WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
WGAR Website: http://wgar.info/
23 OCT 2010: JOBS WITH JUSTICE
Contents:
New Jobs with Justice website
Jobs with Justice Petition
October 29 National Day of Action rallies
Mark Fordham Speaking Tour
October 28 Public Forum: Stop the NT Intervention: Stand up and support Jobs with Justice
Media Release concerning Jobs with Justice
Media Release concerning the BasicsCard
News & Articles concerning Jobs with Justice
Video: Working for the BasicsCard in Ti Tree
New doco on Aboriginal Rights 'Our Generation' is touring the east coast
NEW JOBS WITH JUSTICE WEBSITE:
New Jobs with Justice Website: http://jobswithjustice.wordpress.com/
STICS Jobs with Justice webpage: http://stoptheintervention.org/jobs-with-justice-cdep
JOBS WITH JUSTICE PETITION:
iPetitions: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jobs_w_justice/
"To the Honourable President and members of the Senate in Parliament assembled:
The NT Intervention promised to deliver ‘real jobs’ for Aboriginal communities. Instead, thousands of waged jobs have been lost and Aboriginal organisations have been crippled as Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) close down. Under the new CDEP scheme designed by the federal Labor government, Aboriginal people no longer receive wages. They are being forced to work providing vital services such as rubbish collection, school bus runs, sewerage maintenance, construction and aged care in exchange for quarantined Centrelink payments. ... "
OCTOBER 29 NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION RALLIES:
http://jobswithjustice.wordpress.com/nda/
"The following cities are holding rallies to call for Jobs with Justice and an end to the NT intervention:
* Alice Springs:
Rally 12.30 Friday 29th October, Court House Lawns, Mparntwe, Alice Springs
Speakers include: Walter Shaw (Tangentyre Council), Miguel Ociones (LHMU), Monica Morgan (Amnesty International), Gurindji workers.
http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/
* Brisbane
Speakout outside Centrelink, 21 Cordelia St, South Brisbane
12pm 29 October. Speakers include Sam Watson.
* Melbourne:
Rally Friday, 29 October 2010 5.30pm, State Library of Victoria (cnr Swanston and Lt La Trobe Streets)
http://www.maicollective.blogspot.com/
* Sydney:
Protest at Sydney Town Hall on Friday, 29 October 2010 – Noon
Speakers include: Mark Fordham, Former CDEP co-ordinator Ampilatwatja community, Lee Rhiannon, Greens Senator-elect, Paul McAleer, MUA Sydney branch secretary
http://stoptheintervention.org/ "
MARK FORDHAM SPEAKING TOUR:
http://jobswithjustice.wordpress.com/mark-fordham-speaking-tour/
"Brisbane Meetings:
* 2pm, Sunday 24th October, Kurilpa Hall, 174 Boundary Street, West End
* 12pm, Monday 25th October, Room 216, Sir Llew Edwards Building (Building 9), University of Queensland
Sydney:
* Jobs with Justice! Parramatta Meeting:7pm Thursday 28th October, Charles Byrne room, Parramatta Town Hall. Speakers: Mark Fordham and Greens MLC David Shoebridge. Organised by Reconciliation for Western Sydney and STICS.
* Jobs with Justice rally: Friday 29th October Midday, Sydney Town Hall:"
OCTOBER 28 PUBLIC FORUM: STOP THE NT INTERVENTION: STAND UP AND SUPPORT JOBS WITH JUSTICE:
http://stoptheintervention.org/jobs-with-justice-cdep
http://stoptheintervention.org/uploads/files_to_download/Jobs-with-Justi...
"Since 2007, Aboriginal employment projects like the community development employment project (CDEP) have been wound back. Under the NT intervention many people on these projects have been forced to work in harsh conditions for the Basics Card. Mark Fordham, former CDEP co-ordinator for Ampilatwatja community, and Greens MLC David Shoebridge will talk about the impact of this policy and the campaign against it.
7 pm Thursday October 28
Charles Byrne Room, Parramatta Town Hall
Organised by Reconciliation for Western Sydney & Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS)
Supported by Parramatta Greens"
MEDIA RELEASE CONCERNING JOBS WITH JUSTICE:
Stop the Intervention: Gurindji strike against Government Intervention
http://stoptheintervention.org/jobs-with-justice-cdep/media-release/guri...
18 Oct 10: "On Wednesday 20th October Gurindji workers and residents from the remote Aboriginal communities of Kalkaringi and Dagaragu will stop work and stage a protest against the NT Intervention. Gurindji leaders are saying that the closure of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP), local government reforms and the seizure of land and assets under the Intervention have had a devastating impact on the community. The Labor government promised to phase out remaining CDEP programs and transition Aboriginal workers into ‘real jobs' but instead hundreds have been forced onto income management and local services are struggling or have collapsed."
MEDIA RELEASE CONCERNING THE BASICSCARD:
Rollback the Intervention: BasicsCard Bribery and Coercion
http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/media/
21 Sep 10: "Aboriginal pensioners in the Northern Territory wanting to regain control of their Centrelink income are being offered $500 a year to stay on the BascisCard (where half of their money is allocated to ‘primary needs’). Clients with limited English skills are not being offered an interpreter when approaching Centrelink to request cancellation of their BasicsCard. Instead they are being coerced into continuing with the discriminatory system."
NEWS & ARTICLES CONCERNING JOBS WITH JUSTICE:
Jobs with Justice: Remember Wave Hill? Gurindji strike again!
http://jobswithjustice.wordpress.com/
20 Oct 10: "More than 200 Gurindji people joined an 11am stop work meeting today in Kalkaringi, 470kms South-West of Katherine, NT. The rally was attended by workers from across the community including from the Victoria Daly Shire, Kalkaringi service station, the mechanics, the clinic and the school. The Gurindji are demanding an end to the NT Intervention, investment in proper jobs and return of control over land, employment and services to Aboriginal people."
Crikey: Slavery returns to Top End
http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/10/20/gather-round-people-ill-tell-you-a-s...
20 Oct 10: "Today, workers at the small townships of Kalkaringi and Dagaragu in the Victoria River district of the Northern Territory will be out on strike over their pay and conditions. The last time that anyone there can remember taking such drastic action was 44 years ago when Vincent Lingiari led the Aboriginal stockmen working for Lord Vestey on a seven-year walk-off that changed the course of Australian industrial history. ... many of the Gurindji people of Kalkaringi and Dagaragu reckon they are back in the bad old days of working for “nothing but rations” and in conditions akin to slavery." Bob Gosford
ABC: Group protests against CDEP cuts, intervention
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/20/3043659.htm?section=business
20 Oct 10: "About 150 people are protesting in the Northern Territory community of Kalkaringi against the federal intervention in remote Indigenous communities. The group are angry at cuts to the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) and say the Federal Government has not provided enough jobs to replace it. Gurindji man Andrew Japanangka Johnson says nothing good has come from the intervention in the last three years."
VIDEO: WORKING FOR THE BASICS CARD IN TI TREE:
YouTube: Working for the BasicsCard in Ti Tree
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Hob9ud0aU
17 Oct 10: "The NT Intervention has made thousands of Aboriginal workers unemployed. Many people are now being forced to work for the BasicsCard. This report highlights the impact of the Intervention on employment in Anmatjere communities at Ti Tree, 200kms North of Alice Springs."
NEW DOCO ON ABORIGINAL RIGHTS 'OUR GENERATION' IS TOURING THE EAST COAST:
http://www.ourgeneration.org.au/
"Friday 22nd October 2010 : MELBOURNE
Monday 25th October 2010: CANBERRA
Tuesday 26th October 2010: ADELAIDE
Friday 29th October 2010: SYDNEY
Monday 1st November 2010: BRISBANE"
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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)