Govt Still 'Disregarding' Stolen Generations Report
Jennifer Macey, PM, ABC Radio | 28 September 2007
A forum being held in Sydney to mark 10 years since the release of the 'Bringing Them Home Report' on the Stolen Generations has heard that governments are still ignoring the report's key recommendations.
Speakers have pointed to the Federal Government's intervention in the Northern Territory as a prime example of politician's disregard for the report.
Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma says the intervention is a missed opportunity.
"If we measure it up against the 'Bringing Them Home Report' and other reports I think we'll find that it's wanting," he said.
"One of the key elements that's missing in all this is engagement with Indigenous people to be able to actively involve us in the process."
The forum has also heard that time is running out for members of the Stolen Generations to receive compensation.
Des Donley, now in his 70s [sic, actually 90s], told the forum of how he was taken from his Aboriginal mother as a child and put to work on a cattle station, but never received any wages.
"My fight is everybody's fight. I'm going to go out and see that people get justice," he said.
Commissioner Calma says the successful compensation case of Bruce Trevorrow in South Australia last month shows attitudes towards reparations are starting to change despite governments being too slow to adopt recommendations set by the 'Bringing Them Home Report'.
Read the full transcript
Audio: Stolen Generations compared to plight with recent Indigenous violence (PM)
Approval Of Radioactive Waste Facility Site Nomination
27 September 2007
The Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, has accepted the Northern Land Council's nomination of land as a potential site for the Commonwealth radioactive waste management facility.
The nominated site is on Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek.
The Northern Land Council made the nomination following its endorsement by the full council meeting held at Gulkula on 25 May 2007.
"After consideration of the evidence presented to me by the Northern Land Council I am satisfied that the Council's decision to nominate the land accords with the wishes of the traditional Aboriginal owners of that land," Minister Bishop said.
"I am also satisfied that other Aboriginal groups potentially affected by the nomination have had adequate opportunity to express their views to the Northern Land Council."
Detailed assessment of the nominated site's physical and biological environment will now be conducted.
Such assessments have already been carried out on the three other potential sites on Defence land at Harts Range, Mt Everard and Fishers Ridge in the Northern Territory.
The Australian Government will make a decision on a preferred site for the facility at the conclusion of the site assessment study at Muckaty Station.
The preferred site will then undergo assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Licences to site, construct and operate the Facility will also need to be sought from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).
 |
Indigenous Doctors Call For More Community Consultation
ABC News | 30 September 2007
The Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA) says the Federal Government should consult more with Aboriginal people on its intervention into Northern Territory communities.
The doctors met in Adelaide yesterday.
The association's discussions yesterday centred on how to involve Aboriginal people more in the federal intervention health strategies.
AIDA's president Tamara Mackean says a strong theme at the symposium was how to ensure more community involvement in designing the strategies.
"If a person doesn't have control over their life, then that is a negative impact on their health and wellbeing," she said.
Dr Mackean says the Federal Government has claimed the international spotlight with its new system of compulsory health checks for Aboriginal children.
The president says her counterparts at the New Zealand Maori Association of Doctors are keenly watching the Australian Government's intervention strategies and analysing them for long-term sustainability.
See: ABC News
Task Force Head 'Pleased' With NT Welfare Rollout
ABC News | 27 September 2007
The operational head of the Commonwealth's emergency response task force says
he is pleased with the initial rollout of welfare changes to Northern Territory
Aboriginal communities.
Last week, four central Australian communities became the first to have half of their
payments quarantined to pay for items such as food and rent.
A further four communities will come on line next Monday.
Major General David Chalmers says Centrelink is working hard to ensure people
understand the changes.
"They've done that through a range of means which have included community
meetings, meetings with the community council, advertising in the radio and
newspaper, both in language and in English and of course letters written to each
individual Centrelink customer, and then finally an interview with each individual
customer," he said.
He also says people failing to meet new work for the dole requirements in some
Northern Territory Aboriginal communities are being dealt with.
Clean-up projects are being carried out in 15 communities under the new
arrangements.
While he can not say how many, Major General Chalmers says he is aware some
people are not meeting their obligations.
"Some people have had their initial interview which occurs if they fail to meet their
obligation," he said.
"It's not a 'one strike and you're out' process. There is a process of counselling
people and encouraging them to attend before they reach that point.
"I understand there's three points at which a person is formerly counselled - that
they've failed to meet their obligation before they are then breached."
The welfare reforms will not be fully rolled out in the Territory until next June.
The task force also says only two thirds of children have had free medical checks in
the Aboriginal communities where health teams have been rolled out.
The are 10 medical teams working in seven remote communities at present.
Major General Chalmers says more than 2,400 children have been checked in 34
communities.
See: ABC News
Media Release - Yolngu Leaders Respond To MOU Between Mr Yunupingu & Mal Brough
Click here to read the media release
Retrenched Factory Fodder & Public Servants Better Off Than CDEP Rejects
Henri Ivrey, Crikey | September 25, 2007
Three contrasting circumstances sum up why it's much harder to survive in the
workforce if you are Aboriginal these days. Sacked factory workers, Aboriginal
workers and public servants fare quite differently in the brave new world of the
federal intervention.
The news a couple of months ago that 600 car workers were to be made redundant
at Ford's Geelong factory saw admirable responses from both state and national
governments. The redundancies won't hit until 2010, but already $24 million has
been set aside so the workers can slip easily back into the workforce.
The then Victorian premier told reporters "we will stand by Geelong, we'll stand by
the workforce, we'll assist and support the workforce." This was echoed by federal
industry minister, Ian Macfarlane, with promises to subsidise private enterprise up to
half the costs of moving their operations to Geelong.
Not so lucky the 400-500 CDEP workers employed in Aboriginal art centres in the
Northern Territory. There is increasing evidence that the federal government is quite
happy to let the majority of them lose their jobs, with little more than rhetoric about
"real jobs" to ease the majority from work to welfare.
Despite a unanimous recommendation from this year's Senate inquiry into the
Aboriginal visual arts and crafts sector "that the Commonwealth pursue the
conversion of CDEP-funded positions in art centres into properly funded jobs, taking
an approach similar to the 2007-08 Budget initiative in other portfolio areas", an
increasingly desperate Aboriginal art sector fears the closure of a number of smaller
art centres; a collapse in Aboriginal employment and a growing threat from
carpetbaggers in the industry.
Although there has been some sympathy, lobbying efforts in Canberra by arts
representative bodies such as Desart and the Association for Northern Kimberly and
Arnhem Aboriginal Artists (ANKAAA) have been frustrated by widespread hostility
from key ministers such as Mal Brough, Joe Hockey and Sharman Stone towards
anything that smacks of CDEP in the post-intervention world.
According to one source: "CDEP (in the context of the arts) is dead-it stinks in
Canberra. Any mention of CDEP in the Northern Territory is unacceptable in
Canberra
(some speak) with vilification and poison on the CDEP issue".
Already, with wind backs in town-based CDEP programs around Australia, some
smaller art centres in South Australia have folded, and unless the issue of
employment in the art centres is resolved, it is likely other centres, especially in
central Australia, will collapse. Western Australian art centres have been told they
will be next.
And the plethora of government bureaucrats from DEWR now running around the
bush in the Territory have done nothing to alleviate the worries. Despite public
assurances from Dr Sharman Stone that no one would be "demoted", and that "real
jobs" would be available in viable employment areas, workers at a number of central
Australian art centres have been told that CDEP art centre administrators would be
transferred to Work for the Dole-and not into real jobs.
As ANKAA chairman Richard Birrinbirrin pointed out last month:
Nearly all of our art centre workers and artists rely on CDEP payments which
have supported jobs in art centres for the past 20 years. Due to years of under-
funding of Indigenous education, many or our people are not [mainstream] job ready
and some never will be. They do have meaningful work though; their job is the
expression and teaching of our culture. They are artists.
Keringke Arts at Santa Theresa faces a bleak future in which their moves into
national and international marketing of the work of their artists will soon "not be
possible". According to Judy Lovell from Keringke:
Thus far this year Keringke Arts has hosted over 300 community visits from
buyers, one International Austrade collectors' tour, a university student group of 25
from USA for a cultural visit to Keringke Rockhole, as well as servicing a healthy
wholesale business in ceramics. The men have begun their leatherwork enterprise
and have undertaken successful introductory training in this area. They were due to
begin a six month course in leather goods production. Preliminary talks, a site visit
and plans have been held with art buying air tours from Victoria, and several local
tour companies. Cultural and horseback tours were planned to begin in 2008. The
RIBs broadcasting was going to join with the art centre and there were to be trainees
placed in broadcasting and recording. The Ltyentye Apurte Band was set to record a
second CD. The art centre has invested heavily towards being able to build a
stronger on-site sales point at the community. We are producing two high quality
arts publications this year, one is bi-lingual.
These activities will not be possible given the proposed changes from CDEP to
Work for the dole, which does not recognize the enterprise or the enterprise
activities of the art centre. We will lose our enterprise based activities soon after 30
September unless a respite is called immediately to allow time for real succession
planning and consequent transition to a model which does not erode the core art
centre enterprise.
Such stories are causing shock waves through the industry on the ground, one of
the few industries in Australia in which Aboriginal people have a competitive
advantage.
Meanwhile, the real growth in employment is being experienced in the
Commonwealth public service, with an estimated 740 additional public servants
being employed through the "National Emergency". This includes an extra 140
DWER staff to manage the "transition" out of CDEP, backed up by 350 new
Centrelink workers to manage the compulsory quarantining of 50 per cent of welfare
incomes; and 150 new FACSIA staff. There will be around 42 extra staff in Health
and Ageing, and 66 extra federal police.
How many of these are "real jobs" is debatable. Certainly very few, it would appear,
are to be dedicated to family and child protection, the supposed motive for the
National Emergency.
See: Crikey.com.au
Response of Laynhapuy Region Leaders to 99 Year Lease Proposal
Laynhapuy Region Leaders - Media Release | September 25, 2007
Response of Laynhapuy Region Leaders to Memorandum of Understanding between Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Commonwealth of Australia
99 Year Lease Proposal
Laynhapuy leaders in no way wish to interfere in the decisions by the relevant Traditional Owners regarding the use and management of their land at Gunyangara (Ski Beach) and Drimmie Head, we remain very concerned about the approach the Government has pursued in seeking this MoU and moving towards a 99 year lease. It appears to have the potential to set a precedent that could undermine the protection of our rights under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act.
Specifically, we have the following concerns about the process:
- The NLC, under the ALR (NT) Act has responsibility for identifying the relevant TOs for the land which is subject to a proposal. It is not acceptable for the Government to preempt the proper NLC process of assessment to determine who these TOs are. Claims by individuals to Traditional Ownership must in general also be properly verified, although we are in no way questioning Galarrwuy's interest in Ski Beach.
- Meetings between Government officials and individual TOs to strike agreements is unacceptable. All the affected TOs must be afforded the same opportunity through processes under the ALR (NT) Act to receive information, consider proposals, and seek independent legal and financial advice.
- It is not acceptable for the Government or individual TOs to preempt the consultation and consent processes by the relevant TOs collectively, or the decisions of the Full Council and Lands Trust. The signing of such an MOU has effectively put the ALR(NT) Act processes, and other Traditional Owners, under a degree of duress.
- It is unacceptable for the Government to be party to an agreement/MOU which an individual TO has sought to enter into 'on behalf of their clan' - despite an apparent lack of advance knowledge and informed consent by those other clan members.
- As these 99 year leases impact on the 'inalienable freehold' rights of future generations of Yolngu Traditional Owners, the compensation for the loss of these rights (ie. rent) must be structured so that current and future generations during the course of the 99 year lease benefit equitably, and there is not just a windfall for the current TOs.
The Gunyangara (Ski Beach) Traditional Owners will make their own decisions about how to proceed from this point. However, we are very concerned that such processes should not be repeated in other areas, so that the rights of other communities, Traditional Owners and the NLC are not compromised.
We expect the NLC to ensure that the proper processes under the ALR(NT) Act are followed in this and all future matters. If the Government seeks to circumvent these processes we expect the NLC to vigorously contest such moves, including through court action if necessary.
'Mala Leaders Group' to consider the Emergency Intervention
In his article in the Weekend Australian, Mr Yunupingu rightly criticized Minister Brough for inadequate consultation with Yolngu Leaders about the Emergency Intervention. We support Mr Yunupingu in this view but stress that the Government must consult with Yolngu leaders representing all land owning clans - not just a hand-picked few. If the proposal by Mr Yunupingu for the NLC to form a 'Mala Leaders' group for East Arnhem Land proceeds, it must be on the basis that:
- both male and female leadership of all the many clans of the East Arnhem region are represented, including both homelands and major communities
- clans are free to nominate their own leadership without influence from either Government or Mr Yunupingu
- the meetings are convened and chaired independently by the Regional office of the NLC
- the group represents the East Arnhem region only, so it can focus exclusively on the circumstances and interests of Yolngu, and not be influenced by interests outside the region.
- Government and the NLC must recognize that Mr Yunupingu's status in this forum must be as one amongst equals, and not the purported 'leader' of Yolngu people. Future consultation and decision-making about the Emergency Intervention measure and the future of East Arnhem Region must occur through and broad based group of Yolngu leaders truly representative of the land owning clans.
This Media Release is endorsed by senior men and women of the following clans at a meeting at Yirrkala on 25 September 2007, attended by David Farlam, of the NLC Regional Office:
Wangurri Clan
Yarrwidi Gumatj Clan
Djapu Clan
Manggalili Clan
Marakulu Clan
Dhalwangu Clan
See: Nuclear Territory News
Time To Look At The Big Picture Of Indigenous Art World
The Canberra Times | September 24, 2007
Helen Hughes's comments on indigenous artists and the CDEP scheme
("Downtrodden by too much aid", September 19, p21) require a response.
Like most artists in Australia, indigenous artists, mainly residing in remote regions,
cannot survive through their art alone.
Most non-indigenous artists are able to access part-time work to supplement their
incomes. Such opportunity is rarely available to indigenous artists.
A mere handful of the most successful indigenous artists do not require income
support, but the majority do.
And as Hughes, as an economist should know, the way global art markets work only
a fraction of the estimated $300 million of final indigenous visual art sales are ever
paid to artists.
While not all art dealers are exploitative, the community-based indigenous arts
centre model has emerged over the past 35 years as a cost-effective means to
provide a point of brokerage between artists and the market.
I note that Hughes is not advocating for the closure of the Australian ballet or opera
because they are not financially viable.
I also note that Hughes argues, wrongly, that artistic success is linked to moving
away from "homelands".
This is erroneous. Most successful indigenous artists live on or near the land that
they own: their inspiration comes from "painting their country".
Such political and cultural subtleties have clearly eluded Hughes.
Professor Jon Altman, Australian National University
See: The Canberra Times
Changes 'Kill Off Incentive To Work'
The Australian | September 22, 2007
Aboriginal people who hold down casual jobs to supplement their welfare
payments could earn less than $4 an hour under changes introduced as part of the
federal Government's intervention in the Northern Territory.
The changes, according to a group of business leaders including former senior
Macquarie Bank executive Bill Moss, could have a devastating effect on local
indigenous businesses.
Mr Moss has helped a small Aboriginal community, Titjikala, 120km south of Alice
Springs, create a tourism venture that is making a profit and employing large
numbers of locals.
The effects on the town have been dramatic, increasing self-esteem and introducing
entrepreneurial spirit. Mr Moss recently released a green paper outlining an
indigenous economic development scheme based on the encouragement of such
cottage industries across Aboriginal communities.
But he said yesterday the axing of the long-running Community Development and
Employment Program in Aboriginal communities in favour of work-for-the-dole had
placed his scheme and others like it at risk.
The problem is that an Aboriginal person moving from the CDEP scheme to work-
for-the-dole will lose welfare payments when they earn extra money.
Currently an Aboriginal person on CDEP is allowed to earn extra money without
losing any of their $12,500 a year in benefits. But under work-for-the-dole, the same
person will lose up to 70c in the dollar for every extra dollar of income earned.
"This is going to take away theincentive for people to work," Mr Moss told The
Weekend Australian.
The combination of income tax on the extra earnings and the loss of welfare
benefits creates what is known as high effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs).
The Howard Government has long boasted of its record in reducing high EMTRs in
the general community. But warnings from Mr Moss and others about their
introduction into indigenous communities has so far fallen on deaf ears.
Mr Moss said the office of Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough was not interested
in the issue, while Workforce Participation Minister Sharman Stone defended the
policy.
"You can't compare welfare with earned income. A real job is always better than
welfare," she said. "The rules we have in place reflect the Howard Government's
commitment to ensure welfare goes to those in most need. If you earn income it is
reasonable to reduce the amount of welfare you receive."
The Government's reforms are aimed at getting indigenous people off welfare and
into full-time jobs but Mr Moss said the policy doesn't appreciate the need for
fledgling commercial enterprises to begin employing people as casual workers.
Paul Conlon, the managing director of Titjikala's Gunya tourism venture which
provide luxury tent accommodation to well-heeled travellers looking for an authentic
Aboriginal experience, said his workers would normally have worked about 10 hours
a week each for $15 an hour taxed at 30 per cent.
After the same workers were transferred to work-for-the-dole or Newstart payments,
the same amount of work would attract an effective marginal tax rate of 69.8per cent
on the additional income of $150, leaving them a little over $45 in the hand at the
end of each week.
"The federal Government is on the verge of a huge mistake," Mr Moss said. "We're
calling on John Howard to have a major rethink."
Opposition indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said: "The Howard
Government should take these disincentives to work seriously. They need to make
sure that it's worthwhile for Aboriginal people to work."
See: The Australian
How Think Tanks Are Misleading Us On Aboriginal Children's Health
Crikey | September 23, 2007
By Dr David Scrimgeour, lecturer in public health and co-ordinator of Aboriginal
health policy studies at the University of Adelaide
In recent years think-tanks such as the Institute for Public Affairs and the Centre for
Independent Studies, and their associated organisation, the Bennelong Society,
have promoted policy changes in Indigenous affairs. In a CIS-published book, Lands
of Shame, Helen Hughes repeats a common think-tank contention, that Aboriginal
disadvantage is largely confined to remote communities, with the corollary that
moving Aboriginal people away from remote areas would be beneficial.
Bogus health statistics are used to support this contention. Hughes suggests there
is a conspiracy to hide the fact that Aboriginal health is much worse in remote areas,
because the only available statistics are national averages. In fact, the most
accurate statistics available are from remote areas, and are readily available.
She says that a Western Australian survey showed that "remote child health is
worse in every instance than overall Aboriginal child health". This is wrong: it
showed that on many indicators, particularly mental health, remote Aboriginal
children do better than urban Aboriginal children. There is also evidence that the
health of people living in the most remote communities - those currently targeted for
closure - is better than those on larger communities. Hughes ignores this data.
The recent Commonwealth intervention in the Northern Territory includes a raft of
components which appear to have little connection with protecting children. They
were, however, foreshadowed in Hughes' book, published in May, which included
the following recommendations:
* Small communities should be consolidated into "core concentration centres"
* A health audit of all children should be conducted;
* Local government should replace local councils, if necessary under a
government-appointed administrator;
* Communal title should be converted to leasehold;
* Public housing should be privatised, with new houses and funding for
maintenance to go only to those communities with 99-year leases;
* The permit system should be abolished;
* CDEP should be ended;
* Customary law should be ended.
Most of these recommendations have since been implemented, under the guise of
protecting children, despite the fact that they are supported by questionable
scholarship.
A 2005 article in Quadrant by Peter Howson (founder of the Bennelong Society),
reveals much about the real reasons for such recommendations. He says there are
two reasons to reform land rights: the "disintegration of many Aboriginal
communities", and because "the NT has long been regarded ... as a uranium
province of world class, and the prospects of uranium exports worth billions of
dollars is ... a very enticing one".
Is it really for the sake of the children?
This is an edited version of a talk to be given this afternoon at the Public Health
Association of Australia's annual conference in Alice Springs.
See: Crikey
Whose Coup? Canberra & Clan Both Celebrate A Deal
Jo Chandler, The Age | September 20, 2007
It's a powerful image: Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough, casually dressed, at ease and at home with one of the most strident and powerful opponents of his charge into remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, Galarrwuy Yunupingu.
But as the Federal Government celebrated the land rights champion's surprise turnaround as a potent endorsement of its emergency intervention in territory communities over child welfare, other Aboriginal leaders and commentators say the document underwriting the alliance represents a backdown of key elements of the Government strategy.
The proposed 99-year lease remains in the hands of the local community, delivering a coup to the Gumatj clan, and recasting the shape of the intervention.
The memorandum of understanding signed this week by Mr Yunupingu and Mr Brough after a secret meeting in Arnhem Land ¬ brokered by eminent Cape York Aboriginal campaigner and supporter of the intervention, Noel Pearson ¬ ensures that Mr Yunupingu's clan retains control of much of its land at Gunyangara (Ski Beach).
It also recognises the voices of local elders "to remind governments that they are not in control of our lives", as Mr Yunupingu wrote in The Australian yesterday, enlarging on talks which will also deliver unspecified millions of dollars to the community.
Mr Yunupingu described it as a "new model" which put his concerns of a land grab to rest and empowered traditional owners.
Olga Havnen, a prominent territory leader and a member of the new National Aboriginal Alliance ¬ which opposes the intervention ¬ said a key part of the draft deal was that the land-holding entity under the lease would be a local Aboriginal body. "This is a significant shift," she said. "Will those options be available to other people, other communities?"
She also questioned whether the deal would allow the community to bypass some of the emergency response, such as the quarantining of welfare money. A spokesman for Mr Brough said the emergency measures would still apply.
Early last month, at the annual Garma Festival in Arnhem Land, Ms Haven and Mr Yunupingu were among leaders condemning the intervention as a land grab. "I don't want his money. I want my land," he said then. In yesterday's opinion article, Mr Yunupingu said he had changed his position on meeting Mr Brough and being assured they shared a commitment to improving children's lives.
Ms Havnen's analysis of the draft deal was that Mr Yunupingu has kept control of his land ¬ and got the money, though Mr Brough said yesterday there had been "no talk at all of money ¬ this is not about being bought off . this is about what is right for the next generation".
David Dalrymple, a Darwin barrister and expert on Aboriginal land issues, said the Gumatj agreement differed importantly from talks with other communities by not handing over the lease to a government entity. This was critical because under section 71 of the Land Rights Act, indigenous people lose their statutory entitlement to live and practice culture on land leased to a body other than an Aboriginal corporation.
"The beauty of Galarrwuy's deal is that the head lease goes to an Aboriginal corporation, so they retain that entitlement," Mr Dalrymple said. "The other important thing about this deal is that the Gumatj mob themselves are determining what commercial leasing will happen there and in what terms.
"It's the antithesis of the government model. The community in Wadeye had been trying to negotiate something virtually identical before the intervention, and Brough knocked them back.
"Here, Brough has had to eat humble pie. He has surrendered, and what he has got in exchange is a public relations coup."
Mr Brough said the Gumatj deal related to different circumstances because the traditional owners wanted an arrangement that would allow them to "unleash the value" of landholdings beyond the township. Such an arrangement was "available to anyone in the territory".
Professor Mick Dodson, a senior Aboriginal leader, said of the draft deal: "The problem I have is that this doesn't appear to be a sound public policy approach ¬ reacting to criticism in this way. It's bad policy . The precedent is now set. Jump up and down, and the Government will come in and bring some prominent Aboriginal people who agree with them to talk to you and to do a deal with you to keep you quiet. Is that how it works?
"Galarrwuy has been one of the most strident and outspoken critics of the intervention, particularly this aspect of it ¬ the leases," Professor Dodson said. "It must be a large inducement to turn his view around."
Of the intervention, he said "there seem to be major problems arising each day. And this is symptomatic of bad planning, and planning on the run."
David Dalrymple, a Darwin barrister and expert on Aboriginal land issues, said the Gumatj agreement differed importantly from talks with other communities by not handing over the lease to a government entity. This was critical because under section 71 of the Land Rights Act, indigenous people lose their statutory entitlement to live and practice culture on land leased to a body other than an Aboriginal corporation.
"The beauty of Galarrwuy's deal is that the head lease goes to an Aboriginal corporation, so they retain that entitlement," Mr Dalrymple said. "The other important thing about this deal is that the Gumatj mob themselves are determining what commercial leasing will happen there and in what terms.
"It's the antithesis of the government model. The community in Wadeye had been trying to negotiate something virtually identical before the intervention, and Brough knocked them back.
"Here, Brough has had to eat humble pie. He has surrendered, and what he has got in exchange is a public relations coup."
Mr Brough said the Gumatj deal related to different circumstances because the traditional owners wanted an arrangement that would allow them to "unleash the value" of landholdings beyond the township. Such an arrangement was "available to anyone in the territory".
Professor Mick Dodson, a senior Aboriginal leader, said of the draft deal: "The problem I have is that this doesn't appear to be a sound public policy approach ¬ reacting to criticism in this way. It's bad policy . The precedent is now set. Jump up and down, and the Government will come in and bring some prominent Aboriginal people who agree with them to talk to you and to do a deal with you to keep you quiet. Is that how it works?
"Galarrwuy has been one of the most strident and outspoken critics of the intervention, particularly this aspect of it ¬ the leases," Professor Dodson said. "It must be a large inducement to turn his view around."
Of the intervention, he said "there seem to be major problems arising each day. And this is symptomatic of bad planning, and planning on the run."
See: The Age
Land Deal 'A Model For The Future'
Patricia Karvelas and Ashleigh Wilson, The Australian | September 20, 2007
Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu has suggested the Howard Government
establish a senior elders' group to help advise on management of lands in the wake
of a landmark lease deal.
Securing Aboriginal agreement for a 99-year lease on land in north-east Arnhem
land came after local leader Mr Yunupingu was convinced it was not a "land grab" ,
Indigenous Affairs minister Mal Brough said.
The Howard Government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with
Mr Yunupingu which would see him surrender control of his traditional land under
one of Government's controversial 99-year leases.
"The MOU recognises that the traditional owners can hold a head lease over a town
and surrounding areas, with a 99-year sub-lease over the town to be negotiated with
government," Mr Brough said.
"This model will become another avenue for other traditional owner groups if they
wish to pursue it."
Mr Brough said Mr Yunupingu also raised the prospect of establishing a senior
elders' group in the Northern Territory made up of "respected and legitimate
Aboriginal law men and women" drawn from local communities across the Northern
Territory.
"It comes from a pioneer of the land rights movement, it shows that what the
Government has been offering to Indigenous people in the Territory does not take
away rights, it does not strip away rights it empowers people.
"This is an extremely historic occasion, and one which I commend him for his
leadership."
The head of the Northern Territory intervention's team, Major General Dave
Chalmers, said the intervention was going well but said the ongoing issue was still
lack of communication with Aboriginal people, who did not fully understand what the
Government was doing.
He also said that 30 per cent of children who had undergone health checks had
medical problems and needed further help.
In a move that could set Mr Yunupingu in conflict with several prominent Aboriginal
leaders who oppose the Howard Government's reforms, the former chairman of the
Northern Land Council is understood to be broadly supportive of the intervention.
Mr Yunupingu met secretly with Minister Brough last month in northeast Arnhem
Land, along with Cape York leader Noel Pearson, who brokered the meeting.
Their meeting came just one week after the annual Garma festival of Aboriginal
culture in Arnhem Land, when Mr Yunupingu described the federal reforms as
worrying and sickening.
However, The Australian now understands his position has shifted following Mr
Brough's visit, and Mr Yunupingu is now backing key elements of the intervention.
Mr Yunupingu's support threatens to split the nation's indigenous leadership
following the creation last week of a new Aboriginal lobby group that urged
indigenous communities to actively resist the intervention.
Some in his community are understood to be against the agreement and will oppose
it.
Mr Yunupingu is known to support restrictions on alcohol and the ban on kava, with
the latter reform introduced by the federal Government following his own lobbying.
The Arnhem Land leader has also received an understanding from the federal
Government that it would do everything possible to protect traditional Aboriginal
culture and sacred sites while helping to modernise northeast Arnhem Land.
He retired from the Northern Land Council in 2004, and continues to oversee the
annual Garma festival in Arnhem Land with his brother Mandawuy.
The Tiwi Island community of Nguiu, north of Darwin, last month became the first
Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory to sign up to a 99-year lease.
Nguiu traditional owners agreed to the deal despite concerns by some community
members, with Territory cabinet minister and Tiwi Islander Marion Scrymgour telling
Mr Brough that she had never seen the community so divided over any other issue.
The Northern Territory Supreme Court rejected an attempt by one prominent
community member to obtain an injunction against the lease.
Some of the people who have expressed serious concerns about the intervention
include former Territory cabinet minister John Ah Kit, Pat Turner and an author of
the child abuse report that sparked the emergency intervention in June, Pat
Anderson.
Mr Yunupingu, a 25-year veteran of the Northern Territory's indigenous land rights
struggle, has met several senior government figures over the past month.
Mr Brough will today also announce that television channels broadcasting R-rated
shows will not be allowed to broadcast them in Aboriginal communities in the
Northern Territory. He will introduce amendments to legislation as part of the
Northern Territory emergency response.
They include amending the Broadcasting Services Act to prohibit the provision of R-
rated TV programs in prescribed areas of the Northern Territory.
The move comes as the Northern Territory Government says it will take
responsibility for the delivery of municipal and infrastructure services to all towns
and communities in the territory, including outstations and town camps.
Mr Brough said the move on outstations was "simply giving expression to what I
have been saying on the issue of outstations for some time, in respect of
normalising services."
But the NT Government said yesterday it did not yet know what kind of work it was
expected to do under the new arrangements. Acting Chief Minister Syd Stirling said
he was expecting a letter today from the Prime Minister detailing the deal.
See: The Australian
New national Aboriginal body to counter govt policy
Tara Ravens, AAP | September 20, 2007
Aboriginal leaders have formed a national representative body to counter what they say is government dominance of the Indigenous policy agenda in the wake of Canberra's intervention in the Northern Territory.
The National Aboriginal Alliance (NAA) was formed following a three-day gathering held last week in Alice Springs of over 100 representatives from across Australia.
They came from land councils, legal services, Stolen Generations organisations, health and housing bodies, the national youth forum, media organisations, bush communities and town camps.
In a statement released last Friday, the NAA said the void created by the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) had left Indigenous Australians vulnerable to heavy-handed government policies.
"These attacks against Aboriginal people in the NT are a consequence of the lack of representation," the group said.
Bev Manton, chairwoman of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) which has 23,000 members, said her organisation would offer financial support.
"We have supported the Aboriginal people of the NT since John Howard announced this so-called intervention," she said.
"I urge, encourage and call upon everyone to financially support the NAA to establish a fighting fund to develop a plan of attack against this invasion...
"By Howard's actions, he has reignited the fire in our bellies and united Aboriginal people across Australia."
The NAA has rejected discriminatory elements of the Commonwealth's emergency intervention, called for the immediate removal of business managers from Aboriginal communities and the restoration of the permit system. It also urged Canberra to restore integrity to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and called on Aboriginal people to actively but peacefully resist the intervention.
"This is something we hope that all of our brothers and sisters and the many fair-minded Australians will stand shoulder to shoulder with us on," said National Indigenous TV CEO and former ATSIC head Pat Turner.
Pastor Geoffrey Stokes, a Wongatha man from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, said the Australian government had long known about problems in Aboriginal communities and done nothing.
"We need a body that can express our aspirations in our way," Pastor Stokes said.
"It is time that we as Aboriginal people take our rightful place in this country. It is time that we and our cultural heritage are treated with respect."
The NAA statement said there was not a single reference to child protection in the hundreds of pages that comprise the Commonwealth's legislative package in the Territory.
"We affirm our profound commitment to protecting our children from harm," the statement said.
"We acknowledge those within our communities who fought for decades to address the complicated issue of child abuse, and we deplore the successive Australian governments who ignored our cries for help." - AAP
See: Nuclear Territory News
Statement from the Delegates at the 9th Annual Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses (CATSIN) conference in Alice Springs
Nuclear Territory News | September 20, 2007
The delegates at the 9th national conference of CATSIN today declared their opposition to the process of the rollout of the Howard Government emergency intervention in the NT and also questioned the legitimacy of the legislation that has made the intervention possible.
The way that the intervention has been conducted, the lack of consultation and communication with Indigenous service providers, and the secrecy around its implementation has created fear, confusion and uncertainty amongst communities, Indigenous services providers and government representatives.
The statement said:
"CATSIN acknowledges the outstanding health delivery through Aboriginal Health Services.
"The delegates at the conference consider that this intervention is not in the best interests of the children, families and communities in the NT and will further marginalise the already impoverished and disenfranchised people living in poorly serviced and isolated communities, and fails to recognise the importance of land to the maintenance of Indigenous health and wellbeing.
"The cultural and spiritual wellbeing of Indigenous people is also inseparable from their connection with land.
"It comes as no surprise that this Australian government has refused to support the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights signed by 143 member nations earlier this month since it articulates all the Indigenous rights that are under threat from this intervention.
"The intervention has failed to build on some of the significant success stories in the NT in delivering culturally appropriate comprehensive primary health care by neglecting to involve service providers who, but for a lack of federal government investment, could be better addressing the health and social inequalities in the communities they are serving.
"The federal government does not realise the fragility of these communities and the effect that these imposed interventions have on Indigenous mental health and wellbeing and community self esteem.
"It has failed to acknowledge that empowerment is intrinsic to improvement in Indigenous health and that the process has been completely disempowering for Indigenous people.
"The intervention has focussed specifically on the NT which ironically has the strongest land rights in Australia. The delegates queried the underlying motivation of the intervention as having more to do with the acquisition of natural resources than the protection of children.
"Children are being used an excuse for an invention that is disempowering the very communities it purports to assist. It has meant Indigenous people in the NT now feel as though they are under surveillance and their every move is being monitored. Government documents record their Indigenous status - who else in this country is so identifiable?
"While the legacy of many past federal government policies could once be considered to be 'smoothing the pillow of the dying race', this intervention threatens to _ank the pillow out entirely.
The delegates also expressed concern with regard to the mainstream media coverage of the intervention so far which has focussed on perpetuating negative stereotypes of Indigenous people and failed to report the widespread deep concerns and hurt being expressed by Indigenous people.
The legislation that has made this intervention possible has been widely criticised, including by the Law Council of Australia, as in contravention to the Racial Discrimination Act but this has also been little reported. This has created concern that the legislation was develop in order to legitimately discriminate against Indigenous people.
"What's the recourse now for people who are discriminated against within the NT?" the delegates asked.
"As has been already noted by many Aboriginal groups in the NT, the intervention was undertaken without consultation with either Indigenous groups or communities.
"The intervention totally ignores the international evidence about the importance of land rights and community controlled services in improving health and social inequality and in developing successful Indigenous communities.
"The quarantining of welfare payments will push people, already without access to fresh food in community stores, already on the brink of poverty, into further financial difficulty."
The delegates called on the federal government to transfer the funds for this intervention to appropriate comprehensive primary health care services, such as Aboriginal community controlled health services, and other vital community agencies such as education, housing, and policing to address the social determinants of health.
See: Nuclear Territory News
The Challenge Begins
Galarrwuy Yunupingu, The Australian | September 21, 2007
Only when we are empowered to take full responsibility at a local level will change occur.
In August, I called Aboriginal leaders together at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land to talk about the federal Government's intervention in the Northern Territory. I sat for three days with many clansmen and leaders including Pat Dodson, who has been my friend for many years.
Everyone expressed their concern about the intervention, which had been announced with great haste a few weeks earlier. With my daughter I carved message sticks that were sent to Canberra seeking a halt to proceedings so we could obtain input into the debate, which affects every aspect of our lives.
I was surprised, and pleased, when in response federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough made the decision to visit me at my homeland at Dhanaya on Port Bradshaw. He came and told me that he wanted to protect children and improve lives. I told him that my life had been spent working on such tasks and if this was genuinely what he sought to do then he had my full support. Not only that, but I would join him, as I would join any minister with the same good intentions, and put my shoulder to the wheel.
Brough was confused about why I had criticised the Government when I had addressed thousands of people attending the Garma Festival.
The answer is simple. I told him I was a landowner and leader and he had not spoken to me. He had acquired my land and sought control of my life without talking to me, let alone seeking my consent. Nor had he spoken to the hundreds of people like me throughout the NT who spent their lives coping with Third World conditions, a lack of services and the abject failures of governments. That simple failure to consult, I told him, would eventually undermine his good intentions. The conditions that hurt children and that he was pledging to fix would remain while he sought to impose a solution.
It really is that simple. He could not work for us unless he worked with us.
Today, I have signed a memorandum of understanding that satisfies my concerns about the land-leasing issues and will ensure that the changes to the permit system will be workable and not undermine land rights. I believe this new model will empower traditional owners to control the development of towns and living areas, and to participate fully in all aspects of economic development on their land.
I have also sought and received the minister's agreement to the establishment of the Mala Elders group.
These elders are those who hold the highest authority in Aboriginal law. The Mala Elders group will take responsibility for the future of our children.
I will ask the Northern Land Council to work with me in the formation of the Mala Elders group. We will not be a construct of government but self-forming and self- funded. The concept, I hope, will translate throughout the NT. I think this is the opening we need to create a new era of empowerment for Aboriginal people.
Governments must stop babysitting us because we are not children. But if treated like children, people will behave like children. It is time for us to be given responsibility in the right way. And let me be clear, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was not the right way.
The Mala Elders group will remind governments that they are not to control our lives but to empower our people. We will remind all politicians with great seriousness that the land is our backbone and that for Aboriginal children land remains central to their identity. This is something that must never be forgotten. Land ownership is the past, the present and the future for each child in Arnhem Land. Without their land they will not be people. That is why I said at the Garma Festival recently that I was worried sick. And I was, worried sick by the prospect of a land grab.
I am not worried at all by the other aspects of the Government's plan. In fact I welcome them. I welcome the tight controls being placed on alcohol. I ask the Government to go further and shut the two takeaway outlets in Nhulunbuy, the Walkabout and the Woolworths. And I welcome the abolition of kava. What a ridiculous argument to make that kava is good because it stupefies people. And I urge zero tolerance for other drugs.
We must have real jobs, which community development employment projects have not delivered. Nearly all the real jobs in our communities are taken by non- Aborigines, which is an unacceptable situation.
And we must have real schools and we must have real training.
On these matters -- low levels of education, training and employment, and the crippling of our people by alcohol and drugs -- I am in agreement with Noel Pearson of Cape York. He came to meet me and we discussed these matters.
I have seen many challenges in my life. This is the greatest challenge.
We must take advantage of the efforts of governments to ensure that benefits flow and that change is lasting. But we must take responsibility for our future.
Only when we are empowered to take full responsibility at a local level will change occur.
The Government cannot do it for us but it can clear the path, which has never been done before.
And this can be done with respect for land, law and culture.
From there on it is up to us.
Galarrwuy Yunupingu is a former Australian of the Year and veteran land rights campaigner.
See: The Australian
Club Yunupingu: Brough's Land Deal Of Last Resort
Henri Ivrey, Crikey | September 21, 2007
The Black Prince of north east Arnhem Land, long time chairman of the Northern Land Council Galarrwuy Yunupingu, has set himself up at loggerheads with Aboriginal leaders throughout Australia with the signing yesterday of a memorandum of understanding with Indigenous Affairs minister Mal Brough.
Brough will countersign the agreement in Canberra today, and claim it as a major victory under his National Emergency intervention.
The deal-predicted by Crikey a month ago-has been massaged through a series of high level meetings by Queensland Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson and secretary of the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Peter Shergold, who visited Yunupingu at the end of last month. Four weeks ago, Crikey reported:
... rumours have been circulating amongst the close knit communities of north east Arnhem Land about "deals" having been done to either swing or neutralise the former NLC boss.
It commenced with a secret meeting between Brough, Pearson, Yunupingu and the latter two's respective minders, Llew Griffiths and Sean Bowdon.
And now it has resulted in Yunupingu agreeing to lease parts of his traditional lands at Gunyangara - known in English as Ski Beach - for 99 years in return for "millions of dollars" in infrastructure to the community. All this flies in the face of statements at the Garma Festival in the first weekend of August when Yunupingu described the Brough led intervention as "sickening, rotten and worrying".
It's just an MOU at this stage-and it will be some time before a final lease is signed off on-so details of the agreement are still sketchy. While the role of the Northern Land Council (NLC) in negotiating and signing off on any lease is to be upheld under the Land Rights Act, it was not a signatory to the MOU-unlike the Tiwi Land Council, which was up to its armpits in dealings with Brough over a 99 year lease over Nguiu on Bathurst Island last month.
However, it is understood that the agreement will differ significantly from the Nguiu deal. It is unclear whether the lease will be under s.19, or s.19A, of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. The latter was created by Brough, and entails the leasing of entire townships and the holding of the lease by a "government entity" - for which read a Canberra bureaucrat.
It is understood that - unlike Nguiu and Brough's proposal to lease entire townships - Gunyangara will be limited to "blocks" of residential and infrastructure assets - with some exclusions, including cemeteries and commercial assets. Furthermore, a head lease will be held by a new Aboriginal corporation rather than by the Canberra's "government entity".
But Yunupingu is not called the Black Prince for nothing - he would have made Machiavelli proud.
And the rumours continue. It would appear he has staved off compulsory acquisition in exchange for the lease; and at the same time appears to have avoided the kinds of external controls Brough initially demanded.
Yunupingu has wanted to build a resort near the sailing club on Melville Bay, on the road out to Gunyangara. There have been lengthy delays to the lease deal allegedly due to the NLC dragging its feet. Ironic, given that Yunupingu ran the show for more than two decades. It is said that Yunupingu sees the Brough deal as breaking this deadlock, giving him and the Gumatj Association access to government funds and commercial loans to construct the resort.
See: Crikey
Land Rights Revisited: Good politics But Terrible Public Policy
Professor Jon Altman, Australian National University, Crikey | September 21, 2007
News that agreement has been reached between the Commonwealth and the Gumaitj Association in north-east Arnhem Land to sign the first mainland deal for a s19A 99-year lease over the Aboriginal township of Gunyangara (Ski Beach) broke today. This deal followed a secret meeting between senior Gumaitj traditional owner and champion of land rights Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Noel Pearson and Minister Mal Brough in early August 2007 and a follow up meeting in late August between Mr Yunupingu and Dr Peter Shergold head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and a member of the NT Emergency Response Task Force.
Details of the agreement are not yet available, they will be tabled in the federal parliament today no doubt touted as evidence that the NT Emergency Intervention is working and gathering momentum. And this may be great politics again testing the commitment of the ALP to the Howard government's ill-conceived NT intervention and more worryingly probably effectively wedging the emerging Indigenous political alliance that is opposing the intervention.
Making the deal with the Gumaitj is puzzling in part because not long ago the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination was (unsuccessfully) investigating the Gumatj Association for apparently illegal use of mining royalty equivalents that it receives as a community affected by the major Alcan bauxite mine and alumina processing plant and port. Mr Yunupingu himself has been the subject of considerable negative media attention and vilification owing to his strong personal adherence to elements of Yolngu customary law.
This purported agreement must be properly contextualized. At present one must assume that it is only an MOU, as under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 it is the statutory function of the Northern Land Council to ensure that the Gumaitj traditional owners of Gunyangara as a group are properly informed and consent to the s19A 99 year lease proposal and that affected communities in North East Arnhem Land have been properly consulted. Even the Australian government has to abide by its laws.
The proposed 99 year head lease would only cover the township of Gunyangara and not the traditional lands of the Gumaitj. It is noteworthy that this township is itself not far from the mining town of Nhulunbuy and is surrounded by a 42 + 42 year mining. This lease is based on an agreement between the mining company Nabalco and the Commonwealth in 1968 that was bitterly opposed by the Yolngu traditional owners of the mine site. This opposition was the subject of the celebrated case Milirrpum and others versus Nabalco and the Commonwealth that was lost in the NT Supreme Court in 1970.
Under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act traditional owners are at liberty to lease their land (including townships) for 99 years and this has occurred historically in places like Kakadu and Uluru national parks and more recently with the corridor for the Alice Springs to Darwin railroad where it crosses Aboriginal land. But it is unfortunate that there is an apparent element of compulsion in current agreement making. The choice that communities like Gunyangara face is to accept the compulsory acquisition of their townships for five years with the risk that just terms compensation will not be paid; or acquiesce to negotiating 99-year head leases with the certainty that those who sign up early are likely to gain considerable sweeteners that most Australians would consider just their citizenship entitlements.
On the political front, it might be a significant symbolic victory for the Howard government to have co-opted a renowned leader of the land rights movement to its current view that traditional owners of townships should trade their freehold title for 99-year leases to gain equitable access to public housing and utilities. But on the longer-term policy front this victory might be pyrrhic. One has to ask how replicable is such deal making across the remaining 71 prescribed communities in the Northern Territory that have not signed up to this approach (the other signatory being Nguiu on Bathurst Island), how much will this cost, who will be paying, and is it good public policy to resource those who acquiesce to the 'stick and carrot approach rather than those who are in greatest need?
See: Crikey
Many Aboriginal People 'Confused' By Intervention
ABC News | September 20, 2007
The head of the Commonwealth's emergency task force in the Northern Territory says explaining the intervention to community members remains the biggest challenge.
Major General Dave Chalmers today discussed the progress of the intervention at a ministerial meeting held in Canberra.
He says many Aboriginal people are confused.
"It's a challenge for me to talk to as many people as I can, and to have my team talk to as many people as they can, to explain what we're doing and explain it in a way that they can understand," he said.
See: ABC News
R-Rated ban In Aboriginal Communities
AAP | September 20, 2007
Pay television providers will be banned from screening R-rated shows and movies in remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities under changes to the federal government's radical takeover laws.
The government last month outlawed the possession, control and supply of X-rated films and hardcore magazines in 73 remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities as part of its intervention to "normalise" Aboriginal communities.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough today said the new amendment, which he introduced into parliament today, would address concerns raised by the Northern Territory government and Aboriginal people themselves.
The amendment effectively bans the adult channel in prescribed communities.
It bypasses racial discrimination laws by labelling the move a "special measure" designed to help Aboriginal people, not harm them.
Mr Brough today signalled the government was still working towards similar laws to apply to free-to-air stations, particularly SBS.
"[Aboriginal people I spoke to] confused me, to be honest - they said 'are you going to get rid of the pornography channel?'
"And I thought they were talking about subscription television, but they were talking about SBS," Mr Brough said today.
SBS in one of only a couple of free-to-air channels available in some remote communities.
Mr Brough said he was not concerned about being criticised for introducing a second set of amendments to the government's intervention legislation so soon after the initial package was passed.
"If we had waited to get the perfect measures it would never have happened - no doubt about it," Mr Brough said.
The new bill would also allow the federal government to sidestep requirements of the Northern Territory Residential Tenancies Act.
Another measure would ensure that roadhouses which are effectively used as community stores in remote areas will have to comply with new licensing standards, introduced last month.
Labor has given bipartisan support to the government's intervention and is likely to support the latest amendments.
See: AAP
Top Leader Now backs Territory Intervention
Lindsay Murdoch | September 20, 2007
The Government has won the support of Galarrwuy Yunupingu, the Northern
Territory's most powerful Aboriginal leader, for its radical intervention in remote
indigenous communities.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough will announce today that he has reached a
landmark agreement with Mr Yunupingu.
The agreement is a massive breakthrough for the Howard Government, which had
been accused by Aboriginal leaders of trying to undermine the decades-long battle
for land rights.
The agreement includes land tenure reform in Arnhem Land, including some land
being leased to the Government for 99 years - a move that had been rejected by
many Aboriginal leaders.
Until Mr Yunupingu met Mr Brough in a secret meeting on his land in Arnhem Land
last month, he had been one of the fiercest critics of the intervention, telling people
at an indigenous festival only days earlier that the Government's actions were
"sickening, rotten and worrying".
The meeting is believed to have been brokered by Noel Pearson, director of the
Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership, who also attended.
Details of the negotiations have been kept secret, angering other indigenous leaders
who have been campaigning against the intervention.
But Mr Yunupingu's decision to do a deal is a big win for the Government as police
start to enforce alcohol and pornography bans in 73 targeted communities across
the Northern Territory.
A former chief executive of the Northern Land Council and a one-time Australian of
the Year, Mr Yunupingu is widely respected throughout the Territory's indigenous
communities.
Mr Brough will announce details of the deal with Mr Yunupingu in Parliament today
when he introduces changes to legislation relating to the intervention.
This will include amending the Broadcasting Services Act to prohibit the screening of
adult-only television programs in prescribed areas. The Government has received
complaints from indigenous women about adult programs on cable and free-to-air
television.
He will also announce changes to ensure roadhouses meet tougher restrictions on
liquor sales and allow Defence Housing Australia to help with housing in remote
areas.
Mr Brough is also expected to report on the progress of the emergency response.
See: The Age
Healing Missing From Indigenous Intervention
AAP | September 19, 2007
The need for healing is missing from the Commonwealth's intervention plan to
combat child abuse in the Northern Territory, Aboriginal social justice commissioner
Tom Calma said today.
Even if the near $600 million intervention program was successful, children were
protected and policing became effective, Mr Calma questioned how long-term
healing for indigenous communities would come about.
"Where will the culturally appropriate and ongoing healing programs come from if
the government doesn't acknowledge that they're needed at all,'' the former senior
adviser to the Federal Government told the national conference of the Secretariat of
National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care.
The Commonwealth takeover of 73 Aboriginal Northern Territory communities,
under five year leases, was passed by the Senate last month.
Measures under the intervention include welfare restrictions, alcohol and
pornography bans and medical checks for children.
Survey teams have so far visited 73 communities and 1658 children have
undergone health checks.
However, Mr Calma said most of the money allocated for the Federal Government's
plan had been absorbed in employing and housing public servants, contractors and
police, and in administering the measures included in the strategy.
"There is no federal budget allocation, at this time, for new indigenous housing, new
schools and additional teachers and child protection programs,'' he said.
Mr Calma said the Australian Government had a responsibility to ensure that the
emergency measures in the NT improved the well-being of indigenous communities.
"The legislation must operate in a way that is consistent with Australia's human
rights laws and obligations,'' he said.
See: AAP
PM's Victory On Land Deal
Patricia Karvelas and Ashleigh Wilson | September 20, 2007
One of Australia's wealthiest and most powerful Aboriginal leaders has delivered the Howard Government a coup by agreeing to sign a 99-year lease over his traditional land in the Northern Territory.
Former Australian of the Year and veteran land rights campaigner Galarrwuy Yunupingu has agreed to privatise his land for 99 years under a landmark agreement to be signed today with the Howard Government.
The Australian understands his community will receive millions of dollars for the deal to allow individuals to buy their own homes.
Mr Yunupingu's involvement recasts the equation of Aboriginal politics in northern Australia, bringing together the most prominent traditional leader in the Northern Territory and the leading intellectual inspiration for the Howard Government's dramatic reforms, Noel Pearson.
In a move that could set MrYunupingu in conflict with several prominent Aboriginal leaders who oppose the Howard Government's reforms, the former chairman of the Northern Land Council is understood to be broadly supportive of the intervention.
Mr Yunupingu met secretly with Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough last month in northeast Arnhem Land, along with Cape York leader Noel Pearson, who brokered the meeting.
Their meeting came just one week after the annual Garma festival of Aboriginal culture in Arnhem Land, when Mr Yunupingu described the federal reforms as worrying and sickening.
However, The Australian now understands his position has shifted following Mr Brough's visit, and Mr Yunupingu is now backing key elements of the intervention.
Mr Yunupingu's support threatens to split the nation's indigenous leadership following the creation last week of a new Aboriginal lobby group that urged indigenous communities to actively resist the intervention.
Some in his community are understood to be against the agreement and will oppose it.
Mr Yunupingu is known to support restrictions on alcohol and the ban on kava, with the latter reform introduced by the federal Government following his own lobbying.
The Arnhem Land leader has also received an understanding from the federal Government that it would do everything possible to protect traditional Aboriginal culture and sacred sites while helping to modernise northeast Arnhem Land.
He retired from the Northern Land Council in 2004, and continues to oversee the annual Garma festival in Arnhem Land with his brother Mandawuy.
The Tiwi Island community of Nguiu, north of Darwin, last month became the first Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory to sign up to a 99-year lease.
Nguiu traditional owners agreed to the deal despite concerns by some community members, with Territory cabinet minister and Tiwi Islander Marion Scrymgour telling Mr Brough that she had never seen the community so divided over any other issue. The Northern Territory Supreme Court rejected an attempt by one prominent community member to obtain an injunction against the lease.
Some of the people who have expressed serious concerns about the intervention include former Territory cabinet minister John Ah Kit, Pat Turner and an author of the child abuse report that sparked the emergency intervention in June, Pat Anderson.
Mr Yunupingu, a 25-year veteran of the Northern Territory's indigenous land rights struggle, has met with several senior government figures over the past month.
Mr Brough yesterday would not comment on the agreement but a spokesman said: "In introducing the amendments, the minister will report on the progress of the emergency response and outline emerging issues and developments in land tenure reform
and engagement with Aboriginal people."
Mr Brough will today also announce that television channels broadcasting R-rated shows will not be allowed to broadcast them in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. He will introduce amendments to legislation as part of the Northern Territory emergency response.
They include amending the Broadcasting Services Act to prohibit the provision of R-rated TV programs in prescribed areas of the Northern Territory.
The move comes as the Northern Territory Government says it will take responsibility for the delivery of municipal and infrastructure services to all towns and communities in the territory, including outstations and town camps.
Mr Brough said the move on outstations was "simply giving expression to what I have been saying on the issue of outstations for some time, in respect of normalising services."
But the NT Government said yesterday it did not yet know what kind of work it was expected to do under the new arrangements. Acting Chief Minister Syd Stirling said he was expecting a letter today from the Prime Minister detailing the deal.
See: The Australian
Intervention Spending Doubles
Stephanie Peatling, Sydney Morning Herald | September 19, 2007
The cost of the Federal Government's intervention into remote Northern Territory communities has more than doubled, with a further $740 million in spending announced yesterday.
The project, which began in June, has a running total of $1.33 billion in funds for the housing, health and jobs the Government hopes will return communities to what it calls "normal".
The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, said the money would help protect children and "give them a real future as part of normal Australia".
Mr Brough's announcement included $514 million for housing, $100 million for health, $18.5 million for policing and another $30 million to partially fund jobs created by the Northern Territory public service.
Part of the intervention involves scrapping the Community Development Employment Project, a 30-year program which paid people to do local work instead of putting them on the dole.
People will now be put on the dole and receive a top-up payment to cover the difference while they are required to look for work. But $78.2 million will be spent on identifying positions the Federal Government can fund such as in art centres, health clinics and schools. It will employ as many as 2000 people through the public service.
Indigenous leaders continue to doubt the money spent as part of the intervention will make any long-term positive changes.
Olga Havnen, a co-ordinator of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory, said the group had not been consulted about the spending, despite producing its own policy paper after the intervention was announced in June.
"[The Government] is not interested in talking to us because there's a view we either know nothing or that we have a fixed agenda," Ms Havnen said.
See: Sydney Morning Herald
Intervention Stretching NT Education Resources
ABC News | September 19, 2007
The Australian Education Union says a lot more teachers and resources will be
needed to deal with the impact of the intervention into Aboriginal communities in the
Northern Territory.
The union is reporting an increase in student numbers at bush schools as a result of
the intervention and says resources are being stretched to the limit.
The union's Nadine Williams says teachers are stressed with the workload and the
confusion surrounding the intervention, and it is only going to get worse as welfare
quarantining comes into place.
"We believe that we need at least another 500 teachers immediately to actually staff
schools appropriately in remote areas that are in the prescribed areas," she said.
"We believe that there is an unmet need that's crying out for urgent resourcing and
the crunch is we can't recruit teachers now for the numbers that are officially
allocated."
While the Education Department is providing information where it can, Ms Williams
says the intervention is moving so quickly it is hard to know what is happening on
the ground.
"I do believe this term, because of the intervention, there has been much more
stress on teachers," she said.
"They have been advised to not to speak with the incoming task force teams, they've
been advised to speak to them, they've been advised that they can do certain things
and provide information to visiting people inquiring about education, then they've
been told they shouldn't.
"There's been a great deal of confusion."
See: ABC News
Intervention Bill Blows Out To $1.3bn
Patricia Karvelas, The Australian | September 19, 2007
The cost of the intervention in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory has
soared to more than $1.3billion over the next four years, with most of the investment
earmarked for the repair and construction of houses.
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said yesterday the Government
would now spend an extra $514million on top of funds previously committed for
improving and replacing destroyed homes, bringing the total to $793million.
The extra money comes from a pool that was allocated in the federal budget for
remote housing before the intervention was announced but not committed to
specific regions.
Mr Brough said indigenous people had suffered too long in rundown, overcrowded
and poorly designed and built houses. The Government would work with local
communities to determine how the money would be spent and people would not be
forced into private home ownership. "That will be (decided) in conjunction with local
people and if there's no interest in home ownership then, obviously, more money will
go into public housing," he said.
"But not public housing which is controlled by local community organisations where
nepotism reigns supreme, where rents aren't collected, maintenance isn't
undertaken and houses last an average seven years. That is unsustainable. We will
be driving to ensure that there are proper tenancy arrangements, that maintenance
is undertaken, that appropriate rents are collected, that the appropriate tenants are
in place and that they take responsibility for the care and maintenance of their
home."
Labor indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said that although her party
welcomed the additional funding announced yesterday, the Howard Government
must make it clear the housing component was not new. "The funding is actually
rebadged money from old housing programs," she said.
Mr Brough said he wanted to introduce normal public housing arrangements into
Aboriginal communities, with rental levels linked to the quality of the housing and the
capacity of the tenants to pay.
He said houses would be built for less money and they would be designed more
appropriately.
"Simple things such as having access to kitchens and toilets and bathrooms inside
and outside are really important," he said.
"Large areas where people can congregate and be part of a wider family unit - not
small rooms which become dysfunctional."
More than 2000 children in 30 communities have already received a health check.
Yesterday's commitment of an extra $100million will be spent on follow-up
treatment. Health Minister Tony Abbott said the Government would consider paying
doctors more to work in remote communities.
The Government also announced it would make an additional $78.2million available
over three years to create jobs for people moving off the Community Development
Employment Projects program.
The Government will also provide the state Government with up to $30million over
the next three years to help it convert CDEP positions into real jobs.
See: The Australian
NT's Emergency Placebo
Jack Waterford, The Canberra Times | September 19, 2007
Spending $100million on swimming pools for Aborigines in remote settlements, and
even alongside Alice Springs' fringe camps, would be far more likely to have a
lasting impact on improving child health than the medical flying squad scheme
announced this week.
Under the scheme, hundreds of doctors, nurses and others will fly into communities
doing a blitz on chronic problems such as ear disease, dental care, gastrointestinal
conditions, and trachoma. Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott promised
$100million over two years for the scheme, based on the theory of either getting
doctors to the patients or the patients to doctors.
It sounds like a good idea, not unlike Fred Hollows' national trachoma project 30
years ago. But the differences, I expect, will be telling, and there is every chance the
ministerial, bureaucratic and military ideology now guiding the Northern Territory
emergency will guarantee that its effect will be temporary at best. The most that can
be hoped for is some amelioration of disease, but not the elimination of the factors
that cause it, nor the factors that sustain it. After the publicity photos of beaming
doctors and nurses alongside ministers and army officers, the children will again
have runny noses, suppurating perforated ear drums, gastro and chronic eye
conditions. While the ministers and bureaucrats grandstand about intervening
against infectious diseases, which are comparatively easy to deal with, the children
and their parents will continue to develop diabetes, hypertension and depression.
Task forces can't do anything about that. The children who grow into young men will
likely continue to kill themselves at the rate of about 10per cent a year until they
settle down a bit at age 40, if they make it. Thirty years from now, after many more
articles describing and deploring it all, another set of ministers will announce they
"mean business this time".
It's not that Aboriginal health doesn't warrant medical task forces. It could do with a
stack of them, and the first few might as well be on middle-ear and chest infections,
and dental disease. I would put a high priority on women's sexual health (especially
chlamydial disease), but that is perhaps not as attractive as everyone grandstanding
about children, even if about the sexual abuse of them. But the point of some of the
prevalent medical conditions in our most remote, poor and vulnerable settlements is
they stem primarily from living conditions. They can't be "cured", or, if they can, the
condition will quickly return because it flourishes in the ordinary living environment.
I've been in many Aboriginal communities where more than 80per cent of children
under seven have middle-ear disease. It's usually clustered with other conditions,
like trachoma, chest infections (manifested by a mucopurulent running nose),
scabies, diarrhoea and, sometimes, obvious malnutrition.
Although the general picture of ill health is clear, even to the most casual outsider,
specific diagnosis is not always easy. Most Australian ophthalmologists can't
accurately diagnose trachoma because they don't see it in ordinary Australia. Many
doctors have great problems accurately diagnosing aspects of otitis media,
particularly "glue ear". Likewise with dentists and dental caries.
To a degree, it's better to see infected individuals as islands in a sea of infection,
and attack the water instead with mass treatments or, better still, improve the living
environment. A course of antibiotics can clear the acute aspects of most childhood
conditions, thought not conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
One doesn't need a specialist or a flying squad for acute treatment. It's the
consequences that need specialist intervention. Hearing loss in children leads to
problems in learning and communication, and can be the basis for problems with the
law. Skin infections set the stage for rheumatic heart conditions, trachoma for a host
of blinding corneal conditions. Doctors can do some repair work which better equips
victims for the future, but their interventions will usually be of no account unless they
also help the victim avoid recurrence.
Thirty years ago, Fred Hollows said a doctor had a duty to go beyond applying
bandages. He or she had to help mobilise the community to fight the conditions
causing disease, educate about what could be done, help change organisations to
make best use of their facilities, and make long-term changes to standards of living
vital for good health. Most critical, he said, was securing the consent and
involvement of the people concerned. Without that, anything done would be
temporary.
But this lesson has not been absorbed by Abbott, Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal
Brough, their bureaucrats nor, seemingly, the Australian Medical Association. Theirs
is a top-down approach. It's about taking over from the silly blackfellows who
messed everything up, shoving them aside and showing them how it's done. It's
about noble doctors rushing in to save people and collect medals. It's even about
shoving aside the health practitioners on the ground and operating not alongside or
with them, but in effect in competition.
We have seen this already with the mass inspections for evidence of child sexual
abuse, which have failed to see large numbers or confirm the initiating propaganda
that hardly a child remains unmolested.
Salvation, I predict, will fail for another reason. The doctors will sit in clinics, waiting
for the sick to come to them. They will save everyone who does, oblivious of the
scores who don't.
I once heard a public-spirited ophthalmologist say, proudly, that he had been visiting
an Aboriginal community at his own cost for five years, and was confident we would
see no significant eye pathology there. We saw 34 people who were legally blind
who he had never seen. Why? We searched for them, with Aboriginal liaison
officers, house by house, camp by camp. He had waited at the clinic. His intentions
were good, but he was wasting his time.
About the same time, another eye doctor was chartering jets to fly teams of doctors
to Africa, where they would perform a few dozen operations, have documentaries
made about themselves, and fly home with a warm inner glow. The cost of the
charters alone sometimes exceeded total local health budgets.
There are many people involved in Aboriginal health who are reluctant to criticise too
loudly. They welcome more resources. They hope that with some good leadership,
not yet in evidence, some of the obvious deficiencies can be eliminated, and
programs developed that make a difference. They do not want to be monstered as
"negative" or accused by Brough of not caring, as happens routinely if anyone
doubts his passionate, but silly, ideas. Abbott is perhaps not as silly, or as arrogant,
but has a long record of being as irresponsible with taxpayers' cash and indulgent
with hero complexes.
See: The Canberra Times
Children 'Being Hidden' To Avoid Doctors
Patricia Karvelas & Ashleigh Wilson, The Australian | September 19, 2007
At least 30 Aboriginal children are allegedly being hidden from doctors to avoid
health checks in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, raising
suspicions that parents are covering up abuse.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said yesterday Australian Federal Police
were investigating the allegations.
Mr Brough would not confirm how many children were being hidden.
One source told The Australian yesterday that at least 30 children had evaded
health checks in communities including Santa Teresa, Hermannsburg and Papunya.
One family with about 10 children is understood to have left Papunya, northwest of
Alice Springs, to avoid the health checks.
The source said some of the children who missed out on health checks had been
suspected of having sexually transmitted infections, others were young mothers.
"These are the children we need to be really concerned about," the source said.
Mr Brough said he was receiving reports that children were being moved from one
community to another "by people who you would suspect would not have been
strong supporters of this, but wanting to inform us that they're worried about that and
wanting to know how we can work together to ensure those children's health and
wellbeing is being undertaken".
"I can't give you the numbers on the number of people who've been referred to child
authorities," he said.
"I'm looking at ways in which we can conduct those checks in the children's best
interest."
Mr Brough said the AFP was working in collaboration with the Northern Territory
Government and, where necessary, other jurisdictions to find the children.
"There is broader understanding about where some of these children are and all of
that has been fed in for their operational excellence," he said.
Mr Brough said if there was a strong suspicion of child abuse, then authorities had
the power to ensure the protection of that child.
"We should not shrink from that responsibility, and we won't," he said.
Mr Brough backed Health Minister Tony Abbott's claim that the Government was not
afraid of the plan even though it was not "politically correct."
"I'll say it's politically incorrect - (I) don't care," Mr Brough said. "I mean the reality is,
it's not what matters. We're after outcomes. We shouldn't get hung up with those
things. The people on the ground don't talk to me about political correctness; they
talk to me about children that they want to protect."
The clinic manager at Hermannsburg, John Wright, denied the allegations that
children were being hidden from health checks and said the majority of the
community's 350 children had participated.
"The population fluctuates from week to week but I'm not aware of anything like that
happening," he said.
See: The Australian
The Federal Aboriginal Intervention Policy Is Failing Its Mission
Claire Smith, The Age | September 18, 2007
Children in remote areas need coherent strategies to ensure a positive future.
I WAS supposed to go to the funeral of a young Aboriginal man from a remote community yesterday. He killed himself just a month ago and I'm close to his family - culture-way I call him "grandson" - but I didn't go. There are just too many funerals to be able to attend them all. Where I work, there is a queue of people to be buried. When this young man died, he had to wait in line to be buried - an elderly lady, a middle-aged woman, and a 14-year-old girl (also a suicide victim) were scheduled before him.
The death of this young man is nothing new to this community. It is new to the family, but such tragic events happen regularly in the community. At one point, we had 31 young people attempt suicide in the space of eight months - 8 per cent of the population of 452 people. Some of these young people had been the victims of white pedophiles.
Both Liberal and Labor governments, territory and federal, have known of the high suicide rate among young Aborigines for at least the past decade but have done nothing substantive to change the situation.
This year it appeared that something was going to be done. In response to the Little Children are Sacred report the Howard Government announced national emergency measures to protect Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory from abuse. Almost three months later, it is time to consider whether the action is improving the lives of children in remote communities. Sadly, the answer is that it is not.
The federal action was instigated on the basis of high sexual abuse rates of children, but in a recent ABC Radio interview Northern Territory Police Commissioner Paul White stated that not a single case had been referred to the child sex abuse taskforce as a result of increased police resources. Moreover, out of more than 700 checks, there have been only four referrals: two related to child sexual abuse, one for possible neglect and one for family support.
Sadly, the hasty and ill-considered implementation of this policy is damaging the very people it is meant to protect. It is introducing new, insidious forms of child abuse - children are damaged when money that could be used for their health care is spent on buying new Toyotas for administrators from "down south", who do not have the appropriate experience or cultural knowledge to successfully implement programs. Children are damaged when their parents lose their jobs, as they will through the disbanding of the Community Development Employment Projects Scheme. While income may be the same, a move from CDEP to the dole takes away the dignity that comes with being employed, and causes frustration and unhappiness within the family.
Similarly, children are damaged by the income "quarantining" provisions, implemented yesterday, through which a significant proportion of the family income is held back so that it can be used only to buy food in specific places, such as community stores (where the prices are up to two or three times those in town), or Woolworths, if you happen to have a car and fuel to drive several hundred kilometres.
The fundamental problem is that the action is being introduced at such a rapid rate that there is not enough time for proper planning or for essential support measures to be put in place. For example, the bans on alcohol came into place on September 15, but regional and community health centres have not been given the additional support they need to deal with those suffering from alcohol withdrawal. There are no extra rehabilitation beds, no additional counselling services, and no extra medicines.
Women distressed by this situation have re-formed Women for Wik (www.womenforwik.org) with the purpose of monitoring these events. In two weeks the group, of which I am a member, has received almost 2000 personal endorsements, including support from prominent women, such as Lady Deane, Lowitja O'Donoghue, Justice Elizabeth Evatt, Gabi Hollows, Helen Caldicott, Margaret Pomeranz and Tamie Fraser.
Our interest is in policy, not political parties. We are concerned about the current actions of the Coalition Government, and we are concerned that there is no indication that a Labor government would do anything differently.
Our discussions with people in politics make it clear that members of both parties disagree with the way in which the intervention is happening but nobody is willing to speak out. After all, this is an election year and no one ever won an election on policy for Aboriginal people.
The young man who was buried yesterday comes from a very good family. His grandmother is a community leader. His mum and dad both have jobs - itself a small miracle, since at last count only 16 Aboriginal people, of the 252 aged 18 or more, in this community had full-time employment. But the fact that this young man came from such a background is part of the problem. He was aware of the gulf in living standards between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal families. He knew that there were not enough jobs in his community. He wanted to live a good and a useful life, and he could not grasp the basic tools to do this. He needed hope that he would be able to get a job in his community, without having to move to the big towns and leave his family. He needed hope that his own children would have an opportunity to live a good life. He died without hope.
I'm disappointed in the Prime Minister, in the Opposition Leader and in the Northern Territory Chief Minister. I'm also disappointed in every Australian who does not do what they can to defend these young ones in the Northern Territory. We need to shame our politicians into making the care of A |
