1. Worse than WorkChoices Statement - Please endorse:
2. Mark Fordham Jobs with Justice Speaking tour 16th -30th October
3. October 29th Rally midday Town Hall - demand Jobs with Justice
4 Get involved in the campaign
1. "Stop the NT Intervention - Jobs with Justice for Aboriginal workers" Statement:
Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS) and the Intervention Rollback Action Group in Alice Springs are requesting support for a statement demanding 'Jobs with Justice for Aboriginal workers' that will be launched on October 29 with protest rallies around the country.
The statement (below) highlights the serious breaches of workers' rights and massive increases in unemployment that have taken place under the NT Intervention. We are aiming to print it in 'The Australian' newspaper on the day of the launch. The cost of the public notice is expected to be around $11,000.
The closure of Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) has been one of the main tools used by government to push through their current agenda of assimilation. Without access to proper employment programs in their own communities, the pressure builds up on Aboriginal families to move away. Similarly, without access to the funding and workers previously provided by CDEP, many Aboriginal organisations are suffering drastically reduced capacity.
Recent revelations of widespread starvation in Aboriginal communities provided to an NT government child protection inquiry underscore the complete failure of the NT Intervention to address acute social problems.
Unless the resources currently being spent on discriminatory bureaucracy can be redirected to employment opportunities and programs based in Aboriginal communities, the well-being and living conditions of Aboriginal people in the NT will continue to sharply deteriorate. Please follow the links provided in the footnotes to the attached statement, or get in contact if you require any more information about these issues.
Pressure is mounting for change. As highlighted in this statement, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recently issued another strong condemnation of the NT Intervention. And in the recent federal election, strong Greens candidates Barbara Shaw and Warren H Williams outpolled both Labor and Liberal in Aboriginal communities in Central Australia standing on a clear anti-Intervention platform.
The call for support for the 'Jobs with Justice' statement came from a major conference held in Alice Springs in July. Aboriginal community leaders, human rights activists and union members and representatives from across the NT and Australia all pledged support. Other early endorsements include the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) NT who cover many Aboriginal workers affected by the Intervention and Aboriginal leaders such as Barbara Shaw and Larissa Behrendt.
We request:-
1. Your public endorsement of the 'Jobs with Justice' statement;
2. A donation of at least $100 to help with the cost of publication.
Please email your endorsement to jobs.w.justice@gmail.com or phone Marlene Hodder from the Intervention Rollback Action Group (Alice Springs) on 08 89525032 or Dave Suttle 0407 209 520 from the Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS).
Please forward your donation to:
Intervention Rollback Action Group
PO Box 8488
Alice Springs
NT 0871
Or by direct deposit to:
Bendigo Community Bank
A/c Name: Intervention Rollback Action Gr.
BSB No: 633-000
A/c No: 134 157 049
Please send a notice to jobs.w.justice@gmail.com when you have made a donation.
Many thanks for your ongoing support.
in solidarity,
Intervention Rollback Action Group Alice Springs
Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney
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Statement to be launched with protest rallies on October 29:
Stop the NT Intervention - Jobs with Justice for Aboriginal workers
Worse than Workchoices
The NT Intervention promised to deliver ‘real jobs’ for Aboriginal communities. Instead, thousands of waged jobs have been lost and Aboriginal organisations have been crippled as Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) close down.
Under the new CDEP scheme designed by the federal Labor government, Aboriginal people no longer receive wages. They are being forced to work providing vital services such as rubbish collection, school bus runs, sewerage maintenance, construction and aged care in exchange for quarantined Centrelink payments.
People are compelled to work 16 hours a week for $115 cash, plus $115 credit on a ‘BasicsCard’ which can only be used on ‘priority items’ in government approved stores. Aboriginal workers have described this as a return to the "ration days", when they were paid in food instead of cash.
Centrelink is threatening to cut off payments entirely if people do not participate. Unclear guidelines and the vulnerable position of many workers have seen cases of people working 30 hrs or more for no extra money. This is far worse than anything the Liberals inflicted on workers under Workchoices.
The Labor government committed to halving the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in a decade. But due to a continuation of Howard era policies such as the Intervention, Indigenous unemployment has drastically worsened from 13.8% in 2007 to 18.1% in 2009.
500 ‘real jobs’ created to replace some of the lost CDEP positions in remote NT shire councils face the axe next year. The Commonwealth is refusing to guarantee ongoing funding of $8.5 million per year needed by the NT government to keep the jobs. Many Aboriginal communities serviced by these shires already suffer atrocious living conditions – 500 more job losses will be devastating.
The NT Intervention shames Australia. Despite recent amendments, the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) ruled in August that Intervention legislation provides clear evidence of "embedded racism" against Aboriginal people. The UNCERD report said living conditions had deteriorated for Aboriginal people under the Intervention through loss of land, property, employment, legal rights and opportunities for cultural development.
Rather than abandon failed policy, the government is planning to spend $350 million (over 4 years) to expand income management across the NT. This money is desperately needed to create real jobs in Aboriginal communities and ensure the provision of basic services.
The government must act immediately to:
- Guarantee the 500 threatened Shire jobs
- End compulsory income management
- End current CDEP arrangements forcing people to work for the BasicsCard
- Turn all CDEP positions into fully waged jobs
- Provide massive investment in job creation and service provision in all Aboriginal communities.
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2. Mark Fordham Jobs with Justice Speaking tour 16th -30th October
Mark Fordham will be available in Sydney between 16th and 30th October and would be happy to talk to unionists, workplaces and organisations throughout that time. To organise a meeting call: Emma: 0488 208 235 or Feiyi: 0416 121 616
Mark Fordham is a proud Aboriginal man and LHMU member from the NT who
was sacked by the Barkly Shire Council in April 2010 after taking a
strong stand for his people.
Mark had been the Works Manager at Ampilatwatja, a small Aboriginal
community which suffers from a chronic lack of basic resources and
services. Through the NT Intervention the community has been stripped
of assets, lost control of their lands and seen the majority of
municipal workers laid off.
Mark spoke out publicly when management at the Barkly Shire refused to
provide resources to deal with continual septic overflows at
Ampilatwatja. Mark refused orders for local staff to dump septic,
uncovered at the local tip, less than one kilometre from the
Ampilatwatja school.
Mark will speak about the devastating impact that massive job losses
through the NT Intervention have had on communities. He will also talk
about experiences of the Labor government's new Community Development
Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme which is forcing Aboriginal people
to work long hours for their Centrelink payments, half of which are
'quarantined' onto a BasicsCard. In some cases, people are receiving
less than $4 cash per hour.
Mark is a passionate advocate for an end to racist policy and the
creation of properly resourced employment programs for Aboriginal
people that vitally necessary to help drive community development in
Australia's most impoverised communities.
Mark Fordham addressing the Defending Indigenous Rights Conference in Alice Springs July 2010.
3. October 29th Rally midday Town Hall - demand Jobs with Justice
October 29th is a national day of action to launch the Jobs with Justice Statement. In Sydney a protest will demonstrate opposition to this treatment of Aboriginal workers. Please help us build a strong demonstration by attending the rally and organising for others from your workplace or organisation to attend with banners and flags.
Friday October 29th, 12 midday, Sydney Town Hall steps
Speakers include:
Mark Fordham, LHMU member and former Works Manager at Ampilatwatja community NT
Lee Rhiannon, NSW Greens Senator elect.
The government must act immediately to:
- Guarantee the 500 threatened Shire jobs
- End compulsory income management
- End current CDEP arrangements forcing people to work for the BasicsCard
- Turn all CDEP positions into fully waged jobs
- Provide massive investment in job creation and service provision in all Aboriginal communities.
4. Get involved in the campaign
STICS and supporting unions are working hard to put an end to the injustices being perpetrated against Aboriginal people under the NT intervention. We need your help and support!
- If you are able to contribute to organising meetings, please come - we meet every Monday night at 6pm at the Federation Conference Centre - level 1, 33 Mary St Surry Hills.
- If you can distribute posters or flyers around your area please call Cathy: 0422 385 852
- If you can organise a meeting with Mark Fordham in your area please call Emma: 0488 208 235 or Feiyi: 0416 121 616
For more information go to www.stoptheintervention.org
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Jean
0449 646 593