Victoria

WGAR News: Aboriginal leaders call for apology over NT intervention; Darwin launch of Walk With Us

Newsletter date: 9 November 2011

Contents:
* Aboriginal Leaders call for apology over NT intervention
* Report on 'Consultations' - "A flawed process and not what people said"
* Darwin book launch of 'Walk With Us' - Aboriginal views on the NT Intervention
* Video: Yuendumu Voices - Reflections on the Intervention
* National Health Leadership Forum (NHLF) to be voice to govt
* Interview with Jonathan Nichols, Editor of a APY Project
* Project: Manuwangku, Under the Nuclear Cloud exhibition
* Jon Altman: The intervention is dead, long live the intervention

WGAR News: Upcoming Aboriginal rights events around Australia - 17 events from 25 October 2011

Newsletter date: 25 October 2011
Newsletter last updated: 25 October 2011 4:20pm

Click on the links for details of the events ...

Event: Thu 18 August - Sun 30 October 2011: Wiluna to Perth, WA
Walk Away from Uranium Mining
"By coming to Wiluna you will be supporting Traditional
Owners in their opposition to uranium mining."
Event details: http://indymedia.org.au/walk-away-from-uranium-mining
Event details: http://www.nuclearfreefuture.com/
Walk Schedule: http://footprints.footprintsforpeace.net/nffcampaign/upload/files/Wiluna...

No right to protest in Melbourne

Victoria Police have a duty under the Charter of Human Rights to protect and promote human rights including the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.

By following the directions of the Mayor to remove protesting people from a public place, who were causing no fear and damaging no property, Victoria Police have failed to protect and promote human rights.

Geography: 

Upcoming Melbourne & Vic Aboriginal rights events for your diary - 3 events from 21 October 2011

Click on the links for details of the events ...

Event: Fri 21 October 2011: Melbourne City, Vic
Public meeting:
You say you want a revolution: Not Sorry Enough
Speakers: Robbie Thorpe; Karla Grant; Linday Bruney;
Kim Hill; Tania Major.
"From the battles for basic civil rights four decades ago,
to the overturning of terra nullius and the stolen
generations apology, Australian Indigenous activists have
achieved much over successive generations.
Yet it would seem many aspirations have been left behind
along the way, and there is so much left to achieve. ... "

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WGAR News: Advocates brief UN Committee on the Rights of the Child re Australia's performance

Newsletter date: 16 October 2011

Contents:
* Advocates brief UN Committee on the Rights of the Child re Australia's performance
* Amnesty chief tells Macklin - We will be watching
* Attempted suicides in communities affected by NT Intervention has doubled
* Arnhem Land leaders are gathering on Elcho Island
* Arabunna elder Kevin Buzzacott calls for scrapping of Olympic Dam expansion
* What’s Working: A Better Way - ANTaR's book of success stories
* More on APY Lands
* Apology to the Aboriginal People of Australia on behalf of Australians of Arabic background

WGAR News: Amnesty International head slams decades of neglect in remote Aboriginal communities

Newsletter date: 13 October 2011

Contents:
* Amnesty International cheif Salil Shetty visits communities in Utopia, NT
* Calls for implementation of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
* Jon Altman: Homeland communities destroyed to save a bit of cash
* Amnesty International Australia Action: Tell the government: don’t abandon homelands
* Amnesty International Australia: Utopia Homelands featured on the 7pm Project
* What’s Working: Health-Utopia
* Rally against Income Management in Bankstown - 8 October 2011

Logging of Victorian mountain ash forests increases bushfire risk

New scientific research published in September 2011 highlights that logging in Victoria’s mountain ash forests is increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfires. The cycling of logging and wildfire is creating a landscape trap where the wet forest ecosystem is being permanently converted to a new landscape replaced by other species, particularly wattle, increasing the frequency and intensity of bushfire risk.

"These changes will significantly impair ecological functions like carbon storage, water production and biodiversity conservation," said Professor Lindenmayer. "This is historically unprecedented and is beginning to dominate the mountain ash landscapes we see today."

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WGAR News: Tracker's Brian Johnston: Reality in APY Lands different from media agenda campaigns

Newsletter date: 9 October 2011

Contents:
* Tracker's Brian Johnston: Reality in APY Lands is different from the media agenda driven campaigns
* APY Council general manager calls for full community consultation about their needs
* Head of Amnesty says govt's "top-down externally driven" efforts widen the gap
* Media re Barbara Shaw's Sydney speaking tour - 3-9 Oct 2011
* Upcoming Aboriginal rights events around Australia - 25 events from 9 October 2011
* Background to the Northern Territory (NT) Intervention
* Other articles

Abbott's 'Community Forum' in Bendigo neither open nor community focussed

On Wednesday October 5 Tony Abbott attended a 'community forum' at the Capital Theatre in Bendigo (See Report in Bendigo Advertiser - Bendigo forum a chance for some sticky questions). Attendance was by a selected audience of about 190 who attended by invite only. Unfortunately the 'community forum' was neither representative of the community nor very open.

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[WGAR-news] Public forum launching a national campaign calling for a moratorium on income management

Newsletter date: 6 October 2011

Contents:
* Sydney public forum launching a national campaign calling for a Moratorium on Income Management - 6 October 2011
* Alice Springs public forum: No Income Management - Women demand a Moratorium on Income Management - 13 October 2011
* Media Release by Aboriginal activist and trained lawyer Michael Anderson
* Other Northern Territory (NT) Intervention articles
* Background to the Northern Territory (NT) Intervention
* Other articles
* Upcoming Aboriginal rights events around Australia - 26 events from 6 October 2011