Newsletter date: 4 January 2013
Contents:
Income
* NITV News Video: Living Allowance Row
* Bianca Hall, The Age: ACOSS calls on Macklin to 'please do your job'
* Greens Acting Leader, Adam Bandt: Join me on the dole, Minister
* Senator Rachel Siewert: Greens urge Minister Macklin to live on Newstart
* Greens MPs Petition: Could you really live on $35 a day, Minister?
* John Passant, En Passant: I could live on $6321 a week
* Background to 'Stronger Futures' new NT Intervention laws
* Background to the Northern Territory (NT) Intervention
* Jeremy Geia, NITV News: Sovereign Union may set up its first international office in Fiji
* Background to the Aboriginal sovereignty movement
* CAAMA: National Congress puts Abbott on notice!
* Background to National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
* Joanne Fosdike, Murray Valley Standard: Aboriginal group challenges constitution
* Background to Mabo and Native Title
* NITV NEWS VIDEO: LIVING ALLOWANCE ROW
- Video
SBS On Demand: NITV News Video: Living Allowance Row
http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/13495875541/NITV-News-2-January-part-1
2 Jan 13
* BIANCA HALL, THE AGE: ACOSS CALLS ON MACKLIN TO 'PLEASE DO YOUR JOB'
- Analysis / Opinion
The Age: ACOSS calls on Macklin to 'please do your job'
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/acoss-calls-on-macklin-t...
3 Jan 12: "AUSTRALIA'S leading social service agency yesterday called for Families Minister Jenny Macklin to ''please do your job'', as the furore over Ms Macklin's performance grew. Ms Macklin - who earns $903 a day - told reporters on Tuesday that she could live on the Newstart Allowance of $35 a day, ... But [ACOSS CEO] Dr Goldie was lukewarm when asked about Mr Bandt's challenge to Ms Macklin. ''Well, look, there's a lot of people out there challenging the minister today to endeavour to live on $35 a day, [but] you can't replicate that experience if you are a senior member of government." By Bianca Hall, immigration correspondent based in Canberra
See:
ACOSS - Who We Are
http://www.acoss.org.au/about_us/who_we_are/
"The Australian Council of Social Service is the peak body of the community services and welfare sector and the national voice for the needs of people affected by poverty and inequality."
* GREENS ACTING LEADER, ADAM BANDT: JOIN ME ON THE DOLE, MINISTER
- Media Release
Greens Adam Bandt: Join me on the dole, Minister: Bandt
http://adam-bandt.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/join-me-dole-m...
2 Jan 13: "Greens Acting Leader and MP for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, will try to live on the dole for a week in February and has invited Minister Jenny Macklin to join him.
"In a shocking start to the New Year, Labor has kicked almost 100,000 single parents off their benefits and onto the dole," said Mr Bandt.
"To add insult to injury, Minister Jenny Macklin believes Newstart's $35 a day is enough to live on."
"Living on the dole isn't living, it's surviving. Newstart is below the poverty line and is a barrier to people finding work."
"To show how hard it is for many people to make ends meet, I will try living on Newstart for a week in February and I invite the Minister to join me."
"On $35 a day, I don't expect there will be much left over after paying for food, rent and bills." ... "
* SENATOR RACHEL SIEWERT: GREENS URGE MINISTER MACKLIN TO LIVE ON NEWSTART
- Media Release
Senator Rachel Siewert: Greens urge Minister Macklin to live on Newstart
http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/greens-urg...
1 Jan 13: "Responding to Minister Macklin's comments in Melbourne on New Year's Day, Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson for Family and Community Services said, "If Minister Macklin really believes that she could live on Newstart for an extended period of time, she has demonstrated how little she understands of life below the poverty line.
"Minister Macklin obviously has little understanding of the cost of living and the problems of trying to make ends meet when living on income support. If she did she wouldn't be making claims that she could live on it.
"I would urge Minister Macklin to follow my example and try living on Newstart, for even just a week, and get a better understanding of the difference fifty dollars a week would make to the lives of people who are slowing sinking further into poverty.
The Newstart payment is now 45% of the minimum wage and the single rate is more than $133 a week below the poverty line."
* GREENS MPS PETITION: COULD YOU REALLY LIVE ON $35 A DAY, MINISTER?
- Petition
Greens MPs Petition: Could you really live on $35 a day, Minister?
http://greensmps.org.au/content/petition/could-you-really-live-35-day-mi...
2 Jan 13: "The Labor Government started 2013 by taking up to 84,000 single parents who are struggling to find work off parenting support and dumping them on Newstart - or the dole.
Rubbing salt in the wound, the Minister for Families, Jenny Macklin, said yesterday that she could live on the dole. That’s $35 a day. For food, housing, transport, power bills, and the costs of finding a job.
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert spent a week on Newstart last year to see how hard it is. Adam Bandt, our Deputy Leader, has today committed to following her lead to see for himself. After the week is over, our MPs get to return to normal life - Newstart recipients don’t have that option.
The Newstart payment is now 45% of the minimum wage and the single rate is more than $133 a week below the poverty line.
Government should look after people, and that means standing up to big business, not cutting the welfare payments of those who are already doing it tough.
The Greens have long been campaigning to lift Newstart by $50 a week. It’s time to make that happen.
"Minister Macklin, we challenge you to live on the dole for a week to see first-hand what a struggle it is and understand why we need to lift Newstart by $50 a week.""
* JOHN PASSANT, EN PASSANT: I COULD LIVE ON $6321 A WEEK
- Analysis / Opinion
En Passant: I could live on $6321 a week
http://enpassant.com.au/2013/01/02/i-could-live-on-6321-a-week/
2 Jan 13: "Jenny Macklin is a cabinet minister in the Gillard Labor government. Her portfolio is Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. It is Macklin from Labor’s 'Left' who is leading the racist Northern Territory intervention. She has spread income management from its test run on Aborigines to some other communities, ie to poor white people. This was always part of the racist strategy to pick the poor and most marginalised and then once the idea of bashing the income of blacks was accepted begin bashing whites' social security payments." By John Passant
John Passant: "I have been a socialist since I was 16, radicalised by the Vietnam War. I am a liberationist - I believe in Marx’s idea of the self-emancipation of the working class."
* BACKGROUND TO 'STRONGER FUTURES' NEW NT INTERVENTION LAWS:
Last updated: 30 December 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/22/background-to-stronger-futures-new-nt...
* BACKGROUND TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT) INTERVENTION:
Last updated: 30 December 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/22/background-to-the-northern-territory-...
* JEREMY GEIA, NITV NEWS: SOVEREIGN UNION MAY SET UP ITS FIRST INTERNATIONAL OFFICE IN FIJI
- News
Sovereign Union may set up its first international office in Fiji
There is movement on a plan to unite First Nations people in the Pacific
Jeremy Geia - Political Reporter NITV News
Sovereign Union: http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/sovereign-union-may-set-its-f...
Dec 12: "The Sovereign Union, Australia's interim National Unity Government may set up its first international office in Fiji. Indigenous Fijians are interested in formalising an alliance with Australia's First Nations people as they fight to retain land and sea rights and there are plans to organise a Pacific parliament on the lines of the European Union. Oni Kirwin, is a First Nations woman from Fiji who is passionate about keeping her sovereign rights alive and is currently in Australia forging links with the Sovereign Union movement."
See:
NITV News
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/specialcoverage/399/NITV-News
* BACKGROUND TO THE ABORIGINAL SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT:
Last updated: 3 January 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/22/background-to-the-aboriginal-sovereig...
* CAAMA: NATIONAL CONGRESS PUTS ABBOTT ON NOTICE
- Audio Interview
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association:
National Congress puts Abbott on notice !
http://caama.com.au/national-congress-puts-abbott-on-notice
3 Jan 13: "Australia’s peak Aboriginal and Islander reperesentative body will target both the Government and Opposition about their policies and how they will impact on their people... in the lead up to this years Federal election. National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples co chair Lez Malezer says that 2013 will be a very important year because of the Federal election... and Congress will want to know both parties position in relation to Congress.. and in particular about self detrmination and decision making by Aborignal people."
See:
About CAAMA
http://caama.com.au/
"The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) began operations in 1980 and was the first Aboriginal group to be allocated a broadcasting license. The Aboriginal people of Central Australia own CAAMA through an association regulated under the Incorporations Act, and its objectives focus on the social, cultural and economic advancement of Aboriginal peoples."
* BACKGROUND TO NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AUSTRALIA'S FIRST PEOPLES:
Last updated: 5 May 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/05/05/background-to-the-national-congress-o...
* JOANNE FOSDIKE, MURRAY VALLEY STANDARD: ABORIGINAL GROUP CHALLENGES CONSTITUTION
- News
Murray Valley Standard: Aboriginal group challenges constitution
http://www.murrayvalleystandard.com.au/story/1191131/aboriginal-group-ch...
17 Dec 12: "A GROUP of Aboriginal people from Kingston, in the State’s south east, and the Coorong and River Murray is challenging the Australian Constitution in a case that could see it apply for sovereignty status before the United Kingdom Privy Council. The case of Ramindjeri versus State of South Australia and Ngarrindjeri went before the National Native Title Tribunal in the Federal Magistrates Court in South Australia on Friday to ask the court to recognise the Ramindjeri as the true owners of the land and one of many sovereign groups belonging to the area."
* BACKGROUND TO MABO AND NATIVE TITLE:
Last updated: 1 January 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/07/02/background-to-mabo-and-native-title
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