to be made to the racial discrimination act so that the intervention could be put
in place.
It is not an intervention, it is an invasion.
______________________________________
Letter to the Editor
Warena Burgess
Age 15
I am a fifteen year old girl living in a small Aboriginal community on Cape Barren Island.
I love the Cape Barren Island lifestyle. I am free to learn and speak my own language, live among my own people,attend a school with other Aboriginal children and travel to the bird Islands every season to go Mutton-Birding.
However, if the racist policies of the Howard and Rudd Governments, which take away the welfare payments from aborigines, are put in place On Cape Barren Island as they have been in more than 60 Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, then I would no longer be able to afford to travel to go Mutton-Birding.
I would be forced to move to the city to get an education, and the freedom that I once had to practice my culture would be stripped from me, just as it was done to my people 200 years ago.
Sending in armed forces and stripping our people of their basic human rights is never going to solve health issues.
If Jenny Macklin and Kevin Rudd really want to help our people, take out the armed forces and send in the Aboriginal Health Workers
______________________________________
Call for Aboriginal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
Ashlee Hogan
Age 17
Hobart-Tasmania
Racial discrimination is in full force in the Northern Territory.
The Labor Government prides itself on its commitment to supporting Aboriginal people, but refuses to abolish
this racist and inhumane Northern Territory Intervention.
Kevin Rudd has apologized to the stolen Generation and has promised that Aboriginal people will never have
to suffer the injustices of the past ever again, but supports a policy that is based around violence, racism, and one race having full control over the lives of another.
It is a white invasion all over again.
Jenny Maclin, you are a white woman who does not understand, or want to understand what will work best
for our people, your time is up, move over and let an Aboriginal person be in charge of Aboriginal affairs.
______________________________________
The White way is not the Right Way
Letter to the editor
Cianna Mabb
Age 15
Hobart, Tasmania
I could just imagine how fearful Aborigines in the Northern Territory must be at the moment.
The Government is moving them out of their homelands from the lands they have always known, to cities that they
are not accustomed to.
Why does the Government still find it necessary to force our people to adapt to white culture, white language,
white cities and the white way of living?
This racist intervention will not assist Aborigines, it is just another way of the Rudd Government highlighting
the fact that they have full control over our people.
______________________________________
Letter to the editor
Kobi Sainty
Aged 15
Launceston, Tasmania
The 21st June marked the 12 month anniversary of the racist Northern Territory Intervention.
I am a proud Tasmanian Aborigine who is outraged at this intervention, that is targeting Aborigines only and is being
supported by a so-called apologetic Prime Minister.
Kevin Rudd needs to re-think the reasons of why he felt an apology was necessary and then use the power that he
has over our people to do the right thing and abolish all NT intervention legislation.
______________________________________
Letters to the editor
Racist intervention
Sarah Smith
Aged 15
Launceston-Tasmania
Discrimination against Aborigines is still occurring a year later in the Northern territory.
Shame on you Kevin Rudd and Jenny Macklin for following John Howard's racist, un-lawful attacks against Aborigines
______________________________________
NT Intervention
Letter to the Editor
Dimity poole
Age 15
Hobart, Tasmania
Poor health affects many white people in Australia, so I wonder why the Government havn't replaced doctors with
armies to fix their health issues?
Many lawyers, doctors and police officers waste their money, so I wonder why the government doesn't replace
their money with vouchers.
The white Government is trying their best to destroy us but as long as we can come together in the fight for
Aboriginal sovereignty and self-determination, there is hope that this intervention will be abolished and Aborigines
may once again, have full control over our own destinies.
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Letter to the editor
Jessica Moss-Farley
Age 16
Launceston-Tasmania
There are three words to describe the Northern Territory intervention, Racist, disgusting and awful.
Sending in White armies to the Northern Territory is not going to improve health issues.
There have been many cases within the past few years with School teachers sexually abusing students in
schools, but these people are not subjected to the same treatment as Aborigines.
In years to come the Government will look back and realize that they have once again repeated a history of
invasion and have created a new generation of stolen children.
The Government will then be responsible for compensating those affected, when people like Jenny Maclin
could've put a stop to the racist policies in the first place.
______________________________________
NT INTERVENTION
Letter to the Editor
Jessie Smith
Aged 14
Launceston, Tasmania
It saddens me when I think of Aborigines in the Northern territory being subjected to this type of racism.
How can the Government say the NT intervention is not racist if the racial discrimination act had to be
amended for the intervention to be put in place?
The Millions of dollars the Government has spent invading the 60+ Aboriginal communities should've
been spent training Aboriginal Health Workers.
It has been proven time and time again that Aborigines understand what their own needs are a lot
better than white people do.
If the Government is sincerely concerned about the Health of our people, money would be spent
on Community controlled Aboriginal Health Services, not armed forces.
______________________________________
NT INTERVENTION
Megan Walsh
Age 14
Launceston, Tasmania
It is the year 2008 yet Aborigines are still being handed out rations.
The Prime minister has apologized for the wrong doings of the past, yet he supports policies
based on assimilation.
We are saddened by the wars going on around the world, but turn a blind eye to the fact that
armed forces have been sent in to control Aboriginal communities in Australia.
Reconciliation is a word commonly used by the Government, but the NT intervention targets
Aborigines and not whites.
Enough is enough.
Submitted by admin on 29 July, 2008 - 22:19.
Reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory - Petition
Reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory - Petition
Published by michele on Jul 02, 2008
Category: Human Rights
Region: Australia
Target: Supporters of Human Rights
Description/History: The Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory that pertains to the Emergency Intervention was suspended last year. Its suspension is an issue for all Australians, Indigenous and Non-Indigenous. It is a human rights issue.
The Law Council of Australia states that, "the suspension of the RDA (Racial Discrimination Act 1975) under the Northern Territury Response legislation has been condemned by the Law Council as "utterly unacceptable".
The Northern Territory's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Tony Fitzgerald, has been quoted as saying that, "the suspension of the Northern Territory and Federal race discrimination legislation can never be justified".
In Australia, all Australians have the right to services – health, education, housing etc. Recently Professor Jon Altman from ANU stated that "the Rudd government must look at the key issue of human rights and the Intervention's initial premise that Indigenous Australians must give up those rights just to be entitled to the basic infrastructure and services that are provided to all other Australians".
Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (HREOC) has provided to Government a ten-point plan to improve the Intervention and this includes the reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory.
This petition is sponsored by Senator Rachel Siewert and she will present it to the Senate in late August 2008.
Submitted by admin on 22 July, 2008 - 11:29.
A year of NT Intervention - Amnesty International Australia
A year of NT Intervention
One year on from the implementation of the Northern Territory (NT) intervention we are urging the Government to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) and consult Indigenous Australians to ensure past mistakes are not repeated.
The NT intervention was developed by the Howard government in June 2007 in response to the Little Children Are Sacred report. Amnesty International welcomes the current government’s intentions to close the life expectancy gap and ensure adequate health and housing services in Indigenous communities, and believes the protection of the human rights of women and children should be central to any response on these issues.
We believe this is possible without overriding the Racial Discrimination Act, and we are calling for this act to be reinstated with respect to the Northern Territory intervention.
Submitted by admin on 10 July, 2008 - 14:02.
Traditional owners locked out of sacred McArthur River site
Traditional owners in the Territory's McArthur River region have today been denied access to a sacred ceremonial site which they say will soon be destroyed by the expansion of a nearby zinc mine.
Around 100 Aboriginal people from four different language groups were met by police and mine security and were told only one senior traditional owner could visit the sacred site.
The traditional owners havenow set up camp outside the mine and are vowing not to leave until they are allowed to hold a ceremony at the sacred site.
Traditional owner Jackie Green says it is a serious abuse of the Sacred Sites Act, and traditional owners are particularly upset that the mine's operators did not come and talk to them.
"We're all pretty cross and upset because the company they should be coming talking to us instead of having the police in front of us," he said.
"Our personal feeling is that we don't think police should be involved because they made this decision without the police and they should be talking to us face to face as a human being."
Submitted by admin on 20 June, 2008 - 02:09.
