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Having recently returned to Vic from two years with my family in the NT I could not add anything to this debate that has not been articulated so fluently by Karranjal John Hartley on this site, so I'll just quote from him because we need to keep hearing it: “The four consistent and most effective tools in addressing a return to wellness in Indigenous communities across the globe, from my observation, are: empowerment, choice, positive role modelling, and spiritual re-generation rooted in a core foundation of cultural values beliefs and practices. Community support infrastructures and long-term funding allocation must underpin, mirror and enhance these four fundamental elements and cultural foundation, as they are the very things from which many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been uprooted and alienated from. The recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991), Bringing Them Home report (1997) and Little Children Are Sacred report (2007) to name a few, are yet to be fully embraced and/or implemented. Racist law cannot and must not be allowed to stand in this country. We can abolish the NT Emergency Response legislation and at the same time begin the process of a positive consensual return to wellness within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in a just and dignified way that empowers and brings effective and lasting community/cultural cohesion and harm to no one (Karranjal John Hartley, South Australia 1/12/07).”
All I can say is "hear hear" and let's all take our share of the responsibility to act and not squander the opportunity open to us now we have seen off the Howard era.
Celia Pollard, Vic, 12th December 2007
Good luck and a warriors strength and wisdom. We need people such as you to help us find a voice and direction.
Gerard Toohey, NSW, 12th December 2007
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