WGAR News: Aboriginal Community Controlled Health vital to closing the gap: NACCHO

Newsletter date: 25 March 2013

Contents:

* NACCHO: Aboriginal Community Controlled Health vital to closing the gap

* Mary Micallef, For the ISJA Melbourne Team: What’s the cost of imprisonment?
* Alison Thorne, ISJA Melbourne: Launch of John Pat 30
* National Day of Action to Stop Aboriginal deaths in custody! Remember John Pat
* Background to Aboriginal imprisonment and Deaths in Custody

* CAAMA: Walpiri lawman talks about saving his culture!

* NITV News: Indigenous women gather at UN to stop domestic violence

* NITV News: Quitline 'not a political football', says Calma

* Hands off Country: Woodside planning drilling in Endangered Ecological Community Monsoonal Vine Thicket
* Greens' Show Points to Gas Hub Rejection: Media Release
* Background to the Save The Kimberley Campaign - James Price Point, north of Broome, WA

* NACCHO: ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY CONTROLLED HEALTH VITAL TO CLOSING THE GAP

- Media Release

NACCHO Aboriginal Health News Alerts:
NACCHO Press Release: Aboriginal Community Controlled Health vital to closing the gap
[National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation]
http://nacchocommunique.com/2013/03/20/naccho-press-releaseaboriginal-co...
20 Mar 13: "On National Close the Gap Day it’s critical political leaders around the country recognise the importance of supporting Aboriginal Community Controlled Health as the key mechanism for improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Justin Mohamed, Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), said it was widely acknowledged that culturally appropriate healthcare services make a real difference.
"Healthcare services provided by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people must continue to be supported and invested in if governments are serious about achieving health equality," Mr Mohamed said. ...
Mr Mohamed said Aboriginal people were concerned that political leaders had not renewed their funding commitment to the Close the Gap strategy - due to expire in June this year. ... "

* MARY MICALLEF, FOR THE ISJA MELBOURNE TEAM: WHAT'S THE COST OF IMPRISONMENT?

- Analysis / Opinion

Indigenous Social Justice Association - Melbourne: What’s the cost of imprisonment?
[scroll down page] http://www.isja-msg.com/news.htm
8 Mar 13: "Clearly incarceration and longer prison terms are not a cost effective way of dealing with people. The cost f incarceration is much more than the daily cost of keeping someone inside. The full costs of the whole issue needs to be measured including the long-term costs of families that are torn apart by imprisonment. Short-term responses that are measured by profits and popular catch phrases are not a solution to the long-term problems and issues of crime and punishment/intervention. ... " Mary Micallef, For the ISJA Melbourne Team

* ALISON THORNE, ISJA MELBOURNE: LAUNCH OF JOHN PAT 30

- Analysis / Opinion

Indigenous Social Justice Association - Melbourne: Launch of John Pat 30 for ISJA Spring Action 10 November 2012
[scroll down page] http://www.isja-msg.com/news.htm
10 Nov 12: "Our goals for the year were clear:
* we wanted a bigger and more effective movement to stop deaths in custody by the end of the year than we had at the beginning;
* we also wanted to strengthen the capacity of the movement to organise on a national basis; and,
* we wanted to kick off organising all around the country for a huge national day of mass action to stop Aboriginal deaths in custody on the 30th anniversary of the death of John Pat in 2013.
All three goals have been achieved!
So why is it that John Pat’s death is of such significance three decades on? Let’s revisit how he died and the events that followed. ... " By Alison Thorne

* NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION TO STOP ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY! REMEMBER JOHN PAT

- Upcoming Event

Event: 28 September 2013: Melbourne, Vic
Melbourne - Thirty Years But Still No Justice!
National Day of Action to Stop Aboriginal deaths in custody!
Remember John Pat and the hundreds
who have died in custody since!
"Support these demands made by John Pat’s mother,
Mavis Pat:
* An apology from the WA government for my son’s death in custody
* An ex-gratia payment as compensation
* That the police officers involved need to be brought to
account and a re-opening of the coronial inquiry
into my son’s death ... "
Organised by:
Indigenous Social Justice Association - Melbourne
Event details: http://isja-msg.com/coming_events.htm
Event details: http://www.facebook.com/events/232079390250476/

* BACKGROUND TO ABORIGINAL IMPRISONMENT AND DEATHS IN CUSTODY:

Last updated: 24 March 2013

http://indymedia.org.au/2012/12/17/background-to-aboriginal-imprisonment...

* CAAMA: WALPIRI LAWMAN TALKS ABOUT SAVING HIS CULTURE!

- Audio Interview

Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association: Walpiri lawman talks about saving his culture !
http://caama.com.au/walpiri-lawman-talks-about-saving-his-culture
22 Mar 13: "A respected Central Australian Aboriginal Elder has called on Governments to supply resources for cultural men and women to help them re engage with and turn around their disgruntled young people. Walpiri elder Rex Japananka Granites says one of the things that whitefellas dont really get into…… is listening to Aboriginal people.. and what they really want. Mr Granites told CAAMA Radio that they had given Governments a chance to work with their people…but responses had not been properly thought out and there are now more problems… both in and out of towns. ... "

* NITV NEWS: INDIGENOUS WOMEN GATHER AT UN TO STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

- Video

SBS World News: Indigenous women gather at UN to stop domestic violence
Source: Craig Quartermaine (NITV News)
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1749384/Indigenous-women-gather-at-UN...
22 Mar 13: "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have joined other Indigenous women from around the world to end violence against women. A forum at the United Nations saw Indigenous women from around the world get together to eliminate violence against women and girls. One forum attendee, Maxine Goldie, who has been counselling victims of domestic violence for more than 10 years, was overwhelmed by the experience. "I was surprised because I only thought it happened to our mob, I just didn’t think it was in the wider world, but it is. ... "

* NITV NEWS: QUITLINE 'NOT A POLITICAL FOOTBALL', SAYS CALMA

- Video

SBS World News: Quitline 'not a political football', says Calma
Source: Matthew Sadler (NITV News)
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1749382/Quitline-not-a-political-foot...
22 Mar 13: "Former social justice commissioner, Tom Calma, has hit back at the Federal Opposition after it criticised the new Aboriginal Quitline. Northern Territory Coalition Senator Nigel Scullion had described the program as a "waste of tax payers’ money", prompting Mr Calma to defend the initiative. "What we, as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want, is for the government and the Opposition is not use us as a political football," he said. ... The Aboriginal Quitline aims at reducing cultural differences by offering Indigenous people, looking to give up smoking, a chance to speak with an Indigenous counsellor."

* HANDS OFF COUNTRY: WOODSIDE PLANNING DRILLING IN ENDANGERED ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY MONSOONAL VINE THICKET

- Map and News

Hands off Country: Woodside planning drilling in Endangered Ecological Community Monsoonal Vine Thicket
http://handsoffcountry.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/woodside-planning-drillin...
23 Mar 13: "Woodside have all intentions of not only cutting several illegal 8 meters tracks through the Federally listed Endangered Ecological Community Monsoonal Vine Thicket but are also planning to drill within the Thicket itself. Refer to Map ... Everyone, especially Woodside and the police need to clearly understand that the Monsoonal Vine Thickets are present within the proposed drilling program. The drilling program will have a major impact on matter of national significance under the EPBC Act and these needs to be referred to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC). ... "

* GREENS' SHOW POINTS TO GAS HUB REJECTION: MEDIA RELEASE

- Media Release

Greens' Show Points to Gas Hub Rejection
WA Election: James Price Point
Save The Kimberley: http://www.savethekimberley.com/2013/03/23/election-results-greens-show-...
17 Mar 13: "Against a sweeping Liberal victory in Western Australia, the uproar in the famous little pearling town of Broome will be felt in the halls of power in Perth and Canberra.
The votes are in, and the safe Labor seat of the Kimberley was returned to Labor only after Greens preferences were distributed. Most will not notice what happened in the Kimberley… and that’s the way the Majors like it! ...
The Greens decisive vote follows quickly on the heels of a recent Broome Shire survey which showed that only 30% of the Broome population was for the James Price Point Project.
Whilst Labor will once again represent the vast Kimberley electorate in Australia’s North West, the reverberations of a strong vote against a major proposal from a strong community will be heard in the halls of power in Perth and Canberra.
What has been experienced in the Kimberley electorate - as a result of the impact of grass roots campaigning - will prick the ears of government and industry alike throughout the country, as coal seam gas and other campaigns build in intensity."

* BACKGROUND TO THE SAVE THE KIMBERLEY CAMPAIGN - JAMES PRICE POINT, NORTH OF BROOME, WA

Last updated: 22 March 2013

http://indymedia.org.au/2012/11/22/wgar-news-background-to-the-save-the-...

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