Draft Resolutions and Media Release of the National Indigenous Meeting

MEDIA RELEASE

Embargoed until 10.30am E.S.T on Friday, 14 September 2007

A new independent voice for Aboriginal Australians

A new national political body for Aboriginal Australians, entirely independent from governments, will be established following a three-day gathering held in Alice Springs this week.

A ‘fighting fund’ will be set up to support the new National Aboriginal Alliance (NAA), with contributions to be sought from Aboriginal people and communities and private sources Australia-wide.

About 100 Aboriginal people from throughout Australia have attended the meeting since Wednesday, including representatives of land councils and legal services, Stolen Generations organisations, health and housing bodies, the national youth forum, media organisations, doctors and Elders, as well as people living in town camps and remote communities and outstations.

The diverse group yesterday agreed upon the principles that will guide and underpin the NAA, and will now return to their communities and organisations to start to build support for the new body.

Those principles include a rejection of the ‘discriminatory and coercive elements’ of the Commonwealth’s so-called ‘emergency intervention’ in the Northern Territory, which the group believes has little to do with the protection of Aboriginal children.

The group urged Aboriginal peoples and communities to actively but peacefully resist the ‘intervention’, and demanded:

• the immediate removal of Commonwealth Business Managers from Aboriginal communities in the NT
• that the Commonwealth respects the property rights of Aboriginal people in the NT and restores the permit system
• that the Commonwealth immediately restores integrity to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, which has been put aside under the Government’s ‘intervention’.
• that Aboriginal communities receive equitable service delivery and infrastructure.

The group affirmed its commitment to protecting Aboriginal children from harm, adding that successive Australian governments had ignored Aboriginal peoples’ repeated cries for help.

“There is not a single reference to child protection in the hundreds of pages that comprise the Commonwealth’s legislative package,” the group said. “Rather than protecting children, this so-called ‘emergency intervention’ is a cynical attempt to subject our people to further genocide.”

The group said the lack of national political representation for Aboriginal people since the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) had left Aboriginal people vulnerable to harsh government policies and practices.

“These attacks against Aboriginal people in the NT are a consequence of the lack of representation,” it said. “Had there been a powerful black political voice in place, we doubt these attacks could have succeeded.

“We call upon all Aboriginal people to walk in the footsteps of our Elders whose legacies are now at stake and whose victories are being wound back. We must stand united to seize back the power to shape our own destinies.

“We call on all Australians, to engage with, speak up and support Aboriginal people’s self-determination.”

NITV CEO Pat Turner said this week’s meeting had laid important foundations.

“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,” she said.

“This is the beginning of resistance,” said Tasmanian participant Michael Mansell. “Finally, a national voice of dissent and one that will offer leadership instead of black bashing.”

NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) Chairwoman, Bev Manton, said her organisation and its 23,000 members were appalled by the Howard government’s actions in the NT.

“We have supported the Aboriginal people of the NT since John Howard announced this so-called intervention,” Ms Manton said. “We have agreed to continue this support in financial terms, for three to six months, and will be actively involved in the newly formed National Aboriginal Alliance.

“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 re-ignited the fire in our bellies and united Aboriginal people across Australia.”

Gunditjmara Elder from Victoria, Alma Thorpe, agreed and urged her fellow Victorians to support the NAA and, through it, the Aboriginal people of the NT.

“I am greatly encouraged by this new national body and I intend to be a part of it,” she said. “We must declare and show by our actions that enough is enough.”

Pastor Geoffrey Stokes, a Wongatha man from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, said the Australian system of government had not worked for Aboriginal people.

“We need a body that can express our aspirations in our way,” he said. “We need the support of other Australians too, about what happens to our people.

“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.”

For more information:

Tim Goodwin on (0404) 849 259

Jolene Preece on (08) 8953 4763

Resolutions of the National Aboriginal Alliance

Pioneer Football Club, Stuart Highway, Alice Springs

12-14 September 2007

1. We celebrate the hundreds of years of struggle by our people to maintain our cultural integrity, protect our lands, and fulfill our obligations to future generations. Our Alliance will continue this powerful tradition of activism to determine our own futures as proud and strong Aboriginal people.
2. The lack of national political representation for Aboriginal people has left us vulnerable to harsh government policies, and these attacks against Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory are a consequence of the lack of representation. Had there been a powerful black political voice in place, we doubt these attacks could have succeeded.
3. This national gathering of over 100 people from all parts of Australia recognises the need for an independent national political voice. The National Aboriginal Alliance is established to provide that voice.
4. We affirm our profound commitment to protecting our children from harm. 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.
5. We reject outright the discriminatory and coercive elements of the Commonwealth’s invasion (‘emergency intervention’) in the Northern Territory.
6. The Racial Discrimination Act has only ever been suspended on three occasions – each time to erode the rights of Aboriginal people. This previously occurred in 1998 with the Native Title Amendment Act and the Hindmarsh Island Bridge legislation. We demand that the Commonwealth immediately restore integrity to the Racial Discrimination Act.
7. We demand the immediate removal of Commonwealth Business Managers from Aboriginal communities in the NT. They are comparable to the missionaries and police protectors who exercised despotic control over our forebears and therefore, have no place in our lives. We urge our peoples and communities to actively resist in a peaceful way the so-called intervention in the Northern Territory.
8. We demand that the Commonwealth respect the property rights of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, including the right to control access to our lands through the permit system; rights that generations of our people fought to secure, often in the face of fierce opposition.
9. We demand that the Commonwealth respect the expertise and independence of our community organizations. There is not a single reference to child protection in the hundreds of pages that comprise the Commonwealth’s legislative package. Rather than protecting children, this so-called ‘emergency intervention’ is a cynical attempt to subject our people to further genocide.
10. Many of the socio-economic problems in our communities are the legacies of decades of chronic under-funding in essential service delivery and infrastructure. We demand that our communities receive the equitable services delivery and infrastructure that is our entitlement.
11. We call upon all Aboriginal people to walk in the footsteps of our Elders whose legacies are now at stake and whose victories are being wound back. We must stand united to seize back the power to shape our own destinies.
12. We call on all Australians, to engage with, speak up and support Aboriginal people’s self-determination.

New nation-wide indigenous leadership body formed!

A new coalition of Aboriginal leaders from around the country formed a couple of weeks ago, and has released its first public statement, according to the National Indigenous Times article (reproduced below) A decade under Howard has been a living nightmare, says new black leadership group.

The new (but as-yet unnamed) group includes

• Pat Turner - former senior public servant, Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT
• Olga Havnen - ACOSS and ANTaR, Northern Lands Council, Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT
• Naomi Mayers - CEO Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service
• Dennis Eggington - WA Aboriginal Legal Service
• Sam Watson - Murri academic, activist and Socialist Alliance Queensland senate candidate
  
• Bob Weatherall - FAIRA
• Michael Mansell - Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, long-time activist and member of Aboriginal Provisional Government
  
• Michael Williams - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, University of Queensland
  
• Gracelyn Smallwood - Aboriginal health expert, political and human rights activist from North Queensland
• Nicole Watson - Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University of Technology Sydney
• Larissa Behrendt - Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University of Technology Sydney, Chairperson of National Indigenous Television
  
• Bradley Foster - community leader from North Queensland

PHOTO: TOP L-R: Pat Turner, Olga Havnen, Naomi Mayers, Dennis Eggington; MIDDLE, L-R: Sam Watson, Bob Weatherall, Michael Mansell, Michael Williams; BOTTOM, L-R: Gracelyn Smallwood, Nicole Watson, Larissa Behrendt and Bradley Foster.

This comes at a crucial time for indigenous Australia after a decade of fierce attacks from the Howard Government: the abolition of ATSIC, the undermining of Native Title, the invasion of indigenous lands held under Land Rights, the continuing deaths in custody and police racism, the return of assimilation and paternalism, the cuts in funding to essential aboriginal services, the ongoing denial of justice to the stolen generation, the stolen wages of generations and the refusal to say sorry.

All this 40 years after the referendum which overwhelmingly showed the support of non-indigenous Australians for a change in the treatment of Australia's first people. Yet what has changed? Not a lot - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are still massively over-represented in prison, still die 17 years earlier than the rest of the population, still suffer systematised diiscrimination, and are still denied the substance of a sovereignty never ceded.

Both Labor and Liberal have promised the world, and failed. Or worse, lied and manouevered, and tried to condemn indigenous Australia to the dust-bin of history. At the UNSW Indigenous Legal Centre's National Forum on July 20, two sentiments was repeatedly expressed - that both the major parties have failed; and that the re-invasion of the Northern Territory needs to be to the Indigenous rights movement what WorkChoices has been for the union movement - a catalyst to action.

On Friday August 31, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy set up in Victoria Park in Sydney again, and the same night politics in the Pub packed the Gaelic Club to the rafters (the Wombats counted over 130 people) in a discussion on the fight for indigenous rights. ANTaR, Oxfam, the Greens, the Socialist Alliance, ReconciliACTION, the newly re-formed "Women Against Wik", and many more groups are getting ready to take the fight to the next level.

But the leadership has got to come from the indigenous community. It's time.

It's time to get more than angry - it's time to get active!

A decade under Howard has been a living nightmare, says new black leadership group
National Indigenous Times
Thursday, 23 August 2007

By Chris Graham

NATIONAL, August 31, 2007: A new coalition of Aboriginal leaders from around the nation has released its first public statement since forming a fortnight ago.

And the group, which has yet to adopt a formal name, has come out swinging, issuing a release that is written in the vein that the group intends to continue fighting… with plenty of aggression.

Describing the past decade under the Howard government as “a nightmare” for Aboriginal people, the group attacks both the Liberal and Labor parties for creating policies which “blame the victims”.

The group includes former senior public servant Pat Turner, Olga Havnen (ACOSS and ANTaR), Naomi Mayers (CEO, Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service), Dennis Eggington (WA Aboriginal Legal Service), Sam Watson (Murri academic and activist), Bob Weatherall (FAIRA), Michael Mansell (Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre), Michael Williams , Gracelyn Smallwood (North Queensland), Nicole Watson and Larissa Behrendt (both Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University Technology Sydney) and Bradley Foster (community leader from North Queensland).

It formed a fortnight ago in response to the federal government's 'emergency intervention' into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

“A decade under John Howard has seen native title made harder to get with his 'bucket loads of extinguishment' legislation,” the statement reads.

“The elected body ATSIC was sacked; the Reconciliation Council dumped; paternalistic funding conditions imposed, such as being asked to wash hands and attend school to get Commonwealth monies.

“The Northern Territory Land Rights Act has been amended to increase access for mining and now vulnerable Aboriginal communities in the NT are invaded by troops.

“It has been a nightmare decade for Aboriginal people.

“We have been reduced to beggars in our own country.”

The group accused the Howard government of selective listening when it came to hearing Indigenous people.

“Any dissenting voice is ignored by a Government that selects "yes" people to promote its own agenda, and the select few are tragically held out as the voice of Aborigines,” the statement read.

The group accused both the Coalition and the ALP of 'blaming the victims' and launched a scathing attack on the NT intervention plans, which are endorsed by both major parties.

“The Howard and Rudd response to policies that have kept families and whole communities destitute is to blame the victim.

“Those victims, long denied a real chance to make a go of it, will now have their income stolen and must go to the local store with food vouchers: those vouchers will have a list of purchasable items on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.

“The balance of family incomes will never be seen by the "beneficiaries" because the bureaucracy keeps it to pay "other" costs.

“This demeaning approach will create greater dependency and strip the last form of human dignity from those subjected to a destructive policy.

“The increased police presence in community areas with "dob-in desks" is designed to humiliate, not rehabilitate.

“Portraying all Aborigines as paedophiles and drunks, and taking land away, undermines the remaining virtue we have: our dignity.

“We cannot watch developments in silence any longer. Our people deserve better.”

The group says the new coalition will seek to “represent the unrepresented Aboriginal communities” from around the nation and it promises to never align with any political party.

“We believe we bring experience and sincerity to the national political landscape.

“In our quest, we will not favour any political party as we see Aboriginal issues as being above party politics. Our single aim is to improve the lot of our people.

“We see our culture and people as an asset, not a liability.

“If we cannot persuade governments, then we will take our case to the court of public opinion - to the Australian people, to give us a chance to create a better future.”

Also, readers who haven't done so already should check this out, and sign it.

Aboriginal Leaders' Gulkula Letter to Kevin Rudd

Two letters were written on the weekend at a meeting at Gulkula in Arnhem Land of some of Australia's most respected indigenous leaders, including former Northern Land Council president Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Mandawuy Yunupingu from Yothu Yindi, the "father of reconciliation" Patrick Dodson, Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma and Jackie Huggins, co-chairwoman of Reconciliation Australia.

Some of the top Aboriginal leaders in the country carried the letters to Canberra earlier this week, in an effort to stop the Howard's government's attacks on aboriginal communities from passing through Parliament. The delegation was led by former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Coordinator Pat Turner and former NT government minister John Ah Kit, and tried - in vain - to meet with Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd before parliament debated the legislation.

Labor voted for it anyway. This is the text of the letter to Rudd:

Mr Kevin Rudd MP
Leader of the Opposition
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Mr. Rudd

Aboriginal leaders meeting at Garma this weekend have called upon the Prime Minister not to introduce the proposed legislative measures to give affect to his declaration of a national emergency in our communities in the Northern Territory.

The safety and wellbeing of all our children is paramount. We understand the need for tackling violence and abuse in some of our communities. Aboriginal people have led the way in addressing these issues in the absence of government support.

If any measure is expected to achieve the desired outcomes, there must be collaboration with community leaders throughout the Northern Territory. However, the Prime Minister’s unilateral action, without consultation or negotiation with us puts in jeopardy our relationship with the Government. It jeopardises the possibility of achieving any sustainable outcomes. The leaders brought to the Garma meeting messages from communities across the Territory expressing our people’s continuing concerns and alarm at the way in which the Australian Government’s intervention is being used to do much more than the intended protection of our children.

We are at a loss to understand how the removal of the permit system and the introduction of compulsory acquisition of our lands have anything to do with redressing the many complex social issues afflicting our communities. It is more likely that the Governments proposals will open the floodgates to illegal alcohol, drug and pornography dealers and to those who intend to prey on Aboriginal women and children.

We are deeply concerned at the severity and widespread nature of the problems of child sexual abuse and breakdown in our communities. But these are complex matters that occurred due to the neglect of successive governments in Australia that require a long term commitment of resources and political resolve on all our parts if we are to achieve the sustainable, positive changes that are so long over due.

We will continue to work collaboratively with Governments and communities to ensure that children are protected, they are our future and we will not compromise that for them. Above all, the role of our families and the need to strengthen and maintain our families must lie at the heart of any proposed solution. The widespread
fear caused by the deployment of Defence Force personnel in our communities will be a long term obstacle to achieving stable, healthy families and communities.

The Governments present intervention is not sustainable and the personnel presently working in our communities will inevitably leave. The impact of this intervention will have serious negative consequences, and one which concerns us most, because of the widespread defamation of all Aboriginal people that has resulted, is that Aboriginal people will lose confidence in any intervention, such as regular visits to medical services.

The Government’s decision to terminate the CDEP and replace it with social security arrangements will affect a majority of those people living on Aboriginal land. The detrimental impact of this new policy will be to force people into townships and communities where Aboriginal housing and services are drastically inadequate and create further dysfunction in those populations. Their policy of making social security entitlements conditional on school attendance and other factors will also contribute to a large transmigration with disastrous potential.

Moreover because the homelands have served as safe havens for families escaping alcohol, drug abuse, criminal behaviour and related dysfunction there will no longer be the option of the protection of their homelands. Thereby, the scale of the problem that concerns us all will accelerate rapidly particularly exposing women and children to greater risk.

We believe that the following steps are a pathway forward in dealing cooperatively with these matters.

Sit down and talk

It is convention upon the declaration of a national emergency for the Prime Minister to visit the affected areas to offer support and to listen to the needs of the people directly affected. Normally, the Leader of the Opposition accompanies the Prime Minister on such visits.

This fundamental courtesy has not been extended to the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory. It is a matter of urgency that, before taking any further action, the Prime Minister come to the Northern Territory and meet with us. We believe that you should seek to accompany the Prime Minister in the event he has the courage to make the trip and meet with our people. Indeed, an earlier request to the Prime Minister on 26 June has gone without even any acknowledgement. Nor has there been any acknowledgement of the preliminary response of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory sent to the Government on 10 July 2007. We have invited the Prime Minister to meet with us at the earliest opportunity to find a sustainable way forward.

Stop the legislation The Aboriginal leadership meeting at Garma believes that there is no need for the extraordinary legislation that is to be put to the national parliament in the coming week. The proposed legislation has been drafted without any consultation with the people most affected by it – we the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory.

Our people are concerned that the proposed legislative measures will be in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act, and as such, will bring further international condemnation to all Australians.

The permit system

The current permit system allows for all government officials to enter Aboriginal Land to carry out their duties at any time. These permits are issued by The Australian and Northern Territory Governments, not by any Aboriginal Land Council.

No more dispossession

The Government must negotiate with Aboriginal people with legitimate property rights before any compulsory acquisition of our property. The usurping of our property rights does nothing to engender confidence that we are part of the democratic polity of Australia.

This is our land. Australia recognised this in the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and further reinforced it in the Mabo and Wik native title High Court decisions. Additionally, the Special Purpose Leases in perpetuity for Town Camps provides the necessary security of tenure for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

We know that Australians support the recognition and protection of the property rights of all Australians, including those held by Aboriginal people. The Government’s intention to remove these rights, however well meaning his proposals to protect our children, will be regarded as deceitful and a betrayal of our children.

We would welcome the Oppositions support in defeating this iniquitous legislation. In the event of the legislation passing in the Parliament we would seek a commitment from the Australian Labor Party to repeal it immediately should you win government. We request that you meet with us on our traditional lands in the very near future. If you are agreeable to such a meeting we nominate Ms Olga Havnen as our contact person.

She can be contacted on 0488107060.

Yours Sincerely




Galarrwuy Yunupiŋu
4th August 2007

Indigenous rights - Labor fails again!

Word came to the Wombats yesterday that the Howard government's package of legislative amendments to back up their attack on Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory went to Parliament yesterday. Thanks to the support of the ALP, the package passed the Lower House last night. The Government has now given the Senate only one day to review the bills, before they ramm them through on Friday.

Predicting the spineless response from the ALP, outspoken indigenous activist Michael Mansell called Kevin Rudd and Labor's Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin "intellectually lazy and politically weak" on indigenous issues.

"They have failed to show leadership on any Aboriginal issue put before them."

"That shows how intellectually inadequate Mr Rudd is."

"Kevin Rudd is a dead loss. So is the federal ALP."

The head of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory, Pat Turner, also lambasted Warren Mundine, former National President of the ALP, after he launched an attack on the Labor Left for criticising the Government's plan. Mundine supports the government's attacks on Land Rights.

Turner was among the Aboriginal leaders who came from across Australia came to Canberra this week to stop the Government's legislation allowing it to grab Aboriginal land, smash Aboriginal self-government and occupy Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory with police and soldiers. Mal Brough and representatives of the government refused to even meet with them, so there will be a further protest in Canberra this Saturday:

Protest Howard's attacks on Aborigines
11. 00 am Saturday 11 August
Aboriginal Tent Embassy, in front of Old Parliament House,
for a march up the hill.

Anyone wanting to sign a petition against the attacks, you can download one here, and stay tuned for more updates and actions.

NT intervention worrying and sickening: Yunupingu

Speaking at the Garma festival at Gulkula near Nhulunbhuy in the Gove Peninsular, north-east Arnhem Land, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, former Northern Land Council president and highly respected indigenous leader, attacked the Howard government's intervention in the Northern Territory, calling it "sickening, rotten and worrying".

"We in the Northern Territory are about to be dispossessed of everything, everything that we've got left from the original dispossession of our land and lives.

"That I should go and change my lifestyle and become a white man is worrying, worrying and sickening."

While the theme for this year's festival is Indigenous Health: Real Solutions for a Chronic Problem, the federal government's invasion of indigenous communities overshadowed the event, as it did the UNSW Indigenous Law Centre's national forum, intended to mark forty years since the referendum, that this wombat attended recently.

The tide of public opinion has turned so fast against Howard's intervention (but not entirely), the report's authors have been so critical, and they have dropped the ball so quickly, that there is only one good thing that can be said about it: it has got people's attention.

The gradual erosion of rights that the Native Title Act ensured, especially after Howard's amendments, the underfunding and abolition of ATSIC and other indigenous bodies, the ongoing deaths in custody, the exclusion, racism, poverty, health and housing problems, and Howard's stubborn refusal to bow to the "black-armband" view of history and apologise for the Stolen Generations (and there's finally been a victory on that front too) has hidden a very real problem - the lack of a coordinated, activist, strategy for solving the problems indigenous australia. But from the Gove to the York Peninsular, from Mutijulu to Cumeragunja, from Perth to Palm Island and Redfern, and Canberra, the challenge has been laid out: Whadja gunna do about it?

As Yunupingu pointed out so succinctly, "I am just reminding people that this is a struggle."

And to win a struggle, you need a vision of what victory will look like, and to know who's on your side.

This from the National Indigenous Times:

"But one fact that Aboriginal Australians can take to the polls with certainty is that nothing will really change under a Rudd government."

and

"Confronting us at the election booth are two parties - who both have historically discriminated against people and whose Indigenous platforms are shallow to say the least."

At the July 14 rally against Howard's attacks in Sydney, and again at the UNSW-organised forum on July 20, Pat Turner, CEO of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory (who have released a 30 page response to Howard's attacks - PDF) echoed those same sentiments, putting Labor on notice: Either distinguish yourself from Howard, or risk losing indigenous support. And everyone should vote for a minor party in the senate, because neither of the major parties can be trusted.

But it's not just about exposing the hypocrisy of the ALP - most people know about it. What we need is a new vision for Australia - Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

As Sam Watson, Socialist Alliance Qld senate candidate says: "It’s time to put the shameful and disgusting politics of the major parties into the rubbish bin."