Anyone can join in the online discussions and comment on any subject matter here. It is just a matter of registering as a user with your email address. Every day ISX volunteers post a selection of news stories from the South Eastern Press for communities in remote and regional areas. Forums also cover issues of importance for the future work of the ISX including the economic development and social issues forums. By participating you can have your say about the future directions of the ISX work. http://www.isx.org.au/forums/index.php Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:09:24 +1000 Phorum 5.2.7 http://www.isx.org.au/forums/read.php?18,11383,11383#msg-11383 http://www.isx.org.au/forums/read.php?18,11383,11383#msg-11383

[www.abc.net.au]
By Matthew Grimson and Anna Henderson
ABC News
NT

VIDEO: Trish Crossin delivers parting swipe over preselection process [www.abc.net.au]
VIDEO: [www.abc.net.au]
AUDIO: Senator Crossin lashes ALP pre-selection (PM) [www.abc.net.au]
RELATED STORY: Roxon gives final speech as Caucus urged to focus [www.abc.net.au]
RELATED STORY: Gillard picks Nova Peris to run for Senate [www.abc.net.au]

Two prominent Labor senators have launched bitter public attacks over Prime Minister Julia Gillard's treatment of veteran Senator Trish Crossin.

Senator Crossin delivered an emotional valedictory speech in the Upper House yesterday, slamming the preselection process that saw Nova Peris given top spot on the NT Senate ticket and calling for the ALP to engage with Indigenous party members.

Senator Crossin, who in 1998 became the first Territory woman voted into Parliament, was informed by Ms Gillard in January that she would not have her backing for the top of Labor's Northern Territory Senate ticket.

Ms Gillard said that she would instead use a "captain's pick" to parachute Ms Peris - the first Indigenous Australian to win Olympic gold - into the position.

Ms Peris was not a member of the Labor Party when Ms Gillard made the announcement, but later joined and secured preselection.

Senator Crossin, a passionate advocate for Indigenous issues, said Parliament needs more female and Indigenous representatives, but the Prime Minister's "preselection intervention" should have been a last resort.

She said there are numerous Indigenous members of the Labor Party who were denied an opportunity to vie for the role.

"Do we need more women in Parliament? Well of course we do. But not at the expense of each other. And do we need Indigenous representation? Most certainly, but not in a vacuum without a plan or without a strategy," she said.

"Just because one person says it must be so doesn't make it right or democratic.

"The review of the 2010 federal election recommended that intervention in party preselection by the national executive should only occur as a last resort rather than as a first resort, and only then in exceptional circumstances.

"There are many wonderful Indigenous members of the party in the Northern Territory who have now been denied the chance to replace me. This is grossly unfair, it's undemocratic and it is not the Labor way."


Prominent senators attack Gillard's treatment of Crossin

Labor senators Kim Carr and Doug Cameron both used the occasion to criticise Ms Gillard's handling of the issue.

"While I wish Trish's successor every success, as I do every single endorsed candidate across this Commonwealth, I still maintain - Trish you were treated unjustly," Senator Carr said.


Senator Cameron said he was "appalled" at the treatment Senator Crossin had received.

CLP Senator Scullion, who was in the chamber to hear the speech, suggested that if Kevin Rudd returned to the Labor leadership, he should reinstate Senator Crossin to the top of the Senate ticket.

"I'm not sure about the machinations of the next week and again, I don't want to pour any porridge on your day - don't mention the war - but Kevin if you're listening, mate, and you are going to do something, there is still time to undo a great wrong," he said.


Call for 'active' Indigenous Labor network

Senator Crossin also used her speech to call on the Labor executive to ensure Indigenous Australians continue to rise to prominence.

She said the Labor Party lacked an "effective and active" Indigenous Labor network, and that systemic change needed to be driven at a national level.

She also called on the Northern Territory branch to be given a place in Labor's national executive.

"We need to see that engagement through fair, democratic processes," she said.

"The party must learn from this and must look to the future and engage with Indigenous members of the party seriously and genuinely to make systemic changes.

"To those members of the national executive and those who are sitting right now in this chamber, I hope you have thought long and hard about what the party will now do in the future to make sure that this is not unique, that this is just not a one-off pick."

NT intervention Crossin's darkest day in Senate

Senator Crossin ended her speech by calling for a review of the Land Rights Act, saying Indigenous affairs should not be treated "from a welfare point of view".

She said her "darkest day" in the Senate was when the Northern Territory intervention was announced.

"To move into people's lives and communities in this way left me speechless and helpless," she said.

"These people that I have lived and worked with were humiliated and shamed, left to wonder why and how it had come to this.

"And then when we got government they lobbied me continually to make the changes faster than we did, to recognise that support and assistance rather than intervention [were] needed."


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[www.recruiter.co.uk]
Tue, 18 Jun 2013

Over 100 indigenous secondary school students from across Australia are undertaking a week of work experience with the Australian government in the nation’s capital city of Canberra.

The Learn Earn Legend! Work Exposure with Government programme is in its fourth year, and involves over 80 parliamentarians and 32 government agencies.

Minister for indigenous employment and economic development Julie Collins says: “These students are future leaders in their communities and this programme will expand their horizons, showing them possible job opportunities and pathways into government work.”

With indigenous employment an ongoing issue in Australia, the government has committed a total of almost $650m (£393m) to its Indigenous Employment Program over the next four years.

The aim is to increase indigenous employment within the public sector to 2.7% by 2015 – at which level it would represent the proportion of Australia’s population who are from indigenous backgrounds.
- See more at: [www.recruiter.co.uk]


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[www.probonoaustralia.com.au]
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 - 09:57


Emerging Indigenous Leaders in Victoria are encouraged to apply for the Australian Communities Foundation’s fellowship.

Two leaders will be chosen as part of the leadership program which provides people with the support they need to achieve their vision for their communities.


The program has so far appointed three fellows and 10 emerging leaders in the years it has been running and has provided recipients with support and assistance with their plans and broader vision for improving the social, economic and emotional wellbeing of Indigenous communities in Victoria.

Expressions of interest from all backgrounds including the arts, community, business, health and sport will be accepted.



“THIS POSTING IS PROVIDED TO THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THIS GROUP WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER FOR PURPOSES OF CRITICISM, COMMENT, SCHOLARSHIP AND RESEARCH UNDER THE "FAIR USE" PROVISIONS OF THE FEDERAL COPYRIGHT LAWS AND IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED FURTHER WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER, EXCEPT FOR "FAIR USE."

The Fellowship helps Indigenous communities to develop innovative responses to current issues and future challenges.
It supports Indigenous leaders, past, present and future, striving to achieve positive change for Indigenous Victorians and strengthening links between Indigenous and mainstream Australia.

Those taking part in the program will have access to mentoring, professional and personal development and the opportunity to improve their leadership skills as well as a $30,000 grant for a period of 12 months to assist with the development of identified personal and professional development goals and planning and implementing a project that will benefit their community.

Applications close July 1, 2013.


For more information and details on how to apply visit www.indigenousfellowship.net.au
The Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership is a sub-fund of the Australian Communities Foundation (formerly the Melbourne Community Foundation).

- See more at: [www.probonoaustralia.com.au]]]> PeterLain Listen to the News... Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:44:15 +1000 http://www.isx.org.au/forums/read.php?17,11375,11375#msg-11375 http://www.isx.org.au/forums/read.php?17,11375,11375#msg-11375
[www.smh.com.au]
June 18, 2013
Andrew Taylor
Arts reporter

Richard Bell has some regrets but he is in no hurry to make excuses or apologies, writes Andrew Taylor.

Provocative: Richard Bell, in Scratch an Aussie, says he has mellowed but he likes to cause a stir.

There's never a dull moment with indigenous artist and professional provocateur Richard Bell. No sooner has he sat down with his beer outside the Tilbury Hotel in Woolloomooloo, close to the gallery hosting his coming exhibition, than he is accosted by an elderly woman who demands he vacates the table because she has parked her Zimmer frame next to it.

Bell eventually moves, observing later: ''I'm a pussy nowadays, a toothless tiger.

''Years ago, I'd tell her to just go f--- herself.''

He is not lying, if his career is any guide.

The 59-year-old Brisbane artist came to national attention after his painting Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell's Theorem), featuring the words ''Aboriginal art - It's a white thing'', won the 2003 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.

He caused a furore when he turned up to the award ceremony in Darwin wearing a T-shirt that read ''White girls can't hump'', which he says he had worn at countless other public events.

Bell stirred up controversy in 2011 when he revealed that he had tossed a coin to choose the winner of the Sulman Art Prize, prompting then director of the Art Gallery of NSW Edmund Capon to offer more guidance in future to judges of the $20,000 award.

However, Bell's stature in contemporary art circles continues to grow.

He was one of five artists awarded a $100,000 Australia Council fellowship last month, and a mid-career survey of his work, Uz vs. Them, recently finished a two-year tour of US galleries.

Bell says he has mellowed in the years since it was suggested he take up art in the late 1980s at the end of the Bjelke-Petersen era.

''And I said: 'Bullshit. That stuff is for girls and gays','' he says.

But Bell's mentor persisted, telling him: ''You can say whatever you like and you won't get arrested.''

''If I did that, I'd tell these white f---ers exactly what I think of them,'' Bell replied.

More than two decades later, Bell's Imagining Victory, an exhibition of three video works including the premiere of The Dinner Party, is no less confrontational in its examination of Australia's racial relations.

The Dinner Party takes place in a plush riverside mansion where a group of white Australians offer their perspective on Aboriginal people.

''This is where the stereotypes are introduced or reinforced,'' Bell says.

''We're lazy, we get a million-dollar payout from the government, we get everything paid for us.''

It is the final instalment in Bell's film trilogy that began with 2008's Scratch an Aussie, a Freudian therapy session featuring the artist as patient opening up to a therapist played by indigenous activist Gary Foley. Bell also played a therapist in the film, urging a group of young white Australians to air their appalling attitudes about indigenous people.

The following year he focused on Aboriginal politics in Broken English, which featured an Australia Day re-enactment of Captain Cook's landing.

The films make for uncomfortable viewing and Bell says it is up to the viewer to decide whether the racist attitudes depicted in Imagining Victory are a relic of the past or still colour Australian society.

Curator Mark Feary says Bell's trilogy highlights the divide between publicly stated and privately held opinions on race relations. The films are confrontational, Feary says, but ''every movement requires an aspect of radicalism to uncomfortably push an agenda and you could suggest that this is a role that Richard has assumed.

''For him, art is a vehicle for him to integrate the politics of Aboriginal representation in a broad sense of political, social and economic realms but specifically how that might be represented culturally.''

Bell makes no apology for his confrontational approach to art, which appropriates the art of others, especially pop art pioneer Roy Lichtenstein, to make strong political comments.

His 2007 painting The Peckin' Order depicts an anguished young woman, with a thought bubble hovering next to her blonde hair that reads: ''Thank Christ I'm not Aboriginal.''

''I've seen lots of artists who present arguments in subtle ways and through metaphor and it's kind of wasted,'' he says.

''It is as a mark of respect for those artists that I don't sully their name by being included in their ranks.''

However, he says he is willing to make a fool out of himself, pointing to his appearance as a crucified Jesus in Luke Roberts' Three figures at the bases of crucifixions, which was a finalist in the 2011 Blake Prize for religious art.

As humorous as he is confrontational, Bell says there are ''probably lots of things'' he regrets.

''When I'm feeling down and weak, I'd probably feel that way,'' he says. ''When I'm buoyant and brazen, I don't give a f---. It goes up and down.

''I have to wear everything I've done. That doesn't mean to say I have to embrace it.''

Richard Bell's Imagining Victory is on at Artspace in Woolloomooloo from June 26 to August 11.



Read more: [www.smh.com.au]


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NB Crime statistic graphs at [www.guardian.co.uk]
New crime statistics show the Northern Territory leads Australia in murder rate and assaults The Northern Territory is the murder capital of Australia, according to new crime statistics.

The state and territory breakdown of Recorded Crime - Victims from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the Northern Territory has the highest rate of murder at 7.7 per 100,000 people. This is over three times greater than the next highest state.




The Northern Territory also leads the country in the rate of assaults per person, again over three times higher than the next highest state. Figures for Victoria, Tasmania, and the ACT are not available due to the way data is reported from these states and territories.


For Australia as a whole the rate of murder victims per 100,00 has increased slightly by 0.1 year on year, sexual assault by 2.2, armed robbery by 0.3, and blackmail/extortion by 0.2.



Attempted murder is down by 0.1, kidnapping/abduction by 0.2, and unarmed robbery by 3.4. Longer term trends are harder to determine as the Bureau of Statistics advises that data prior to 2010 was collected using different classifications, so is not strictly comparable.

However here's what the trend looked like up until 2009:


Crimes such as murder and assault are still more likely to occur in a home than anywhere else, with the vast majority occurring at a residential property.


In the Northern Territory, Indigenous people continue to be overrepresented in assault statistics. There were 130 Indigenous victims of sexual assault in 2012 in comparison to 153 non-Indigenous victims. This is despite only 30% of the Northern Territory population being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background.

The Northern Territory police and the department of the Attorney-General and Justice both declined to comment on the statistics.



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[www.abc.net.au]
Wagga Wagga 2650

The Australian Rural Health Education Network (ARHEN) is lobbying politicians to get more medical students to work in rural areas.

The group met with MP's in Canberra yesterday to secure funding for its programs that support nursing, allied health, dentistry and Indigenous students to work in regional and remote areas.

ARHEN's Chairman Professor David Lyle says rural areas are in desperate need for more health care workers.

He says students that have the opportunity to train in rural communities or come from such areas are more likely to return there to work after graduation.

"Part of our discussion with Canberra is to talk about ways we can provide more opportunities for students not only in medicine which is working really well but also in nursing and allied health," said Professor Lyle.

"If students are able to take those longer term placements where they make meaningful connection with the community they are more likely to return there."
"But also they actually work very effectively with the local health services while they are training."

ARHEN is also pushing for the government to fund its program to promote better outcomes for indigenous health and education.

Chairman David Lyle says the 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Academic program' aims to address the shortage of indigenous medical workers in research and academia.

Professor Lyle says the program aims to educate a cohort of indigenous academics, who will then act as leaders in indigenous health.

"So we can take health care professionals who haven't had formal academic training to undertake research," said David Lyle.

"They then have the skills to take on a full academic role as opposed to their professional clinical role and go on to provide a strong support for developing aboriginal health."



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[www.concernedaustralians.com.au]
Striking the Wrong Note

Aboriginal advocate Olga Havnen, in her Lowitja O’Donoghue oration has asked a critical question. She asks what has been the psychological impact of the Intervention on Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory. It is surprising that so little attention has been given to this critical, yet in some ways tenuous, link before now.

Even before the Intervention began in June 2007, government had long planned a new approach to the ‘management’ of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. It was no longer part of government thinking that self-determination and Aboriginal control over land could be allowed to continue. These were the Whitlam notions of 1975 and they were no longer acceptable.

Early inklings of change occurred in 2004 with the management of grants being transferred from communities to Government’s newly established Indigenous Co-ordination Centres. More ominous were the Amendments of 2006 to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and the memoranda of agreements that followed. Government had made it clear that it wished to re-engage itself more directly in the control of community land through leasing options as well as to open up Aboriginal land for development and mining purposes.

The plan was to empty the homelands, and this has not changed. However, it was recognised that achieving this would be politically fraught – it would need to be accomplished in a manner that would not off-side mainstream Australia. Removing Aboriginal people from their land and taking control over their communities would need to be presented in a way that Australians would believe it to be to Aboriginal advantage, whatever the tactics.

So began the campaign to discredit the people and to publicly stigmatise Aboriginal men of the Northern Territory. It would be the Minister himself who would take centre stage. It seemed that all Aboriginal men were engaged in paedophilia. The Minister readily gave television and radio interviews and declared that he knew there were paedophile rings in every Aboriginal community. Viewers were asked during their evening news broadcasts how they felt about Aboriginal children going to bed at night knowing that they were not safe. This was a government Minister engaging in a sensationalist campaign aimed at demoralising Aboriginal men and was probably the lowest point in any Government behaviour ever seen in Australia’s political history. When challenged by the NT Chief Minister to name the people involved the situation deteriorated further. With the collusion of the ABC, a senior executive service bureaucrat from the Minister’s own office posed as a youth worker from Mutitjulu, a place he had never visited, and collaborated the Minister’s story. There could have been nothing more sordid. And even in 2009 when the CEO of the Australian Crime Commission, John Lawler, reported that his investigation had shown there were no organised paedophile rings operating in the NT, no formal apology was ever made to the Aboriginal men and their families who were brutally shamed by the false claims. Beyond this the Australian system appeared to have no way by which it could confront the former Minister for the incredible harm done by his persistent inflammatory public statements which had given rise to negative stereotyping of an ethnic group. The Minister had done his job. The Australian people had been suitably shocked and the Intervention was seen as a necessary consequence. Furthermore, Labor, that had seemingly feigned horror at the 2006 amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, would now eagerly provide bipartisan support.

What was the psychological impact of publicly shaming Aboriginal men for repulsive and unacceptable behaviours that they hadn’t engaged in? It undermined their feelings of self-worth and marginalised them. It was a direct attack on their identity. The fact that they had no way of defending themselves simply led to a state of despair. One’s sense of safety is bound uncompromisingly with a belief in justice. When that belief collapses fear of the unknown takes over.

In many ways the Intervention in all its forms has been an attack on Aboriginal identity, and continues to be. Just as the focus on paedophile rings collectively impaled all Aboriginal men to gross and disgusting acts with innocent children who needed to be protected, so did the Intervention target all communities with tales of alcohol dependence, gambling, pornography use, inefficient management, money waste, poorly maintained homes, overcrowding and poor health.

Once again, negative stigmatising of the people was as one, promoting aspects of dysfunction without providing background or explanation of situations and ensuring the most sensationalised elements of disadvantage were promoted. Measures imposed were not targeted at areas of need but were simply imposed on all as blanket measures. The oppressive restrictions were imposed on communities irrespective of whether they were perceived to be well managed and achieving their goals or whether they were struggling and in need of help. They were punished without distinction. Their individual worth was of no consequence. The intention of such measures had never been designed to assist in specific circumstances involving particular individuals or communities but as a means of taking back control from all.

People struggled to understand why they were being targeted, why they were being punished. They were fearful for many reasons but most especially because of the manner in which the Army had been engaged in a display to ‘shock and awe’. How could the so-called ‘Emergency Response’ be explained? We know from stories at the time that many grabbed their children and ran to hide in the bush in the belief that once again their children would be removed from them. Why was this cruel re-traumatising of so many allowed to happen?

Government claimed the ‘emergency’ was required to protect children from sexual abuse. While very serious concerns regarding child sexual abuse had been raised through the ‘Little Children are Sacred’ Report, the statistics showed its rate was far, far lower than in the state of New South Wales. The complex legislation that had been prepared to implement the Northern Territory Emergency Response had commenced long before the release of the report and none of it was directly aimed at the protection of young children.

Re-traumatisation has done plenty of damage. If ever there had been a growing sense of trust between Aboriginal people and the dominant race, it was blown away in 2007. The trust was gone and the fear returned. The very manner in which the Intervention was rolled out ensured greater confusion and disorientation, more like an act of counter-insurgence. Normal channels of engagement and communication were ignored. Elders became invisible; they were neither consulted nor invited to comment. Government Business Managers were installed to take decisions in communities. Responsibilities of Elders were removed from them. Controls set up to keep many communities ‘dry’ were dismantled and responsibility for alcohol control transferred to Government.

Whether a person was in debt or held a weighty savings account, they were forced to receive half their welfare payment through a plastic card which could be used only at certain shops. Capacity to financially manage money was irrelevant. Card-holders were shamed by having to stand in a separate supermarket queue.

With the demise of CDEP, the Community Development Employment Projects, those who had been employed, often for many years, found themselves on unemployment benefits. They watched on as Shire offices sent in contract workers to take over many of the tasks previously managed by the local workforce. Community council offices were closed down and stripped of all equipment. Bank accounts were frozen and responsibilities transferred from local community staff to those in Shire offices often many hundreds of kilometres away. Community programmes, often designed and developed by local people, gradually ground to a halt. Small communities were devastated. The disempowerment was unimaginable and only served to exacerbate the aimless and bewildered movements away from the security of community land towards the urban centres that offered no guarantees of shelter or protection from the social dysfunction of those who were already lost.

And the question asked, what was the psychological impact on Aboriginal people? Though little or no research has been conducted on the current situation, we do know enough from earlier studies to recognise that great psychological harm has resulted from the imposition of such targeted social oppression.

The sudden and brutal upheaval of the Intervention and the manner in which it was perpetrated left people in a state of helplessness. It was the unpredictability of their environment which left them bereft of any natural coping skills. They had lost all ability to predict what might happen next. Anxiety levels were high and distress dominated. The demands were so relentless that any chance of adapting behaviours to deal with new circumstances was overtaken by new waves of oppressive change.

Those elements central to Aboriginal culture were all under attack – language, law and land. Federal and Territory governments joined in their assault. Bilingual learning programmes were banned from schools. The exclusion of any consideration of Aboriginal customary law by judges and magistrates when deliberating on bail and sentencing, was clearly discriminatory. It degraded and devalued Aboriginal culture, and again there seemed to be a determined disrespect for the culture itself. A fear of dispossession was reinforced by the 2006 amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act whereby control over community township lands were transferred from Aboriginal Land Councils to a Government statutory body. Without discussion, it opened up the possibility for sub-leases on community owned land. Further reinforced was the declared intention of emptying the homeland areas through a Memorandum of Agreement between Federal and Territory governments that no new housing would appear on homelands or outstations (September 2007). The changes added to the sense of overwhelming fear and uncertainty. As Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Elder from Utopia, said, “take away from me my language, take away from me my responsibilities for the land, take away from me my land, and I am nothing”. This then was the impact of the Intervention.

During a visit to Melbourne last year, Rosalie spoke about the trauma her people live with. She talked about their loss of security. It is inevitable that a large percentage of Aboriginal people who have lived through the extraordinary turmoil of the last six years in the Territory have been traumatised by their experiences. That loss of security results from long periods of being overwhelmed by a sense of fear, a sense of being constantly in danger and always on the alert. This denies a person any real sense of relaxation. Being constantly agitated impacts on relationships and ability to trust. Stress levels are high. Others suffer by the constant intrusions of feelings of panic and anxiety over which they have no control. A general loss of self-esteem easily deteriorates into depression and despair.

It is known that the emotional development of children who have been exposed to constant stress and trauma is often affected. Adolescents may have difficulty expressing their emotion and have difficulty relating to others. For the reasons already discussed, it can affect their concentration, their retention of information and their ability to learn. Children are ever aware of the impact of trauma on those closest to them that threaten the fragile framework of care upon which they rely.

The deterioration of the psychological health of Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory has been screaming from the pages of every Closing the Gap report since their inception in 2009. The reports have consistently shown rising rates of self-harm, domestic violence and incarceration. The recorded incidence of attempted self-harm since the introduction of the Intervention has more than tripled. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission the actual rate of youth suicide in the NT has increased by 160%. Incidents of recorded domestic violence have doubled and Aboriginal incarceration under the Intervention has also virtually doubled, from 688 people in March 2007 to 1311 in 2013.

As Rosalie Kunoth-Monks pointed out in 2009, “Health is about being emotionally sound, mentally sound, knowing who you are as well as being physically fit”. The notion of total despair was well described during the 2012 Senate Inquiry by Dr Djiniyini Gondarra who stated, “When our lives are being threatened and taken away, we just sit and do nothing. I have already emphasised that people are dying, not just dying spiritually and emotionally but dying physically. They cannot live for the day because their lives are controlled by somebody else. They have given up hope: what is the use?”

Punitive measures designed in Canberra, ignore the cultural realities upon the ground. As far as is possible, they simply ignore culture altogether and hope that by appealing to youth, the attractions of Western culture will overcome the call of repressed and ageing Elders. Aboriginal culture is simply a hindrance. It is dispensable.

So where is the reality? Closing the Gap is based on the belief that if Aboriginal people live longer they will be better off? Surely, the question has to be asked, if they live longer will they be happier? And conversely can they live longer if they are not happy? As we have seen from the above, there is little evidence of improvements to happiness. In fact, the evidence shows the reverse. We are, in fact, drowning in a constant collection of data in the hope of measuring increased well-being, but we are seemingly oblivious to the operational framework on the ground that increasingly removes control and reduces the chance of the very improvements we seek.

Over many years there have been numerous reports and enquiries that have focused on Aboriginal health improvements and recommendations have all but mirrored each other. For instance, we know that for health to improve, people must have increased control over their life. Why then has the Intervention been designed specifically to remove control from the people? We know that stress causes incredible harm to a person’s physical and psychological health. Why then has the Intervention been introduced without community consultation and in a manner which has been aimed at confusing, disorienting and undermining Aboriginal self-worth? Why have Aboriginal lives been targeted by cruel and vicious innuendo? Why has culture been all but ignored since it represents the meaning and value of Aboriginal existence? By disempowerment and the very creation of trauma incredible harm has been done.

Yes, it should be clear to everyone that the Intervention was never designed with even the slightest consideration of improvement to Aboriginal health. Nor was it designed around any aspect of Aboriginal advancement. The stark reality is that its focus was to regain ultimate control over Northern Territory land and development. What we have been watching since June 2007, with the support of both major parties, has been the imposition of coercive tactics aimed at removing peoples from their homelands and that is still the case. Aboriginal people have lost their rights to consent and control over the very factors which directly affect their lives. Their rights have been whittled away by changes to legislation and dishonest notions of consultation. The right to self-determination has been high-jacked. Forced assimilation is currently seen by Government as the only way forward.

While many good people struggle to address the broad and negative impacts of the Northern Territory legislation by focusing on the need to improve the basic social determinants that surround the Intervention measures, there remains a certain reluctance to address the central issue of the right to Indigenous integrity. This is the right of Indigenous peoples to determine a future for themselves, the right to their culture and the right to live on their land. Integrity has to be the beginning point because without it there is nothing sustainable upon which to build. Gough Whitlam knew this, and we do too. It is important that we are not drawn into the illusion that there are intended links between the oppressive intentions of the Intervention and the genuine concerns for the future of Aboriginal peoples.

For Australia, the Intervention has simply been one more step backwards into the mire of dispossession and dishonesty. So captivated have our leaders become by the lure of development and gain that delusion has convinced them that the benefits to Aboriginal people of such plunder will far outweigh the loss of control over their lives. This perhaps is one of the fault lines to which Olga Havnen made reference in her oration as being in need of attention. What would it take for a new government to find the courage to re-align itself with Aboriginal integrity, justice and equality? Nelson Mandela advised of the need for a collective voice – that would include you and me.

Michele Harris ‘concerned Australians’


“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King Jr.]]> PeterLain Listen to the News... Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:41:21 +1000 http://www.isx.org.au/forums/read.php?68,11367,11367#msg-11367 http://www.isx.org.au/forums/read.php?68,11367,11367#msg-11367
[www.theaustralian.com.au]
by: Patricia Karvelas
From: The Australian
June 15, 2013 12:00AM




Cheryl Cannon, right, with daughter Heather and granddaughter Chanae outside the home she is building in Hope Vale. Picture: Norbert Von Der Heidt Source: The Australian

EVERY afternoon for the past three months, Aboriginal grandmother Cheryl Cannon has performed a ritual repeated around the country by Australians building their dream homes.

After work she drives to a block of land in the indigenous community of Hope Vale to see her new house slowly come into being.

The home has become an obsession in her family. Her elderly father also visits every afternoon, just to check on progress.

Two-year-old Chanae, who will live in the house with her grandmother and mother Heather, points and loudly declares "my house, my house" when they drive past.

But the home in north Queensland is a dream come true not only for the three generations of Aboriginal women who will move into the building in three weeks.

It also represents an ambition achieved for the whole community: the first family in Queensland to move into a house that they own, built from scratch, on their traditional land.

Until now, homes in their community have been government housing -- owned by all and yet by no one.

Ms Cannon says that if she had been given the right to buy a home in the community years ago she would not be moving in now with a mortgage, but would have already paid off the loan.

"I would have taken this up years ago, I would have been on the home stretch now," she says.

"I'm getting all of my seven grandchildren to plant a fruit tree in the backyard so we can eat from it. This is an important family project.

"I've taken photos of every stage, when they were clearing the land, when there were stumps, when they started building. It's so amazing, and now everyone is asking me how I am doing this."

The house, she believes, will provide stability for her daughter and granddaughter but it also represents continuity in that the street where they will live bears her family name, McLean.

A quiet and slow home ownership revolution is happening in Aboriginal Australia.

Ms Cannon may be the first person in an indigenous community in Queensland to own a home -- bought with the assistance of an Indigenous Business Australia loan -- but she is one of an expanding group.

IBA has made 18 home loans to indigenous people on community land across the country -- 16 on Tiwi Island, one in Batchelor and one in Hope Vale. It has received a further 11 applications for loans to buy in the Hope Valley Estate where a house and land could cost $250,000.

IBA says it is working closely with government and Aboriginal communities in Queensland to help indigenous people to buy social housing and is optimistic more homes will be bought or built by the end of the year.

The organisation is forecasting a record year for its Indigenous Home Ownership program with close to $170 million in loans approved this financial year.

This equates to around 650 loans approved and is almost 20 per cent higher than the record of two years ago. Four years ago 1323 clients were waiting for access to finance, now there is no waiting list at all.

Ms Cannon says paying rent week after week can kill hope and pride.

"I want something for my grandchildren's future. When you are living in social housing some people don't care how they look after it. But if it's your own you take care not to damage the cupboards, the doors," she tells The Weekend Australian.

"I have done this in my 50s, but others can now do this in their 20s, finally they have a chance to pay for their own home. It will change their lives."

She owned a home briefly before outside of the community but says she always wanted to own a home in her community.

The federal government has provided $7.765m to the local council for the subdivision of Hope Valley Estate.

This will provide 53 serviced freehold lots to build and sell homes.

"Achieving land tenure reform, allowing for the issuing of individual titles which can be mortgaged, still remains a barrier to home ownership in some areas and will require further reform from states to change their legislation" IBA chief executive officer Chris Fry said.

Hope Valley Estate is the result of a collaboration from the Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and IBA.




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[www.smh.com.au]
Date
June 16, 2013

Since the Adam Goodes-Eddie McGuire fiasco kicked off, I've heard the return of my favourite White Person Excuse: "I didn't kill any Aborigines or take their land, what's it got to do with me?"

It's kinda sweet Aussies retain this live-and-let-live attitude because it's one that'd land you in a teensy bit of trouble in thousands of parts of the world.

As of this moment, Australia and good ol' bustling Antarctica are the only two continents where there's not some kind of continuing territorial dispute between a national or sub-national entity.

The majority of these disputes are non-violent but most of them are also old; older than tall ships, muskets and keeping indigenous Australians in animal collars.

It seems to be a universal human trait – when someone steals your land and kills your relatives, you remember it for a long, long time.

The Middle East and Balkans are handy reminders of the elephantine memories people have for atrocities committed against their forebears.

History is not linear in many cultures. The repression of the Hazara people – who often end up on Australian naval vessels as refugees from Afghanistan – dates back to them sharing too much blood with the Mongols, who killed everybody they could get their hands on in Afghanistan and Persia more than 800 years ago.

Of course, in places such as Syria, Sudan, Mali, Pakistan and Iraq, things are even more heated and what you did or did not do makes as little difference as what your great-grandparents did or did not do.

There are vicious square-ups happening in those countries right now that date back hundreds of years and in others (thanks to the Shiite-Sunni divide) over a thousand.

So, when I hear "What's it got to do with me?", I suggest we're kind of a special case in Australia because: 1. We've no shared borders with expansionist neighbours with whom we have long-standing bad blood; and . . . 2. We reduced the indigenous population to a numerical minority that struggles to insist we rethink history from their point of view.

Of course, the other side of the "What's it got to do with me?" coin is our shared human heritage.

You might just as well ask: "What does electricity have to do with me?" as you open your fridge. Or agriculture? Or aspirin? Or numbers and letters?

Every newborn inherits an immense body of knowledge, delivered via a struggle that has dragged humanity up the ladder from supernatural to legendary and now scientific explanations of the world and, frankly, that's also got nothing to do with you. You didn't invent democracy, currency, navigation, hygiene, law and order or shower heads – but you benefit from them every day.

It's simple humility to respect the debt we owe billions of great minds – soldiers and civilians – for where we are now in history.

It's also common decency to recognise that with the good, we also should accept responsibility for the bad.

When that comes to indigenous Australians, a humble acknowledgment of past injustices is a nice place to start.



Read more: [www.smh.com.au]




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[www.abc.net.au]
By Jano Gibson
Fri Jun 14, 2013 10:55am AEST
Map: Katherine 0850

A Northern Territory Indigenous politician has lashed out at an Aboriginal broadcaster over his comments about racism in a Top End town.

Country Liberals MLA Bess Price says Brisbane radio host Tiga Bayles is a hypocrite for saying Katherine "reeks of racism".

Mr Bayles made the comments after he said he was shocked to learn a shopping centre in the town, about 300 kilometres south of Darwin, was charging $2 for the use of toilets.

He said he believed the policy was aimed at Aboriginal people.

Ms Price says she was offended when Mr Bayles made comments about her to his listeners on Brisbane's 98.9 FM last year that some people regarded her as a "head-nodding, jacky jacky blackfella for the government", who had been nicknamed "Best Price" and someone who "does what she is told by government".

"He's definitely racist towards another fellow Aboriginal person," she said.

"And this is coming from a person who regards himself as a spokesperson for his people in Brisbane."

Mr Bayles said his comments reflected other people's views about Ms Price, not his own.

The Country Liberals MLA for Stuart said Mr Bayles' comments about Katherine were not only wrong but hypocritical.

"I don't think it's right of him to come here and tell us how to run our Northern Territory," she said.

"If we get people like him coming over to the Northern Territory to tell us we are racist, I think he needs to look at his own backyard and deal with his issues of him calling everybody else racist."



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[www.abc.net.au]
NT

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) crime figures show the Northern Territory still has the highest rate of assaults in Australia, and most are against Indigenous women by family members.

The statistics show the Territory's assault rate grew by 5 per cent last year and is more than three times higher than that of any other state or territory.

There are more than 3,000 victims of assault per 100,000 people every year in the Territory compared with 900 per 100,000 people in the next most violent jurisdiction, Western Australia.

Sixty per cent of assault victims were female and 80 per cent of those women were Indigenous.

The Territory also had the highest percentage of female victims who knew their assailant (90 per cent) and the highest percentage of women whose attacker was a member of their family (60 per cent).

Unlike other states, more women in the Territory were assaulted in a public place that at home.

The report shows that the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and New South Wales posted a decrease in the number of assaults on the previous year, down 11, 7 and 3 per cent respectively.

Assaults in Western Australian were up by 7 per cent.

Assault data for Queensland and Victoria was not available in the report.



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[www.smh.com.au]
Date June 15, 2013
Vince Chadwick


The Age News 25/05/09 picture Justin McManus. Muriel Bamblett, CEO at Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency Co-Op L

Muriel Bamblett. Photo: Justin McManus

Indigenous leaders say Australia risks creating another stolen generation if it does not reduce the soaring number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care.

In 1997, when the Bringing Them Home report on the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families was tabled in Federal Parliament, 2785 indigenous children were in out-of-home care.

By June 2012, that figure had risen to 13,299.

Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency chief executive Muriel Bamblett said early intervention measures to help families were insufficient, more work was needed to reunify children with their parents, and welfare agencies approached indigenous people differently.

''There is a tendency to be overly interventionist with Aboriginal families,'' Professor Bamblett said.

''Rather than putting supports around the child, we say, 'Let's just remove them'.''

Professor Bamblett was one of six panellists at a forum at Federation Square on Friday, held by the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, which is leading the push to halve the number of children in out-of-home care by 2018.

She warned that the current generation may one day grow up to say they, too, had been removed from their families.

''Now we have got a whole new wave. We haven't been able to break that cycle.''

Oxfam chief executive Helen Szoke said: ''Maybe it is time for the Human Rights Commission to do another stolen generations report.''

Although child protection was a state responsibility, Dr Szoke said, the report could focus on whether Australia was meeting its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, before the next UN inspection in 2018.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children make up 4.2 per cent of the population but a third of all children in care.

The recently retired vice-chairwoman of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Marta Mauras-Perez, called for a nuanced approach to deciding what constituted ''neglect'' in each community.

She gave the example of a mattress lying on a living room floor, which could reflect a culture of hospitality, instead used as grounds to remove indigenous children from their parents because there were too many people living in the house.

Professor Bamblett said children in care also needed to maintain a link with their local area.

The 2012 Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry found only 59 per cent of Koori children in care remained connected to their family and culture.

For stolen generations advocate Aunty Lorraine Peeters, Friday's conversation was the same as 40 years ago.

''Our children are being removed at such a rate that I feel really sick in the stomach every time I look at the stats,'' she said.

''Who is going to be there for those children in 18 years' time when they enter into trauma and want to know where they come from or who their families are?''

Read more: [www.smh.com.au]



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[www.abc.net.au]
By Bill Brown
13 June, 2013 4:24PM AEST

Tjupurru brought his unique Didjeribone to the Snowy Mountains Festival of Music recently. The Brisbane based Aboriginal musician has developed a synthesis of the traditional Aboriginal didjeridu and cutting edge electronic music technology. He grew up in Papua New Guinea to where in the late nineteenth century his great grandparents were taken by missionaries from their traditional country in Western Australia. After a successful search for his people he then created new music using a radical reinvention of the ancient didjeridu.

Adrian Fabila Tjupurrula was born and bred in Port Moresby, a third generation descendant of Djabera Djabera people who had been taken to New Guinea from the Beagle Bay mission in the Kimberleys.

Although born in New Guinea as had been his parents and grandparents he says that being classified as different, a mixed race person, inspired his desire to reconnect with his heritage.

He was a champion boxer in New Guinea and has memories of being treated not as Papua New Guinean in the ring but as 'the enemy' because he was someone of mixed race.

After moving to Cairns in the 1970s he realised how many of his people had been displaced and he began a search for his origins beginning with the records of the Catholic missionaries.

The first breakthrough was when he found a document that identified his great grandmother as being a Western Australian Aboriginal who was among those taken to Papua New Gunia and then married a Filipino lay missionary.

Then in the late 1990s his older brother found a book in the NSW State Library that had a record of their great grandmother.

Soon after Tjupurru and his family was visiting Broome where he said an old Aboriginal man approached them in a supermarket thinking Tjupurru was a relative.

The old man was mistaken and then when Tjupurru explained his search and that he had found out his great grandmother's name was Rosie Bombay "the old man almost fainted and said 'Where the hell have you guys been?'"

Tjupurru says that the older people had been told to keep an eye out for those families who had gone missing over 100 years earlier.

From that meeting they were able to reconnect with his Djabera Djabera family and people.

Tjupurru began playing didjeridu at school with a plastic vacuum cleaner pipe and years later was inspired by the music of Gonwdanaland and the didj playing of Charlie McMahon.

Charlie McMahon showed that the didjeridu could be an instrument in contemporary music.

He then developed the Didjeribone, a new version of the ancient instrument that uses two plastic pipes, one within the other, that can pitch shift by sliding like a trombone.
He also invented the Face Bass, a seismic sensor that records sounds inside the mouth.

Used together these instruments transform the instrument and create opportunities for totally new sounds.

Tjupurru uses the Didjeribone and the Face Bass together in his live performances to create live samples and loops in what he describes as 21st Century Didjetronica.

In the audio with this story Tjupurru talks about searching for his family in an interview with the ABC's Tim Holt.


See also: [www.isx.org.au] and [www.youtube.com]


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[www.theaustralian.com.au]
BY:MILES GODFREY,
AAP SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTER
From: AAP
June 13, 2013 4:08PM


A HOTLINE credited with preventing Aboriginal deaths in custody has been saved from the axe.

The federal government stopped funding the Custody Notification Service (CNS) in mid-2012, leading to real fears it would cease operating in NSW and the ACT by June 30.

But the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) has received confirmation the service will be funded by the federal government for at least another two years.

It comes after more than 33,000 people signed an online petition hosted by change.org, asking for the hotline to be kept open.

There was also a significant campaign on social media sites.

"We sent a hard copy version of the petitioners' signatures and heart-felt comments to the Attorney-General of Australia and the Attorney-General of NSW two weeks ago," said ALS CEO Phil Naden.

"And today we finally have a result.

"The Attorney-General of Australia is allocating $100,000 immediately to the CNS, and has agreed to us using $400,000 in 2013-14 and $500,000 in 2014-15 from their 2013 federal budget night allocation to the ALS."

NSW and ACT police forces must use the hotline to notify lawyers every time an indigenous person is taken into custody.

The hotline was a recommendation from the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and since its inception in 2000 there have been no Aboriginal deaths in police custody in NSW and ACT, the ALS says.

The hotline is said to help 15,000 people each year.

Change.org director Karen Skinner said the campaign to save the service showed the impact new technology has on political decision-making.

"This is a classic demonstration of people power and the impact that technology and social media is having on modern politics in Australia," she said.


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[www.abc.net.au]
David Weber
Updated June 13, 2013 14:39:48
Perth

Archaeological and anthropological groups are concerned about the WA government's changes to recognition of Aboriginal sites.

The Department of Aboriginal Affairs has moved entries on its Register of Aboriginal Sites, onto a list called 'other heritage places'.

The Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists says anthropologists and traditional owners have not been consulted and there are no legal requirement to protect sites that are not on the register.

The Archaeologists Association's National President Fiona Hook says there is a lot confusion and the government seems to be trying to help the department's Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee.

"We think the approach is to reduce the ACMC's workload which has been tremendous over the last five years or so, given the mining boom and they haven't been adequately resourced to do their job properly," she said.

"Part of this, I think, is to help that process but they've thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

"It hasn't given the people of Western Australia the ability to actually make comment on what's going on so it's been a decision made by the state government and dealt with administratively.

"We've had 30 years of past practice and definitions of what would be a site under the Heritage Act which have changed without consultation."

The Chief Heritage Officer of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs Arron Rayner says there is nothing to be concerned about.

He says the department is trying to improve its processes to provide better protections for heritage.

"All sites are protected whether they're registered or not, some of the other heritage places have been assessed as not meeting the criteria of The Act, so wouldn't be afforded protection," he said.

"All of the information that comes into the department and to the committee goes through an assessment process and that assessment process hasn't changed, nothing has changed, The Act has not changed.

"The changes have largely revolved how we present information on the state's aboriginal heritage inquiry system.

"The changes that've been made are as a result of feedback of users of the system. I just want to reassure the community generally and particularly aboriginal people that no heritage records have been lost as a result of this process."

The Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists is discussing the issue tonight with the Professional Historians' Association and the Anthropological Society of WA.

First posted June 13, 2013 14:10:25


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[www.limelightmagazine.com.au]
By Greta Beaumont on Jun 13, 2013 (22 hours ago) filed under Classical Music | Comment Now

National Indigenous Opera Company comes to Melbourne to nurture young Indigenous singers.

Australia’s National Indigenous Opera Company, Short Black Opera, will continue its annual tradition of mentoring young Indigenous operatic talent when 15 promising Indigenous singers from across the nation come together at the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts where the company is due to take up residence. Comprising Australia’s best Indigenous singers, the company is headed by Yorta Yorta soprano Deborah Cheetham who is a firm believer in discovering and fostering indigenous vocal talent.

The training program will be delivered in collaboration with the University’s Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, of which Cheetham is also the head. Those lucky enough to have been selected to partake in the program include Wiradjuri Soprano Shauntai Batzke who grew up in Sydney and was already an established gospel singer when she discovered opera.

Batzke is already a rising star, currently collaborating with Short Black Opera as a developing artist. Another student, Shepparton singer Chanoa Cooper, 19, the great-niece of Aboriginal political activist and community leader William Cooper, also shows tremendous promise. She too, has already made her mark and is sure to benefit from further mentoring. Chanoa was a foundation member of the Dhungala Children’s Choir and is now a resident at the University’s Medley Hall studying at the VCA.

Cheetham is no stranger to the benefits of emerging artists programs. It was a prestigious two-year Fellowship in 2007 from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board of the Australia Council for the Arts that allowed her to create Australia’s first Indigenous opera, Pecan Summer in 2010. Cheetham brought together Australia’s first classically trained Indigenous ensemble to present the world premiere, which she directed, composed and produced. To add to her list of firsts, Cheetham’s efforts also saw her become a finalist for Australian of the year in Victoria, 2010.

It was the immense success of Pecan Summer that led Cheetham to create the not-for-profit Short Black Opera Company, which she has devoted to the development of Indigenous opera singers. Of the upcoming intensive program, Cheetham is positive: “Over the past four years the Wilin Winter Intensives have helped to develop and empower a new generation of Aboriginal opera singers”, and the future looks bright for the young indigenous talent lucky enough to be selected.


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By Roger Smith and Kirsty Pringle. June 13, 2013, 10:35 p.m.



DEPRIVED: Aboriginal children lose too many of their elders to disease.

THE recent death of the lead singer of Yothu Yindi is a high-profile example of an event all too common in Aboriginal Australia.

Older Aboriginal Australians (40 to 60 years old) are more than 15 times more likely to die of kidney disease than non-Aboriginal Australians.

This is an age that’s normally the prime of life. But not only is it a tragedy for the individuals involved – it has a much wider effect on the community.

Elders in all communities are a repository of knowledge and of accumulated wealth. Early death of key older family members deprives younger community members of the benefit of accrued knowledge of culture, and both financial and social support.

The structure of the broader Australian population is like a pillar, with similar numbers of people in all age groups.

This means that a young non-Aboriginal child will often receive support and guidance from two mature adults with back-up from four, still-living grandparents.

The population structure in Aboriginal Australia is quite different and is more like a triangle, with many more children than adults and even fewer living grandparents. This means that an Aboriginal child receives support and guidance from far fewer adults.

This pyramid-like structure is generated partly by early death of Aboriginal adults from heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease. Heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease are non-communicable diseases that are strongly influenced by the environment.

Increasing evidence suggests that all three begin as the baby is developing in the uterus. This concept is known as fetal programming or the developmental origins of adult health.

Let us explain by using kidney disease as an example to illustrate the concept. Skin sores can become infected with the bacteria known as streptococcus. This type of infection can lead to kidney damage known as glomerulonephritis.

This can happen in childhood, and if it happens to a girl, her kidneys may already be damaged by the time she becomes pregnant.

Studies in pregnant sheep have demonstrated that if the mother’s kidney function is damaged, then the kidneys of the developing foetus also become damaged. This allows kidney damage to be passed across generations.

Studies by others suggest that this is happening to many Aboriginal mothers and their babies. Aboriginal mothers often have evidence of kidney disease already present during pregnancy and Aboriginal babies are frequently born with a much smaller number of nephrons (the functional units of the kidney), typically around 400,000 while non-Aboriginal babies have over 1 million.

This reduction in nephron numbers is linked to impaired growth within the uterus of many Aboriginal babies who are born too small, twice as often as non-Aboriginal babies.

If we are to close the gap in Aboriginal life expectancy and well-being, we need to focus on the beginning of life inside the uterus.

We need to ensure high-quality care and support for Aboriginal mothers and their babies.

We need to develop ways of identifying babies at risk of kidney disease early to prevent deterioration of kidney function that could be transmitted across generations into the future.

Progress is being made. In Tamworth, a research team from the University of Newcastle’s department of rural health is recruiting young Aboriginal mums and their children, and seeking to identify markers of kidney impairment in urine samples.

In Townsville, a neonatologist is using retinal photographs of newborn babies’ eyes to identify those at risk of kidney disease (the blood vessels at the back of the eye reflect the way the blood vessels in the kidney are also developing).

If we can reduce the burden of kidney disease, we can improve not only the health of Aboriginal Australians but also their cultural and material wealth by allowing more older Aboriginal people to transmit their knowledge and resources to the next generation. Intervening early in life to optimise health is a much more effective strategy than trying to correct accumulated damage in later life.

Roger Smith is the director of The Mothers and Babies Research Centre at the Hunter Medical Research Institute at University of Newcastle

Kirsty Pringle is research fellow in reproductive health at the University of Newcastle

Acknowledgement: Della Yarnold also contributed to this article. This article was originally published at theconversation.edu.au



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[www.abc.net.au]
By Jano Gibson
NT

A second Country Liberals MLA has questioned the Northern Territory Government's stand on strategic Indigenous water reserves.

Traditional owners had hoped the Government would set aside water reserves for the future economic development of Aboriginal communities.

The Government has deferred any decision on such a scheme for at least three years.

Member for Stuart, Bess Price, says she supports the push for a different approach by the Member for Daly, Gary Higgins.

"He believes that Aboriginal people should be able to own their water and be able to sell it if they need to, especially [to] the mining companies that have to use a lot of water," she said.

"This is an income for Aboriginal people."

Ms Price has called for more talks on the issue and says three years is too long for Indigenous communities to wait.

"I think there should be talks with the traditional owners and our Government and the minister to be able to get things moving quicker," she said.

"That's what our Government is about; making sure there is economic development."



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[www.theaustralian.com.au]
BY:SARAH MARTIN From: The Australian June 13, 2013 12:00AM

Hospitality trainee Kedea Atherton is one of 134 indigenous employees at Ayers Rock Resort, which aims to lift the percentage of Aboriginal and Islander workers from 16 per cent to 30 per cent. Picture: David Geraghty Source: The Australian
IN the nation's desert centre, a steady transformation is under way.

When the Indigenous Land Corporation controversially bought the Ayers Rock Resort for $300 million in 2011, it employed just two Aborigines. Two years later, that number has jumped to 134, representing about 16 per cent of its 800-strong workforce.

It is a slow process that has fallen short of its initial target of 30 per cent indigenous employees by this year, but the organisation says it is learning lessons from being the first business within the hospitality industry to have an indigenous training program. It is now the largest hospitality employer of indigenous Australians at a single site in the country.

Dorethea Randall, the resort's indigenous employee relations manager, said: "We still have a long way to go, but this is a long-term vision."

The ILC says it still hopes to achieve its target of a 50 per cent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce by 2018, through a combination of recruitment across the country, and through graduates from its own training program at Yulara. Its first intake of 15 trainees graduated last year, and it is now increasing the number it admits to the program to about 30 every quarter. Of the 140 people it has accepted into its training academy, 30 have graduated into employment at the resort, with 51 still in trainee positions.

The academy at Yulara will serve as a model for James Packer's Barangaroo casino development, for which he has signalled an Aboriginal employment program.

While the majority of the resort's indigenous employees are from larger urban centres, the resort is slowly emerging as an employment prospect for many of central Australia's remote communities.

Yulara sits just north of South Australia's Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, and is close to remote desert communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The ILC is developing a work-placement program in conjunction with APY schools to give Anangu students experience in the work environment. There have been 22 Anangu people signed up for the "Real Jobs" program, which prepares trainees for employment.

Ms Randall, who is from the Northern Territory community of Mutitjulu, said families in communities such as APY needed intensive support to be successful.

"A lot of our young people have never been given an opportunity to be exposed, they have never in their life left home," she said.

"It is changing their way of seeing a better perspective of opportunity for themselves and their family."

The ILC is considering regular transport to and from the Lands to support employees to maintain links with their communities.

Kedea Atherton, 21, who moved to Yulara from Brisbane last year to take part in the ILC's trainee program, is fast moving up the ranks as one of the resort's success stories.

"I have become the first indigenous person to run resort induction out here at Ayers Rock Resort," Ms Atherton said. "It has been a lifetime opportunity for me.

"One of the main priorities is to give guests a cultural experience -- Ayers Rock Resort is an awesome place to do that."

Ms Atherton said the cultural exchange between city Aborigines and those in remote communities was important.

"I love the vision that we have here, the philosophy we have," she said. "We are all working towards the same thing."



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[www.theaustralian.com.au]
by: Patricia Karvelas and Amos Aikman
From: The Australian
June 13, 2013 12:00AM

THE Northern Territory will today announce major changes to proposed laws that would lock habitual drinkers in treatment centres with guards, two days after Julia Gillard wrote to Chief Minister Adam Giles demanding he abandon his radical alcohol policies.

The Prime Minister warned Mr Giles that his government's approach would lead to a return of high rates of indigenous incarceration and declared that his plan to introduce income management did not have any authority as this was a commonwealth power.

The Giles government is expected to unveil more than 20 legislative amendments, including some that would blunt the most controversial elements of the mandatory alcohol rehabilitation plan.

Experts have warned the laws would criminalise drunkenness and send more Aborigines to the Territory's overcrowded jails.

Under the changes, criminal consequences for absconding from a rehabilitation centre will be reduced, and the maximum 13 days someone can be held without assessment will be slashed.

The government last night responded to the demands of indigenous leaders by promising to establish community-run rehabilitation centres in a number of bush towns within 18 months.

After defending the reforms in the face of fierce criticism, Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation Robyn Lambley last night said her government was now willing to negotiate. She recently held meetings with a range of stakeholders in response to critical submissions. "We want the best possible outcomes for drinkers, and we don't want some sort of legal battle that comes about as a result of something we could have avoided," Ms Lambley said.

In the letter sent on Tuesday, Ms Gillard told Mr Giles she was concerned "that you and your government seem intent on making unilateral decisions without appropriate reference to the commonwealth as the key funder, to the detriment of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory".

"I am deeply concerned about the use of treatment orders, particularly in the absence of a broader strategy which includes demand, supply and harm minimisation measures," Ms Gillard wrote.

She said she was extremely concerned the NT government's policies would have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal people.

"As you would know, the criminalisation of public drunkenness contributed to the over-representation of Aboriginal people in prison in the 1970s and 1980s. A return to this kind of policy would be contrary to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody."

Ms Gillard attacks Mr Giles' decision to announce, without consultation, that income management was expected to be incorporated as a referral option for the Territory's proposed alcohol mandatory treatment tribunal.

"You would appreciate that income management is a commonwealth responsibility and my government's approval is required for the conferral of such a power on the alcohol mandatory treatment tribunal," the Prime Minister wrote.

Ms Gillard said that income management was a key tool in reducing the purchase and consumption of alcohol and in any comprehensive plan to tackle alcohol abuse.

"However, it is not a stand-alone measure and must be part of a broad strategy which includes demand, supply and harm minimisation strategies," she wrote.

"When your government is ready to discuss a comprehensive approach to tackle alcohol abuse and the harm it causes, my government would be prepared to discuss how income management can be part of an overall approach.

"I fear your government's continued abdication of its responsibilities in this area will see the rivers of grog return, with tragic long-term consequences."

The Australian understands that income management remains a key element of the Territory government's proposed legislation.

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin wrote to Mr Giles on April 17 offering the support of the Gillard government to work together on an Alice Springs-wide alcohol management plan.

"Your recent response to the commonwealth's request, made in good-faith, was extremely disappointing," Ms Gillard wrote in Tuesday's letter.

"To suggest that there is 'no compelling reason' to change the status quo is to completely ignore all available evidence to the contrary, and the overwhelming calls of health experts and community members for a new approach."

Ms Gillard argues again that the Territory's previous Labor government's banned drinker register, which the Giles government abolished, was a useful tool in preventing those not permitted to drink from buying alcohol. "I find it very difficult to understand how allowing people who were previously banned from purchasing alcohol, to once again be allowed to, is an effective supply reduction measure."

Lawyers have warned the Giles government's plans could be unconstitutional and breach the Racial Discrimination Act.

Ms Lambley said her government was prepared to consider any additional amendments put forward by the Labor opposition. Opposition leader Delia Lawrie said the reforms remained ill-thought "policy on the run", and pledged not to support them.

Deputy chair of the powerful Northern Land Council, Samuel Blanasi, labelled the laws in their current form "racist" and "horrible" and said forced rehabilitation would not work.



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[www.abc.net.au]
Lateline
By Kate Wild
Daly River 0822

A culture barrier is leading young Indigenous Australians in remote Northern Territory communities to miss out on welfare payments.

Experts are calling on the Federal Government to identify and manage the cultural barriers, concerned domestic abuse arises from money disputes in outback communities.

The number of young Aboriginal men out of work in the remote NT has been hovering around 60 per cent for the last 20 years.

Local economies are tiny in these remote towns, and cannot provide jobs for everyone who wants one.

Daly River, 200 kilometres south of Darwin, is typical of Aboriginal communities across the state.

Half the population is under 25 and according to the latest Census, most men in their teens and early 20s do not have a job and are not looking for one.

Centrelink payments are often be the only source of income in remote towns like Daly River, but hundreds of young Aboriginal men are not pursuing the payments due to culture gaps.

Without a job or government money, they are living on nothing.

A number of young men who spoke to the ABC's Lateline say they resent some Centrelink payment requirements, particularly having to train for jobs they say do not exist in remote communities.

Northern Territory resident Dion Munngin's closest Centrelink office is about 200km away.

He can call them, but getting through to speak to someone can take hours.

Mr Munngin says it is a "waste of time" to try and remain on Centrelink.

"If you don't be on time for your appointment or be there to a set date that you were given then they cut you off, and then you have to ring them back and give them a reason why you weren't there," Mr Munngin said.

"It's just a lot of hard work really."
Young men 'embarrassed' by language barriers

Nikita Jason's husband works in the mines on a fly-in, fly-out basis when there are jobs. He is not working at the moment and he is not on the dole either.

Ms Jason says Centrelink is too difficult to deal with.

"He just doesn't see the point in getting on the dole because it's just a big stuff around to him," Ms Jason said.

"He would rather work for a large pay than a measly $200 a fortnight or something like that."

Ms Jason says there are young men in Daly who experience real barriers to signing up for the dole.

"I think they're just embarrassed by their language," she said.

"Sometimes there's female Centrelink workers and they don't feel comfortable talking to them.

"They don't really know how to fill out the forms [out] ... I think that’s because of their literacy being so low from not going to school."

Until recently there have been no firm figures on the number of Aboriginal men living without an income in the Northern Territory.

Census figures were recently analysed for Lateline to produce the first hard data.

The figures, analysed by Doctor Nicholas Biddle from the Australian National University, show about 11 per cent of the male Indigenous population aged 15 to 24 in remote NT, are not working, not studying and not receiving an income.

But only 1 per cent of the non-Indigenous population is in the same position.

The figures mean about 600 young Aboriginal men in the state are choosing not to take up Centrelink money they are entitled to.

Dr Biddle says this probably underestimates the true figure.
Lack of money leads to social consequences: expert

Dr Biddle says the social consequences of young men having no money are serious.

"I think from talking to women, one of the things they say to me, a lot of the fights and family violence at home is about the lack of money," he said.

Olga Havnen, a former NT bureaucrat whose job was to monitor the delivery of government services in remote communities, says she has been drawing the Government's attention to the plight of these young men for years.

"I've raised it with officers at DEEWER (the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations), I’ve raised it with other federal government counterparts, I've raised it at a ministerial level," she said.

"Somehow people are not prepared to pay any attention to it, they don't seem to understand the consequences and the impacts of men being so disengaged."

Ms Havnen has called on the Government to discover why Aboriginal men are not taking up income available to them through Centrelink.

"The level of poverty is certainly much more severe, but the other thing that I'm hearing anecdotally is that levels of family violence and family conflict has a lot to do with the lack of money," she said.

In Daly, Mr Munngin wants to work and has signed back on to Centrelink, though many of his friends would not.

He says there are ways to make the system easier for remote Aboriginal men.

"I'm on Centrelink at the moment, that's going pretty easy now, because they've got the online service to do your reports," he said.

"I think it's heaps better to get an online service than get on the phone and wait for hours."

Ms Havnen doubts the young people from remote NT will be listened to any more than she has been.

"And that's the stunning bit for me, because as I say, if you had a rate of 60 per cent of disengagement by men in any other suburb or community in Australia, the country would be seriously worried," she said.


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[www.abc.net.au]
By Kerrin Thomas
Tamworth 2340

Indigenous elders from across the New England North West are gathering in Tamworth of the next two days to develop their leadership skills.

The elders are taking part in workshops that promote leadership skills within their own communities, including peace-making and goal-setting.

Organiser Simon Taylor says about 100 delegates are attending.

He says it's hoped the group will benefit from exchange.

"We'll be covering areas such as personal values, relationship forming, conflict management, and they'll be doing some men's business and women's business across the day," he said.

"We have both male and female facilitators who are running the sessions and focussing the participants on personal leadership and personal reflection."

Simon Taylor says it is a practical way of supporting the traditional roles already held by these Indigenous leaders.

"It's about giving them some tools to sharpen their skills, maybe learn from each other and draw from each other's inspirations," he said.

"A lot of our elders probably feel isolated in some of the more remote communities we're brought them from, so it's a way to share and to continue to support them in their ambitions to be leaders of their communities."



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[www.abc.net.au]
ABC Rural
By Matt Brann
Updated Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:05pm AEST
Darwin 0800

Audio: Developing plantations of Kakadu Plum (ABC Rural) [www.abc.net.au]
Related Story: Tough season for Kakadu Plum [www.abc.net.au]


The Northern Territory Government is considering releasing land near Darwin for commercial plantations of the bush food Kakadu Plum.

The native plum is one of the world's richest sources of vitamin C and is harvested from the wild each year, usually by Indigenous communities, to make things such as anti-oxidant tablets, jams, chutneys and cordials.

David Boehme, from Wild Harvest NT, says the demand for Kakadu Plum is increasing, but to truly succeed the industry needs to guarantee its supply better.

"The inconsistency in the wild makes it very hard, because the larger companies who want to use this as a superfood want a guaranteed supply," he said.

"They can't launch a product if they know next year they might not have any."

Mr Boehme says he's been in discussion with the NT Government about the possibility of developing a Kakadu Plum plantation on land at Gunn Point near Darwin.

"The Gunn Point region has great potential before it goes to development, which it will in the future because it's so close to Darwin,

"But right now, if we could lease that area and start some plantations, it would be a great chance to capture the genetic pool (of Kakadu Plum) up there which is very unique.... a couple of hundred hectares would be a great starter."

Rural MP Kezia Purick says the Kakadu Plum industry could be a "very important industry for the Northern Territory and Australia", and a short-term lease at Gunn Point to help the industry develop is worth considering.

"Cabinet will need a presentation from David (Boehme) and his business partners to see what the benefits could be... but this could bring great benefits to the Territory, we could see serious returns from this in five to 10 years. I'm talking tens of millions of dollars in exports, plus employment for a lot of young people," she said.

"The tree is just one of those magical bush trees, the research and a lot of the hard work has been done. We just need the Government to come to the table with these business people, and come to some kind of deal so they can get access to this land."

There are currently no commercial plantations of Kakadu Plum in Australia.


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[www.abc.net.au]
By Kerrin Thomas
Tamworth 2340

The Aboriginal Legal Service says it's not yet had any contact from state or federal governments in response to its request for help to save the Custody Notification Service.

The service, which notifies a lawyer whenever an Aboriginal person is taken into custody, was funded by the federal government, until July last year.

Acting Deputy CEO, Julie Perkins, says the Service presented a petition with more than 33,000 signatures to both governments, but have heard nothing.

"At 30,000 signatures we provided hard copies of the petition to both the federal and state Attorneys-General and what our executive staff have also done to try to make contact with the offices," she said.

"To date, we have had no indication they are going to continue the support for the help line."

Ms Perkins says the silence is disappointing, when so many other agencies are indicating their support for the continued funding of the Custody Notification Service.

"We've had the NSW Police come on board; we've had the Coroner's office, the NSW Ombudsman and even the NSW Governor, Marie Bashir," she said.

"We've also got a range of other agencies and individuals, 33,000 in total, from all walks of life, very senior members of the public service, and the legal profession."



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[www.brisbanetimes.com.au]
Date
June 12, 2013


Let's dance: Barunga's most cherished audience is its own community, their extended families, and other indigenous Australians. Photo: Glenn Campbell
Never has a welcome to country felt more genuine and less necessary than at the official opening of Australia's largest remote community festival: the Northern Territory's Barunga Festival, an hour south of Katherine.

By sunset on Saturday, when elder Suzina McDonald formally welcomed the thousands who had come to camp in her quiet community of just 350, most visitors had already experienced the meaning of her words.

We had emerged early that day from campsites among the paperbarks and pandanus trees of Barunga's bushland backyards. Some joined a Kriol language class by the river (''light Kriol'' is primary among the seven first tongues spoken here) or watched a barefoot basketball game between teams from places such as Papunya, near Alice Springs, or Kununurra in Western Australia.

Kids spent the day in a fury of fun on a water slide and a climbing wall, while white women sat with a local woman, Diane, weaving baskets from pandanus fronds and marvelling at how long it took.

Nearby, in the sun, white men endeavoured to strip and sand termite-hollowed logs into didgeridoos under the watchful eye of Barunga local Jamie Ahfat.

Thus, that evening, when federal Minister for Indigenous Health Warren Snowdon joined McDonald and other notables on stage and said the festival was ''an important iconic event on the cultural calendar'', most nodded in agreement.


Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu headlining the 2013 Barunga music, sport and culture festival. Photo: Glenn Campbell
I am among many white Australian first-timers at this 28 year-old indigenous festival. In 1988, then prime minister Bob Hawke was presented here with the Barunga Statement, written on bark. Many of its requests didn't transpire but it did inspire Yothu Yindi's 1991 song, Treaty, a fact noted by Chief Minister Adam Giles in his address.

My experience as a white guest at Barunga is just a slice of the picture because about 75 per cent of attendees are indigenous, a ratio organisers want to preserve in both numbers and spirit.

Last year's festival was rescued from collapse by Darwin record label Skinnyfish Music, which has committed to five years of management. Co-owned by Gurrumul's bass player and friend, Michael Hohnen, Skinnyfish added Gurrumul to this year's bill as well as a second big name, John Butler, to bring Barunga back with a bang.

The big names may draw weekend crowds but it's not what defines the festival. Barunga's most cherished audience is its own community, their extended families, and other indigenous Australians.

At its heart is not John Butler, Emma Louise or even Gurrumul or rising indigenous singer Thelma Plum. It's sport - AFL, basketball and softball - local bands like B2M (''Bathurst to Melville'') and Tjupi Band, art stalls, traditional dance and song.

''If this turned into a festival where everything was geared to please whitefellas, the Aboriginal people would just walk away,'' says Skinnyfish co-owner Mark Grose. ''Barunga is about black and white saying 'let's get together, have fun, watch some footy, buy some art.' Whitefellas come to experience community life and for us it's about saying 'We're not going to change that to suit you.'''

Scratch the surface, and the reasons for a festival like Barunga keep spilling forth. Community leader Anita Painter, who saw numbers peak at up to 6000 in the 1990s, then decline in recent years, is happy the festival is in bloom again. ''It's about sharing knowledge, culture, language and heritage but especially about family get-togethers. Long lost families who haven't seen each other in months, or years, they rock up, you know? My mother had a long lost brother from Groote Eylandt and she eventually met him here at the festival a few years ago.''

Anita, who is also coach of the girls' basketball team, Barunga Thunder, is gone to see a game before I can ask if her uncle was a member of the stolen generation, the effects of which are deeply felt in communities such as Barunga.

The NT Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation reconnects separated families and tells me it's been ''flat out'' all weekend. Its stall is on the heavily trafficked outskirts of a football field, part of a dense pocket of health-related stalls. Another purpose of Barunga Festival is to give other organisations the chance to communicate healthy lifestyle messages in an open, celebratory setting.

Crowds swelled at the main stage on Sunday evening to see trophies presented to sports teams and the grand-finale musical acts. Indigenous and non-indigenous sat side by side though a clap-o-meter could have discerned a crowd divided, at times, by taste. Where John Butler's set saw white visitors dance up a dust storm, the Aboriginal response was almost comically flat.

It was just one of many moments where the lines between indigenous and non-indigenous people here were obvious but not stark, gentle not grievous; lines that at this friendly, trusting and, dare I say, important festival, were so easy to step back over.



Read more: [www.brisbanetimes.com.au]



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[au.artshub.com]
By Richard Watts
Wednesday June 12 2013

Gunditjmara/Bundjalung singer/songwriter Archie Roach will be a keynote speaker at Nurlu Jalbingan.

Groundbreaking program aims to strengthen links between Indigenous and mainstream music industry and assist in establishing long-term careers.

Nurlu Jalbingan (from the Yawuru, meaning ‘Place of Music/Dance’) is a new initiative designed to strengthen links between the mainstream music Industry and contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and managers.

‘It is essential for non-Indigenous practitioners in the music industry to connect with Indigenous artists, culture and country. I have been concerned for a very long time about the cultural gap which exists in our business and I hope that Nurlu Jalbingan will address this in some small way,’ said Nurlu Jalbingan Program Director Vicki Gordon.

The inaugural Nurlu Jalbingan opens in Broome tomorrow, Thursday 13 June, just over a week since the death of one of Australia's most successful contemporary Aboriginal singer/songwriter, the internationally successful frontman of Yothu Yindi.

Designed in consultation with Indigenous artists, Indigenous music organisations and the mainstream music industry sector, the program aims to assist participants in developing the practical skills required to establish successful long term careers.

Simultaneously, Nurlu Jalbingan will assist in building networks and new audiences for Indigenous artists across Australia.

The initiative is made possible with support from the Department of Culture & the Arts and the Western Australian Government, Country Arts WA and the Australian Governments Regional Arts Fund, Cicada International Inc. and Goolarri Media Enterprises Broome.

The debut Nurlu Jalbingan program, presented by the not for profit Cicada International Inc in partnership with Goolarri Media Enterprises, takes place in Broome from 13 – 16 June.

Participants at the four-day event have been selected by an Indigenous steering committee, and will hear from two key note speakers, musicians Archie Roach and Gina Williams, as well as international guest Stevie Salas, a Native American (Apache) guitarist, via satellite. Facilitators from such fields as music management, publishing and distribution will also be on hand.

‘Nurlu Jalbingan has been two years in the making and is happening because the need for the Australian music industry to work to build durable, diverse and binding bridges with Indigenous artists and managers has never been greater,’ Gordon said.

‘In creating this program, it is my hope that instead of a small trickle of Indigenous artists making it into the mainstream, that number will become a sustained and essential component of Australian music culture.’

This year's Nurlu Jalbingan focuses on Indigenous musicians and managers from Western Australia, with plans to roll out the program on a national scale with major industry support in 2014.



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[www.illawarramercury.com.au]
By DAVID SHOEBRIDGE
June 11, 2013, 10 p.m.


NSW police are grossly overrepresented in recently released national police pursuit data, showing NSW police engage in police chases almost 2.5 times as often as their nearest jurisdiction of Victoria. The study also shows that more than one in three deaths from police pursuits are of innocent passengers or bystanders.

The research in the Australian Institute of Criminology report on police motor vehicle pursuits is matched by new data received by the Greens from parliamentary questions. The figures also reveals a significant over-representation of Indigenous Australians killed in police chases.

In 2011 NSW police undertook 1781 police pursuits while Victorian police chased 721 times and Queensland police undertook just 286 pursuits.

Figures obtained by the Greens in NSW Parliament show that this trend continued in 2012, with NSW police undertaking 1622 pursuits from January 1-November 28, 2012.

The national study shows that across Australia more than half of all offenders who are killed in police pursuits were being pursued for drink driving or other traffic related offences.

However the situation in NSW is far more troubling with the figures provided to the Greens showing that more than 75 per cent of all police pursuits in this State are for traffic offences or failure to stop at an RBT.

Nationally, in almost 90 per cent of cases where toxicology reports were available, the research shows that the driver who was killed in the pursuit was affected by alcohol or other drugs.

This is not just a city issue – almost half of all fatal police pursuits occur in rural or remote locations.

The NSW Police Minister needs to take a good hard look at these figures and account for why NSW Police are escalating traffic offences to high speed chases – increasing the risk of serious injury or death to the drivers, passengers, police and innocent bystanders.

The Greens support a balanced approach to this issue with less pursuits but also consideration of increased penalties for drivers who seek to flee from police or evade an RBT stop.

It is well and truly time that the NSW police considered the kind of reforms to police pursuits that have been so successful in other jurisdictions such as Queensland and Miami Dade county in the US.

These jurisdictions have adopted a more restrictive pursuits policy recognising that the costs of pursuits in injuries, damage, financial costs and liability suits far outweigh the benefits in terms of arresting offenders, deterrence and crime control.

The fact that offending drivers are impaired by drugs and alcohol presents not only a risk to themselves but also greatly increases the risks to innocent bystanders, passengers and police in any police chase.

A police pursuit should only be undertaken on the basis of the seriousness of the initial alleged offence, rather than on subsequent traffic violations.

The statistics regarding Indigenous deaths in police car chases are yet another sign that our criminal justice system is failing indigenous Australians.


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The large number of police chases in the regions is also reflected in the unacceptably high level of Indigenous Australians killed in police chases.

From a population base of just 2.5 per cent of the population Indigenous Australians make up 17 per cent of all deaths in police pursuits.

This means Indigenous Australians are almost seven times as likely to be killed in a police chase as non-Indigenous Australians.

David Shoebridge is a Greens member in the NSW Upper House.



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[www.psnews.com.au]
A new Closing the Gap target has been set to help ensure Indigenous children are attending preschool or kindergarten.

The new target will drive efforts to ensure 90 per cent of enrolled Indigenous children across Australia attend a quality early childhood education program in the year before they start full?time school.

New Close the Gap target Prime Minister, Julia Gillard said the first Closing the Gap target - giving all Indigenous four-year-old children in remote communities access to early childhood education - was on track to be met this year.

“Achieving this target is an important step in closing the gap in educational outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians,” Ms Gillard said.
“However, we know more needs to be done.
“Improving access to quality early childhood education must be followed with Indigenous children regularly attending preschool or kindergarten so they can get the best possible start in life.”

She said progress towards the new Closing the Gap target would be supported by the new National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education.
“The Australian Government will contribute $655.6 million over the next 18 months to fund its share of this National Partnership Agreement,” she said.
“Setting this participation target will help focus governments’ efforts in early childhood education and drive sustained improvements in school readiness for Indigenous children across Australia.”

Ms Gillard said she had written to all States and Territories asking them to participate in working towards the new target.

“The Australian Government will also work with State and Territory governments to ensure the new target becomes part of the overall COAG Closing the Gap framework, reported on annually in Parliament,” she said.

Edition 365, 11 June 2013



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[music.broadwayworld.com]
Monday, Jun, 10, 2013; 12:00 PM; - by Music News Desk


Six women. Six distinct life stories tied to the complex history of Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea's indigenous peoples. Six strikingly fresh voices that move this history down a new and compelling path.

As Barefoot Divas, for the first time, Australia's innovative, acclaimed female indigenous singer/songwriters have come together with their sisters from New Zealand and Papua New Guinea on a remarkable live album, Walk A Mile In My Shoes (VGM/MGM Distribution; US release: July 14, 2013; US tour in 2014). The project features Ursula Yovich (Aborigine Burarra/Serbia) and Emma Donovan (Aborigine Gumbaynggirr NSW) joined by Whirimako Black (Maori), Maisey Rika (Maori), Merenia (Maori/Romany-Gypsy), andNgaiire (Papua New Guinea) in a powerful, symbolic collaboration.

Performing original compositions, the Diva's songs in Aboriginal languages and a fusion of English and Maori (Te Reo) come alive thanks to the ensemble's six-part harmonies and soaring voices. Swinging between acoustic roots (the rousing "TeMatapiko"), jazz, R&B ("Ngarraanga") and Latin-infused soul ("Fortuna"),Walk a Mile in My Shoesreflects the diverse and life-affirming experiences of contemporary indigenous women, a perspective that will prove intriguing and refreshing to North American listeners. Though echoing their profound heritage, their outspoken, moving pieces promise to resonate with anyone interested in authentic, deeply-felt vocal performance, contemporary song writing, and intense musical expression.

Performed live to great critical acclaim at the 2012 Sydney Festival-one of Australia's largest and most pioneering arts events-Walk A Mile In My Shoes also highlights the work of some of Australia and New Zealand's most accomplished multi-ethnic musicians: bassist Adam Ventoura (Greek-Australian), drummer/percussionist Steve Marin (Chilean), Giorgio Rojas (Peruvian), and accordionist/keyboardist Marcello Maio (Greek Sicilian). They join with New Zealand Maori guitarist Percy Robinson, and Justin Hohua Kereama, a Tohunga Taonga Puoro expert in traditional Maori wind instruments.


Read more about Barefoot Divas Live Album 'Walk a Mile in My Shoes' Out, 7/14 - BWWMusicWorld by music.broadwayworld.com



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[www.theaustralian.com.au]
BY:PATRICIA KARVELAS
From: The Australian
June 11, 2013 12:00AM

Kirstie Parker, pictured in Redfern, is running for female co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples. Picture: James Croucher Source: The Australian
A NUMBER of high profile indigenous figures are running for the leadership of the peak Aboriginal body, including editor of the Koori Mail Kirstie Parker and former head of the NSW/ACT Aboriginal Legal Service Gerry Moore.

The National Congress of Australia's First Peoples is headed by co-chairs Jody Broun and Les Malezer, but The Australian can reveal they will both be challenged by high standing indigenous leaders. This will make the ballot the most competitive in the body's short history.

Nominations closed for the two leadership positions yesterday and Mr Moore revealed last night that he was running, and said he believed a change of government at a national level demanded a new leadership in the Aboriginal body.

"A likely Abbott government should not just be seen as a threat, there's also an opportunity here," he said. "I used to be an ATSIC commissioner in the early days, and I know that forming relationships right from the beginning is really important with new governments."

Indigenous Land Corporation director Sam Jeffries -- the first co-chair of the congress in 2010 -- had also confirmed that he is running.

Ms Parker spoke to The Australian yesterday and said she had stepped down from her role at the Koori Mail to run in the election.

She said increasing the membership of the congress was her main priority because she believed it needed a bigger presence in public life.

"It is crucial that the organisation gains more traction among our people. People are generally supportive of the concept of a national voice, but they still need to be persuaded that it's an important thing."

She said there was goodwill towards the congress from political leaders, but more needed to be done. "We need to get our people behind it," she said.

Melissa George, a Wulgurukaba woman whose traditional area includes Magnetic Island and the greater Townsville region, Far North Queensland, also late yesterday declared she was running.

She said she wanted to give the organisation a bush focus.

"No one is asking the community what they want," she said.

"I think it is important that people outside of the cities have a voice. A lot of the mob that live in the bush would not even know what congress is and that would be what I would do as co-chair.

"I think there's a disconnect between policy and what's happening at the community level."

Ms Broun, who is re-contesting her leadership position, told The Australian she believed she had more work to do and was not finished.

"I think we need to measure the wellbeing in communities and look more at that issue," she said.

Ms Broun also vowed to fight for a justice overhaul if she were re-elected.



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