Politics

Action has begun in the High Court to try to stop a native title deal that could be worth $1.3 billion to the Noongar people of the south west of Western Australia.

The challenge is by other Noongar native title claimants who say they did not agree to the deal with the WA government to relinquish native title rights in return for a $1.3 billion compensation package.

The package would include land and funds for a trust to be managed by Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders.

Ghillar Michael Anderson exposes the consequences of the insidious nature of colonial social engineering which used the 'dog tag' to divide against First Nations. People issued the 'dog tag' or 'exemption certificate' were 'exempted' from being Aboriginal and partially accepted into the colonial society on its terms, namely they were not allowed to associate with their own kind, known as the 'grassroots communities'.

The number of doctors working in Western Australia's First Nations Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) will be reduced from 56 to 19 under a policy proposed by the Federal Government, according to the Aboriginal Health Council of WA.

"We currently have 56 doctors working in our sector. With this decision that will severely reduce that back to 19 doctors," the council's chairwoman Michelle Nelson-Cox told ABC Kimberley.

A main shortcoming of all the social experiments promoted and funded under the motto of "self determination" are implemented rather paternalistically, basically rules which inhibit a person's ability to make choices and suffer subsequent consequences. His paternalistic policy ignores people's right to fail, which is one of the key steps in achieving growth and capability, hence it truly ignores people's right to succeed as well ... the Welfare Reform Triials are fundamentally flawed as remote townships find it extremely almost impossible to venture into any meaningful economic opportunities given the constraints of land tenure and blanket conservation.

Earlier this year South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announced that a royal commission would be held to consider the feasibility and viability as well as the risks and opportunities associated with four areas of the nuclear fuel cycle, including storage of radioactive waste.

Kevin Buzzacott, an Arabunna Elder puts it this way: 'If we look after this old country, the country will look after us ... How could I cut off my knee or part of my knee? I won't work without parts of me. Same for country.

The first shipment of Australia's nuclear waste to be returned from re-processing in France has now left a French port, and will arrive on our shores by the end of the year. The return of the 25 tonnes of nuclear waste is putting renewed pressure on the Federal Government to find a location for a permanent waste dump. The shipment began its journey just a day after senior Aboriginal women gathered in Adelaide to mark their fight against a proposed dump in South Australia in the 1990s. The women say they will fight against any new move to put the waste on their land.

"Income management through the BasicsCard Does not achieve what it sets out to achieve," said Alice Springs' Tangentyere Council research coordinator Matthew Campbell, whose team helped collect data for the study.

Income management in the Northern Territory has not led to people on welfare drinking less alcohol, sending their children to school more often or buying healthier food, according to the findings of a three-year study commissioned by the Federal Government.

Tony Abbott tells us that his northern development obsession "will benefit every single Australian" but a Research Fellow in Anthropology at Australian National University writes that while this may be good news to developers, it makes many First Nations people in the region very anxious.
Today it's much harder for First Nations people to support development, as many are now able to see clearly how the costs and benefits associated with large-scale development in the region are distributed unequally.

Stephen Mayne Crikey 2 February 2015

The 2013-14 political donations data confirms a long trend in Australian politics, with the ALP still fundamentally reliant on the union movement and the Liberal Party in the thrall of big business, rent-seekers and a few wealthy families.