Lemezina, Zrinka --- "Month in Review" [2009] IndigLawB 7; (2009) 7(10) Indigenous Law Bulletin 31
Month in Review
Compiled by Zrinka Lemezina
January 2009
6/01
Scientists from the University of New South Wales predict that temperatures could rise by at least three degrees in northern Australia by 2050. This will cause major problems in remote Indigenous communities who are not yet prepared for such temperatures. As well as environmental complications, the predicted change in temperature is expected to further increase the already high incidence of cardiovascular and respiratory disease.
6/01
Darwin psychiatrist Dr Robert Parker has suggested the establishment of a National College of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health to better coordinate efforts in training, educating and promoting Indigenous health workers. The college would set standards, codes of ethics, training programs and would ensure that health workers deliver culturally appropriate health services to Indigenous patients.
6/01
President of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), Peter Lewis said that a proposal before Victorian Parliament to give Indigenous groups power to manage all national parks jointly owned with Government would be a step toward real reconciliation. State Cabinet is considering a proposal to allow traditional owners to avoid pressing land claims in court, providing instead for direct negotiation with the Victorian Government. Under the proposed legislation, mining and major public works would only proceed with traditional owners’ consent and compensation.
7/01
ABS figures indicate that Aboriginal imprisonment rate has increased by 53% while non-Indigenous rate has increased by 39% in the last 12 months.
7/01
Today is the 15th anniversary of the passage of the Commonwealth Native Title Act. Since 1992, of 117 native title claims, 82 have been successful and 35 have failed. It is expected to take six years to process the 500 cases currently waiting to be processed. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Comissioner, Tom Calma describes the native title claims process as a cruel system, a ‘situation that seems to drag out forever … for people who don’t have a long life expectancy.’
9/01
Aboriginal activists launched a ‘peace walk’ from Sydney to the steps of Parliament House in Canberra, in protest against continued Intervention measures and the mining of nuclear materials on Aboriginal land.
10/01
After the High Court decision in the Blue Mud Bay case, the Tiwi Land Council is calling for submissions on the future of fishing access to Tiwi waters. The Council seeks to adopt a quota system to reduce the number of guided fishing tours that pass through the islands.
12/01
Income management will commence in Halls Creek, Balgo and surrounding communities. The initiative will be introduced across the remainder of the Kimberley by late February and will apply to up to 1000 people across all trial locations.
14/01
Together with the Dieticians Association of Australia, the Public Health Association has called on the Federal Government to provide funding for nutrition education programs in Indigenous communities. They argue that tax cuts and subsidies for fresh food would be an effective way to ‘close the gap.’ Executive Director of the Dieticians Association, Claire Hewat says that ‘around 30% of people in that population experience food insecurity … they might have something to eat but it is not necessarily nutritious.’ People in remote communities are likely to spend 38% of income on food and non-alcoholic drinks, compared with 13.6% of the average household. Ms Hewat says that food in remote areas can cost 30-50% more than elsewhere.
16/01
Chief executive of Aurukun Shire Council, John Bensch says that petrol sniffing has increased since the closure of the local tavern pursuant to new alcohol regulations introduced by the Queensland Government.
19/01
Aboriginal people subject to income management in Alice Springs were unable to access money using the Basics Card for two days due to a technical error in the Basics Card system. The Intervention Rollback Action Group is demanding that Federal Minister Jenny Macklin take responsibility for the mistake.
26/01
Australian of the Year, Professor Mick Dodson has called for Australia Day to be moved from January 26, a day that Indigenous Australians regard as the time when their ‘world came crashing down’.
February 2009
2/02
Aboriginal people from Alice Springs and remote community residents have approached human rights lawyer George Newhouse to bring a case against the Intervention before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Mr Newhouse addressed a public forum in Canberra to discuss the way that the Intervention has affected Indigenous rights.
2/02
Two Maningrida traditional owners, together with the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, today lost a High Court case in which they argued that Commonwealth leases over Aboriginal land, without just terms compensation, is unconstitutional.
03/02
Indigenous protestors converged in Canberra for the start of the parliamentary year to seek an end to income management under the Intervention. Barbara Shaw of Mt Nancy Town Camp, a member of the Intervention Rollback Action Group, said that while in Canberra, ‘we will be demanding our human rights and demanding all our money is paid to us in cash’.
6/02
The growing divide between traditional Aboriginal healing practices and Western-based medicine will be the focus of a national conference at McMaster University this weekend. Dawn Martin-Hill, Academic Director of the Indigenous Studies Program at the university says that there is a global tendency towards reducing health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. But while ‘western medicine has improved in health care service and delivery … it has not made the same strides in reducing health disparities of Indigenous Peoples."
12/02
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma says that there is ‘an urgent need for an independent, Indigenous-controlled healing body to address the specific healing needs of members of the Stolen Generations as well as community-wide healing which acknowledges the reality that just about every Indigenous person has been touched by the trauma of these past policies.’
13/02
Today is the one year anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. PM Kevin Rudd considers that, ‘unless we get it right in housing, health, employment, education and early childhood initiatives, then the Apology becomes a dead letter.' Professor Pat Dodson has criticised the Rudd Government for failing to match the rhetoric with action and genuine partnerships.
13/02
Curtin Business School Associate Professor, Dr Mike Dockery says has found that strong attachment to traditional culture is closely linked with better socio-economic conditions for Indigenous Australians. Professor Dockery argues that ‘Indigenous culture should be seen as part of the solution to addressing Indigenous disadvantage and not as a barrier as is often claimed.’
16/02
WA State Government has made $114,000 available to provide compensation to those members of the Stolen Generations who suffered abuse or neglect while in state care. Chairman of the Kimberley Stolen Generations Corporation, Mark Bin Barker, says that the scheme is a partnership that allows people to move forward in the healing process, but that financial compensation is ‘just a small part of that’.
24/02
Governor-General, Quentin Bryce today hosted a reception at Government House for a preview screening of the film Yajilarra. The film documents the quest by a group of Aboriginal women from Fitzroy Crossing to address problems of alcohol abuse, domestic violence and foetal alcohol syndrome in their community. The film will be screened as a side event to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on 4 March 2009.
27/02
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Tony Abbot has criticised the Federal Government’s progress on measures aimed at ‘closing the gap’ as a ‘failure’. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, and Chairman of the Close the Gap steering committee, Tom Calma said that the Government has made significant initial commitments, but ‘we need to consolidate last year’s efforts through a real partnership with Indigenous people, the health sector and State Governments.’