Media montoring of the NT intervention by WGAR: 19 July 08

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

19 JULY 2008: NORTHERN TERRITORY INTERVENTION

Contents:

Online RDA Petition

Media Release

Opinion

Photos

News

ONLINE RDA PETITION:

GoPetition: Reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory

http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/20268.html

2 July 08: "Description/History: The Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory that pertains to the Emergency Intervention was suspended last year. Its suspension is an issue for all Australians, Indigenous and Non-Indigenous. It is a human rights issue. ... This petition is sponsored by Senator Rachel Siewert and she will present it to the Senate in late August 2008." Michele

MEDIA RELEASE:

Greens: CDEP reform offers welcome opportunities

http://greens.org.au/node/854

10 July 08: "The Australian Greens today welcomed the commitment by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin to reform the CDEP program, saying it offers an opportunity to fix outstanding problems with the program and build on its successes. "What is needed is a much stronger emphasis on skills and training to address the significant gap between the low levels of education and work experience of many Aboriginal people in remote areas and the demands of the workplace," said Senator Rachel Siewert today. "Claims that CDEP has been sit down money and the re-introduction of the scheme will lead to increases in alcohol and substance abuse do not match up with the evidence," she said."

OPINION:

Greens speech to Sydney ARC rally, July 14

http://aboriginalrightscoalition.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/greens-speech-to-sydney-arc-rally-july-14/

16 July 08: "Now more than ever we have to fight against this interventionist mentality before it gets extended even further into our own communities. In standing up for the remote communities we are ultimately standing up for ourselves and we must continue the straggle for true justice and equality for the aboriginal people, before it’s too late and their traditional lands are stolen yet again." Irene Doutney, Greens candidate for City of Sydney Council elections

WSWS: Northern Territory intervention: Manipulating social tragedies for political gain: Part 4

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/nt4-j15.shtml

15 July 08: "A key element in the Howard government’s preparations for its long-planned NT intervention was a series of sensationalised news reports in 2006 about child sex abuse in Aboriginal communities. Indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough, working with the corporate media and programs such as ABC television’s “Lateline”, claimed that pedophiles were running rampant in Aboriginal communities. None of these allegations was ever substantiated." Susan Allan and Richard Phillips

Solidarity Online: Macklin's review - a whitewash in the making

http://www.solidarity.net.au/current/macklins-review%e2%80%95a-whitewash-in-the-making/

July 08: "The new government's review of the Northern Territory intervention is stacked with supporters of the policy, and looks set to whitewash the disastrous impact on Aboriginal people in the NT ...  Who is doing the reviewing?" Robert Nicholas

Solidarity Online: Last Drinks: Toohey's racist diatribe

http://www.solidarity.net.au/highlights/last-drinks-tooheys-racist-diatribe/

July 08: "THE WIDESPREAD acclaim for The Australian journalist Paul Toohey’s Last Drinks: The Impact of the Northern Territory Intervention (Quarterly Essay 30, June 2008), demonstrates just how deeply racist attitudes to Aboriginal people are embedded in Australian politics and culture." Paddy Gibson

ANTaR: NT Intervention one year on

http://www.antar.org.au/content/view/718/1/

21 June 08: "One year ago when John Howard and Mal Brough announced the provisions of the NT Intervention (NTI) , they were greeted with shock and disbelief on the one hand, and relief that the plight of Indigenous people had finally captured the attention of national leaders, on the other. Few could argue with the stated goals of a NTI, to make NT Aboriginal children safer, but many argued with the methods and some questioned the motives – given the poor polling of the Coalition Government as it headed towards an election at the end of last year. Many of us saw little connection between some of the measures and the goal of making communities safer for children." ANTaR board member Janet Hunt

PHOTOS:

Photographs of conditions for Aborigines in the Northern Territory

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/ss-nt2/ss-nt2.html

15 July 08

Aboriginal rights rally at Kevin Rudd's office July 14 - Brisbane

http://picasaweb.google.com/PaulBBrisbane/AboriginalRightsRallyAtKevinRuddSOfficeJuly14

14 July 08

NEWS:

Australian: Probe call on NT Government cash for Aborigines

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24037653-2702,00.html?from=public_rss

18 July 08: "Central Land Council director David Ross -- part of an independent expert group advising the Northern Territory Emergency Response Review Board -- yesterday called for a royal commission to investigate where commonwealth money earmarked for Aboriginal services had been spent in the Territory. Mr Ross condemned what he called the "disgraceful rorting of the system" by the Labor Territory Government, which has been accused of channelling Aboriginal funds into marginal Darwin electorates. He said the Government's continuing failure to spend its allocated funds on remote communities had left a "vacuum of commitment" that had "invited the federal intervention"."

Australian: Brough warns of new intervention in Territory

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24032634-5013404,00.html

17 July 08: "MAL Brough has warned the commonwealth will again have to launch a billion-dollar intervention into remote Aboriginal communities if Northern Territory authorities continue to divert Aboriginal funds to Darwin-based white electorates."

ABC: NT Govt denies undermining move from CDEP to full-time jobs

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/16/2305069.htm

16 July 08: "Two Aboriginal organisations are calling on the Northern Territory Government to provide ongoing funding for more than 30 full-time jobs."

NIT: 8 million spent on 'business managers' as part of NT intervention

http://www.nit.com.au/breakingNews/story.aspx?id=15475

14 July 08: "AN independent review of the NT emergency intervention into Aboriginal communities has revealed the Federal Government has spent $8 million dollars directly bankrolling the income of 51 government business managers."

Australian: Putting paid to perk for the dole

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24004457-5013172,00.html

12 July 08: "LABOR went to the federal election promising to reform the Community Development Employment Programs for Aborigines, which many took to mean it would improve and refine the scheme. It now appears that "reform" is being cast in much wider terms, with the federal Government likely to abolish CDEP and move participants on to a form of work for the dole."

ABC: Income management extended for NT Aboriginal communities

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/11/2301313.htm

11 July 08: "Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has announced income management will be extended for up to a year in four Northern Territory Aboriginal communities."

ABC: Opposition blasts 'sit down money' for Top End

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/11/2300643.htm

11 July 08: "The Federal Opposition spokesman for northern Australia says Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) represents 'sit down money' and is destructive to Indigenous communities."

ABC: Govt committed to CDEP revival: Macklin

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/10/2299459.htm

10 July 08: "The Indigenous Affairs Minister says the Federal Government stands by its decision to reintroduce a work for the dole scheme in Aboriginal communities, but admits the program needs significant reform."

ABC: Return of CDEP raises intervention interference worries

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/10/2299802.htm

10 July 08: "The Labor Party has lived up to its promise and reinstated a controversial employment project in the Northern Territory but there are concerns it is undermining the Government's other project there - the federal intervention in Aboriginal communities."

NIT: Sacred Aboriginal site dug up for intervention rubbish tip

http://www.nit.com.au/story.aspx?id=15390

9 July 08: "A sacred Aboriginal site has been dug up for a rubbish tip by a federal intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities subcontractor. It is the second time ceremonial land has been accidentally damaged since the intervention was launched in June last year."

ABC: Intervention delivering 'empty shipping containers, no houses'

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/09/2298270.htm

9 July 08: "Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Ian Munro says the intervention has failed to deliver on improvements in housing and health services."

ABC: No intervention compo for NT small businesses

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/09/2298535.htm

9 July 08: "The Federal Government has indicated it will not be compensating small business owners in the Northern Territory who have lost revenue because of the Commonwealth intervention."

ABC: Federal Govt urged to drop CDEP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/09/2298533.htm

9 July 08: "Sarah Hudson from the Centre for Independent Studies has written a paper arguing it is time to abandon the notion that CDEP helps Aboriginal people."

Australian: Welfare that's not working

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23990719-5015664,00.html

9 July 08: "THE Community Development Employment Projects program was introduced to replace unemployment benefits for indigenous Australians, and to provide a transition to real work. But despite the good intentions behind it, CDEP has become an obstacle to real employment." Sara Hudson

ABC: Chalmers apologises for damage to Wilora sacred site

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/08/2297554.htm

8 July 08: "The operational head of the Northern Territory Emergency Response has apologised for digging up a sacred site in a Central Australian Aboriginal community to upgrade a rubbish tip."

ABC: Intervention has not fixed housing crisis: Altman

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/08/2297527.htm

8 July 08: "An expert on Indigenous policy who has just returned from a visit to Maningrida in Arnhem Land says the intervention has not eased overcrowded housing."

ABC: NT Shelter calls for grassroots fix to Indigenous housing

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/08/2297382.htm

8 July 08: "The Northern Territory's peak housing group says the Government's reasons for not building more houses in Aboriginal communities are not good enough. ... But NT Shelter executive officer Toni Vine-Bromley says there needs to be a grassroots approach to the problem, and that training Indigenous people in construction jobs is the key to easing the housing shortage in remote Aboriginal communities."

ABC: Formaldehyde housing reveals communication woes: report

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/08/2297383.htm

8 July 08: "An independent review of container accommodation used as part of the Northern Territory emergency response has found a serious need to clarify the roles of Government business managers."

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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)