WGAR News: Forrest review of Aboriginal welfare: the good, the bad...and the very ugly: Land Rights News - Central Australia

Newsletter date: 5 January 2015

Contents:

* Audio Interview: Minelle Creed, Living Black Radio: Brisbane Food Van [Featuring Wayne 'Coco' Wharton, Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy (BASE)]
* Submission: Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory (APO NT): The proposed Government budget cuts to Aboriginal services
* News: Central Land Council: Land Rights News - Central Australia: Battle rages against budget pain
* Analysis / Opinion: Central Land Council: Land Rights News - Central Australia: Forrest review of Aboriginal welfare: the good, the bad ... and the very ugly
* Analysis / Opinion: Antinuclear: Australian government's budget cuts threaten remote Aboriginal communities
* Analysis / Opinion: Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian: Mining royalties may save WA's remote Indigenous communities from closure
* WGAR Background: Aboriginal Peoples and the impact of the Federal Budget
* WGAR Background: Plans to close Aboriginal homelands / remote communities in WA and SA

WGAR News Public Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en-GB#!forum/wgar-news
WGAR News - Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

- Audio Interview

Living Black Radio: Brisbane Food Van
http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/aboriginal/highlight/page/id/383239/t...
2 Jan 15: "The Federal Government is denying reports it was fully aware before it handed down its budget that poorer households would be hit hardest by the spending cuts. ... The Treasury analysis based on the cuts in the May budget suggests an average low-income family would lose 844 dollars per year. ... Meanwhile, families in Brisbane were already struggling financially, and thanks to the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy Community Food Progam, more than 200 families were able to enjoy Xmas without the threat of the budget affecting their Christmas Dinner. ... " By Minelle Creed

Brisbane Blacks - Food Program
http://brisbaneblacks.com/food-program/
"Justice~Solidarity~Sovereignty: The Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy Community Food Program started up in May 2012 and is now active providing food parcels right across Brisbane - delivering food parcels to over 200 families every week. ... "

- Submission

Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory (APO NT): The proposed Government budget cuts to Aboriginal services
http://apont.org.au/index.php/proposed-abbott-budget-cuts.html
Full Submission: http://apont.org.au/attachments/article/85/140919_APO%20NT_Submission%20...(2).pdf
"APO NT provided a submission to the Select Committee into the Abbott Government's Budget Cuts on 19 September 2014. The APO NT submission can be found here. For a brief overview of some of the key points that APO NT discussed in our submission please read below.
Proposed budget cuts to Legal Services ...
Proposed budget cuts to Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services ...
Proposed budget cuts to hospital funding ...
The $7 Co- Payment ... "

Welcome to APO NT
http://apont.org.au
"Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory-APO NT-is an alliance comprising the
Central Land Council (CLC),
Northern Land Council (NLC),
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA),
Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (CAALAS) and the
Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT (AMSANT).
The alliance was created to provide a more effective response to key issues of joint interest and concern affecting Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, including through advocating practical policy solutions to government. ... "

- News

CLC: Land Rights News - Central Australia: Battle rages against budget pain
[scroll down page] http://www.clc.org.au/files/pdf/57199_CentralLandCouncil_Newsletter_36pp...
November 2014 / Volume 4. Number 2, page 4: "MANY cuts to welfare, health and public legal services announced in the federal treasurer Joe Hockey’s April budget are on hold as the government negotiates the changes with a hostile Senate. ... Aboriginal organisations say the cuts will hurt Indigenous people more than most Australians. For example, more than half of all people using public hospitals are Aboriginal, so cutting Territory hospital funding will hit them harder than other Australians. ... "

- Analysis / Opinion

CLC: Land Rights News - Central Australia: Forrest review of Aboriginal welfare: the good, the bad ... and the very ugly
[scroll down page] http://www.clc.org.au/files/pdf/57199_CentralLandCouncil_Newsletter_36pp...
November 2014 / Volume 4. Number 2, page 9: "BILLIONAIRE miner Andrew Forrest’s review of Aboriginal education, employment, training and welfare has caused a stir since it was released in August. ... Aboriginal peak organisations in the NT dismissed the review as "largely ideological" and said they found it difficult to see how many of the measures it recommendations would "hit the ground". APO NT, an alliance of the CLC, NLC, Aboriginal legal and medical services supported a number of recommendations, but said many would affect NT Aboriginal people negatively. The alliance criticised the review’s belief that Aboriginal people need to move away from their remote communities and outstations if they want to work or run businesses. ... "

- Analysis / Opinion

Antinuclear: Australian government's budget cuts threaten remote Aboriginal communities
http://antinuclear.net/2014/12/28/australian-governments-budget-cuts-thr...
28 Dec 14: "Aboriginal communities under threat Ft.com December 26, 2014 Jamie Smyth in Sydney
Dickie Bedford was born in the 1960s at a time when thousands of aboriginal people were being evicted from pastoral cattle stations. Half a century later a new generation of indigenous Australians faces a similar fate as budget cuts threaten to close hundreds of remote communities."

- Analysis / Opinion

The Guardian: Mining royalties may save WA's remote Indigenous communities from closure
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/31/mining-royalties-m...
31 Dec 14: "National party leader Terry Redman has proposed using the $1bn Royalties for Regions fund to provide services for 180 of the state’s 275 remote communities ... Redman said the Royalties for Regions fund could be used to support remote communities, but it would need to be tied to better outcomes for Indigenous people. ... The proposal is being considered by the Aboriginal affairs cabinet subcommittee, which Redman sits on along with Barnett and Aboriginal affairs minister Peter Collier." Calla Wahlquist

- Background

WGAR Background: Aboriginal Peoples and the impact of the Federal Budget
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/24/wgar-background-aboriginal-peoples-a...
(last updated: 29 December 2014)

- Background

WGAR Background: Plans to close Aboriginal homelands / remote communities in WA and SA
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/08/background-plans-to-close-aboriginal...
(last updated: 29 December 2014)

- - -

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

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'WGAR News' monitors the media, including alternative media, focusing on:

* The Freedom Summit's National Freedom Movement;
* the Australian Federal government intervention into Northern Territory (NT) Aboriginal communities;
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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)