WGAR News: Highest child removal rates in the world - worse than Stolen Generations: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer

Newsletter date: 20 February 2015

Contents:

* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Highest child removal rates in the world - worse than Stolen Generations
* Audio Interview: Louise Evans, 4ZZZ Brisbane: Veronica Saunders of Grandmothers Against Removals: the theft of Aboriginal children from their families
* Video Doco: Eleanor Gilbert, Vimeo: Aboriginal Grandmothers present 'end genocide' demand to Senator Rachel Siewert
* Video Doco: Eleanor Gilbert, Vimeo: Grandmothers Against Removals speakout at Aboriginal Embassy, Canberra
* Audio: The Stringer Audio/Radio News: Paddy speaking about Grandmother Audrey Martin's grandchildren
* Audio: The Stringer Audio/Radio News: Paddy speaking about the high removal rates
* News: Kylie Galbraith, The Northern Daily Leader: Grandmothers' anti-removal campaign reaches Canberra
* Media Roundup: Diet Simon, Linksunten Indymedia: Grandmothers protest worst ever stealing of Australian Aboriginal children
* Photos: Workers Bush Telegraph: Grandparents against Removals [Protest at Parliament House, Canberra]
* Video: NITV News - 13 February 2015: Fighting for their kids - Grandmothers Against Removals tell their stories
* Video: NITV News - 13 February 2015: Grandmothers Against Removals: Hands off our children
* Audio: ABC AM: More Aboriginal children being removed from their homes than ever before [Featuring Vanessa Colbung and Olivia Nigro of GMAR]
* Audio: 130215 Living Black News Bulletin: Grandmothers Against Removals protest at Parliament House
* Audio: Gerry Georgatos, NIRS: Protest against 'cruel' removal of Aboriginal kids [Featuring Aunty Hazel Collins of GMAR]
* Audio: Gerry Georgatos, NIRS: Greens: High removal rates to continue unless funding boosted
* Speech: miacat: Mary Moore's Speech at Grandmothers Against Removal's Rally Feb 13th - Canberra
* News: Latika Bourke, SMH: Kevin Rudd warns of the emergence of a new stolen generation

* Homepage of the Grandmothers Against Removals website: http://stopstolengenerations.com.au/
* Facebook: Stop Stolen Generations: https://www.facebook.com/stopstolengenerations

* WGAR Background: Removal of Aboriginal children and the continuing Stolen Generation

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

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Highest child removal rates in the world - worse than Stolen Generations
http://thestringer.com.au/highest-child-removal-rates-in-the-world-worse...
15 Feb 15: "Last Friday marked seven years since the Prime Ministerial Apology to the Stolen Generations - 1903 to 1970 - but child removals, the tearing apart and decimation of families, are today worse than ever. Last Friday, the Grandmothers Against Removals came together from all over the nation to march from Aboriginal Tent Embassy to Federal Parliament where they were met by a militia-like police cordon. ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist

- Audio Interview

4ZZZ Brisbane: Veronica Saunders of Grandmothers Against Removals: the theft of Aboriginal children from their families
http://www.4zzzfm.org.au/news/audio/2015/02/17/veronica-saunders-grandmo...
17 Feb 15: "The number of Aboriginal children being removed from their families is higher than at any other time in Australia's history. Veronica Saunders of Grandmothers Against Removals talks to 4ZZZ reporter Louise Evans. For more information about the demands Grandmothers Against Removals want met, please read the communique below. ...
Communique from Grandmothers Against Removals National Committee and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy rally on the anniversary of the National Apology - February 13 2015 ... "

- Video Doco

Eleanor Gilbert, Vimeo: Aboriginal Grandmothers present 'end genocide' demand to Senator Rachel Siewert
https://vimeo.com/119662678
13 Feb 15: "Aboriginal Grandmothers present 'end genocide' demand to Senator Rachel Siewert, Senator for Western Australia. Member of the Australian Greens and Australian Greens Whip.
Grandmothers Against Removals 'end of genocide' demand
To Whom It May Concern:
Urgent Demand to Repeal sections 268.121 - 268.122
of the International Criminal Court (Consequential Amendments) Act 2002
as a remedy to the fact that
Australia has NO effective law against Genocide
Australia has still not fully imported the Genocide Convention into domestic law. ... "

- Video Doco

Eleanor Gilbert, Vimeo: Grandmothers Against Removals speakout at Aboriginal Embassy, Canberra
https://vimeo.com/118417667
"Grandmothers Against Removals speakout at Aboriginal Embassy, Canberra on Sovereignty Day, Invasion Day, 26 January 2015. New figures from the Productivity Commission show a huge spike in the number of Indigenous children being removed from their families by child protection agencies across Australia. The figures are detailed in the latest Productivity Commission: Report on Government Service Delivery report, released on Thursday January 29. ... "

- Audio

The Stringer Audio/Radio News: Paddy speaking about Grandmother Audrey Martin's grandchildren
http://thestringer.com.au/audioradio-news
https://soundcloud.com/the-stringer/paddy-speaking-about-grandmother-aud...

- Audio

The Stringer Audio/Radio News: Paddy speaking about the high removal rates
http://thestringer.com.au/audioradio-news
https://soundcloud.com/the-stringer/paddy-speaking-about-the-high-remova...

- News

The Northern Daily Leader: Grandmothers' anti-removal campaign reaches Canberra
http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/2882983/grandmothers-anti-re...
14 Feb 15: "A GROUP that originated in Gunnedah has used the anniversary of the nation's apology to indigenous people to push its campaign against the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families. Members of Grandmothers Against Removals (GMAR) came from all over the country, ... to protest at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra yesterday ... The group argues the nation is creating another stolen generation, with an unprecedented increase in the number of Aboriginal children taken from their families in recent years. ... " Kylie Galbraith

- Media Roundup

Linksunten Indymedia: Grandmothers protest worst ever stealing of Australian Aboriginal children
https://linksunten.indymedia.org/en/node/134933
14 Feb 15: "Aboriginal grandmothers have protested to Australian politicians about the increasing removal of Aboriginal children from their families to be placed in homes or with foster families, many of them non-Indigenous. Grandmothers were among about 100 Indigenous protesters who marched from the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra to parliament house on Friday, 13 February. In 2008, then [Labor] prime minister, Kevin Rudd, apologised on behalf of the federal government for the decades-long systematic removal of Aboriginal children from their families. ... The grandmothers issued a communique, ... " Created by: Diet Simon

- Photos

Workers Bush Telegraph: Grandparents against Removals
http://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/2015/02/13/grandparents-against-remov...
13 Feb 15

- Video

NITV News - 13 February 2015: Fighting for their kids - Grandmothers Against Removals tell their stories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M65mGOau580
13 Feb 15: "Across Australia, there are nearly 15 thousand Indigenous children in Out of Home care. Our kids are ten times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be taken away from their immediate families. The Grandmothers Against Removals group went to Parliament House this morning.... to try and tell the Government about this national emergency."

- Video

NITV News - 13 February 2015: Grandmothers Against Removals: Hands off our children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--tzf2JY7Ec
13 Feb 15: "While the important work of healing continues - Grandmothers against removals say that a second stolen generation is continuing under current state and federal government policies. The Grandmothers have come from all over Australia to be in Canberra this week, lobbying the Federal Government to make drastic changes to child removal legislation. At present there is approximately 14,000 [Ed. Note: figure is over 15,000] Aboriginal Kids in Out of Home Care across the country."

- Audio

ABC AM: More Aboriginal children being removed from their homes than ever before [Featuring Vanessa Colbung and Olivia Nigro of GMAR]
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4179209.htm
13 Feb 15: "More than 15,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children live outside their homes and in the care of foster families or state institutions. It's a staggering statistic, given Indigenous children make up only 4.4 per cent of children in Australia. Vanessa Colbung runs the West Australian branch of Grandmothers Against Removals, a national network of grandmothers and families who have had family members taken away by authorities. ... Olivia Nigro is a social justice campaigner and researcher for Grandmothers Against Removals. She's helped organise a rally to be held today outside Parliament House in Canberra today."

- Audio

130215 Living Black News Bulletin: Grandmothers Against Removals protest at Parliament House
http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/aboriginal/en/content/130215-living-b...
13 Feb 15

- Audio

NIRS: Protest against 'cruel' removal of Aboriginal kids
http://nirs.org.au/NEWS/Protest-against-cruel-removal-of-Aboriginal-kids
16 Feb 15: "Indigenous rights advocates held a protest in Canberra against the high number of kids taken away from family by the state. ... Grandmothers Against Removals spokesperson Aunty Hazel Collins says the breaking up of far too many families is unjustifiable and cruel." Gerry Georgatos, Correspondent

- Audio

NIRS: Greens: High removal rates to continue unless funding boosted
http://nirs.org.au/NEWS/Greens-High-removal-rates-to-continue-unless-fun...
13 Feb 15: "The Greens spokesperson for Indigenous affairs says the Federal Government's under-funding of community-driven programs is partly to blame for Indigenous disadvantage. Seven years after the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, Rachel Siewert (pictured) claims lessons from the past have still not been learnt, highlighting increasing numbers of child removals. ... " Gerry Georgatos, Correspondent

- Audio

CAAMA News 16-02-15
http://caama.com.au/caama-news-16-02-15
16 Feb 15: " ... A group of Grandmothers made a big impact in Canberra last week with their ongoing efforts to raise awareness of Aboriginal child removal and placement in NSW."

- Speech

www.miacat.com: Mary Moore's Speech at Grandmothers Against Removal's Rally Feb 13th - Canberra
http://www.miacat.com/GMAR_Mary_Moore_Grandmothers_Against_Removal_Rally...
"Alliance for Family Preservation and Restoration
Australian child protection departments are forcibly removing more children per head of population then any other western nation. The statistics are on the banner. ... This is a title of great shame causing immense harm and trauma to vulnerable children and families that will impact for the rest of their lives and future generations. Even more shameful is the fact that nearly one third of children in care are indigenous yet they account for less then 5% of children under 17. No one should have the power to take children from their family by force when they have not committed any crime and without evidence." Mary Moore, Forgotten Australian; Advocate for Children and Families; Registered Nurse (Critical Care)

- News

SMH: Kevin Rudd warns of the emergence of a new stolen generation
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/kevin-rudd-warns-o...
13 Feb 15: "Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has warned of a new type of "stolen generation", highlighting the growing number of Indigenous children being removed from their families because efforts to tackle disadvantage under the Closing the Gap initiative are flailing. Kevin Rudd apologised to the stolen generations as prime minister seven years ago in Labor's first Parliamentary act after its 2007 landslide victory. At an anniversary breakfast in Sydney on Friday, the former Labor leader said he delivered the apology not for a "fleeting feel-good moment" but in an effort to unite the nation in closing the gap of Indigenous disadvantage. ... " Latika Bourke, a national political reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She has previously worked for ABC and 2UE in Canberra. Latika won the Walkley Award for Young Australian Journalist of the Year in 2010.

- Homepage

Grandmothers Against Removals website
http://stopstolengenerations.com.au/

- Facebook

Stop Stolen Generations
https://www.facebook.com/stopstolengenerations

- Background

WGAR Background: Removal of Aboriginal children and the continuing Stolen Generation
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/24/wgar-background-removal-of-aborigina...
(last updated: 14 February 2015)

- - -

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)