Leaders representing 8,000 Aboriginal people have launched a campaign against federal government intervention in the Northern Territory.
The statement by the Yolngu Nations Assembly representing Arnhem Land people calls on traditional leaders to refuse approval for exploration licences. Spokesman Djungadjunga Yunupingu said his peoples' experience with the intervention is that it has not been beneficial.
The declaration is a result of the first Yolngu Nations Assembly which bought together clan leaders from across Arnhem Land.
Click here for the statement.
To the Leaders of the Australian Federal and Northern Territory Parliaments:
1. The Yolŋu Nations reject the Stronger Futures Bill (and those associated) and call on the Senate to discard these Bills in full. We have clearly informed you that we do not support the legislation.
The Australian Federal Government can achieve all its aims through partnership in our communities. They have no need to grant themselves the continued and new powers contained within these Bills.
2. Until the Stronger Futures Bill (and those associated) are thrown out of the Australian Federal Parliament, the Yolŋu Nations call on all traditional owners across the Northern Territory to refuse:
a) participation in land lease negotiations with the Australian Federal Government, and
b) approval for any exploration licenses
3. The traditional owners (T.Os) of prescribed community lands have been placed under extreme pressure from the Australian Federal Government to grant them head leases over these communities. T.Os want independently facilitated negotiations that can result in enhancing the interests of both the T.Os and the Australian Federal Government.
4. The Land Councils are increasingly being pressured by Government to act outside their roles and become agencies of Government. We want our Land Councils to advocate for our needs and not have their independence curtailed by Government funding arrangements and political interference.
The Yolŋu Nations call on the Australian Federal Parliament to ask the Auditor General for a review of the relationship between the Australian Federal Government and the Land Councils of the Northern Territory.
5. The Yolŋu Nations call on both the Australian Federal and Northern Territory Governments to end their interventionist policies and agendas, and return to a mindset of partnership based on the principles of Self-Determination.
6. The Yolŋu Nations call on the Northern Territory Government to reform the structures of local government (the Shires) to better reflect Yolŋu and 1st People’s government structures which will provide a more locally based and accessible form of local government.
7. The Yolŋu Nations call for an end to the Northern Territory Government’s Working Futures policy. For the sustainable social and economic development of our society Homelands need to be considered equal to communities that were former mission and government settlements.
8. The Yolŋu Nations call for an end to the Northern Territory Government’s Compulsory Teaching in English for the First Four Hours of Each School Day policy. To be successful we need education with instruction in our Yolŋu languages through all levels of schooling.
Djirrkaymirr Rev. Dr. Djiniyini Gondarra
Spokesperson Yolŋuw Makarr Dhuni
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Sydney launch of “NT Consultations Report 2011: By Quotations”
Graeme Mundine and Amy McQuire will launch NT Consultations Report 2011: By Quotations on Friday the 4th May in Chippendale.
A sequel to the highly regarded publications This is What We Said and Walk With Us this book gives voice to the views of Aboriginal people living under the Northern Territory Intervention. Between June and August 2011 the Australian Government conducted Stronger Futures Consultations in Northern Territory communities. These were held with the stated purpose of finding out what worked and what didn’t work under the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER), commonly called the Intervention.
The Government then proposed “Stronger Futures” legislation which purports to reflect the wishes of Aboriginal Peoples as expressed through these consultations. No official recordings were taken of those consultations.
NT Consultations Report 2011: By Quotations is a record of what was said by Aboriginal people at the consultations. It is based on 10 consultations from different parts of the Northern Territory – Mutitjulu, Kintore, Alice Springs Town Camps, Yuendumu, Bagot Community, Maningrida, Galiwin’ku, Yirrkala and two Public Meetings in Darwin and Alice Springs. There is surprising consistency of views across all the transcripts giving us a direct understanding into what Aboriginal people have asked of Government, including their desire for an end to the Intervention. The related Bills have passed through the Lower House and are now before the Senate.
Amy McQuire is the Editor of Tracker Magazine. Graeme Mundine is the Executive Officer of the ACM Sydney Archdiocese.
This event is organised by ‘concerned Australians’. The full transcripts have also been made public at www.concernedaustralians.com.au.
Date: Friday, 4 May 2012
Time: 5.30 for 6.00pm start
Venue: Amnesty International’s NSW Action Centre, Level 1, 79 Myrtle Street, Chippendale