Politics

Geneva, 19 June 2015

     

Protest at Kirribilli, against forced assimilation and genocide through 'Recognition' - 6 July 2015 - Sydney Protest Video Page

The arguments that mainstream media is hiding from you. The media and the government has only ever offered two sides of the story. One is the position the government calls for through their 'Recognition', which is a 'Yes Vote', and the other is the opinion of extreme right-wing racists. However, the grass roots First Nations people understand that their input has 'NEVER' been provided to the general public. Here we offer the alternative views of First Nations people who maintain their culture and know their Sovereign Rights, and they demand the self-determination and reject forced assimilation.

Maria Giannacopoulos, a lecturer and researcher in Socio-Legal Studies believes that Frank Brennan's recently published conservative position on Constitution reform, leaves us with a flawed structure and giving us only superficial changes.

Even though the problem Brennan seeks to address is racism, Brennan argues for leaving a racist structure undisturbed. Giannacopoulos believes he may have done this, because he does not view the Constitution through the larger lens of colonisation.

Murrumu Walubara Yidindji, the former Canberra press gallery journalist previously known as Jeremy Geia, who has renounced Australia to live under tribal law in far North Queensland has been booked for using his own Nations registration plates on his car. Murrumu is behind the establishment of an infant sovereign Yidindji government near Cairns. He is now the nation’s "foreign affairs and trade minister" and says he has referred the matter to his “attorney general for further investigation”

The Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia has described being hit by a double whammy after finding out about a 50 per cent state budget cut to Indigenous programs. It's all to do with ratings and unless the services are rated as 'very good' they lose their funding. Dr Hames said the Health Department believed a lot of programs listed as good still provided a quality service, and funding would be found somewhere.

Unofficially, Recognise claims the debate has moved on and no-one, except for Noel Pearson, is talking about ‘Recognition' being in the form of fluffy words inserted in the preamble (Pearson is calling for Constitutuion Recognition, which would sit above the constitution in an attempt to drum up support from constitutional conservatives. It flies in the face of statements made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott suggesting the opposite - that we are not looking at any concrete suggestion to remove discriminatory clauses from the nation's founding document.

Penny Bidd, 52, from the Kimberley says the only hope for the five children her daughter left behind, who are now in her care, is to escape even further into the bush, to her homeland on the remote Charnley River Station. She's not the only one, many First Nations people in Western Australia are opting to live "on country" in remote settlements. They see that as the safest and healthiest way of beating grog, drugs and violence, both physical and sexual, that stalks the townships. However, Premier, Colin Barnett has placed a cloud over the viability of the communities.

The NT Government-commissioned Wilson Review recommends sending Indigenous high school students to boarding schools in regional centres.

"People in communities are saying we don't feel like we've been consulted," he said. "The Government has come and told us, 'This is what we're doing'." Prominent Indigenous educator Yalmay Yunupingu, a former teacher at Yirrkala school in East Arnhem Land, also said there had not been enough consultation.