Archives November 2014

A Petrolium exploration permit has been granted over The Pinnacles – described by tourism authorities as “world famous” and one of WA’s great natural attractions. - The Pinnacles comprise thousands of striking limestone formations, each up to 5m high, across 190ha in the Nambung National Park 200km north of Perth, attracting 250,000 visitors a year. But the landscape is under threat after a gas fracking exploration permit was granted to Norwest ­Energy by the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum.

If you don't know the word autochthonous you're in good company. It means “indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists”. It is in the text, prepared by legal advisors to similar movements around Australia, of Whitegate's “declaration of sovereignty and self-determination” of the State of Undoolya. A spokesperson stated the group will have nothing to do with the so-called National Summit for Freedom to be held in Alice Springs next week, run by interstate activists Tauto Sansbury, Geoff Clark and Michael Mansell.

A Western Australian Aboriginal researcher Juli Coffin's quest has led to 'Solid Kids', an award-winning program used to counter bullying and the organisation is now currently seeking funding for a scientific trial on alternative forms of therapy. An Aboriginal-led steering committee interviewed more than 260 Aboriginal children, elders and teachers. They found bullying, often intra-racial bullying, was serious. Meanwhile, families burying their children want answers to why and what can be done.

Past experiences of forced removal off country have proved disastrous. The result is more fringe dwellers, social problems, suicides and incarceration. Western Australia already has the highest rate of incarceration of Indigenous people, around 20 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians. In fact Barnett hypocritically admitted that it “will cause great distress to Aboriginal people who will move, it will cause issues in regional towns as Aboriginal people move into them.”

The West Australian Government's decision to scrap funding for an interpreting service is certain to deny justice to some Aboriginal people in the Kimberley. The Kimberley Interpreting Service helps Aboriginal people navigate the technical English of police interviews and the courts."I think Mr Barnett needs to take heed of what the Chief Justice is saying and understand that to reduce the number of Aboriginal people going to prison, it's not just about pushing them out of jail, it's keeping them out of jail," Ben Wyatt said.

The siege of Knightsbridge is a farce. For two years, an exaggerated, costly police presence around the Ecuadorean embassy in London has served no purpose other than to flaunt the power of the state. Their quarry is an Australian charged with no crime, a refugee from gross injustice whose only security is the room given him by a brave South American country. His true crime is to have initiated a wave of truth-telling in an era of lies, cynicism and war.

First Peoples Worldwide released the Indigenous Rights Risk Report at the SRI Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing, a product of two years of consultations with investment analysts, industry professionals, and Indigenous Peoples. The report analyzes 52 U.S. oil, gas, and mining companies with projects operating on or near Indigenous territories around the globe, impacting some 150 Indigenous communities.

After more than a century the final resting place of about 70 Aboriginal people have been located on Fraser Island. - In July, a team of scientists from the University of the Sunshine Coast used ground penetrating radar to search the site of the old Bogimbah Mission on the western side of Fraser Island. Local Aboriginal rangers trained in how to locate and record historical sites had earlier identified the possible location of the graves, never recorded and thought lost to history.

Aboriginal leaders and advocates are warning the "chaos and dysfunction" caused by closing down remote Indigenous communities will cost the West Australian Government far more than addressing existing issues. Amnesty International's indigenous peoples' rights manager Tammy Solonec said there was no plan to help people when Ooombulgurri community was closed down and people were required to integrate into Wyndham or other towns, leaving them "highly traumatised".

"Though Britain went into the Treaty negotiation intending to acquire sovereignty, and therefore the power to make and enforce law over both Maori and Pakeha, it did not explain this to the rangatira (chiefs)," the tribunal said.
Rather, the treaty grantied Britain "the power to control British subjects and thereby to protect Maori", while rangatira were told that they would retain their "tino rangatiratanga", their independence and full chiefly authority.