WGAR News: Land Grab In The Outback: Australia Unites Against Genocide of First Peoples with Gerry Georgatos and Elders: Global Freedom Movement Media

Newsletter date: 17 April 2015

Contents:

* Extended Insightful Audio/Video Interview: Aimee Devlin & Brendan D. Murphy, Global Freedom Movement Media:
Land Grab In The Outback: Australia Unites Against Genocide of First Peoples with Gerry Georgatos and Elders [Featuring Bella & Herbert Bropho]

* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Matargarup, home to the homeless - a safe space - take heed City of Perth Councillors
* News Analysis: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Jennifer Kaeshagen sets up The First Nations Homelessness Project

* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Another misguided reductionist plan to reduce rates of suicide & self-harm

* News Analysis: NACCHO Health & Justice News: Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 24th anniversary but still in crisis
* News Analysis: NACCHO Prison Health News: Prisons are a poor substitute for primary and mental health care
* News Analysis: Melissa Sweet, Croakey - the Crikey health blog: Change the narrative to stop Aboriginal incarceration
* News Analysis: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: We are about to stop jailing fine defaulters - to the critics, do not naively criticise this away

* Upcoming Event: 6th SNAICC National Conference - 15-17 September 2015, Perth: For Our Children - Community Voices: Sharing Knowledge & Practice
* Upcoming Event: facebook: Special Forum: 7 May 2015, Adelaide: ‎'How would you like to be me?' "key issues facing First Peoples today"
[Panel includes: Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Michael Ghillar Anderson, Alison Anderson, Tauto Sansbury, Jeff McMullen & Gerry Georgatos]

* WGAR Background: Plans to close Aboriginal homelands / remote communities in WA and SA
* WGAR Background to the Aboriginal Sovereignty Movement
* WGAR Background to Suicide and Self-harm in First Nations Communities
* WGAR Background: Justice Reinvestment, Aboriginal imprisonment and Aboriginal deaths in custody
* WGAR Background Info Web-Pages

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

- Extended Insightful Audio/Video Interview

Global Freedom Movement Media: Land Grab In The Outback:
Australia Unites Against Genocide of First Peoples with Gerry Georgatos and Elders
http://globalfreedommovement.org/land-grab-in-the-outback-australia-unit...
4 Apr 15: "Right now we are in the midst of a battle to prevent the final corporate takeover of the traditional homelands of the landmass commonly known as "Australia" by hostile foreign powers of the NWO (a.k.a. the “Australian Government”). It is a thinly veiled process of displacement, "assimilation," and ultimately genocide which has outraged great swathes of not only the Australian population, but even significant activist groups abroad. ... Joining Gerry Georgatos will be Bella and Herbert Bropho, other elders and young people, to share their stories live from Matargarup."

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Matargarup, home to the homeless - a safe space - take heed City of Perth Councillors
http://thestringer.com.au/matargarup-home-to-the-homeless-a-safe-space-t...
11 Apr 15: "Homelessness is on the increase. Children - babies and toddlers - sleeping on Australia’s streets, in cars, in condemned squats and traps, in alleyways, in tents in bush outskirts off city highways or in caravan parks minus the caravan. Australia’s cities are harsh on the homeless; they have no homeless friendly precincts. Take one of Australia’s wealthiest cities - Perth - it is extraordinarily harsh on its poorest - the homeless. But in Perth, for 40 days now, a safe space for the poorest, a friendly precinct has been manufactured - Matargarup refugee camp. ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist

- News Analysis

The Stringer: Jennifer Kaeshagen sets up The First Nations Homelessness Project
http://thestringer.com.au/jennifer-kaeshagen-sets-up-the-first-nations-h...
22 Feb 15: "The Stringer is not just your average news site. Founded by Jennifer Kaeshagen, The Stringer coordinates advocacy in addition to its news reporting, features and opining. Ms Kaeshagen early this year made a personal commitment to attempt to house over the course of 2015 one hundred First Nations people experiencing homelessness in Perth, Western Australia. Without delay she launched The First Nations Homelessness Project. On track to housing 100 people, seven weeks into this year she has found homes for 12 people. ... " By Gerry Georgatos

"To support or be supported by The First Nations Homelessness Project, email contact@thestringer.com.au or phone/text 0449 655 282." Jennifer Kaeshagen, coordinator

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Another misguided reductionist plan to reduce rates of suicide & self-harm
http://thestringer.com.au/another-misguided-reductionist-plan-to-reduce-...
11 Apr 15: "Yesterday, the Northern Territory Government released another near useless policy plan in the hope that it can reduce rates of suicide, self-harm and the impacts of self-harm. It will not achieve any of this because it does not go to the heart of the problems. It does not go to overall social health, does not go to the suite of social determinants and to the suite of psycho-social determinants, to self-determination, to what ‘empowerment’ should and truly means. The Government’s reported, the NT Suicide Prevention Strategic Action Plan 2015-2018, is more cheap hogwash, ... " By Gerry Georgatos

- News Analysis

NACCHO Health & Justice News: Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 24th anniversary but still in crisis
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO)
http://nacchocommunique.com/2015/04/15/naccho-health-justice-news-aborig...
15 Apr 15: "We believe that with investment in early intervention, and prevention and diversion strategies to address the root causes and help break the cycle of contact with the criminal justice system, we can reduce incarceration and violence rates. But it will take a concerted effort by communities, organisations and governments - an effort that lives on beyond election cycles. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people know the issues intimately - we live them every day - and how they can start to be addressed, but we can’t do it alone."

"Shane Duffy chairman of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and Kirstie Parker co-chairwoman of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples write in todays Australian ... "

- News Analysis

NACCHO Prison Health News: Prisons are a poor substitute for primary and mental health care
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO)
http://nacchocommunique.com/2015/04/13/naccho-prison-health-news-prisons...
13 Apr 15: "An ongoing issue in Australia, which we have failed to reverse - just as we have failed to close the gap - is the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our prisons. Nationally, the rate of imprisonment for ATSI people was 13 times higher than for non-Indigenous people at June 30, 2014. This figure covers a diverse situation across the nation. In Western Australia, ATSI men and women are 18 times more times likely than non-Indigenous Australians to be imprisoned in WA, whereas in Tasmania the rate is four times higher."

- News Analysis

Croakey - the Crikey health blog: Change the narrative to stop Aboriginal incarceration
http://www.crikey.com.au/2015/04/10/change-the-narrative-to-stop-aborigi...
10 Apr 15: " ... The public health blog Croakey has launched a crowd-funding project that aims to produce a series of articles highlighting effective solutions for stopping the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In launching the #JustJustice project yesterday, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said over-incarceration is a "public health catastrophe" and a "terrible waste of taxpayers’ money". ... " Melissa Sweet, health journalist and Croakey co-ordinator

- News Analysis

The Stringer: We are about to stop jailing fine defaulters - to the critics, do not naively criticise this away
http://thestringer.com.au/we-are-about-to-stop-jailing-fine-defaulters-t...
14 Mar 15: "Prison is a heartbreaking experience - a damaging one. In general it is my view that people come out of prison worse than what they went in. Wherever possible I would support any policy that ensures other options to jailing people. One quarter of the Western Australian prison population is comprised of poverty related fine defaulters. The prison experience ruins lives. I was disturbed by the ill-informed comments of a couple of well-meaning grassroots activists who criticised an alternative option to the jailing of fine defaulters. ... " By Gerry Georgatos

- Upcoming Event

6th SNAICC National Conference - 15-17 September 2015, Perth
For Our Children - Community Voices: Sharing Knowledge & Practice
Hosted by The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC)
http://www.snaicc.org.au/conference/
" ... This will be the first SNAICC National conference held at Perth's Convention Centre, located on the northern bank of the Swan River in the land of the traditional owners the Noongar people. ...
The conference has become the largest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family issues conference in the southern hemisphere. It will feature local and international keynote speakers and over 70 concurrent sessions, yarning circles and workshops to choose from.
Delegates and speakers will gather from around the country and some from overseas to discuss our challenges and share our knowledge and experiences in raising happy, healthy and confident children in our communities.
As well as providing a powerful and inspiring learning experience for all attendees it will also provide opportunities to meet and experience some the richness and culture of our Aboriginal communities in the west. ... "

[Ed. note: Early Bird registration to the conference will open from 4 May 2015. To register and for all the latest updates visit the conference website at www.snaicc.org.au/conference ]

- Upcoming Event

facebook: Special Forum: ‎'How would you like to be me?'
Hosted by First Nations' Advocates for Rights and Equality
https://www.facebook.com/events/348209758701730/
Allan Scott Auditorium, Uni SA, ... Adelaide
Thursday 7th May 2015
"Dear Friends. If you only go to one thing this year, this must be it. On Thursday 7th May, we are holding a very special forum with an incredible panel of speakers from across the nation. Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Michael Ghillar Anderson, Alison Anderson, Tauto Sansbury, Jeff McMullen and Gerry Georgatos will all bring their wealth of knowledge, experience and perspectives on the key issues facing First Peoples today. This forum is about a dialogue between our guests and you our audience to share ideas for a better future. Bring your family, friends and your neighbours because this forum will be eye opening, inclusive and constructive. Also, entertaining us with his song 'How would you like to be me?' will be Aboriginal rap artist Caper. ... " Nadine Schoen

Public Forum Flyer: http://freedommovement2014.wix.com/freedommovement

- 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: 16 April 2015)

- Background

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

- Background

WGAR Background to Suicide and Self-harm in First Nations Communities
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/24/wgar-background-to-suicide-and-self-...
(last updated: 27 February 2015)

- Background

WGAR Background: Justice Reinvestment, Aboriginal imprisonment and Aboriginal deaths in custody
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/24/wgar-background-justice-reinvestment...
(last updated: 4 April 2015)

- Background

WGAR Background Info Web-Pages
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/24/wgar-background-info-web-pages
(last updated: 16 April 2015)

- - -

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)