Newsletter date: 9 January 2013
Contents:
* Tracker: Canadian PM to talk with Aboriginal leaders following hunger strike
* CBC News Canada: 9 questions about Idle No More
* Background to the Aboriginal sovereignty movement
* Tracker: Concern at high Indigenous youth jail rate
* Background to Aboriginal imprisonment and Deaths in Custody
* Tracker: Doubts over income quarantine in APY Lands
* Background to Income Management for APY Lands in South Australia
* Kathy Marks, The National: Billionaire mining magnate accused of dividing indigenous communities
* Background to the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC)
* NIRS: Sam Watson says Mabo Day a better day for national celebration
* Background to Mabo and Native Title
* ABC Video: Calls to pardon hanged Aboriginal man
* 'Stronger Futures' Legislation related articles
* Other articles
* TRACKER: CANADIAN PM TO TALK WITH ABORIGINAL LEADERS FOLLOWING HUNGER STRIKE
- News
newsTracker: Canadian PM to talk with Aboriginal leaders following hunger strike
http://tracker.org.au/2013/01/canadian-pm-to-talk-with-aboriginal-leader...
7 Jan 13: "CANADA: Canada’s prime minister has agreed to talks with Indigenous leaders as a hunger strike by one native chief, demanding improvements to squalid living conditions on reserves, enters its fourth week. ... Following complaints of poor results from last year’s summit, this new round of talks will focus on Indigenous treaty rights and economic development in impoverished native communities, Harper’s office said. "We see this as a good first step," Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said of Harper’s offer to meet."
See:
About Tracker
http://tracker.org.au/about-us/
"Tracker magazine is a publication of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Australia’s largest Aboriginal organisation."
* CBC NEWS CANADA: 9 QUESTIONS ABOUT IDLE NO MORE
- News
CBC News Canada: 9 questions about Idle No More
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/01/04/f-idlenomore-faq.html?cmp...
5 Jan 13: "What's the goal of the Idle No More protests?
The movement says it wants to "stop the Harper government from passing more laws and legislation that will further erode treaty and indigenous rights and the rights of all Canadians." The mission statement reads, "Idle No More calls on all people to join in a revolution which honors and fulfils Indigenous sovereignty which protects the land and water." The Idle No More Facebook group, which has about 45,000 members, says its purpose is "to support and encourage grassroots to create their own forums to learn more about Indigenous rights and our responsibilities to our Nationhood via teach-ins, rallies and social media.""
* BACKGROUND TO THE ABORIGINAL SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT:
Last updated: 4 January 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/22/background-to-the-aboriginal-sovereig...
* TRACKER: CONCERN AT HIGH INDIGENOUS YOUTH JAIL RATE
- News
newsTracker: Concern at high Indigenous youth jail rate
http://tracker.org.au/2013/01/concern-at-high-indigenous-youth-jail-rate/
7 Jan 13: "NEW SOUTH WALES: The number of Aboriginal children being jailed is soaring at an alarming rate, figures show. More than 250 Indigenous youth in northwestern NSW have been sentenced to juvenile prison terms during the past five years compared with only 12 non-Aboriginal children, The Australian newspaper reported on Saturday. Figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show the national rate of Aboriginal juvenile incarceration has risen to 31 times the non-Indigenous rate, up from 27 times in 2008."
See:
About Tracker
http://tracker.org.au/about-us/
"Tracker magazine is a publication of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Australia’s largest Aboriginal organisation."
- Related News
Australian: Kids prefer jail to abuse at home, says magistrate Roger Clisdell
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/kids-prefer-...
8 Jan 13: "ABORIGINAL children in outback NSW are deliberately committing crimes so that they can be sent to jail to escape "constant and brutal domestic violence", according to a serving magistrate who has decried a critical lack of sentencing options for some of the nation's most disadvantaged children. Roger Clisdell has taken the extraordinary step of publicly highlighting the social catastrophe he sees unfolding daily in his courtroom in response to suggestions that country magistrates were punishing Aboriginal children with harsher sentences than city-based offenders."
Australian: Juveniles missing shot at bail
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/juveniles-mi...
8 Jan 13: "JUDICIAL officers across the nation are concerned there is a major under-utilisation of bail for juvenile offenders, with indigenous children missing out the most. In Western Australia young Aborigines are disproportionately denied bail, but in Queensland, the Northern Territory, NSW and Victoria - as well as WA - there is growing concern from magistrates and others about the lack of granting of bail."
Australian: Funding crisis for juvenile justice
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/funding-crisis-fo...
8 Jan 13: "THE nation's children's court system is damaged, starved of resources and handing out sentences that vary widely depending on where children live. The first national study of the country's children's courts, based on hundreds of interviews with magistrates, other judicial officers and a range of stakeholders, has called for an overhaul of the system."
Australian: Call for review of juvenile sentencing
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/call-for-rev...
7 Jan 13: "CRIMINAL lawyers are calling for an urgent review into consistency in sentencing following the release of statistics that show juvenile jail terms are handed out most frequently in NSW by magistrates in country towns, overwhelmingly to Aboriginal offenders. The NSW Hunter and mid-north coast regions topped the list for the number of juvenile jail terms, followed by the northern and northwestern regions, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures showed."
Australian: Black justice: bun theft worth a year's jail
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/black-ju...
7 Jan 13: "AN Aboriginal boy found guilty of stealing a packet of hamburger buns was sentenced to 12 months' jail in the NSW town of Parkes - an action that has sparked calls for a review of haphazard and inconsistent sentencing patterns. Sam Davies had a virtually clean criminal record when he appeared before a Parkes magistrate to deny the larceny charge, but it was not enough to prevent a sentence that stands as one of the harshest recorded in NSW in the past five years."
Australian: Jailed for a gram of dope, Boney struggles to stay free
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/jailed-for-a...
5 Jan 13: "HE was never far from trouble and the police were never far behind. Yet when he was handed a juvenile jail sentence of 12 months for possessing hardly more than a gram of marijuana with a street value of about $10, Laurence Boney, then 17, was stunned."
* BACKGROUND TO ABORIGINAL IMPRISONMENT AND DEATHS IN CUSTODY:
Last updated: 21 December 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/12/17/background-to-aboriginal-imprisonment...
* TRACKER: DOUBTS OVER INCOME QUARANTINE IN APY LANDS
- News
newsTracker: Doubts over income quarantine in APY Lands
http://tracker.org.au/2013/01/doubts-over-income-quarantine-in-apy-lands/
8 Jan 13: "SOUTH AUSTRALIA: A scheme to manage welfare payments has stirred concern and confusion among remote Indigenous communities in South Australia, government documents show. Documents obtained under freedom of information show federal officials held consultations on income management with communities in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in May last year, alongside talks on a regional partnership agreement. Internal correspondence between Department of Indigenous Affairs (FAHCSIA) officials says "communities are getting confused with the volume of information we are presenting"."
See:
About Tracker
http://tracker.org.au/about-us/
"Tracker magazine is a publication of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Australia’s largest Aboriginal organisation."
- Related News
ABC: Locals welcome remote welfare scheme
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-08/big-response-to-welfare-management...
8 Jan 13: "More than 260 people on remote Aboriginal lands in South Australia's outback volunteered for a Federal welfare management scheme in its first three months. Under the $3.8 million scheme, people on the APY Lands can volunteer to have 50 per cent of their income quarantined for food and household bills. The money is transferred to a BasicsCard and can only be spent on necessities."
* BACKGROUND TO INCOME MANAGEMENT FOR APY LANDS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA:
APY Lands: Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (remote N-W of South Australia)
Last updated: 30 December 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/09/14/background-to-income-management-for-a...
* KATHY MARKS, THE NATIONAL: BILLIONAIRE MINING MAGNATE ACCUSED OF DIVIDING INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
- News
The National: Billionaire mining magnate accused of dividing indigenous communities
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/asia-pacific/billionaire-mining-mag...
8 Jan 13: "SYDNEY // One of Australia's richest men, the multi-billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest, who has committed himself to improving the lives of Aboriginal people, has been accused of dividing indigenous communities and paying off traditional owners to secure cut-price access to their land. Mr Forrest, whose Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) mines iron ore in the resource-rich Pilbara region of north-western Australia, has been trying for years to strike a deal with one of the local tribal groups, the Yindjibarndi people." Kathy Marks
* BACKGROUND TO THE YINDJIBARNDI ABORIGINAL CORPORATION (YAC):
Last updated: 16 December 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/11/27/background-to-the-yindjibarndi-aborig...
* NIRS: SAM WATSON SAYS MABO DAY A BETTER DAY FOR NATIONAL CELEBRATION
- News
National Indigenous Radio Service: Sam Watson says Mabo Day a better day for national celebration
http://www.nirs.org.au/news/latest-news/7719-sam-watson-says-mabo-day-a-...
7 Jan 13: "Prominent Murri rights advocate Sam Watson has called for an alternative date for a national celebration day. Australia Day is currently celebrated on the 26th of January. Mr. Watson says the occasion has been largely marked by Indigenous Australians with a day to protest the start of European colonial occupation in 1788. ... "We've put forward alternative dates, such as June the 3rd. June 3rd, 1992, was the day in which the Mabo decision was handed down in the High Court of Australia. ... ""
See:
About the National Indigenous Radio Service
http://www.nirs.org.au/about-us
"The National Indigenous Radio Service Limited (NIRS) is a national service provided from a hub station residing in Brisbane. It networks material for Indigenous media organisations that don't have the staffing or capital requirements to provide a 24-hour high quality broadcast to their audience."
* BACKGROUND TO MABO AND NATIVE TITLE:
Last updated: 1 January 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/07/02/background-to-mabo-and-native-title
* ABC VIDEO: CALLS TO PARDON HANGED ABORIGINAL MAN
- Video
ABC: Calls to pardon hanged Aboriginal man
Source: 7pm TV News QLD
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-05/calls-to-pardon-hanged-aboriginal-...
7 Jan 13: "Indigenous activists hold a smoking ceremony in Brisbane's Post Office Square to call for an official pardon for an Aboriginal man hanged there more than 150 years ago."
- Event
Event: Sat 5 January 2013: Post Office Square, Brisbane, Qld
Dundalli Remembrance
Resistance leader for his land, people and culture - executed 1855
All welcome!
Facebook: Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy
Event details: [scroll down page] http://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/
* 'STRONGER FUTURES' LEGISLATION RELATED ARTICLES:
- Audio
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association:
http://caama.com.au/radio#tabs-6
http://caama.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/am-4-1-13.mp3
4 Jan 13: "FORMER Northern Territory Administrator Ted Egan says Australia "returned to the 1950s" with the 2007 Federal Intervention and that a new approach is needed that hands decision-making to Aboriginal communities. Mr Egan says he has never been more despondent about the prospects for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, declaring that after generations of policy failures the worst prophesies are now being fulfilled."
- News
newsTracker: Doubts over income quarantine in APY Lands
http://tracker.org.au/2013/01/doubts-over-income-quarantine-in-apy-lands/
8 Jan 13: "Department notes say people in the Indulkana community of the APY Lands were worried that income management, which was introduced in October, was a "front for other things to come (similar to the NT intervention)". ... An APY Lands leader, Murray George, says community members overwhelmingly rejected proposals to introduce income management and urged the government to focus on issues of funding for communities and homelands. ... Last year, FAHCSIA faced criticism for mishandling consultations with NT communities over plans to extend the intervention program, rebranded Stronger Futures, for another 10 years."
* OTHER ARTICLES:
- Audio
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association:
http://caama.com.au/radio#tabs-6
http://caama.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/am-7-1-13.mp3
7 Jan 13: "* Things that are considered the most important to Aborignal people will not be reflected in any attempts at reconciliaiton unless the wider non indigenous population is prepared to accept the significance of their role as caretakers off country.
* The destruction of two iconic Ghost Gums painted by Central australian artist Albert Namatjira has saddened many people according to the Territory Minister for Indigenous Advancement, Alison Anderson."
- News
National Indigenous Radio Service: CSG sparks heritage and water fears
http://www.nirs.org.au/news/latest-news/7720-csg-sparks-heritage-and-wat...
7 Jan 13: "A voting member of the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council in New South Wales says coal seam gas mining threatens a number of cultural heritage sites in the area. Yuin man Lyle Davis says CSG in the Wollongong area, south of Sydney, has the potential to damage the environment, in particular a number of waterways. Mr. Davis says a clever man, or kuradji, buried at Sandon Point is an example of a sacred site that shouldn't be damaged."
National Indigenous Radio Service: Labor warned to lift its game at national level
http://www.nirs.org.au/news/latest-news/7718-labor-warned-to-lift-its-ga...
7 Jan 13: "A former Labor candidate for South Australia and Aboriginal rights campaigner says the ALP is in danger of losing a large amount of Indigenous votes at a national level. Tauto Sansbury from Adelaide has slammed the Labor Government in SA for not addressing issues in the state relating to Indigenous people. He says he's quit the ALP, but hasn't yet decided which party is the best to improve the situation of Aboriginal South Australians."
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