The Federal Intervention is manifestly oppressive
to Aboriginal people
Berrimah
prison is full - (I was in there earlier
this year ('07) for an anti-racism protest
in '02) - The NT State's preferred
option is more black prisons
These
prisons are used as POW
camps in the ongoing war of invasion
against Aboriginal people
Two
PARIAH members were also imprisoned in
Berrimah in 2001 for their part in a protest
to support the people of East Timor in
1999
Mick
Lambe- August 07
Nationalism
+ Militarism + Racism = Fascism*
-
Image depicts Australian Federal Parliament
flagpole atop Uluru
Election spillover provides ground-breaking opportunity for Marion Scrymgour
Written by Women for Wik
Nov 26, 2007 at 07:00 PM
Spillover of the Federal Political Landslide to NT Government Provide Ground-Breaking Opportunity to Aboriginal Minister
Monday, 26 November 2007
The spillover of the Federal political landslide to the NT government has provided a ground-breaking opportunity for NT Minister for Family and Community Services and Child Protection, Marion Scrymgour, who has become the first Indigenous woman to become Deputy Leader of a State or Territory government.
This follows earlier political ground-breaking by Scrymgour, when she became the first Aboriginal woman to hold a Ministerial position in a State or Territory.
In an unanticipated turn of events, Clare Martin and her Deputy Sid Stirling, stepped down from their posts of Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. The new Chief Minister is Paul Henderson, the former Education Minister.
"Aboriginal people are estactic to see Marion Scrymgour as Deputy Chief Minister. Marion has always listened to her constituents and she has done her best for her people," said Ms Cummings. "We are very proud that an Indigenous woman has become Deputy Leader of a State or Territory government."
Ms Scrymgour has been very vocal in her criticisms of the NT intervention. In late October, she used the 2007 Charles Perkins Oration at Sydney University to blast both the motivation and its implementation, calling it a 'vicious new McCarthyism'.
The then Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough called for Ms Scrymgour's resignation, arguing that she was not prepared to help her own people. She later retracted the strength of some of her words.
The support of Aboriginal people for Ms Scrymgour's view of the intervention is indicated by the outcomes of the Federal election, which gave Labor returns of up to 95% in polling booths in some remote Northern Territory communities,including the community of Wadeye, regularly visited by Mal Brough.
In an ironic turn of events Ms Scrymgour has become Deputy Chief Minister, while the outgoing Indigenous Affairs Mal Brough has lost his seat.
"Marion stood up against the intervention," said Ms Cummings. "Her father, who passed away recently, was a member of the Stolen Generation. He would be really proud of her, as we are."
The news that Clare Martin has stepped down was met with some dismay.
"I am sorry to see Clare Martin go," said Eileen Cummings, former Policy Advisor to the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. "Clare was very supportive of Aboriginal people. She made a point of funding family violence and sexual abuse programs, and she did the best she could with the resources available to her."
"The intervention made things very difficult her. The Federal government refused to take into account what the NT government was doing to address those issues-even programs that had been funded by the Federal government."
"Clare Martin has stepped aside in an order to allow new people to take advantage of a new situation", said Olga Havnen, CEO of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT. "The social policy area has been the greatest challenge faced by Clare Martin's government. Given the legacy of neglect of past governments, she was presented with an extraordinary challenge that the NT government could never hope to address on its own."
"What this country needs is well-informed evidence-based policy making," said Ms Havnen. "We have to identify what we know works, and be honest about the level of resourcing and investment that is needed to make the necessary changes".
"While we have always welcomed the increase commitment of Federal resources to the NT, we have been concerned that these resources were not producing the results that communities need." Said Ms Havnen. "Now we have an opportunity to realign those resources so that they provide effective community outcomes.
Effective outcomes do not include the more than 700 pus new public servant positions that have been created so far."
"Marion Scrymgour has enormous support from her constituency and she is well placed to contribute to Territory leadership in this critical period of transition," said Ms Havnen.
Ms Scrymgour was one of the first, and most prominent, endorsees of the grassroots campaign 'Women for Wik-Monitoring the Federal Action in the NT.'
ELEVATED: Marion Scrymgour has made Australian political history. Picture: DANI GAWLIK
History in the making
27Nov07
THE NT's new deputy chief minister, Marion Scrymgour, is the highest-ranked government indigenous person in Australia's history.
The promotion of the passionate Aboriginal advocate, after a controversial career, follows Clare Martin and Syd Stirling's resignations.
Ms Scrymgour, from Tiwi Islands north of Darwin, is one of six Aboriginal ministers in NT government.
She made history by becoming the first indigenous woman to be a minister in any government in Australia.
The mother of three has been a vocal opponent of the federal government's intervention in NT Aboriginal communities and was last month forced to back away from her criticisms.
Calling the reforms the "black kids' Tampa" and a "vicious new McCarthyism", the member for Arafura questioned the Commonwealth's motivation and operation.
Her comments sparked divisions within Labor ranks over the intervention after it was given bipartisan support through federal parliament.
Labor leader Kevin Rudd said Ms Scrymgour was wrong and he believed a new approach was needed for Aboriginal affairs, while then federal indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough called for her resignation.
Mr Stirling moved to quell talk of rifts in the NT government and confusion over where Labor stood on the matter, saying Ms Scrymgour was "a passionate advocate for her people" and entitled to express her concerns.
It was not the first time she had made a vocal stance on issues close to her heart.
In May, she split with her party over a 99-year lease on a community on the Tiwi Islands.
She also opposed the controversial $110 million expansion of McArthur River Mine, which involved the diversion of a river near the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The minister absented herself when a bill approving it passed through the NT parliament while three of her Aboriginal colleagues crossed the floor on the third reading.
In April 2004 Ms Scrymgour severely embarrassed her Government when she slammed her own health system, claiming she had been close to death after an operation for a twisted bowel.
The Northern Territory News exclusively reported the then Family and Community Services Minister said she believed delays in diagnosing her complaint and spending 24 hours in Royal Darwin Hospital's emergency department put her life in jeopardy.
Ms Martin's replacement, Paul Henderson, yesterday welcomed Ms Scrymgour as his deputy.
Asked if he was concerned about her breaking party ranks, he said he considered her to be a loyal party member.
"She is a person of enormous capacity and enormous integrity," he said.
Mr Henderson refused to say if his right faction had backed Delia Lawrie instead of Ms Scrymgour for deputy.
The Northern Territory Government is ramming through legislation to override a court decision preventing a controversial mine expansion from going ahead
Our refusal to accept the land's status as belonging
to the "Crown" and use of the courts
in exposing local racism was never appreciated
by the invasive interests protected and supported
by the former Country Liberal Party. The
family that won the right to the Kenbi claim
adopted
me as family, due to the State's attempts
to remove me from my (then) home of seven years
Many of the Belyuen people are related to the
people at One
Mile Dam Aboriginal Community where I spent
10 months living with the people and publicising
their concerns in 2005 (Mick Lambe)
