Newswire

WGAR News: Good intentions aren't enough to close the gap: NATSILS

Newsletter date: 6 March 2014

Contents:

* Amy McQuire, Tracker: The Lost Generations

* NATSILS: Good intentions aren't enough to close the gap
* National Congress: Justice Targets: Crucial drivers of change
* ANTaR: Justice Targets are needed for action on Aboriginal Jobs and Education

* NAAJA: Australia’s prison spend is a cost we cannot sustain

* The Stringer: Gerry Georgatos speaks outside Redfern Police Station - T.J. Hickey rally 2014
* Peter Boyle, Green Left: Photos: Justice for T J Hickey 10th anniversary protest

The California Drought: Is this the big one?

Australia is no stranger to drought, or predictions of long-term drying. It's possible early settlers in both Australia and California simply lucked out on a long cyclical wet period, to be followed by much worse.

Scientists in North America have discovered past droughts in the southwest, including California, lasted hundreds of years. Is this the start of the big one?

The Tragicomedy of the Death Penalty

The death penalty is still a form of punishment in many countries. The following is an excellent thought-provoking article of the "POLITICAL GAMES" associated with and surrounding the use of the death penalty in every country that still practice this barbaric, brutal, cruel, degrading, inhuman, uncivilised and discriminative form of punishment.

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Published in The Express Tribune.
By Shivam Vij
March 3, 2014

Victoria events: 'In the Absence of Treaty' book-launch & 'Utopia' + Tunnerminnerwait & Maulboyheenner

Melbourne and Victoria Aboriginal rights events for your diary

WGAR events postings for each State and Territory: http://indymedia.org.au/2013/01/03/about-wgar-news-wgar-events-postings

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

Updated Event: Thu 6 March 2014:
'concerned Australians': In the Absence of Treaty Waurn Ponds (VIC) Book launch
in conjunction with the screening of Utopia,
John Pilger’s film on Aboriginal Australia (entry free)
Venue: Peter Thwaites Lecture Theatre, Deakin University
Organised by:
* Geelong One Fire Reconciliation Group,

WGAR News: NT legal services express concern about operation of Alcohol Mandatory Treatment Scheme

Newsletter date: 5 March 2014

Contents:

* NT legal services express their serious concern about the operation of the Alcohol Mandatory Treatment Scheme
in a joint submission to the NTG's Six Month Review of the Alcohol Mandatory Treatment Act.
* Background to the NT Alcohol Mandatory Treatment Bill

* NACCHO Congress Alice Springs News: Effective partnerships in Aboriginal community controlled health sector could be copied in housing and employment
* Nicholas Biddle, CAEPR ANU: Residential Segregation: Income and Housing Dimensions

WGAR News: Campaign against $500,000 funding cut to [Aboriginal] education [in NSW]: Myles Morgan, NITV

Newsletter date: 4 March 2014

Contents:

* Myles Morgan, NITV: Campaign against $500,000 funding cut to education [in NSW]
* AECSL - Aboriginal Early Childhood Support & Learning, YouTube: AECSL Awareness Campaign: www.make.my/aecslcampaign
* CommunityRun Petition: Provide funding for AECSL to continue its support and advocacy work
* Padraic Gibson, The Guardian: Tony Abbott's cuts directly hurt Aboriginal children

* SNAICC News: Aboriginal community-controlled services need funding

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19 percent says Australia's Climate Change Authority

The Australian Climate change Authority has released its final assessment on what Australia's climate emissions reduction target should be. They say that the global conditions have clearly been met for Australia increasing emissions reduction from 5 per cent on 2000 levels to 19 per cent on 2000 levels by 2020.

Geography: 

WGAR News: James Price Point Aboriginal cultural leader passes away: ABC Kimberley

Newsletter date: 1 March 2014

Contents:

* ABC Kimberley: James Price Point Aboriginal cultural leader passes away
* Greens Senator Rachel Siewert: Greens express 'deep sadness' over loss of Goolarabooloo law man
* ABC Indigenous: Greens pay tribute to Broome Indigenous leader
* Andrew Burrell, The Australian: James Price Point campaigner Mr Roe dies
* Background to the Walmadan Tent Embassy, James Price Point, north of Broome, Kimberley Region, WA
* Background to the Save The Kimberley Campaign - James Price Point, north of Broome, WA

Ongoing Vigil for Asylum Seekers in Detention - Casseleden Place - 24 February to 25 March 2014

In response to the murder of Kurdish Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati in the detention centre on Manus Island last week a small group of protesters has established an ongoing vigil outside the Department of Immigration office at Casselden Place. While determined to maintain the action regardless, they would welcome support and ideally for others to join them. There is a Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/592372480844016/

Geography: 

The Shortwave Report 2/28/14 Listen Globally!

Dear Radio Friend,
The latest Shortwave Report (February 28) is up at the website http://www.outfarpress.com/shortwave.shtml in 3 forms- (new) HIGHEST QUALITY (128kb)(27MB), broadcast quality (16MB), and quickdownload or streaming form (6MB) (28:59) Links at page bottom
(If you have access to Audioport there is a highest quality version posted up there {35MB} http://www.audioport.org/index.php?op=producer-info&uid=904&nav=&)

NEW PODCAST!!!- feed://www.outfarpress.com/podcast.xml (128kb Highest Quality)

The under-representation of Aboriginal people in the Media

The under-representation of Aboriginal people in the Media.

By Paul O'Hanlon

As someone who has taken a keen interest in Australian films and TV series over the years I feel that Aborigines are under-represented in Australian media as they are in so many other aspects of Australian life. One 2006 study found that while no newspaper managers interviewed believed their papers were racist most Aboriginal interviewees believed that mainstream newspapers “failed Aborigines dismally” .

Geography: 

WGAR News: Tiga Bayles interviews Robert & Selina Eggington about youth suicide & incarceration rates

Newsletter date: 27 February 2014

Contents:

* Let's Talk's Tiga Bayles interviews Robert & Selina Eggington about First Nations youth suicide and incarceration rates
* Perth Indymedia Radio Show: Robert Eggington of the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation reading a piece that was to be published in 'The West Australian'
* Perth Indymedia Radio Show: Gerry Georgatos on the Aboriginal suicide crisis - from tragic to catastrophic
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Senator Ludlam speaks up on the suicides crisis and for Dumbartung

Canberra events: John Pilger's documentary film, 'Utopia' + Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages

Canberra Aboriginal rights events for your diary

WGAR events postings for each State and Territory: http://indymedia.org.au/2013/01/03/about-wgar-news-wgar-events-postings

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

Updated Event: Opening Thu 27 February 2014: Canberra, ACT
John Pilger's documentary film, 'Utopia'
Venue: Palace Electric
"Utopia, John Pilger’s new film set for release (in the United Kingdom)
in November, examines the worsening oppression of Aboriginal
people in Australia." Paddy Gibson, an associate producer of Utopia

Geography: 

WGAR News: Good housing keeps people out of gaol: The Wire [Featuring Shane Duffy, CEO, NATSILS]

Newsletter date: 26 February 2014

Contents:

* Annie Hastwell, The Wire: Good housing keeps people out of gaol [Featuring Shane Duffy, CEO, NATSILS]
* Dylan Clarke, SBS Living Black Radio: Youth Initiatives for Justice Reinvestment [Featuring Kaleesha Morris]

* Deaths in Custody Watch Committee WA: Australian prisoner numbers reach 30,000 for the first time - over 27% of them are Aboriginal
* Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT): ALS calls for Justice Targets to be incorporated into Closing the Gap

From Sydney to Nantes, resistance & sabotage

On the evening of the 22nd of Feburary we vandalised the local headquarters of VINCI and their subsidiary company 'Advitam' in the Seven Hills industrial zone in western Sydney.
Some windows were cracked, and the slogans: “AGAINST VINCI AND ITS WORLD” &
“THE ZAD IS EVERYWHERE” were painted.

This small act was made in response to a call for actions in solidarity with the monumental struggle in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France, against an airport which Vinci has been contracted to build.

The Betrayal of Julian Assange

By Robyn Irene - February 23rd, 2014 - Truth changes everything. There is a kind of automatic reaction involved when factual information comes into the public sphere — whether that be the life of a country or an individual. Hidden secrets, the exposure of dirty washing, call it what you will, once we know what is concealed, we feel empowered.More so when our understanding of situations and complex scenarios is complete. The full story is the only story. It is only when we know that we can even begin to properly assess a situation, in our own lives, or in our world.

Promotion: 

WGAR News: Closing the Gap: we know what works, so why don't we do it?: Eva Cox, The Conversation

Newsletter date: 25 February 2014

Contents:

* Eva Cox, The Conversation: Closing the Gap: we know what works, so why don't we do it?
* SNAICC News: Disappointing sense of deja vu on closing the gap - Article by Angela Webb in The Australian 13 February 2014
* Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT): ALS calls for Justice Targets to be incorporated into Closing the Gap
* CAAMA Radio: Working together… [Featuring Barbara Shaw discussing the National Apology and Closing the Gap report]

WGAR News: NT gov't to further cut bilingual education: Emma Murphy & Peter Robson, Green Left

Newsletter date: 24 February 2014

Contents:

* Emma Murphy & Peter Robson, Green Left: NT gov't to further cut bilingual education
* Jarvis Ryan: Bilingual education needs to be extended, not scrapped
* Alice Springs News: Indigenous education review: no more ‘biliteracy’; boarding for secondary students
* Background to the use of Aboriginal languages in NT schools (bilingual education)

* Padraic Gibson, The Guardian: Tony Abbott's cuts directly hurt Aboriginal children
* Clare Fester, Solidarity Online: Aboriginal grandmothers fight to stop new Stolen Generation

WGAR News: "Background Evidence to Support a Declaration of Aboriginal Sovereignty"

Newsletter date: 23 February 2014

Contents:

* Michael Anderson, The Carrington Rand Journal of Social Sciences: Background Evidence to Support a Declaration of Aboriginal Sovereignty
* Background to the Aboriginal sovereignty movement

* Jarvis Ryan: Bilingual education needs to be extended, not scrapped
* Alice Springs News: Indigenous education review: no more ‘biliteracy’; boarding for secondary students
* Background to the use of Aboriginal languages in NT schools (bilingual education)

* SBS News: Big picture needed on Aboriginal education [Featuring Tom Calma]

Barnett's war on nature with the shark cull rages on

Moses Rocks, Western Australia, 8:20am AWST February 22, 2014 Jeff Hansen, Managing Director, Sea Shepherd Australia reports: A Tiger Shark was pulled up by the South West fishing contractor this morning. The male Tiger Shark had his tail all entangled in rope and was severely distressed, so much so that he threw up his entire stomach out of his body. This effectively left a heap of oil and fishy substance in the water.

Geography: