Newsletter date: 23 September 2012
Contents:
* Kalkaringi, Daguragu and Lajamanu residents and traditional owners:
Shires out, stop the Intervention - community control now!
* ABC: Sydney work bans on welfare quarantine scheme
* Bob Gosford: Was the 2012 Northern Territory election the dirtiest ever?
* Brian Johnstone: ALP alleges vote rorts in August poll
* Background to 'Stronger Futures' new NT Intervention laws
* Background to the Northern Territory (NT) Intervention
* KALKARINGI, DAGURAGU AND LAJAMANU RESIDENTS AND TRADITIONAL OWNERS:
SHIRES OUT, STOP THE INTERVENTION - COMMUNITY CONTROL NOW!
- Statement
Statement from community meeting of Kalkaringi, Daguragu and Lajamanu residents and traditional owners
Shires out, stop the Intervention - community control now!
Rollback the Intervention: http://rollbacktheintervention.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kalkaringi-st...
Sovereign Union: http://nationalunitygovernment.org/node/387
17 Sep 12: "People from communities of Kalkaringi, Lajamanu and Daguragu are today demanding that the Victoria Daly Shire and Central Desert Shire leave our communities immediately. We also want the Government Business Manager from the Intervention to leave our land now. They have no legal right to be here and are unwanted.
We want our community council to come back. We can run our own affairs and are sick of being bossed around by government and outsiders. Our communities have had so much damage done to them since 2007.
We will not be signing any more leases - this is Aboriginal land that we fought hard for and we must be in control. We also need our permit system back so we can control who comes into our land. Aboriginal law must be respected. This land was given to the Gurindji people in 1975 with the words, "in perpetuity" - forever. But this has been taken away.
All the jobs we used to have before the Intervention cut CDEP must come back. Since the Intervention and Shire there are hardly any jobs for anyone and people aren't getting looked after properly. ... "
- Related News
Koori Mail: NT communities want control back
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php
18 Sep 12: "ABORIGINAL people from the Kalkaringi, Lajamanu and Daguragu communities in the Northern Territory have called on government business managers to leave their communities, as well as representatives from Victoria Daly Shire and Central Desert Shire. They say they will not sign any leases over their lands and want their community councils reinstated and the permit system reintroduced."
ABC: More communities refuse to sign leases
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-18/more-communities-refuse-to-sign-le...
18 Sep 12: "First Nations Political Party founder Maurie Japarta Ryan says three more Northern Territory communities are refusing to sign new federal leases over their land. Two communities have already refused the leases, designed by the Federal Government to replace the five-year compulsory leases introduced under the Northern Territory intervention. Mr Ryan says residents in Kalkaringi, Lajamanu and Daguragu want Shire workers to leave immediately."
Koori Mail: Ampilatwatja says no
[scroll down page] http://www.koorimail.com/index.php?page=Current+Edition
19 Sep 12: "TRADITIONAL owners at Ampilatwatja in the Northern Territory have spurned overtures from the Federal Government, saying they’re not interested in an offer of $3.7 million in refurbishments - but no new houses - in exchange for a 40-year lease over community housing. They’ve told the Government to pull its government business manager (GBM) out of the community and either hand over or remove related assets. Spokesman Richard Downs said on Saturday that his Alyawarr people were sick of Federal promises and inadequate consultation. "It’s a one-way street. They (Federal Labor) are not consulting or listening to us," Mr Downs told the Koori Mail."
* ABC: SYDNEY WORK BANS ON WELFARE QUARANTINE SCHEME
- News
ABC: Sydney work bans on welfare quarantine scheme
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-19/sydney-work-bans-on-welfare-quaran...
19 Sep 12: "Child protection workers in the Bankstown area of Sydney's south west are refusing to co-operate with the Federal Government's controversial welfare quarantining measures. Bankstown is one of five sites across the country where the Federal Government is trialing a variation of the Northern Territory intervention by quarantining the income of some families to ensure the money is spent on basics. But child protection workers in Bankstown have imposed union bans on the scheme and have refused to refer any potential candidates to Centrelink."
- Related Statement
Solidarity Needed for Union action against Income Management
Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-Intervention-Collective-Sydney/10...
Sydney Wobblies: http://www.facebook.com/iwwsydney
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=431166080254710&id=754...
10 Sep 12: "Public Service Association (PSA) members in Western Sydney at the Bankstown, Lakemba and Fairfield Community Services Centres (formerly known as DoCS offices) are implementing union bans on participating in income management and any activities relating to its implementation. Income management is part of the Northern Territory Intervention which is now being rolled out to 5 trial sites across Australia. It is widely viewed as discriminatory and paternalistic. The campaign against income management in Bankstown has been lead by the Bankstown Say No Government Income Management Campaign Coalition and supported by the Stop the Intervention Collective and over 65 local organisations, unions and faith groups, and by the NSW ALP."
* BOB GOSFORD: WAS THE 2012 NORTHERN TERRITORY ELECTION THE DIRTIEST EVER?
- Analysis / Opinion
Crikey - The Northern Myth - Bob Gosford in the NT: Was the 2012 Northern Territory election the dirtiest ever?
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2012/09/17/was-the-2012-northern-ter...
17 Sep 12: "There is now a very real question as to whether the Northern Territory general election on 25 August 2012 – and in the bush mobile polling booths in the fortnight prior – was the dirtiest election we’ve seen in the NT’s short self-governing history. As I wrote about past elections here the day before this years poll: Both sides of politics have played that ugly game, but the Country Liberals played it better than Labor." By Bob Gosford. About Bob Gosford: "After three years of living in the small township of Yuendumu I live 300 kilometres away in suburban Alice Springs - for now at least."
- Related Analysis / Opinion
Solidarity: Country Liberals cynically tap anger at Intervention to topple Labor in the NT
http://www.solidarity.net.au/49/country-liberals-cynically-tap-anger-at-...
September 2012: "The Country Liberals (CLP) have swept to power in the Northern Territory elections, ... The CLP ran a cynical, yet devastatingly effective campaign in bush electorates. Their election platform here had two components, both central demands of the campaign against the NT Intervention. First, the break-up of the hated Super Shire councils, which the Henderson Labor government introduced in 2008. ... Second, an end to the "Working Futures" policy which has seen investment focussed on 20 "growth towns", at the expense of the hundreds of smaller communities and outstations on Aboriginal land." Paddy Gibson
See:
WGAR News: Aboriginal issues and the Northern Territory (NT) Elections (5 Sep 12)
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/09/05/wgar-news-aboriginal-issues-and-the-n...
* BRIAN JOHNSTONE: ALP ALLEGES VOTE RORTS IN AUGUST POLL
- News
newsTracker: ALP alleges vote rorts in August poll
http://tracker.org.au/2012/09/alp-alleges-vote-rorts-in-august-poll/
19 Sep 12: "NORTHERN TERRITORY: The Australian Labor Party is calling for a full independent Judicial Inquiry into allegations that NT Electoral Commission officials were instructing people to vote for its Country Liberal opponents in at least two remote polling booths at the August 25 election which saw the Henderson Government lose power. NT Opposition Leader Delia Lawrie says the party has obtained 10 signed Statutory Declarations which allege a named NT Electoral Commission official was instructing people to vote for the CLP inside a polling booth at Wadeye, the Territory’s largest Aboriginal community. ... " By Brian Johnstone, a Walkley and Human Rights award winning journalist
See:
WGAR News: Aboriginal issues and the Northern Territory (NT) Elections (5 Sep 12)
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/09/05/wgar-news-aboriginal-issues-and-the-n...
* BACKGROUND TO 'STRONGER FUTURES' NEW NT INTERVENTION LAWS:
Last updated: 7 September 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/22/background-to-stronger-futures-new-nt...
* BACKGROUND TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT) INTERVENTION:
Last updated: 1 August 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/22/background-to-the-northern-territory-...
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