Archives March 2015

Amid the questioning of government support for remote Aboriginal communities and what PM Tony Abbott called the “lifestyle choices” of those who live there, the growing role of First Nations management of large areas of remote Australia has been overlooked. There are 1,200 small, discrete communities in Australia with various sources of income, including federal government “Working on Country” funding, as well as meagre and tightly regulated welfare payments. They fulfil a key role in populating large areas of outback Australia.

More than a thousand protesters shut down traffic in Melbourne's CBD to rally against the planned closure of remote Indigenous communities in West Australia. The group initially hoped to confront Tony Abbott at the National Gallery of Victoria about his statement and support of the displacement of thousands of peoples. The crowd eventually gave up on seeing Abbott and walked from the gallery to the State Library. About half-a-dozen tram routes were disrupted and roads were closed as they made their way up Swanston Street.

A camp on Perth's Heirisson Island set up in response to the planned closure of remote Aboriginal communities has been granted a stay of execution, after the city extended the deadline on an order to tear it down.
The island camp, which lies just east of the city's CBD, was set up about 10 days ago.Campers had been told to remove the tents, couches, tables and chairs by 12pm Thursday, but the City of Perth has now extended that deadline to 12pm Friday.

City of Perth chief executive Gary Stevenson said on Wednesday that the group seemed to be more of a political protest on broader state and federal issues, rather than on the needs of homeless. The campers had been given until midday on Thursday to leave, but that deadline has now been extended to noon on Friday. A City spokeswoman said the deadline did not mean the council would enforce anything at that time, but that the situation would be reassessed. Two articles and an audio report from Marianne Headland McKay.

VIDEO INCLUDED - Djurin Nyoongar Swan River Treaty officially sanctioned at Matargarup (Heirisson Island) in the Swan River on 1 March 2015. Various groups of the Djurin Republic and Nyoongar Nation came together to sign the Swan River Treaty on this day. "Placing our trust in our Creator and the Stories of our Dreamings, we, the following members of the Nyoongar Nation, affix our signatures representing each of the clans to this Treaty from this day forth to be known as the Swan River Treaty."

There has been evidence that the First peoples were on this continent 60,000 years ago, but the work of Dr Peter Kershaw's palynology (the study of fossil pollen) research suggests that the first peoples were on the continent as long ago as 80,000 years earlier than that.
When specks of prehistoric pollen and charcoal embedded in the ocean floor off the Great Barrier Reef were analyzed it was discovered an abrupt change in the fossil pollen was recorded around 140,000 years ago.

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett originally said that he was closing down the remote Homelands communities because of the lack of funds. Now he is saying that he is doing it because of the 'appalling mistreatment of little children'.
Following Barnett's recent complete change of story, Ben Wyatt, the WA's opposition spokesman for Aboriginal affairs has described the new story as not the actions of a Premier but the actions of a desperate, despicable man.

The Peak body for Indigenous legal services was denied funding under the Indigenous advancement strategy as $680m in grants handed out. The NSW ALS had its two applications rejected by the IAS scheme, including one for its existing custody notification service, which provides 24-hour legal advice and welfare support for Aboriginal people arrested in NSW. Some organisations said they did not know if or how much of a grant they had been given, or if funding would continue beyond the next 12 months.

WA Premier Colin Barnett is looking for dirt in the poor under-resourced communities of remote Western Australia. He's peeping under every bed and under every tree searching for evidence to improve his argument to close down remote Homeland communities. The Western Australian government has done this at Lockridge in Perth's Swan Valley and then more recently at Oombulgurri in the North Eastern Kimberley. Colin Barnett has turned removals and dislocation of First Nations and Peoples to a new level.