Showing posts with label NIT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NIT. Show all posts

Monday, 21 July 2008

National Indigenous Times - Recent Headlines

ABS statisics hide true disadvantage in remote communities
ALICE SPRINGS, July 3 2008: Aboriginal disadvantage is massively understated
and the federal government is basing policy on statistics that hide true
conditions in the bush, a conference has heard.


ACT Indigenous body elected today
NATIONAL, July 2, 2008: Three years and one day after the abolition of ATSIC,
Indigenous Australians - in Canberra at least - are a step closer to self-determination.


Mind the media hype: Inglis
SYDNEY, July 1 2008: Coach Mal Meninga has pulled boom centre Greg Inglis
aside on the eve of the State of Origin decider to advise him to ignore
the media circus that has engulfed him since Origin II.

Monday, 5 May 2008

Indigeous health improving, but glaring gaps in data: Macklin

Indigeous health improving, but glaring gaps in data: Macklin
Thursday, 17 April 2008

NATIONAL, April 30, 2008: Indigenous health and welfare is improving, but almost one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are missing from official data, the federal government says.

Tuesday, 30 October 2007

National Indigenous Times - Issue 140 19 Oct 07

cCMC hears evidence over Qld policing
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: At the time of press, a public hearing into policing in Queensland's Indigenous communities was scheduled in Cairns, in the state's far north, on Tuesday.

Fitzroy on the brink of disintegration: inquest
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: The alcohol-ravaged Fitzroy Valley community is on the fast track to disintegration, a West Australian Indigenous leader told an inquest last Thursday.

Opening up eyes for art
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: Artists like Millie Kelly and her granddaughter Hayley Atkins can continue creating their paintings with good eyesight thanks to the Pilbara Aboriginal Eye Health Program.

Money talks in Burrup
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: THE federal government has given approval for Woodside's Pluto gas development in Western Australia to proceed despite the existence of culturally important Aboriginal rock-art in the vicinity.

Blue Lake levels will suffer greatly
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: THE Queensland government says it is likely to scrap a key water project designed to help drought-proof the state's south-east after studies raised environmental concerns for a sacred lake.

Child-friendly DVOs under new legislation
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: Children will be able to apply for Domestic Violence Orders (DVO) on their own behalf under legislation to be introduced by the Northern Territory government.

Kava ban may not work: study
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: A federal government ban on kava is unlikely to help Arnhem Land Aboriginal communities unless education, housing, health and job opportunities are all improved, a new study has found.

Cwealth considers using ABA funds for Indigenous camel cull program
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: The federal government is considering a plan which would see central Australian Aboriginal people funded to cull feral camels.

QLD's housing crisis hits hip pocket
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: QUEENSLAND'S housing affordability crisis has plunged almost 350,000 residents into poverty, with some people living on as little as $10 a day, a report has found.

Year's top GP fears for health
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: An Alice Springs' doctor who was named GP of the Year on recently says the Commonwealth Government's intervention into remote communities could lead to worse health outcomes for Indigenous people.

Palm signs on
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: INDIGENOUS families on north Queensland's troubled Palm Island have been promised housing upgrades in exchange for better school attendance and money management.

Indigenous life expectancy stalling record death rate
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: Australia could surpass Japan and achieve the world's lowest death rate if it tackled the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and other Australians, health researchers say.

A good news story and the media stays away
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: A group of first-time Aboriginal authors and illustrators decided they were fed up with Aboriginal kids being statistics at the bottom of the literacy ladder in Australia.

Who is caring for the carers?
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: Many Indigenous carers are not accessing the available services designed to assist them.

Mungalla station tours explore history, culture
Issue 140, October 18, 2007: Mungalla Aboriginal Business Corporation has commenced tours of historic Mungalla Station, a 2,000 acre cattle property outside of Ingham that was first established by pastoralist James Cassady in 1882.

Tuesday, 9 October 2007

National Indigenous Times Issue 139 04 Oct 2007

How do you miss 73,000 Aboriginal people in a Census count?
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Indigenous Australians have been included in the national population count since 1971. But as it turns out, we missed a few. CHRIS GRAHAM reports on yet another fiddle in the fraud-filled world of Indigenous affairs.

EDITORIAL: When ‘whoops’ just won’t do
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Dr John Taylor’s work in uncovering the massive undercounting of the Aboriginal population by the Australian Bureau of Statistics should be applauded.

INVISIBLE ABORIGINAL: Out of sight, out of mind, out of pocket
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Dr John Taylor, the author of the now infamous Taylor report which revealed massive government underspending in the remote NT community of Wadeye, is a demographer with the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Officer could face charges over Wadeye teen death
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: A police officer who fatally shot an Aboriginal teenager during rioting at a remote Top End community could face fresh charges, an inquest heard on Monday.

Fed govt offers to fund fees
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The federal government offered a group of Aboriginal people legal funding to appear before a coronial inquest into Aboriginal deaths in Western Australia’s north after the state government refused.

Australia named as top ‘hot spot’ for vanishing languages
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Linguists alarmed at the unceasing extinction of many Indigenous languages have identified five global “hot spots” where the problem is worst, led by northern Australia and a region of South America.

Outback travel subsidy not good enough: report
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Sick people in regional and remote areas are not getting the medical attention they need because government travel subsidies are too stingy, a new report has found.

Spoken crossroad
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The federal government’s NT Indigenous intervention will spell the end for many Indigenous languages, Adelaide linguistics expert Rob Amery says.

Potential nuke dump site to be assessed
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: A fourth potential site for a radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory will be assessed for its suitability, Science Minister Julie Bishop said last week.

More child sex charges laid in WA community of Kalumburu
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Charges have been laid in the wake of fresh child sex abuse allegations in the remote and troubled West Australian Aboriginal community of Kalumburu, police say.

Light beer expected to escape ban
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: All but light beer sales are likely to be banned in an alcohol-ravaged Kimberley town after the local pub said it would not oppose plans for Western Australia’s strictest liquor licensing conditions.

Compensation for Stolen Generation urgent: Calma
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice commissioner Tom Calma has called for a national scheme to properly compensate all victims of the Stolen Generation.

Child care plan welcomed
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The federal government’s Indigenous Child Care Services Plan, designed to offer culturally appropriate early childhood services to Indigenous children, has been welcomed by the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).

Siewert calls on WA, fed govt to repay stolen wages
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Tens of millions of dollars stolen from Aboriginal workers must be repaid by the West Australian and Commonwealth governments, Senator Rachel Siewert says.

Aboriginal art: the French connection
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: After fetching record prices in Australia, Aboriginal art is carving out a place on the art market in France, spurred by the opening last year of Paris’ Quai Branly museum of tribal arts.

31 charged in Aurukun riot
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Thirty-one people have been charged after a riot in the remote Queensland Aboriginal community of Aurukun in mid September.

‘Don’t give us Disneyland’: tourists
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Tourists visiting Indigenous communities don’t want a “Disneyland experience”, according to Aden Ridgeway, Executive Chairman of Indigenous Tourism Australia.

Cairns hearing into policing
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The Crime and Misconduct Commission will hold a one day public hearing in Cairns as part of its inquiry into policing in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities.

Researchers look to bush medicine for answers
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: NT research could lead to Aboriginal bush medicine being used to combat disease in agricultural crops.

Tiwi islands under threat : Greens
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The Tiwi islands, off Darwin, are in danger of becoming a wasteland because of excessive land clearing, the Australian Greens say.

Building blocks for business
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: A new style of small business training designed especially for the needs and learning styles of Indigenous entrepreneurs has been successfully piloted on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Melbourne standard for Aboriginal art
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Australia’s first Code of Practice for galleries and retailers on Indigenous art has been launched by the City of Melbourne.

Education the key to empowerment
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Education leading to real jobs is the key to addressing the challenges faced by Aboriginal people in Australia today, according to a speaker at the recent Charles Darwin Symposium.

Trainees woo Gorge visitors
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Tourists are learning about the Mossman Gorge and Aboriginal culture from two formerly unemployed Indigenous locals, thanks to funded traineeships.

Rangers protecting our borders
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Indigenous ranger groups in Northeast Arnhem Land have recently received a welcome boost from Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education with the introduction of on-the-job training by specialists in natural and cultural resource management.

Friday, 5 October 2007

National Indigenous Times Issue 138, September 20, 2007

Brough announces extra $700m for NT intervention
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: The federal government will spend more than $700 million on a new range of measures in its takeover of Northern Territory Indigenous communities.

AMSANT slams intervention child health checks
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: The federal government's health checks of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory have been labelled inefficient, ineffective and potentially unethical by a lobby group representing NT Aboriginal health services.

$100m to go to follow-up health care
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: A $100 million fund has been set aside by the federal government to provide follow-up care for Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory with dental, stomach, ear, nose and throat problems.

Labor questions "new" money
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Labor says the outlay of half a billion dollars committed on Tuesday to fix and build the homes of Northern Territory Indigenous people is not new money.

Mobile teams 'doomed to failure'
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Mobile teams of health professionals visiting remote Aboriginal communities must be integrated with existing health services, the Fred Hollows Foundation says.

Indigenous health campaign kicks off
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: The nation's leaders have been challenged to take concrete steps to boost the health and life expectancy of Indigenous Australians on the first National Close the Gap Day.

NSWALC welcomes state govt inquiry into life expectancy gap
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) has welcomed a state government inquiry to investigate the difference in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Brough "a bit confused" over SBS "porn" in NT
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough has accidentally admitted he hasn't read at least one key section of the Little Children Are Sacred report, despite claiming it was the catalyst for the federal government's half billion dollar fight against child abuse in remote Aboriginal communities.

Welfare latest move in NT
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Aboriginal people from four central Australian communities had half of their welfare payments quarantined from Monday in a federal government bid to stop the money being spent on alcohol, drugs and pornography.

Porn bans hit the Territory
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: The federal government's pornography bans started in the Northern Territory this week.

Review called over CDEP alternatives
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: The federal government needs to review its alternatives to Community Development Employment Programs (CDEP), a group of remote Aboriginal service providers says.

Care for country under threat: NLC
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Canberra needs to ensure jobs and wages for Aboriginal rangers or risk programs that protect the Northern Territory's unique environment, the Northern Land Council (NLC) says.

Thousands of tourists face alcohol bans in NT
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Under new restrictions that began on the weekend, thousands of tourists will be banned from having a beer while fishing on river banks or camping in many Northern Territory national parks.

NT alcohol changes will spark backlash: Crossin
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Federal government changes to its Northern Territory alcohol restrictions will spark an enormous backlash but won't stop Indigenous people getting drunk, a Labor senator says.

Alcohol ban for Fitzroy Crossing
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: The strictest liquor licensing conditions in Western Australia could soon be slapped on the troubled Kimberley town of Fitzroy Crossing.

New national Aboriginal body to counter govt policy
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Aboriginal leaders have formed a national representative body to counter what they say is government dominance of the Indigenous policy agenda in the wake of Canberra's intervention in the Northern Territory.

NT intervention supporters 'naive': Dodson
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson has described the Howard government's intervention in the Northern Territory as a sinister attempt to extinguish Indigenous culture.

Qld ministry reshuffle puts women in hot seats
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: For the first time in Australian political history - at either a state or federal level - two women will assume ultimate responsibility for Indigenous affairs in Queensland, following the swearing in last week of the new Queensland government's ministry.

A Major call on Bligh to give hope to Cape folk
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Premier Anna Bligh must shape a new future for Queensland's Indigenous people by decreasing the welfare dependency that is crippling Cape York communities, Young Australian of the Year Tania Major says.

NITV viewing numbers to rise on Foxtel, Austar
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: A note to Eddie McGuire. Increasing the potential audience share of a television channel by about 25-fold is not only do-able, it's actually being done.

Stolen Gen bill introduced by Democrats
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: A bill to set up a compensation scheme for members of the Stolen Generation has been introduced into the Senate by the Australian Democrats.

Police start work in Territory
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Eleven police officers from Queensland started work in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities last Wednesday as part of the federal government's 'emergency intervention'.

Third world eye programs needed here
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: Eye services similar to those available in third world countries are needed to help fight rising rates of blindness in Aboriginal communities, experts say.

New centre for health studies
Issue 138, September 20, 2007: A new Centre for Indigenous Health at The University of Queensland is uniquely placed to attract Indigenous students to health professions and generate real health benefits for communities, according to Centre Director, Professor Cindy Shannon.

Thursday, 20 September 2007

Commissioner says healing missing from NT intervention

NATIONAL, September 19, 2007: The need for healing is missing from the commonwealth's intervention plan to combat child abuse in the Northern Territory, Aboriginal social justice commissioner Tom Calma says.

Monday, 10 September 2007

National Indigenous Times - Business - Issue 137 - 06 September 2007

'Opening the floodgates' for employment at UQ
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Providing real job opportunities is a key to overcoming Indigenous disadvantage according to UQ's new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Coordinator.

High tech skills for rainforest people
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: The Aboriginal Rainforest Council and the Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE have celebrated the success of the first pilot Cultural Heritage Recording and Mapping course delivered in culturally appropriate ways.

Boost for Tas women
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Indigenous women in Tasmania will receive new training and skills to help prepare them to enter the workforce.

National Indigenous Times, Issue 137, 06 September 2007

WA hands back 50,000 ha
The Miriuwung-Gajerrong people have been given back 50,000ha of freehold land in the East Kimberley region by the state government, making it the largest land hand back ever achieved in the state's history.

Feds to seize all Aboriginal assets above $400,000 in NT
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: The federal government is planning to seize the assets of Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory valued at over $400,000 as part of its emergency intervention aimed at talking child abuse, an online news website has reported.

Mixed response greets Tiwi 99-year lease signingIssue 137, September 6, 2007: The signing of Australia's first 99-year lease on the Tiwi Islands has been lamented by some and celebrated by others.

CDEP scrap may threaten rangersIssue 137, September 6, 2007: Advocates of an Indigenous rangers scheme in northern Australia fear it will be undermined by the scrapping of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP).

Illegal fishing reductions
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Australia is winning the war on illegal fishing, with a 90 per cent reduction on the number of boat sightings since last year.

Rangers will get real jobs after CDEP scrap: StoneIssue 137, September 6, 2007: The federal government has defended a decision to scrap a program that funded Aboriginal rangers in the Northern Territory, saying they will get "real jobs" in exchange.

PM's reign a "living nightmare": leaders
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: A new coalition of Aboriginal leaders from around the nation has released its first public statement since forming last month.

Future lies in mainstream: PM
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Aboriginal people must become part of Australia's mainstream society if they are to have a future, Prime Minister John Howard has warned.

Mundine backs PM's comments
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Former ALP president and high profile Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has backed Prime Minister John Howard's comments that Indigenous people face a bleak future unless they join the mainstream.

Howard rebuffs visit with CAO
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Despite declaring that child abuse throughout the Northern Territory was "akin to a national emergency", Prime Minister John Howard refused to meet with Territory Aboriginal leaders during his visit to the NT community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg).

Surplus could help black health: Calma
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma has called for some of the record federal budget surplus announced by the federal Treasurer recently to be spent on improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

Greens fear cuts to medical service
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Greens Senator for New South Wales, Kerry Nettle fears Aboriginal Medical Services in her state will have their funding slashed by up to half to help fund the federal government's intervention in the Northern Territory.

Major speaks out on abuse
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: It is "about time" an emergency was declared over the abuse and violence in Indigenous communities, a high profile Aboriginal role model says.

New stolen wages report launched into scandal
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: The case of "millions and millions" of dollars stolen from Aboriginal people by successive Australian governments is the subject of a new report recently launched in Melbourne.

Kava bans could result in black market: NT councils
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Crime, gambling and a black market trade in alcohol and marijuana are on the rise following the federal government's ban on the intoxicating drink kava, remote Northern Territory councils say.

Fitzroy Valley group calls for parliamentary inquiry
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Members of a remote community in Western Australia's Kimberley region have called for a parliamentary inquiry into social and economic issues in the town.

Poverty affects 10 percent: report
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Even though the economy is booming, almost two million Australians, or 10 per cent, are living in poverty, a report has found.

PM announces more AFP for NT
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Prime Minister John Howard has announced an additional 66 Australian Federal Police (AFP) will patrol remote Northern Territory communities, taking the total number on the ground to 116.

Police plan for better relations
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Aboriginal people can expect an improved relationship with NSW police after the introduction of new guidelines, Commissioner Ken Moroney says.

Qld first to contribute police
NORTHERN TERRITORY: Queensland became the first state to contribute to the NT Indigenous intervention last month after ten Queensland police arrived in the Top End.

New registrar replaces Beacroft
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: The federal government has appointed a senior Australian Security and Investment Commission (ASIC) executive to oversee the operations of Aboriginal corporations.

O'Brien "outraged" community: Kris
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: The Local Member for Cook Jason O'Brien has failed to recognise the scepticism among Island communities surrounding the state's sweeping changes to local government and has "outraged" the St Paul's community in claiming he is an elected representative, Torres Strait Regional Authority Chairman Toshie Kris said.

PM not helping on Cape: Beattie
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Premier Peter Beattie has accused Prime Minister John Howard of failing to help set up a commission aimed at driving social and economic reform in the state's far northern Indigenous communities.

Wednesday, 29 August 2007

National Indigenous Times

Issue 136 23 August 2007

BLACK FRIDAY: Turner devastated by racist laws
Issue 136, August 23, 2007: It's the blackest Friday ever in modern Australian history.” That's how Pat Turner - formerly the nation's most senior Indigenous bureaucrat - described the passage of the federal government's NT intervention legislation.

NT govt announces $286m abuse plan
Issue 136, August 23, 2007: The Northern Territory government has announced a $286 million plan to tackle Aboriginal disadvantage, in its official response to the child abuse report that prompted federal intervention.


Mutitjulu divided under permit scrap
Issue 136, August 23, 2007: Tourists will be able to wander the Central Australian community of Mutitjulu while rangers' accommodation only a few metres away is off limits to the public, says the Central Land Council (CLC).

Brough labels NT 'Closing the Gap' campaign as “underwhelming”Issue 136, August 23, 2007: Minister for Indigenous Affairs Mal Brough has labelled the Northern Territory government's response to the Little Children Are Sacred report as “underwhelming”, adding that it fails to address the needs of the current generation of Aboriginal children.

NT plan “good and practical”: Macklin
Issue 136, August 23, 2007: The Northern Territory government's $286 million plan to tackle Aboriginal disadvantage is a “good and practical start”, says federal Labor's Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin.

Internet system to help with Aboriginal child health: Abbott Issue 136, August 23, 2007: The federal government says a new internet-based health system for remote areas will ensure health issues identified in Aboriginal children are properly followed up.

CDEP cuts put age and disability services at riskIssue 136, August 23, 2007: Care of the elderly and disabled in the town camps of Alice Springs is under threat because of a $98,0000 shortfall following the scrapping of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP).

CDEP scraps hurt artists: ANKAAA
Issue 136, August 23, 2007: Thousands of Aboriginal artists will have their livelihoods threatened by the abolition of the permit system and the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) , says their representative body.

Indigenous population continues healthy growth: ABSIssue 126, August 23, 2007: The Indigenous Australian population continues to record healthy growth, according to new figures released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Library's Indig work wins award
Issue 136, August 23, 2007: A program teaching Aboriginal people in remote communities to read, use technology and preserve their culture has won the Northern Territory Library (NTL) a high-profile international award.

THE BIG READ: Heartbreak HillIssue 136, August 23, 2007: This month, the federal government rushed its NT emergency intervention legislation through parliament. The haste was indecent, to say nothing of the actual laws. In the end, after feigning moral indignation about some aspects of the laws, the Labor Party gave the legislation its full support. Both major parties passed the measures in the face of massive opposition from Indigenous leaders. Here are just some of the black voices that the Labor and Liberal parties ignored.

Nura Gili $1m richerIssue 136, August 13, 2007: Global financial services firm UBS has committed to a major investment in support of Indigenous programs at the University of New South Wales.

Priority Schools for a fair go
Issue 136, August 13, 2007: Education and Training Director-General, Michael Coutts-Trotter has praised the schools working through the Priority Schools Program as a living example of the Australian value of a “fair go for all”.

Bush business course takes off
Issue 136, August 23, 2007: A course in the Northern Territory is showing Aboriginal people how to build successful enterprises based on local natural resources.

Friday, 10 August 2007

National Indigenous Times

Black NT welfare recipients to have half their entitlement seized, regardless of past spending habits
NATIONAL, August 6, 2007: Every Aboriginal person receiving welfare benefits in the Northern Territory who lives in one of the 73 communities targeted for intervention will have 50 percent of their entitlements controlled by government bureaucrats, regardless of their past spending habits.

Big Brother will be watching you: The Howard government’s extraordinary interventionNATIONAL, August 6, 2007: The Howard government is poised to introduce legislation into federal parliament aimed at giving it extraordinary powers of control over the lives of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, including the power to have government officials sit in on the private meetings of Aboriginal organisations.

Member of Stolen Generation awarded $500,000 compensation
ADELAIDE, August 2, 2007: An Aboriginal man taken from his family as a baby has been awarded more than $500,000 compensation in a South Australian court, a first for a member of the stolen generation.

Wednesday, 1 August 2007

National Indigenous Times

Missing in action: Still no sign of jet-setting Johnnie
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: It was former Prime Minister Paul Keating who said that the best way to see the Northern Territory was from 30,000 feet. But it's the current Prime Minister, John Howard who has put it into practice. CHRIS GRAHAM analyses the government response to the 'national emergency' we had to have, but didn't get.

No progress on stamping out porn in NT's black townsIssue 134, July 26, 2007: There has been no ban on X-rated pornography in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory more than five weeks after the Federal Government announced its intention to impose a porn blackout as part of its "emergency" intervention on child sex abuse.

New Aboriginal art record set as dot painting sells for $2.4mIssue 134, July 26, 2007: A DOT painting by the late Aboriginal artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri has sold at auction for $2.4 million - more than doubling the world record sale price for an Australian Aboriginal art work.

Camp appeal funding will not go ahead: HowardIssue 134, July 26, 2007: PRIME Minister John Howard says he will stop any funding for a further appeal to reopen an Aboriginal camp closed in Perth because of widespread sexual abuse.

New resource to help Indigenous people quit the smokesIssue 134, July 26, 2007: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people smoke nearly three times the rate of other Australians.

NT govt to be accountable for spending: Brough
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: THE federal government will hold the Northern Territory accountable as a major intervention into the territory's Aboriginal communities is rolled out.

Govt should provide safe houses: prof
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: GOVERNMENTS should provide safe houses for Indigenous
people who speak out about child abuse in their communities, former ATSIC head Lowitja O'Donoghue says.

Uranium reason for NT plan: Vic rally
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: The federal government has sent police into Indigenous
communities in the Northern Territory to access valuable uranium deposits, not to protect children from abuse, a rally was told in Melbourne.

Scraping permits wrong: NSW Rally
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Indigenous people will never agree to the abolition of the permit system in the Northern Territory nor the land rights they fought so hard to earn, a Sydney protest has been told.

Solutions rest with tribal law, not the army: HarrisIssue 134, July 26, 2007: TRIBAL law, not army tanks could solve child abuse and social problems in Aboriginal communities, a West Australian Aboriginal leader says.

Abuse in WA 'normal': Brough
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough believes the sexual abuse of Indigenous children is worse in Western Australia than in the Northern Territory.

'Army debate a distraction'
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: The debate over whether the military should help fight child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities is a political distraction from the need to find long-term solutions, National Indigenous Council (NIC) chair Sue Gordon said last week.

Minister 'clears the air' with WAIssue 134, July 26, 2007: Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough says he has cleared the air with the West Australian government and is now satisfied it is committed to stamping out child abuse in Indigenous communities.

Welfare trials to begin in Cape in 2008 school yearIssue 134, July 26, 2007: THE federal government has pledged $48 million in funding to Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson's plan for welfare reform trials in Queensland's Cape York communities.

Welfare reform trial criticised by insider
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Controversial welfare reforms the government wants to adopt Australia-wide have had ill effects in trials in far north Queensland Indigenous communities, according to a community worker who worked on the trials.

Qld govt starts its own trial
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Indigenous people must look after their homes and ensure their children go to school in return for better Queensland government services, under a new agreement.

Fitzroy Crossing alcohol ban call backed by MP
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: THE West Australian government would be stupid to ignore calls from Aboriginal women for a ban on takeaway alcohol, Labor MP Tom Stephens says.

Camps back grog bans but want NT commission
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: THE town camps of Alice Springs have backed a move by the Northern Territory government to ban alcohol in the hotspots notorious for crime, violence and substance abuse.

Tennant Creek drink ban a success: police
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: An emergency ban on the sale of takeaway alcohol in Tennant Creek has been hailed a success by police and looks set to be repeated elsewhere in the Northern Territory as a safety measure.

Govt members under fire over alcohol allegations
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Labor has issued a please explain to two Howard government members following allegations alcohol was taken into a dry community in the Tiwi Islands.

Mutitjulu regains control after feds 'invalid process'
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: THE sacked local governing body for an Aboriginal community at the centre of a storm over child abuse allegations officially regained control last Wednesday.

McArthur River Mine pays up after 12 years
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: THE operators of one of world's largest zinc mines has made its first royalty payment to the Northern Territory government ... after 12 years.

Three charged with child rapes in South Australia
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Three Aboriginal men repeatedly raped children in a South Australian Indigenous community over a three-year period, police allege.

CDEP to be phased out in NT
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: THE Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme is to be phased out of remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

"Drip feed funding" black organisations: Snowdon
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: THE federal government has adopted a "drip feed funding" policy that is undermining the viability and future of Aboriginal community organisations, a Labor MP says.

Garma Festival keys up for health forum
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Success stories in Indigenous health are expected to penetrate the current national debate on Indigenous health when the Garma Key Forum begins on August 4.

Land ownership forgotten in council mergers: opp
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: AMALGAMATING Indigenous councils in Queensland's far north is a "recipe for disaster", Nationals senator Ron Boswell says.

Aboriginal people look to future: Lynch
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Aboriginal people should expect to have greater opportunities to become political leaders, company directors and scientists over the next 50 years, NSW Aboriginal Affairs Minister Paul Lynch says.

Searching for answers to big questions in Alice
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: Recently delegates gathered in Alice Springs from all over Australia to wrestle with some of the big questions at two conferences hosted by the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.

Thousands of kids 'miss out' on preschool
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: UP to 57,000 children missed out on going to preschool last year, including one in two Indigenous youngsters, an Australian Education Union (AEU) report shows.

Stolen wages fight receives financial boost from union
Issue 134, July 26, 2007: FAIRA, the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action recently received a funding bolster in the form of $55,000 from the construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) to continue its fight for the recovery of Aboriginal stolen wages.

Monday, 23 July 2007

National Indigenous Times - Issue 132 - 28 June 07

BIG READ: The Charge of the Band-Aid Brigade Part Two Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Presenting the myths on child sexual abuse, as reported in the "Little Children are Sacred" report.

BIG READ: Charge of the Band-Aid BrigadeDrastic new measures have been put in place by John Howard's federal government in the Northern Territory. Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, is leading the charge. Their crisis intervention, they say, stems from ˜Little Children Are Sacred", a report into abuse released last week, and political
inaction up north. If they had read the report, perhaps they would have done things a little differently. A special report by Brian Johnstone and the NIT team.

Administrator wanted: no experience required
Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Senior Commonwealth public servants from some of the biggest public service departments in Canberra are being asked to volunteer to act as Administrators of Aboriginal townships and communities in the Northern Territory which will soon be taken over by the Howard Government - and no experience is necessary.

Aboriginal alliance says government plan ˜unworkable" Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Pat Turner, until recently Australia's most senior Aboriginal bureaucrat, has slammed the Howard Government's dramatic Northern Territory takeover as "totally unworkable" and a covert ploy to rob Aboriginal people of their land.

Mutitjulu wins the battle against govt Issue 132, June 28, 2007: The tiny Northern Territory community of Mutitjulu has won its court challenge to the appointment of a Perth-based administrator by the federal government.

Family considers civil action in Palm Island case Issue 132, June 28, 2007: A lawyer for the family of Mulrunji Doomadgee says the door is still open to pursue legal action against the police officer cleared of his manslaughter.

Probe into NQ death in custody Issue 132, June 28, 2007: An investigation was underway at the time of press after a man, believed to be Aboriginal, died in police custody in north
Queensland on Tuesday.

Fake and forged art needs addressing: Scrymgour Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Detailed recommendations on the import of fake and forged Aboriginal art should have been included in a federal senate report, Northern Territory Arts Minister Marion Scrymgour says.

Government fails to respond to inquiries Issue 132, June 28, 2007: The federal government has failed to respond on time to dozens of parliamentary inquiries - including some that were finished
more than six years ago.

Funding needed for Aboriginal art Issue 132, June 28, 2007: More funds are needed to clamp down on unscrupulous
Aboriginal art dealers who pollute the multi-million dollar industry with fakes and unethical practices, a Senate inquiry has recommended.

Elders say jail too soft on Aboriginal youth: Quirk Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Some Aboriginal elders believe jail is too soft for young Indigenous people, Western Australia's Correctional Services Minister Margaret Quirk says.

Three teenagers to face child rape trial Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Three teenagers accused of repeatedly raping a 12-year-old boy over five months at a remote Aboriginal community have been committed to stand trial.

Permits scrapped for inquest into Wadeye teen shooting Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Entry permits will be temporarily waived to allow for an "open and transparent" inquest into the death of a teenager shot by a police officer at a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory.

NT govt granted leave on coast case Issue 132, June 28, 2007: The Northern Territory government is to appeal to the High Court to overturn a decision giving Aboriginal people exclusive access to 80 per cent of the region's coastline.

Black workers payment slash Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Hundreds of Aboriginal workers in remote communities will pocket $54 less a week starting next month under changes to the existing Indigenous welfare program, NT senator Trish Crossin says.

Overhaul needed on councils: Beattie Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Premier Peter Beattie says Indigenous councils
still have a "long way to go" to make improvements, after a new audit showed serious financial mismanagement.

Forcing Indigenous rep off reef Issue 132, June 28, 2007: Australian Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett has
told the Senate that new legislation aimed at providing better protection for the Great Barrier Reef will force Indigenous representation off the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

EDITORIAL: Communities prepare for the next invasion

National Indigenous Times
Issue 132, June 28, 2007: The Howard government has known about the devastation
in Aboriginal communities ever since it came into office.

Monday, 2 July 2007

National Indigenous Times

2 Jul 2007

Read the "Little Children Are Sacred" report
NATIONAL, June 27, 2007: The "Little Children Are Sacred" report on child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory is available at the following link.

Communities scared and angry, NT govt says
DARWIN, June 27, 2007: Northern Territory MPs have been ordered into the bush to try to calm growing fear and panic in Indigenous communities over the federal government's moves to curb child abuse.

High risk involved with emergency Indigenous moves: Calma
CANBERRA, June 22, 2007: Prime Minister John Howard's national emergency measures to tackle child abuse in Aboriginal communities lacks preventive measures to stop the violence, Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma says.