By Jean Parker
1. Real Jobs not ration cards: speaking tour of Peter Inverway from Kalkaringi NT
In this email:
1. Real Jobs not ration cards: speaking tour of Peter Inverway from Kalkaringi NT
2. Sun June 20th: 3 years of racist shame! Stop the NT Intervention rally
3. Appeal for funds to fly speakers from the NT
4. July 6-11: Defending Indigenous Rights: Land~Law~Culture conference in Mparntwe (Alice Springs)
5. New Intervention Laws near passage - new income management policy
Peter Inverway is an Aboriginal worker from Kalkaringi in the Northern Territory. Kalkaringi is on Gurindji land, site of the famous Wave Hill walk-off.
Peter is a worker on the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme, which was heavily attacked by the Howard Government and totally
restructured under Labor. CDEP always paid below award wages and had no superannuation. But now, instead of receiving payment of some wages through
their employer, CDEP workers are only paid the equivalent of Newstart payments through Centrelink. In the NT, half of this payment is quarantined
on a 'BasicsCard'.
Peter says he works 24 hours a week. The amount of cash he receives from Centrelink works out to be approximately $3.70 an hour, plus credit for food on the BasicsCard ($85 of this a week).
Peter is currently on a speaking tour visiting Darwin, Sydney and Melbourne to raise awareness about the terrible working conditions and compounded
unemployment problems that have come with the NT Intervention and the transition from Aboriginal local councils to new 'Mega-Shires'.
See the ABC reports from a rally held in Darwin on Wednesday:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/06/02/2916686.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/02/2915831.htm?section=justin
In response to the demonstration in Darwin Minister Jenny Macklin called for a Departmental inquiry and referred the issue to the Fair Work Ombudsman. She claims to be "shocked" that people are being exploited by the new CDEP arrangements and called for proper wages to be paid for hours worked over the 16 allowed under CDEP. This recognises that people doing work-for-the-dole CDEP are doing real work. They need to be immediately recognised and paid real award wages to sustain and build Aboriginal communities that are in desperate need of job creation. Macklin has the power to scrap the new CDEP immediately and create real jobs with the billions she is spending on government control and income management through the intervention.
Come and hear Peter talk about the conditions facing an increasing number of Aboriginal people living under 3-years of NT Intervention laws. As well as a series of union and workplace meetings, STICS is organising two meetings this Monday 7th June:
1. Real jobs not ration cards!
Meeting with Peter Inverway
4pm - 5.30pm Monday 7th June,
Lecture room Level 19, Tower Building room (CB01.19.12)
Endorsed by Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning (Research)
2. Stop the Intervention Collective (STICS) Meeting
Monday 6pm, level 1, Federation Conference Centre meeting rooms, 23 Mary Street
Surry Hills. www.stoptheintervention.org
Peter is available for interview and to meet with organisations. Call Jean to arrange: 0449 646 593
2. Sun June 20th: 3 years of racist shame! Stop the NT Intervention rally
STICS have organised a rally to mark the third anniversary of the NT
Intervention on June 20th, 12pm at Town Hall. 3 years of the Intervention
has meant 3 years of assimilation of Aboriginal communities. This has meant
3 years of welfare quarantining, compulsory land leases and General Business
Managers on Aboriginal communities.
The Intervention is continuing despite no evidence of welfare quarantining
benefiting Aboriginal communities, as the recent Menzies health report
demonstrated. Aboriginal communities are being forced into 20 ‘hub
towns’ and out of homelands or remote communities. Despite a $680 million
SIHIP programme only 6 or 7 new houses have been built for Aboriginal
communities. More recently we have seen Aboriginal jobs cut and replaced
with Macklin’s new Communitiy Development and Employment Programmes (CDEP)
meaning people like Peter Inverway from Kalkaringi are working for the
Basics Card - essentially working for rations.
Three years of racist shame - Stop the NT Intervention!
· Make All Laws Subject to the Racial Discrimination Act
· Real Jobs not BasicsCards
· Land Rights not Leases
· Stop Compulsory Income Management
Join the growing union and community opposition to the NT Intervention on June 20, 12pm at Town Hall. Speakers include Lee Rhiannon (The Greens), Steve Jumpinjimpa (Bilingual teacher, NT) (TBC).and more to be confirmed.
Endorsed by: Unions NSW, NSW Reconciliation Council, The Greens, SUPRA (Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association), MUA NSW Branch (Maritime Union of Australia).
What your organisation can do:
- Endorse the June 20th Rally – add your logo to the material
- Organise a contingent for the rally.
- Promote the rally amongst your membership.
- Invite people from effected communities or STICS to address any
meetings you have in the lead up to the rally.
- Make a small donation towards the ongoing campaign
Please email notice of your endorsement and donation to stoptheintervention@gmail.com or call Jean for more information: 0449 646 593
3. Appeal for funds to fly speakers from the NT
Can you donate towards flying a bilingual Aboriginal teacher from the NT to speak in Sydney?
STICS would like to bring Steve Patrick Jumpinjimpa, a bilingual education teacher from Lajamanu in the NT to Sydney to speak at the June 20th rally and address unions and community organisations. Airfares from the NT to Sydney are around $700, and STICS relies entirely on donations to be be able to bring speakers to talk about the real impacts the intervention is having on the ground.
Steve is a teacher at Lajamanu school and is very concerned about the disempowerment of communities as a result of the Intervention. He is also concerned about the restrictions that have been placed on speaking Walpiri in schools under the NT governement’s ban on bilingual education. Steve works tirelessly to educate community about the significance and importance of Aboriginal culture in a strong and healthy community. Steve will be touring with Martin Johnson, a community spokesperson in Lajamanu.
Lajamanu is currently facing pressure to respond to Jenny Macklin’s blackmail - signing over their land for a 40-year lease in exchange for new housing and basic housing maintenance. The community has stood strong against signing control over to the government, and seeks support for their fight for housing to be built under the control of community organisations.
Can you help STICS pay for Steve and Martin’s flights? Please deposit any donations to:
Account Name: Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney
BSB number: 06 2212
Account number: 10452725
ABN 56 162 064 644.
If you make a donation to this very important speaking tour, please email stoptheintervention@gmail.com and tell us your donation was for Steve and Martin. If you have ideas about fundraising for this purpose please contact STICS: www.stoptheintervention.org
4. July 6-11: Defending Indigenous Rights: Land~Law~Culture conference in Mparntwe (Alice Springs)
Defending Indigenous Rights: Land~Law~Culture is a conference running from July 6-11 in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) to discuss issues facing Indigenous people and communities both in Australia and overseas. There will be speakers and delegates from Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory and Indigenous representatives from around the world.
Issues to be discussed will include the Northern Territory Intervention, language and culture preservation, the nuclear industry, creating jobs with justice, deaths in custody and more.
July 10-11 is being predominantly organised by Friends of the Earth and Latin American Solidarity Network (LasNet) and will have a particular focus on international issues, with presentations and forums from the international guests.
This is an open conference but all participants are expected to help with cooking, cleaning and general conference duties. The event is drug and alcohol free and discrimination of any form will not be tolerated. The conference is being held at Yirara College on the Stuart Highway.
For more information on the conference check http://defendingindigenousrights.wordpress.com
STICS will be participating in the conference and encourages anyone interested to come along. We are not able to facilitate travel to the conference but are advertising various ways people can get there:
Travel Options
1) Book your own flights: more information at
http://stoptheintervention.org/Gathering-in-Alice-Springs-July-2010
2) Indigenous Solidarity Ride: Bus trip June 30th - July 20th:
The bus trip leaves on June 30 and will get back on the evening of July 20 - exactly three weeks.
The trip will head to Mutawinji (near Broken Hill) and then travel to Adelaide, (people will attend the first two days of the 'Students of Sustainability' conference)
From there we will go via Coober Pedy to Alice Springs for the convergence against the intervention and also attend the subsequent international
indigenous gathering; from there we will go to the Alyawarr walkoff camp.
For more information contact: justice.rides2010@gmail.com
5. New Intervention Laws near passage - new income management policy
From FAHSIA - guidelines for new "non-discriminatory" income management to be imposed across the NT once new intervention laws pas the senate this month: http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/families/pubs/Pages/instruments_consult.aspx
This website says the measures are subject to review. STICS does not trust the government's commitment to a proper review process as it has ignored it's own $3m NTER reviewled by Peter Yu and ignored the 80 submissions at the senate estimates review into the new laws.
For a comprehensive critique of the new laws visit: http://stoptheintervention.org/rda-new-legislation