WGAR News: WA facing legal challenge over 'stolen wages' payments: Emma Alberici & Ginny Stein, ABC Lateline

Submitted by WGAR - Working ... on Wed, 29/07/2015 - 1:33pm

Newsletter date: 29 July 2015

- Video

ABC Lateline: WA facing legal challenge over 'stolen wages' payments
Reporter: Ginny Stein; Presenter: Emma Alberici
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4281869.htm
27 Jul 15: "Emma Alberici, Presenter: ... Now, Western Australia is facing a legal challenge over its compensation payout for unpaid wages, which, if successful, could set a national precedent. Between 1905 and 1972, the Government withheld up to three quarters of the money earned by workers on state-run native welfare settlements. Instead of being dispersed, the money ended up in state coffers and the financial records vanished. In 2012, the WA Government made a one-off payment of $2,000 to a select group of former Aboriginal pastoral workers, but as Lateline's Ginny Stein reports, that's been rejected by many as an insult. ... "

- Video & News Analysis

ABC Lateline: Long fight for stolen wages for Western Australia's Aboriginal stockmen and women
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-27/long-fight-for-stolen-wages/6651066
28 Jul 15: " ... A legal challenge to the State Government's limited compensation offer is now being prepared. Dennis Eggington, the chief executive of the Western Australia Aboriginal Legal Service, said the 2012 payment was humiliating for the people that played a vital role in developing the state's cattle industry. "Many people worked a lifetime for near to nothing and then to get $2,000 was just disgusting," he said. "We felt hurt and disgusted and that's probably one of the reasons that's driving us today, is that mean and paltry amount of money was nothing compared to the work and the effort that Aboriginal people put into building a great state like Western Australia." ... " Lateline By Ginny Stein

- Homepage

Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia
http://www.als.org.au/

- Commentary

Croakey - the Crikey health blog: Federal Ministers urged to avert Aboriginal health tragedy in western Sydney
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2015/07/26/federal-ministers-warned-t...
26-28 Jul 15: "Doctors and academics are warning the Federal Government that the closure of the Aboriginal Medical Service Western Sydney (AMSWS) will be devastating for the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people in Western Sydney. In an open letter to Federal Ministers Sussan Ley, Nigel Scullion and Fiona Nash, community psychiatrist Dr Neil Phillips said there is an “appalling contradiction” between the Government’s professed concerns at a recent roundtable meeting on Indigenous suicide rates and the closure of the AMSWS, where a social and emotional wellbeing team has been providing extensive mental health services. ... " Melissa Sweet, health journalist and Croakey co-ordinator

- Homepage

Aboriginal Medical Service Western Sydney
http://www.amsws.org.au/
"UPDATE: At the moment, AMSWS is Open For Business. AMSWS are still offering all of it's regular services, while fighting to keep alive. Patients please keep to your appointments. Thank You"

- Audio

The Wire: Indigenous leaders call for curriculum overhaul
Produced by Kenji Sato
http://www.thewire.org.au/storyDetail.aspx?ID=12986
http://www.thewire.org.au/audio/Kenji%20Yapaneyepuk.mp3
28 Jul 15: "Indigenous students are often asked to leave their cultural identity behind when they walk through the doors of the classroom. But at a symposium in Melbourne [Yapaneyepuk], education experts and indigenous leaders are proposing an alternative style of education - one that teaches and supports local indigenous culture, language and knowledge systems."

- Homepage

Yapaneyepuk, 'Walking Together to Make a Difference' An Indigenous Education Symposium
http://www.yapaneyepuk.com/
"Keynotes by Leading International First Nations Educators
July 27 – 29, 2015
Pullman, Albert Park, Victoria, Australia"

- Analysis / Opinion

New Matilda: Seven Years Of Noel Pearson Trials Have Led Aurukun To The Bottom Of the National Heap
https://newmatilda.com/2015/07/24/seven-years-noel-pearson-trials-have-l...
24 Jul 15: "In this special New Matilda feature, Amy McQuire demolishes the reforms - and the propaganda - that is the Cape York Welfare Reform Trials. Last week, the Australian newspaper ran a piece on the controversial Cape York Welfare Reform Trials, the brainchild of influential Aboriginal lawyer Noel Pearson. ... Where is the scrutiny? Where is the transparency? All we seem to get are uncritical, puff propaganda pieces in the pages of the Australian, a vocal Pearson backer. ... In another five years, will Aurukun still be the most disadvantaged community in the state?" By Amy McQuire, a Darumbul woman from central Queensland. Amy McQuire is the former editor of the National Indigenous Times and Tracker magazine.

- Bio

Amy McQuire - New Matilda
https://newmatilda.com/users/amy-mcquire

- About

New Matilda - About Us
https://newmatilda.com/about-us
" ... The New Matilda news digest is the best way to keep up to date with our coverage. We publish three times a week - it lands in your inbox at lunchtime on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and in the evening on Sundays. ... It's free! ...
Our readers are our investors. New Matilda is predominantly reader-funded and remains fiercely independent, with no affiliation to any political party, lobby group or other media organisation. Become a New Matilda funder here: https://newmatilda.com/be-a-supporter ... "

- Background

WGAR Background to the Aboriginal Sovereignty Movement
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/24/wgar-background-to-the-aboriginal-so...
(last updated: 27 July 2015)

- - -

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

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

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