Assimilation & Oppression

Yolngu Nations Assembly (YNA) urges the Commonwealth Government and Indigenous communities to consult carefully before considering entering into 99-year township leases ... The Traditional Owners only made an agreed to negotiate. "When Yolngu say, 'yes, we understand' that doesn't mean 'yes, we can go ahead'."

To force our people to accept 99 year leases for their land as the only way for them to achieve any form of economic advantage from their homelands is a crime.

... it just will not deliver long-term gains

It seems like a bizarre kind of double-think that the government can abandon the Gonski funding model, which would have most helped disadvantaged students; cut $534 million in funding for Indigenous community health and education programs; and then turn around and claim that a sparkly new program will somehow "fix" First Nations literacy.

The Abbott Government's likely expansion of welfare reforms, including the quarantining of people's entitlements has been done before, just not to 'us'

Chris Graham New Matilda 1 July 2014

We also need to educate all 'Australians', especially young people, that discriminatory remarks, however casual, however apparently light-hearted, however off the cuff, have implications for other people's health.

Croakey post by Melissa Sweet, 30 June 2014

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks asserting her position with former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser listening. (Image NT News)

Kerry Blackman - June 2014

The time has come for the Sovereign people of this ancient land to roll back the layers of lies of theft, murder, pillage and rape and for the Nation to be built on a solid foundation rather than the blood from the massacres, lies and deceit.

First Nations people are experiencing racism while seeking health care, say Victorian researchers. The authors found those who had experienced racism in a health setting were more likely to experience increased psychological distress than those who experienced racism in a different setting or had experienced no racism at all. Almost every Aboriginal Victorian who participated in this survey had experienced at least one racist incident in the previous 12 months.
- Includes a summary of Coroners Report into the Death of Ms DHU, WA, 2016.

Gerry Georgatos The Stringer 13 May 2014

John Birmingham Brisbane Times - Opinion 4 October 2011