WGAR News: National Day of Action - Saturday, 13 February 2010 (2 Feb 10)

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

WGAR website: http://wgar.info/

Contents:
National Day of Action - Sat 13 Feb
Prescribed Area People's Alliance Meeting - 12 Feb
Ampilatwatja – Celebration and opening of Protest House - 14 Feb
Proposed National Congress of Australia's First Peoples
Indigenous progress report delayed by PM
January 26, a.k.a. Invasion Day / Survival Day
Other NT Intervention Articles
Other Aboriginal Articles

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION - SAT 13 FEB

There are several articles on the STICS (Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney) homepage about the National Day of Action against the Northern Territory (NT) Intervention and for Aboriginal rights. Included is a statement by representatives from "prescribed communities" in the NT calling for protests on Saturday February 13, 2010. Scroll down the page to read them: http://stoptheintervention.org/

There are also details about National Actions in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney on the STICS homepage. Scroll down the page to read about them: http://stoptheintervention.org/

To read about the National Action in Alice Springs go to the IRAG (Intervention Rollback Action Group) homepage and scroll down the page: http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/

- Media Release

Stop the Intervention:
Aboriginal Rights Supporters Protest on Anniversary of Rudd's Apology
Media Release: Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective
http://stoptheintervention.org/facts/press-releases/mr-maic-on-feb-13-pr...
22 Jan 10: "On Saturday February 13 supporters of Aboriginal rights will mark the second anniversary of Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations by marching from the MAYSAR gym (Melbourne Aboriginal Youth, Sport and Recreation) on Gertrude St, Fitzroy to Parliament House on Spring St, CBD. The protesters will demand an end to the Northern Territory Intervention (also known as the Nothern Territory Emergency Response) which was introduced by the Howard Government almost three years ago. Despite the regime change in Australian federal politics, such racist policies have not only continued under a Rudd Labor government, but have become further entrenched. ...
Joe Lorback from Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective had these comments: "Rudd said that 'the injustices of the past must never happen again', but by not only continuing the Intervention but expanding it around Australia that's exactly what is happening. ...
Barbara Shaw from Mt. Nancy town camp and the Intervention Rollback Action Group announced: "We will hold a National Day of Action on February 13 2010, the two year anniversary of the Apology, to call for an immediate end to the NT Intervention. We will chant from our hearts, as we always do: 'Self-determination not assimilation. Stop the Intervention, Human rights for all!'" ...
The Melbourne component of the National Day of Action will begin at 2pm on Saturday 13 February at MAYSAR (Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation) 184-186 Gertrude St, Fitzroy (Melway Ref: 2C C11) and will finish with speeches and live music at Parliament House on Spring St, CBD (Melway Ref: 2F J2)."

PRESCRIBED AREA PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE MEETING - 12 FEB

[scroll down page] http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/

"Prescribed Area People's Alliance Meeting
Mparntwe-Alice Springs

Salvation Army Hall, 9.30 am till 4 pm

Important meeting for people living in communities, outstations and town camps in Central Australia.

To discuss where people are at with the Intervention.

Some help available with transport. ... "

See previous statement of the Prescribed Area People's Alliance:
http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/statements/

AMPILATWATJA - CELEBRATION AND OPENING OF PROTEST HOUSE - 14 FEB

Lunchtime – Honeymoon Bore

Intervention walkoff's Blog: Invitation to attend opening of Alyawarr protest house: Feb 14, 2010.
http://interventionwalkoff.wordpress.com/
"Richard Downs and Alyawarr elders would like to invite Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to the opening of our protest house at lunchtime, February 14 at Honeymoon bore near Ampilatwatja community. This is a stand against the federal government Intervention. The protest house has been build with support of Northern Territory and national trade unions and the general public to show the governments it does not take over 2 years to build one house. This is also an opportunity for people of all races to come together in unity against racism and discrimination, ... "

- Video

Intervention walkoff's Blog: Video
Invitation to attend opening of the Walk Off Camp 'Protest House'
http://interventionwalkoff.wordpress.com/video/

PROPOSED NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AUSTRALIA'S FIRST PEOPLES:

- News

National Indigenous Times:
THE PERFECT STORM: A stillborn rep body?
http://www.nit.com.au/news/story.aspx?id=19253
21 Jan 10: "The National Congress of Australia's First Peoples may be dead before it was even born. 2010 will be the year that confirms or rejects that. Debate over the Congress has been fierce, particularly around the creation of an ethics council which will sit over the congress to ensure that anyone elected to the peak body is a fit and proper person. Tasmanian Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell called creation of the ethics council "patronising and discriminatory". Aboriginal Australia will notch up five years without a national elected body in 2010."

- Opinion

National Indigenous Times:
NIT FORUMS: The Ethics Council: Some inconvenient truths?
http://www.nit.com.au/opinion/story.aspx?id=19227
21 Jan 10: "Ironically the recent announcement by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma of the proposed First Nations Peoples' Congress' new Ethics Council immediately raises issues of public sector ethics and governance some would prefer to ignore. ... The Ethics Council appears less ethics and more an undemocratic attempt at re-inventing Indigenous political authority." Stephen Hagan

INDIGENOUS PROGRESS REPORT DELAYED BY PM:

- Media Release

Greens: PM backs down on Close the Gap promise
http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/will-pm-del...
30 Jan 10: "The Australian Greens question the Rudd Government's ability to Close the Gap in Aboriginal life expectancy and health disadvantage, if the PM can't even keep his commitment to report to Parliament on the first day of sitting. ... "Perhaps it is because Mr Rudd can't put such a positive spin on progress?" suggests Senator Siewert. "There have been few houses built, Aboriginal communities still don't have access to essential services, and the health and education services till aren't meeting Aboriginal needs," she said. "Meanwhile the discriminatory Northern Territory Invention is still in place, and the Rudd Government is attempting to water down Native Title legislation yet again." "

- News

ABC: Rudd delays Indigenous progress report
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/30/2805574.htm
30 Jan 10: "Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has broken his promise to give an update on Indigenous progress on the first day of Parliament for the year. Two years ago, Mr Rudd said making the annual statement on the first working day would greatly increase pressure on his Government to make progress towards closing the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and other Australians."

- Radio

CAAMA News Radio
(Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association):
http://caama.com.au/radio/1st-february-2010/
1 Feb 10: "The Rudd Government has broken a promise with ’Closing the Gap’."

CAAMA News Radio
(Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association):
http://caama.com.au/radio/caama-radio-news-28-january-2010/
28 Jan 10: "A leading Victorian health worker says Australia will never know if “Closing the Gap” is working without reliable data."

JANUARY 26, ALSO KNOWN AS INVASION DAY / SURVIVAL DAY:

- News

National Indigenous Times:
Indigenous protesters call for greater recognition on Survival Day
http://www.nit.com.au/breakingNews/story.aspx?id=19271
27 Jan 10: "About 100 protesters gathered outside Old Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday calling for greater recognition of Indigenous people. ... Outspoken Indigenous activist Darren Bloomfield said the protest was about "the theft of lands, culture, language, children, and peoples". "The issue is sovereignty, it is the true, grass roots right of this land," he said."

Socialist Alternative: Brisbane protest on Invasion Day
http://www.sa.org.au/aboriginal-rights/2545-brisbane-protest-on-invasion...
29 Jan 10: "Determined to commemorate this date [January 26] for what it truly represents, an Invasion Day, approximately 200 people rallied outside State Parliament in Brisbane. A dozen speakers from the Indigenous community and their supporters condemned the racist Northern Territory Intervention, the continuance of police brutality and deaths in custody, and the frame-up of Lex Wotton, jailed for seven years for daring to inspire resistance to the cover-up of the police murder of Mulrunji Doomadgee on Palm Island in 2004."

- Opinion

Socialist Alternative: Invasion day - racism and resistance
http://www.sa.org.au/aboriginal-rights/2466-invasion-day-theres-nothing-...
26 Jan 10: "January 26 this year is marked by the Rudd government continuing policies in the Northern Territory that are so racist that the Racial Discrimination Act has to be suspended to make them legal. It’s part of a 222-year history of such atrocities, of systematic racism, land theft and genocide. It’s a history of the way in which the needs of first British, and then Australian capitalism were served by those policies. But there is also a history of resistance." Diane Fieldes

- Radio

CAAMA Radio AM News
(Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association):
http://caama.com.au/radio/caama-radio-am-news-27012010/
27 Jan 10: "Australia Day Protesters speak out at Old Parliment house in Canberra"

OTHER NT INTERVENTION ARTICLES:

- Background on the Northern Territory Intervention

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Northern Territory National Emergency Response
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Territory_intervention

interventionwalkoff.wordpress.com
stoptheintervention.org
rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com
wgar.info

- Opinion

Australian: Landscape of despondency as bureaucrats rebuild the bush
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/landscape-of-despondency-a...
30 Jan 10: "THIS should be a time of progress and optimism in the remote Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory. ... Despite the rhetoric being pumped out in Canberra and Darwin, it is plain that another policy failure is unfolding across the inland: money is being poured into the region, nourishing support staff and project managers but failing to benefit the indigenous citizens it is intended to help." Nicolas Rothwell

- News

National Indigenous Times:
THE PERFECT STORM: A never-ending story
http://www.nit.com.au/news/story.aspx?id=19262
21 Jan 10: "One of Mick Gooda's biggest headaches will undoubtedly be the Northern Territory intervention, an albatross of a government policy that will undoubtedly dominate the headlines in 2010. Launched in 2007 as part of a failed Howard government re-election stunt, the billion dollar intervention lumbers on today under the Rudd government despite a mountain of evidence showing it's failing, international condemnation, and an election promise Labor would make it comply with the Racial Discrimination Act. More than two years into Rudd's term, we're all still waiting."

ABC: Secret child files given to crime body
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/29/2805318.htm
29 Jan 10: "The Federal Court has awarded the Australian Crime Commission [ACC] the right to access confidential medical records of children under the Northern Territory intervention."

ABC: Fears revamp to create more town camps
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/27/2802659.htm
27 Jan 10: "The Northern Territory Opposition says the Government's plan to accommodate people while homes in some Alice Springs town camps are renovated could create yet another town camp. Camp houses are being repaired under the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program."

ABC: Govt works on town camp housing options
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/26/2801651.htm
26 Jan 10: "The Northern Territory Government says it is still considering the best way to rehouse Alice Springs town camp residents while their homes are rebuilt. Some residents will have to move out of their houses while major internal renovations are completed. The work will be done as part of the $100 million Commonwealth-funded upgrade of the camps."

- Radio

CAAMA Radio AM News
(Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association):
http://caama.com.au/radio/caama-radio-am-news-25012010/
25 Jan 10: "PM Kevin Rudd has been unable to explain why the Government’s $672 Million remote indigenous housing program in the Northern Territory has still not delievered any new housing."

OTHER ABORIGINAL ARTICLES:

- Discussion Paper

Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health:
Discussion Paper Series: No. 9:
Aboriginal Spirituality: Aboriginal Philosophy
The Basis of Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing
Vicki Grieves
http://www.crcah.org.au/publications/downloads/DP9-Aboriginal-Spirituali...

- Media Release

National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO):
Aboriginal Health Workers formally acknowledged
http://www.naccho.org.au/Files/Documents/10-01-29%20Aboriginal%20Health%...
29 Jan 10: "Mr Justin Mohamed the Chair of NACCHO says Aboriginal Health Workers have been formally acknowledged as a profession today with the launch of their new national association by the Minister for Indigenous Health Warren Snowdon in Ceduna at the Koonibba Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service. ... [Mr Mohamed said] “NACCHO continues to directly support the formation of the Association to ensure the interests of Aboriginal Health Workers will be properly represented and the profession has the chance to be part of the National Regulation and Accreditation of health professionals’ scheme. The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker Association (NATSIHWA) will work for the interests of its Aboriginal Health Worker members by supporting their careers, professional development, networking, accreditation of the profession and representing their interests at peak regional, state and national forums."

- News

National Indigenous Times:
Concerns that native title changes may "water" down rights
http://www.nit.com.au/story.aspx?id=19276
29 Jan 10: "Indigenous leaders have raised concerns over federal government plans to speed up native title claims, saying it "waters down" their rights. The amendments to the Native Title Act give the Federal Court the power to manage the mediation of land claims by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. ... National Native Title Council chair Brian Wyatt says the people he represents were "change fatigued" and there's no need to alter the act. ... Cape York Land Council chairman Richie Ahmat also said continuous amendments to the act would diminish native title rights until they became worthless. ... NTSCorp (Native Title Service Corp) chief executive Warren Mundine said the bill doesn't address the problem of bureaucratic inefficiencies."

- Opinion

Green Left: Indigenous welfare: Don't punish loan shark’s victims
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/824/42401
31 Jan 10: "The actions of loan shark Sam Tomarchio, revealed on January 15 by the Australian, do not justify the expansion of “welfare quarantining” to the Aboriginal people affected. Tomarchio was a gold prospector who became an unregistered money lender based in the remote Western Australian mining town of Laverton. He charged around 30% interest and, to secure repayments, took the bank cards and PIN numbers from his hundreds of Aboriginal clients." Peter Robson

National Indigenous Times:
EDITORIAL: Reflecting on our country's racism
http://www.nit.com.au/opinion/story.aspx?id=19228
21 Jan 10: "Australia is grounded on it. We were the country of the White Australia Policy, of terra nullius, of the Cronulla Riots. We are the country that constantly treats our First Peoples, our most disadvantaged, as second-class citizens who need to be watched over. We are the country that currently has a federal Opposition leader who had previously called for a "new paternalism", a re-imagining of the racist doctrines of the past, to deal with Aboriginal people." Amy McQuire, acting editor

Melbourne Indymedia:
Lest we forget the war against Indigenous Australians
http://indymedia.org.au/2010/01/17/lest-we-forget-the-war-against-indige...
17 Jan 10: "Dr Joseph Toscano writes on the commemoration of indigenous resistance and early Melbourne history and the need for a monument to the indigenous freedom fighters, Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, who were the first judicial executions in Melbourne on January 20, 1842."

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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

Comments

29 Jan 10: "Indigenous leaders accept aloft apropos over federal government affairs to acceleration up built-in appellation claims, adage it "waters down" their rights. The amendments to the Built-in Microsoft certificationAppellation Act accord the Federal Court the ability to administer the arbitration ofLotus certification acreage claims by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. ... National Built-in Appellation Council armchair Brian Wyatt says the humans he represents were Nortel certification
"change fatigued" and there's no charge to adapt the act. ... Cape York Acreage Council administrator Richie Ahmat aswell said connected amendments to the act would abate built-in appellation Lpi certificationrights until they became worthless. ... NTSCorp (Native Appellation Service Corp) arch controlling Warren Mundine said the bill doesn't abode the botheration of authoritative inefficiencies."