WGAR News: KALACC Directors: Threatened Closure of Remote Aboriginal Communities: Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre

Newsletter date: 14 April 2015

Contents:

* Statement: Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre: KALACC Directors Statement on the Threatened Closure of Remote Aboriginal Communities - April 2015
* Background: KALACC is the Kimberley Region's Peak Indigenous Law and Culture Centre

* Background: WGAR News: Kimberley Land Council to ask UN forum to condemn Indigenous community closures: Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian
* Background: Kimberley Land Council - About Us

* Analysis / Opinion: Michele Madigan, Eureka Street: Funding cut signals the destruction of Aboriginal life in Australia

* Audio: Dom Vukovic, 2SER - Real Radio: "removal of aboriginal communities from their lands in Western Australia"
[Featuring Paddy Gibson, Brenda Croft & Rosalie Kunoth-Monks]

* News: Thom Mitchell, New Matilda: 'We'll Be Back': Thousands Protest Forced Closure Of Remote Communities
* News: NZ Herald: Melbourne rocked by protests
* News: Reme Sakr, Press TV: Australians slam govt. over plans against aboriginals
* Video: Seven Local News - Sunshine Coast, facebook: "A group of protesters tried to interrupt the Prime Minister while he lunched in Noosa"

* Event Poster: TangataWhenua.com: Maori solidarity with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters in Australia
* Event Poster: Stop the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities in Australia, facebook: "We would like to confirm that that 2nd National Call of Action will be held Friday 1st May 2015."
* Facebook: Stop the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities in Australia

* Background: Press TV: Australia discontinues water, electricity services for Aboriginals
* 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)

- Statement

Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre: KALACC Directors Statement on the Threatened Closure of Remote Aboriginal Communities - April 2015
http://www.kalacc.org.au/docs/default-source/statements/kalacc-statement...
http://www.kalacc.org.au/news-events/news/2015/04/08/kalacc-directors-st...
April 2015: "The Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre [KALACC] is the organisation which represents the traditional owners and cultural bosses from the 30 language groups across the Kimberley. KALACC Directors at a recent Board meeting have resolved as follows in relation to the threatened closure of remote communities:
We Don’t Want to Be Consulted! We Demand Genuine Dialogue!
How can the Western Australian Government speak for five months about closing down our communities and not talk with us for five months? Some people say that consultations will start on 01 July - but KALACC only hears this second or third hand because no one from Government has bothered to speak directly with us. When will we be consulted? And when the consultations take place, will the Government sit down with us, the cultural bosses and elders representing the Kimberley, and talk directly to us? We don’t want a ‘tick a box’ consultation. We demand a genuine dialogue with Government and a genuine input and say on the future of our lives and our communities. ... "

KALACC is the Kimberley Region’s Peak Indigenous Law and Culture Centre.
http://www.kalacc.org.au/about-kalacc
"Based in Fitzroy Crossing, we support the traditional cultural practices of the 30 language groups of the Kimberley Region. Incorporated in 1985, KALACC has a proud history of advocating for culturally based self - determination for the Kimberley. ... KALACC has strong organizational links with the Kimberley Land Council and with the Kimberley Language Resource Centre. ... "

- Background

WGAR News: Kimberley Land Council to ask UN forum to condemn Indigenous community closures: Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian
https://indymedia.org.au/2015/04/10/wgar-news-kimberley-land-council-to-...
12 Apr 15: "Contents:
* Video: Rachael Thornton, The Feed, SBS: Indigenous communities facing closure [Featuring Aboriginal people from WA homelands]
* Personal Story: Samantha Martin, Sunday Style, news.com.au: It’s more than just a 'lifestyle choice', it’s my home
* Analysis / Opinion: Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian: Kimberley Land Council to ask UN forum to condemn Indigenous community closures
* Analysis / Opinion: Michelle Lovegrove & Andrea Booth, NITV: Indigenous MP Linda Burney condems WA remote community closures
* Analysis / Opinion: Bridie Jabour, The Guardian: SA Indigenous figures fear funding dispute could lead to 'cultural genocide'
* Analysis / Opinion: Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese: Funding Cuts to Remote WA and SA Communities Will Destroy Aboriginal Life
* News Analysis: Natalie Whiting, ABC News: Remote SA Aboriginal communities reassured they will stay open in face of national funding cuts
* Audio: Natalie Whiting, The World Today: SA Aboriginal groups assured communities won't close
* WGAR News: Breaking News - 10 April 2015: Over Thirteen Thousand People Shut down Melbourne: CAAMA
* Poster: Stop the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities in Australia, facebook: "We would like to confirm that that 2nd National Call of Action will be held Friday 1st May 2015."
* Facebook: Stop the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities in Australia
* WGAR Background: Plans to close Aboriginal homelands / remote communities in WA and SA"

Kimberley Land Council - About Us
http://www.klc.org.au/about-us
"The Kimberley Land Council was formed in 1978 by Kimberley Aboriginal people as a political land rights organisation. Today, we have grown to become the peak Indigenous body in the Kimberley region working with Aboriginal people to secure native title recognition, conduct conservation and land management activities and develop cultural business enterprises. ... "

- Analysis / Opinion

Eureka Street: Funding cut signals the destruction of Aboriginal life in Australia
http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=43792
6 Apr 15: " ... But in reality - as one of the Aboriginal administrators of a well established regional Aboriginal community in SA explained to me the day after the shock of receiving the IAS [Indigenous Advancement Strategy] funding news, the policy and practice can only be assumed to be about making both regional and remote communities unsustainable. ‘If they don’t fund the communities, it is a given that they will become unsustainable.’ ... will we believe the words of the First Nations peoples lived experience and go the next step to stand in solidarity and protest with them, working, as Pope Francis says in Evangelii Gaudium #188, ‘to eliminate the structural causes of poverty’?" Michele Madigan, a Sister of St Joseph who has spent the past 38 years working with Aboriginal people in regional and remote areas of South Australia and in Adelaide. Her work has included advocacy and support for senior Aboriginal women of Coober Pedy in their campaign against the proposed national radioactive dump.

- Audio

2SER - Real Radio: Indigenous recognition in the Constitution, what does it mean?
[Featuring Paddy Gibson, Brenda Croft & Rosalie Kunoth-Monks]
http://www.2ser.com/component/k2/item/14504-calling-for-constitutional-c...
" ... Between now and then debate is likely to focus around the issue of what that term 'recognition' actually means, paritcularly in light of the removal of aboriginal communities from their lands in Western Australia. Will it be an important symbolic acknowledgement of Australia's first peoples, or is there an opportunity for Constitutional recognition to mean something more? 2SER's Dom Vukovic reports" Producer: Dom Vukovic

- News

New Matilda: 'We'll Be Back': Thousands Protest Forced Closure Of Remote Communities
https://newmatilda.com/2015/04/11/well-be-back-thousands-protest-forced-...
11 Apr 15: " ... Vivian Malo, one of the Melbourne organisers, said the turnout was a powerful expression of the will of Aboriginal people to demand change. "It was powerful," she said, "the last few rallies we’ve had a really big presence of Aboriginal people. "I’ve noticed the numbers build exponentially since this year, it’s incredibly empowering to be on the inside of that circle hearing people speak for the first time." "Empowerment of people," she said, "that’s what I’m there for." ... " By Thom Mitchell

- News

NZ Herald: Melbourne rocked by protests
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11430991
11 Apr 15: "A large protest opposing the closure of remote indigenous communities in Western Australia yesterday shut down streets in central Melbourne. Several thousand people gathered outside the city's main railway station Flinders Street at 4pm local time. "Enough is enough - where is the justice for Aboriginal people?" a speaker shouted to the crowd before the walk through CBD streets, flanked by police. ... "I disagree, strongly disagree, in selling out on the aboriginal communities just for money," [Jason] Maxwell told AAP. ... "

- News

Press TV: Australians slam govt. over plans against aboriginals
http://www.presstv.com/Video/2015/04/10/405625/Australians-slam-govt-ove...
10 Apr 15: " ... Furious with the Abbott government’s latest decision to close down hundreds of Aboriginal communities in Western Australia, indigenous Australians are back in the spotlight waving their flags and chanting for their rights. The Australian government says the reason for the community closures is that it simply can’t afford to fund them anymore, but the protesters here disagreed saying the move is racially motivated. ... " Reme Sakr, Sydney

- Event Poster

TangataWhenua.com: Maori solidarity with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters in Australia
http://news.tangatawhenua.com/2015/04/maori-solidarity-with-our-aborigin...

- Event Poster

Stop the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities in Australia, facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sosblakaustralia/photos/a.1042299689120174.1073...
24 Mar 15: "We would like to confirm that that 2nd National Call of Action will be held Friday 1st May 2015. Actions will begin at 10am in the Kimberley but there will be other times for other states behind this and we will promote the information specific to the locations when confirmed. Any communities wishing to organise an action on this day, please contact us so that we can support you and provide resources."

- Facebook

Stop the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities in Australia
https://www.facebook.com/sosblakaustralia

- Background

Press TV: Australia discontinues water, electricity services for Aboriginals
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/02/10/396947/Australia-to-cut-service...
10 Feb 15: "The Australian government has decided to discontinue the provision of water and electricity supplies to up to 200 indigenous communities, saying it can no longer afford the basic services, delegating it to state governments. The remote communities, located across the northern tip of Australia and the Kimberley in the country’s northwest, will be deprived of essential services with the decision by the federal government, Vice News agency reported on Tuesday. ... "

- 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: 11 April 2015)

- - -

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)