Newsletter date: 10 September 2013
Contents:
* Sovereign Union: Sovereign Union is a movement for freedom, rejecting Pearson's pro-assimilation
* Sharnie Kim, ABC News: Cape York mayors snub Indigenous leader Noel Pearson initiatives
* Laurie Lawira, SBS Radio News: Bipartisan support for Indigenous leadership group
* Sovereign Union: Aboriginal Rates Case back on track [Featuring the Euahlayi Nation]
* Greg Ansley, New Zealand Herald: Indigenous backlash could cost Labor seat [Featuring the Murrawarri Republic]
* Background to the Aboriginal sovereignty movement
* Let's Talk's Tiga Bayles interviews Nicole Watson, Senior Researcher, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at UTS
* Ron Sutton, SBS Radio News: Remembering the Coniston Massacre
* Murray Silby, SBS Radio News: Restoring Indigenous languages
* SOVEREIGN UNION: SOVEREIGN UNION IS A MOVEMENT FOR FREEDOM, REJECTING PEARSON'S PRO-ASSIMILATION
- Media Release
Sovereign Union: Sovereign Union is a movement for freedom, rejecting Pearson's pro-assimilation
http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/sovereign-union-movement-free...
http://nationalunitygovernment.org/pdf/2013/SU-MA-PR-Magnificent7-MK2.pdf
6 Sep 13: "Our's is a sovereignty movement for freedom, rejecting Pearson's overriding pro-assimilation initiative, Michael Anderson said from Fiji today:
The announcement by Noel Pearson of his 'Empowered Communities Initiative' group looks like – the Magnificent Seven Plus - Mark Two are at it yet again. The Magnificent Seven gave us Mabo that took away more rights than it recognised and in doing so complicated the whole legal process of Native Title in favour of the oppressive State regime.
Now a handpicked twenty-five believe they can override elected leaders who represent their own communities and want to establish policies for governments to pursue. ...
Clearly this 'Empowered Communities Initiative' group have dreamed up ways to keep themselves on the radar, in order to maintain their status within the white bureaucracy and to maintain an opulent lifestyle. The latest is the 'Principles of Responsibility', which is a 2013 version of the mission managers' system delivering assimilation by force, through the police and DOCS etc., without the required free, prior and informed consent. ... "
* SHARNIE KIM, ABC NEWS: CAPE YORK MAYORS SNUB INDIGENOUS LEADER NOEL PEARSON INITIATIVES
- News
ABC News: Cape York mayors snub Indigenous leader Noel Pearson initiatives
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-03/cape-york-mayors-snub-pearson-i...
3 Sep 13: "Eight mayors in far north Queensland's Cape York region have launched a scathing attack on Indigenous leader Noel Pearson, saying they want him less involved in their affairs. In a joint statement, eight mayors including those from Aurukun, Mapoon, Lockhart River, Kowanyama, Aurukun, Napranum and the Northern Peninsula area, say they did not want Mr Pearson to have any more control over funding, policy or service delivery on Cape York. The criticisms targeted Mr Pearson's schooling methodology, the alleged lack of transparency in awarding a job provider contract to his Cape York Institute, as well as his newly launched 'Empowered Communities' blueprint, ... " By Sharnie Kim
* LAURIE LAWIRA, SBS RADIO NEWS: BIPARTISON SUPPORT FOR INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP GROUP
- Audio
SBS Radio News: Bipartisan support for Indigenous leadership group
http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/286673/Biparti...
2 Sep 13: "An initiative that aims to support Indigenous community leadership has received bipartisan support - before the election. ... An initiative that aims to support Indigenous community leadership is to receive federal government backing regardless of the outcome of the election. The group called Empowered Communities has been set up to become a major link between the federal government and Indigenous leaders. As Laurie Lawira reports, it has now received bipartisan support." By Laurie Lawira
* SOVEREIGN UNION: ABORIGINAL RATES CASE BACK ON TRACK [FEATURING THE EUAHLAYI NATION]
- Media Release
Sovereign Union: Aboriginal Rates Case back on track
http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/aboriginal-rates-case-back-track
http://treatyrepublic.net/pdf/2013/Sovereign-Union-Media-MA-PR-RATES.pdf
30 Aug 13: "Michael Anderson said from Sydney today:
"The Rates Case in the NSW Magistrates Court in Sydney is a contest on the question of sovereignty and what law now applies to the land."
Anderson pointed out to the court that, in respect the Euahlayi Nation, there is now an active legal dispute on the question of jurisdiction.
When appearing before the Chief Magistrate in the Downing Centre, Anderson pointed out that correspondence has now been entered into between the Queen and the Euahlayi government.
"In 2010 the Euahlayi requested that Queen Elizabeth II investigate whether British or Australian records have deeds of cession by the Peoples of the Euahlayi, or any formal British Admiralty declarations of war against the Peoples of the Euahlayi. Queen Elizabeth referred our request to her Australian representative, Governor-General, Mrs Quentin Bryce, who responded on 12 October 2010, under the signature of Mark Fraser OAM, Deputy Official Secretary to the Governor-General. He confirmed that no such documents exist. Mark Fraser wrote on 12 October 2010:
" … I am unable to supply any of the documents that you seek." ... "
See:
WGAR News: Euahlayi Nation declares independence and asserts pre-existing and continuing Statehood (30 Aug 13)
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/08/29/wgar-news-euahlayi-nation-declares-in...
* GREG ANSLEY, NEW ZEALAND HERALD: INDIGENOUS BACKLASH COULD COST LABOR SEAT [FEATURING THE MURRAWARRI REPUBLIC]
- News
New Zealand Herald: Indigenous backlash could cost Labor seat
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11115934
29 Aug 13: "Last month, in the vast, remote Culgoa River region of New South Wales, the People's Council of the Murrawarri Republic assembled for the first meeting of what it claims is a sovereign state separate from the Australian federation. Declaring independence as a right of their thousands of years of continuous occupation and the lack of a treaty or deed of cessation, they detailed their claim in letters to the Queen and the federal Government. Neither has replied." By Greg Ansley
See:
Background to the Murrawarri Republic declaration
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/04/20/the-murrawarri-republic-declaration
Last updated: 13 August 2013
* BACKGROUND TO THE ABORIGINAL SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT:
Last updated: 23 August 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/22/background-to-the-aboriginal-sovereig...
* LET'S TALK'S TIGA BAYLES INTERVIEWS NICOLE WATSON, SENIOR RESEARCHER, JUMBUNNA INDIGENOUS HOUSE OF LEARNING AT UTS
- Audio Interview
Indigenous radio station 98.9FM Brisbane:
Let's Talk - Nicole Watson
http://www.989fm.com.au/category/podcasts/lets-talk/
28 Aug 13: "Senior Researcher, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at University of Technology in Sydney"
Listen to this interview on-line:
http://www.989fm.com.au/podcasts/lets-talk/nicole-watson-6/
* RON SUTTON, SBS RADIO NEWS: REMEMBERING THE CONISTON MASSACRE
- Audio
SBS Radio News: Remembering the Coniston Massacre
http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/287555/Remembe...
9 Sep 13: "Recently, descendants of victims and of murderers came together in a quiet stretch of northeastern New South Wales to remember a massacre. It was known as the Myall Creek Massacre, one of a series of killings of Australia's Aboriginal people by white settlers in predominantly the 19th Century. The descendants were marking the 175th anniversary of the tragedy. Now, in another part of the country, it's the anniversary of another Aboriginal massacre -- but this one happened not even half as long ago. Ron Sutton has the story." By Ron Sutton
* MURRAY SILBY, SBS RADIO NEWS: RESTORING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES
- Audio
SBS Radio News: Restoring Indigenous languages
http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/287483/Restori...
6 Sep 13: "From an estimated 250 Indigenous languages at the time of European settlement, only about 20 are now widely spoken in Australia. ... But where governments once ordered that the languages not be spoken, they are now funding their revival. Whether the restoration efforts are enough for widespread revitalisation of the languages is yet to be seen, but Indigenous workers in the field say the seeds of success are beginning to germinate. South-eastern Australia bore the initial brunt of European settlement, and with that came a heavy impact on Indigenous culture and language." By Murray Silby
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