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AFL INDIGENOUS ROUND: This weekend the AFL celebrates and honours the contribution of Aboriginal players to the Aboriginal game of Marngrook, or as its commonly known, AFL.
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AMAZING PEOPLE, PLACES: Chris Graham travelled to Central Australia to research the affects of the Northern Territory intervention.
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The time has come now, because of the Government’s stubborn attitude, that First Nations People take their lives into their own hands and reject all the Government’s Laws and documents from now on. As Djiniyini says, “We will only work with the Greens and Independants”.
The Governments both Liberal and Labor have gone much too far and they have created this “split”, from the First Nations People. It wasn’t our dream to split in this way, but they have left us no other choice.
To turn their backs on us in this way is disgusting and an insult. we have tried all along the way to get the Governments to work with us in respect and co-operation, but the Governments have refused our repeated offers. It is shameful that the Australian Government treats us like this for their own greed instead of learning our Culture that has survived for thousands of years and learned the original Heritage and Culture of this Land from our Elders/Traditional Owners. We will continue our fight for respect and recognition. We will never give up. Thousands of Australian citizens know the truth and the truth shall prevail in the end. The Government will never stop the truth from being heard.
The only religions who have stuck up foth Aboriginal people are the Muslims, The Communist Party and the Quakers
Yes the phrases “War on Democracy” and “Day of Mourning” are hitting home.
Stronger Futures, (Orwell is not dead), is an affront to decency and an overt attack on human rights. The Government cannot say it did not know that the Racial Discrimination Act should overrule any laws that racially discriminate because the UN and hundreds of human rights organisations have told them. I hope that this breach of our Constitutional external affairs obligations gets to the High Court
My local Member of Parliament (Andrew Leigh) said publicly just after his pre-selection for the seat of Frazer said his greatest passion was the Aboriginal cause, yet he voted for this racist law.
By the way, it was not only the Greens that opposed the Stronger Futures Bill in the Senate. Senator John Madigan DLP voted with the Greens.
All the pol;itical parties are rascist to allow this rascism to continue, They are all guilty and should be put up on trial like the Nazis were after the Second world War
Both the Intervention and the Stronger Futures Bill are racist Acts as they target only the Aborigines in the Northern Territory in the form of a collective punishment. Collective punishment was used by the Nazis against the Jews in Europe, but it has no place in a Democracy.
Julia, Janama is the kinship name the elders have given me. I have lived and worked with remote aboriginal communities over the past twenty five years. There is great wisdom in the elders. I realize that you have a broad range of issues and concerns as Prime minister but please don’t let these block your passion for social justice. Let the fire of that spirit within you clear your mind and heart so that you can listen and see, hear and understand and show real leadership with regard the freedom and human rights of our aboriginal brothers and sisters in the Northern Territory.
This is from someone who still believes in you.
with love
Tom Gleeson. (Janama)
I am now retired but have spent several decades working and living in Aboriginal communities ranging from urban to very remote communities in Central Australia and Cape York Peninsula in a really wide range of positions. Australian society, whether we wish to acknowledge it or not, still generally treats Aboriginal people as subhuman. In spite of many admirable and even heroic efforts by people of all colours, the main social indicators show that in many ways Aboriginal people are worse off now than they were when I first started working with them in the early 70s. For just one telling example, the life-expectancy gap between Aboriginal people and other Australians has widened in that time (while the similar gap between the Aboriginal peoples of New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. and the rest of their populations have narrowed). In my experience three things stand out as the main causes for the failure of programs for Aboriginal people in Australia: 1. The general lack of respect and proper consultation before programs are initiated, where Aboriginal people (and not just the occasional spokesperson) are really listened to, and it is accepted that there will be a range of views to consider, and different conditions will apply to different groups. 2, The half-hearted, wasteful, and often resented, throwing of money at problems when it seems to be politically advantageous. 3. The lack of continuity and programs receiving bi-partisan support so they are continued through changes of government.
From my time working with the Aboriginal protesters who visit the Tent Embassy in Canberra it is obvious that they are still suffering from a slow form of genocide, the elders there ars always a lot younger than me. It’s too disgusting for words
We do fully agree with Rev. Dr. Djiniyini Gondarra’s criticism of the Labor and Coalition Parties for enacting the Stronger Futures legislation and strongly support the Aboriginal nations protest against the theft of their authority and responsibility as Rev Dr. Djiniyini Gondarra so well expressed. In our view it is high time to end this colonial approach to our relations with the First Nations.
It is becoming even more difficult as Labor supporter to distinguish this government from the worst excesses of the conservative parties. It has ignored 43,000 signatures, the 450 submissions made to the Senate Inquiry, United Nations condemnation and even its own Human Rights Committee asking for a human rights test of the Stronger Futures legislation. It is time for all Australians concerned for the human rights of aboriginal people to stand with them in opposition to this legislation. Next time they might be coming for me.