WGAR News: New National Congress of Australia's First Peoples (9 May 10)

Submitted by WGAR - Working ... on Sun, 09/05/2010 - 2:12am

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

Contents:
New National Congress of Australia's First Peoples
Film Screening: The Ampilatwatja Walkoff vs. The Intervention
Rally against Racism: Stop racial discrimination in the N.T.
Other NT Intervention Articles

NEW NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AUSTRALIA'S FIRST PEOPLES:

- Radio

The Wire: Launch of National Congress of Australia's First Peoples
http://www.thewire.org.au/daydetail.aspx?SearchDay=2010-05-07
7 May 10: "The National Congress of Australia's First Peoples has been hailed by human rights groups as a positive step forward for Australia's indigenous people. However indigenous community workers and experts believe the organisation has failed to address major concerns. Tygar Taylor spoke with Indigenous representatives about what they really think about the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples."

ABC PM: Doubts over impact of new peak Indigenous body
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2889151.htm?site=widebay
3 May 10: "There's a new organisation to represent the interests of Aboriginal Australians but just a day into its existence questions are being raised about just what it'll do. Human rights groups have hailed the new National Congress of Australia's First Peoples as a turning point in Australia's reconciliation process. But sceptics say the body has limited financial and political power and may follow the same fate as other peak Indigenous bodies."

- Media Releases

Indymedia Australia: Aboriginal activist slams new body as “joke of the new millennium”
http://indymedia.org.au/2010/05/05/aboriginal-activist-slams-new-body-as...
5 May 10: "Aboriginal political activist, Michael Anderson, says the Rudd government’s attempt to pacify the Aboriginal people by establishing the Aboriginal Congress of First Nations is an absolute joke and a waste of $30 million of public funds. ... “Do the Prime Minister and his Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Jenny Macklin, truly think that we Aborigines are childlike and cannot see the insult being waged against us with the establishment of such an irrelevant organization, and then to say that they represent Aborigines when NO public elections are being held for its membership?”"

Northern Land Council:
National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
http://www.nlc.org.au/html/files/National%20Congress%20of%20Australia%27...
4 May 10: "Northern Land Council (NLC) Chief Executive Mr Kim Hill says the re-creation of a national Indigenous representative body is an important step in improving the lives of Aboriginal peoples in the Northern Territory. Members of the national exectutive and ethics council of the new National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples were announced yesterday, giving Australia’s Indigenous peoples a united voice for the first time since the Aboritinal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was disbanded by the former Howard government in 2005."

Australian Human Rights Commission:
First National Executive is a milestone moment for Indigenous Australians
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/media/media_releases/2010/40_10.html
2 May 10: "Today’s announcement that the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples is ready to begin operations marks a new beginning for effective national representation of Australia’s First Peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said today. Mr Gooda congratulated the Congress on being incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, meaning that it can now begin to operate officially."

- Membership of the National Executive and the Ethics Council

Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources:
New Congress To Represent Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islanders: National Congress Of Australia's First People
http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=art...
5 May 10: "The National Executive are charged with overseeing the set up phase and along with a secretariat is tasked to convene the first meeting of the Congress and its 120 delegates. ... A special body of expert peers has also been established as an Ethics Council and will provide independent advice on standards and guidelines for the Congress. As an oversight and advice body the Council will assist with legal and reporting requirements but also as an external body that can investigate breaches or complaints."

- News

The Standard: A non-event
http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/a-nonevent/1821980.aspx
6 May 10: "GEOFF Clark has slammed the launch of the new national indigenous representative body, declaring it a "non-event." The outspoken Aboriginal activist said the new National Congress of Australia's First Peoples was undemocratic and subservient to the federal government. The executive board of the newly-established congress was announced in Sydney this week and the organisation will be fully functioning next year."

Koori Mail: New body ‘window-dressing', says campaigner
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
6 May 10: "SYDNEY-based social justice campaigner Ray Jackson has expressed doubts about the longevity of the new National Congress of Australia's First People, given its at least initial reliance on government funding and support from philanthropic and corporate sources. Ray Jackson described the new organisation as 'a powerless assimilationist government-controlled window dressing exercise', whose advice the Federal Government could listen politely to and then ignore"

Koori Mail: Tent Embassy founder brands Congress 'a joke'
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
6 May 10: "ONE of the founders of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra has described the new National Congress of Australia's First People (NCAFP) as 'a joke', and a waste of public funds. Michael Anderson says the Government's failure to ensure public elections for membership of the $30 million National Congress is an insult, and he hopes Indigenous Australians will have nothing to do with what he says will be an 'irrelevant organisation'."

Koori Mail: National Congress 'a turning point'
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
5 May 10: "THE announcement that the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples (NCAFP) was ready to begin operations will go down in history as a turning point in Australia's reconciliation process, according to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda. Mr Gooda said the NCAFP's evolution from a process driven by Indigenous peoples and equal representation of women and men was ground-breaking."

Koori Mail: Land council backs NCAFP
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
5 May 10: "THE Northern Land Council (NLC) has described the re-creation of a national Indigenous representative body as an important step in improving the lives of Aboriginal peoples in the Northern Territory. The land council's chief executive Mr Kim Hill said Indigenous people needed a united voice in order to negotiate successful outcomes with government."

Koori Mail: Govt welcomes new rep body
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
5 May 10: "THE Australian Government says it looking forward to working with the inaugural national executive of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples to close the gap in Indigenous life outcomes and opportunities. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin says the new body offered an 'informed and strong national voice' for the goals, aspirations, interests and values of Indigenous peoples."

Koori Mail: A new voice
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
5 May 10: "FIVE years after the aboliton of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), Indigenous Australians have a new national voice. An eight-member national executive co-chaired by Sam Jeffries, from western NSW, and Canberra-based health researcher Dr Kerry Arabena will lead the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples (NCAFP) during its establishment phase."

ABC: Aboriginal congress attacked as lesser ATSIC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/03/2889261.htm
3 May 10: "There is a new organisation to represent the interests of Aboriginal Australians, but just a day into its existence, questions are being raised about just what it will do. ... Dr Thalia Anthony, who has published widely in the area of Indigenous people and the law and is based at Sydney's University of Technology, is concerned about the structure of the congress."

Age: New indigenous 'company' structured to keep politicians at arm's length
http://www.theage.com.au/national/new-indigenous-company-structured-to-k...
3 May 10: "A NEW national representative body to give indigenous people a voice has been set up as a private company so that the federal government will not be able to sack the leaders, its architects say."

National Indigenous Times: Indigenous rep body "a new beginning": Gooda
http://www.nit.com.au/breakingnews/story.aspx?id=19764
3 May 10: "Indigenous Australia’s new nationally elected representative body was incorporated as a company over the weekend, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda welcoming it as a “new beginning”. The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples was proposed by Mr Gooda’s predecessor Tom Calma last year, following a series of consultations around the country. ... For more information on the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples see the next print edition of NIT."

SMH: Generation next: quiet achievers rise to forefront of Aboriginal affairs
http://www.smh.com.au/national/generation-next-quiet-achievers-rise-to-f...
3 May 10: "The chairwoman of the latest national indigenous peak body is a descendant of the Meriam people of the Torres Strait, with a dash of German and Spanish heritage and a string of health administration jobs across northern Australia."

Australian: Changing of the guard for Australia's First Peoples
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/aboriginal-australia/changing-o...
3 May 10: "Sam Jeffries, 46, and Kerry Arabena, 42, were yesterday announced as co-chairs of the executive board of the newly established National Congress of Australia's First Peoples. The announcement was made at The Australian Hall in Sydney -- scene of the milestone Aboriginal Day of Mourning and protest in 1938 -- and attendees smiled and hugged each other on what they called another "landmark day"."

- Opinion/Analysis

SMH: It's power and the passion
http://www.smh.com.au/national/its-power-and-the-passion-20100507-ujoa.h...
8 May 10: "The Aboriginal congress shuns the ATSIC example and combines zeal with probity, writes Yuko Narushima."

Australian Human Rights Commission:
New National Congress has every chance of being an organisation of which we can be proud
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/media/media_releases/op_ed/20100430_nation...
5 May 10: "This week’s announcement of the National Executive for the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples should be greeted with resounding applause: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples now have a national voice again nearly five years after the formal abolition of ATSIC at the stroke of midnight on 28 May 2005." Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda

Indymedia Australia: "Charity at best, shameful fraud at worst"
http://indymedia.org.au/2010/05/05/charity-at-best-shameful-fraud-at-worst
5 May 10: "i have given my views on the new National Congress of Australia's First Peoples before but i believe a few more thoughts are required. to begin with i, like many others, are insulted by the new identification of being described as 'first nations.' that is an canadian/american indian term and i do not see how its use can refer to us here in australia. ... tom continues to state that there has been wide consultation but there are many voices raised that belies that statement." ray jackson, president, indigenous social justice association

Australian: Set-up dooms new body to token status
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/set-up-dooms-new-body-to-tok...
3 May 10: "GRANDIOSE in name, modest in function, bizarre in its bureaucratic architecture, the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples raises more questions than it answers about the indigenous future. ... The proof of the new body will be in the functioning, but the congress, as initially set up, is doomed to token status." Nicolas Rothwell

ANTaR: ANTaR welcomes new Indigenous body
http://www.antar.org.au/antar_welcomes_new_indigenous_body
3 May 10: "ANTaR has today welcomed the establishment of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples as a significant development. The National Congress is expected to provide an independent, national Indigenous voice on key policy issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples."

- Background

WGAR News: ... Proposed national Indigenous body (29 Aug 09)
[scroll down page] http://wgar.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/290809-un-expert-calls-nt-intervent...

WGAR News: ... More media responses to proposed national Indigenous body (31 Aug 09)
[scroll down page] http://wgar.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/310809-more-media-responses-to-un-e...

WGAR News: ... Still more media responses to proposed national Indigenous body (3 Sep 09)
[scroll down page] http://wgar.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/3-sep-2009-governments-review-of-ab...

WGAR News: ... Proposed National Indigenous Representative Body (22 Sep 09)
[scroll down page] http://wgar.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/22-sep-2009-ampilatwatja-anti-inter...

WGAR: New Way Summit delegates unanimously reject government sponsored Rep body (31 Jan 10)
http://wgar.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/new-way-summit-delegates-unanimousl...

WGAR News: ... Proposed National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples (2 Feb 10)
[scroll down page] http://wgar.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/02022010-national-day-of-action-sat...

FILM SCREENING: THE AMPILATWATJA WALKOFF VS. THE INTERVENTION:

Workers Bush Telegraph:
Fri May 14- Aboriginal Rights Film Premiere Screening: The Ampilatwatja Walkoff vs. The Intervention
http://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/2010/05/05/fri-may-14-aboriginal-righ...
"A film by Actively Radical TV ... Friday May 14th TLC Building 16 Peel St, South Brisbane Doors open 6pm ...
ABOUT THE FILM: In July 2009, the Alyawarr people from Ampilatwatja, three hours' north-west of Alice Springs, walked off their community and set up a protest camp on their traditional homelands. They have remained there ever since, protesting against the racist measures of the Northern Territory Intervention ... "

RALLY AGAINST RACISM: STOP RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE N.T.:

Stop the Intervention: Friday 28 May 2010, 5.30 PM, Townhall, Sydney
Rally against Racism - Stop racial discrimination in the N.T.
[scroll down page] http://stoptheintervention.org/
"Speakers include:
* Monica Morgan - Demand Dignity Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights programs manager Amnesty International Australia
* Rebel Hanlon - Organiser CFMEU NSW"

Comments

Re: WGAR News: New National Congress of Australia's First ...

Permalink Submitted by Tracey L Ludwick (not verified) on Wed, 12/05/2010 - 2:41pm

after screening the membership, where are the real grassroots people? Its ok to have PhD's but the political football field in Cape York and other remote areas demand more than a piece of paper...