NT INDIGENOUS NEWS AND CURRENT
AFFAIRS
Northern water rights campaign continues
|
Thursday, 01 April 2010 09:34 |
Indigenous leaders from Kimberley to Cape York, gathered in
Darwin last week to launch the campaign for legal ownership of the
lakes, rivers and aquifers in tropical savannah land across the north of
Australia.
The CEO of the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management
alliance, Joe Morrison, says traditional owners have a right to access
water resources and the economic benefits that it brings.
Territory Opposition Leader Terry Mills says the campaign for legal
ownership of water in Australia's north was "a bridge too far" for the
Aboriginal land rights movement.
CEO of Queensland South Native Title Services, Kevin Smith, says
water is a precious resource and there will be fierce debate over who
has rights to it.
Voice of Kevin Smith:
You have as many interests as you have parties discussing these
issues and how you reconcile all those is going to be critical.
I would hope it does become a political issue, but obviously
something as precious as water it is invariably going to end up that
way.
|
ABC INDIGENOUS NEWS
Traditional owners put hands up for nuclear dump
By Brendan Trembath
Updated Mon Mar 29, 2010 11:16pm AEDT
Traditional land owners from the Northern Territory have
visited
Australia's only
nuclear reactor to see what they are in for if a radioactive
waste
dump is built on
their land.
The owners come from Muckaty Station, 120 kilometres north of
Tennant Creek.
They say they want the waste site because it will provide jobs
now and for
generations to come - but they are insisting on a thorough
environmental
assessment.
Automatic gates and armed guards are just some of the security
measures at the
Lucas Heights reactor in southern Sydney.
The site includes a vast warehouse where radioactive waste is
stored until a
permanent waste facility is established in Australia.
It is amazing to think that an Indigenous community in
northern
Australia would
want this in their backyard, but that is exactly what they
do want.
Amy Lauder, an elder of the Ngapa people, is a long way from
home.
With a walking stick in hand, Ms Lauder has led a delegation
through
the reactor
at Lucas Heights.
"We proposed our land because we thought we'd get benefit out
of it," she said.
The man in charge of waste processing, Geoff Parsons, showed
off the waste
storage area and did his best to reassure everyone it was all
perfectly safe.
"This drum here was packed in 1988, some time back. And
when it
was packed it
had a reading of 20," he said.
"The units are microsieverts per hour. But just think, it
was units
of 20. And now it's
reading about 1.5 to two."
As he waved his radioactive measuring wand, they talked
amongst
themselves in
the Warlmanpa language.
Ms Lauder came away more convinced that a radioactive waste
dump
should be
built at Muckaty Station.
"Looking at it personally I think everything is going to
be safe
and secure. I don't
think we'll have any problem there," she said.
"We've been told how long it's going to be. And it'll be
there
for so long and we feel
that it's going to be safe."
She says the community would put its income to good use.
"We've got a cattle station, we've got Muckaty Station.
We would
like to get that
going as a cattle station again and have a business,"
she said.
"And we've got kids, grand-children
and great-great-grandchildren
who are willing
to be on the land later on in the future."
Ms Lauder hopes the Federal Government will spend at least
$12 million in the
area if the waste dump plan goes ahead.
But Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson
is not prepared
to reveal the
Government's hand.
"I am not going to seek to consider publicly what may or may
not occur out of
negotiations with the Ngapa people as we go forward," he said.
He says the Senate still has to complete a scientific
and environmental
assessment study.
"There is no predetermined outcome. I await the Senate
consideration of this
matter. There are Senate processes in place," he said.
The low-level waste stored at Lucas Heights in Sydney
and maybe soon at
Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory will remain
radioactive for generations to
come.
The Australian Government says it will take about 300
years to return to regular
radiation levels.
*************************************
NIRS - Federal Govt continues to defend welfare quarantining
|
Thursday, 01 April 2010 09:54 |
The Federal Government has defended its proposal to quarantine
welfare payments in the Northern Territory amid criticism the measure is
racially driven.
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has also backed the
consultation process, denying that various appeals made to the
government for the program to be made voluntary, not compulsory, have
been ignored
But chairman of the Ai Curung local board, Noel Hayes told the
National Indigenous Radio Service that income quarantining makes life
difficult for those who spend their money responsibly.
Voice of Noel Hayes:
They really hamstrung you when they put you on income [management],
because I got a car but I'm on pension and if I want to buy a new tyre I
got to lend money of my wife or my families and that sort of thing you
know, you got to get the price for a tyre.
You know they reckon it is for the good of the people but not genuine
people, you know who don't spend their money on grog and gambling,
whatever.
***************************************************************
|
NIRS - 30/03/10
The Larrakia Development Corporation says it is frustrated by Federal
Government delays in approving a land claim on the Cox Peninsula.
The Kenbi Land Claim is Australia's longest running Indigenous land
claim and covers 65,000 hectares on the Cox Peninsula.
It was given in-principle support by the Territory Government in
January last year.
Greg Constantine, from the Larrakia Development Corporation said if
approval was not granted this year it would have to shelve plans for the
area.
***************************************************************
NIRS - 30/03/10
Traditional land owners from the Northern Territory have visited
Australia's only nuclear reactor to see what they are in for if a
radioactive waste dump is built on their land.
The owners come from Muckaty Station, 120 kilometres north of Tennant
Creek.
They say they want the waste site because it will provide jobs now
and for generations to come but they are insisting on a thorough
environmental assessment.
Amy Lauder, an elder of the Ngapa people says the community would put
its income to good use.
**********************************************************************************
Northern Territory News
Editorial: Water claim undemocratic
March 29th, 2010
THE mining, cattle and agricultural
industries
are the backbone of the Territory
economy.
They are clearly threatened by the demand by peak
Aboriginal groups that
traditional owners be paid for business to use water.
The North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea
Management Alliance,
which is
made up of land councils, says ownership of water
by indigenous
people should
be recognised even if this cannot be proved.
This is an extraordinary demand - the alliance is,
in effect,
saying that vast
waterways should be handed over to Aboriginal groups
without any legal
examination of ownership rights.
And those groups should then be allowed to lease
back the water
to the people
who were using it in the first place.
Water use should be managed properly, especially
in such a dry
continent as
Australia.
And all stakeholders - government, business, recreational,
environmental and
indigenous - should be involved in the decision making.
But the final decision on how that water is used should be
made by the
democratically-elected and accountable government of
the day, not a handful of
traditional owners.
The deal stitched up for a nuclear waste dump at
Muckaty shows how the
will of
individual indigenous clans - in this case, a mere 40
people - can override the will
of the wider community.
Traditional Aboriginal people, who make up only about
20 per cent of the
Territory's population, already own about 50 per cent
of the land.
And they control
much of the coastline.
Extending ownership to every river, every creek,
every borehole,
every billabong
would be undemocratic and a threat to our prosperity.
**********************************************
Crikey
The Northern Myth
NT Cops with sidearms at a grog-free
One Night Stand in Alice Springs. Why?
March 29, 2010 – 11:19 am, by Bob Gosford
Armed NT Police at JJJ's One Night Stand,
Alice Springs
A cop and her gun at JJJ's One Night Stand,
Alice Springs
http://tinyurl.com/yap9ges
It used to be that the public face of policing in
Australia was a burly constable with
a big voice and a solid pair of boots for the kicking
of arses. Not any more.
Walking around the Triple J One Night Stand gig at
Alice Springs this past
weekend I noticed that there were a number of highly
visible uniformed NT Police
officers inside the gig with their utility belts kitted
out with the Glock 22 .40 calibre
sidearm, pepper spray and Tazers.
Triple J’s One Night Stand in Alice Springs was run as
alcohol-free gig inside a
secure, fenced football oval and where the punters were
subject to, as Triple J’s
gig website tells us:
6. No Weapons of any type are permitted on site and
any person in possession
of such articles may be refused entry or ejected.
8. triple j and its security personnel may conduct
security and or bag searches
to ensure the safety of persons at the Event.
9. Illegal substances are strictly prohibited from
the Event.
In order to enforce these policies Triple J had a heavy
(non-Police) security
contingent inside the venue and at the gates, where
bag-searches and metal
detector scans were in use.
The NT Police also had a strong presence, with several
divvy vans and roving
motorcycle patrols conducting “stop and search”
operations outside the gig,
plainclothes and officers and a drug sniffer-dog
team on patrol in addition to the
uniformed patrols. The Police had expected up to ten
thousand people at the gig –
far in excess of the estimated four to six thousand or
so that actually turned up on
the night.
The local Watch Commander reported 64 people being taken
into custody for
intoxication in and around Alice Springs on the night of
the gig. But these are not
arrests in the true sense of the word but
“protective custody”.
Watch Commander Paula Dooley said 64 people were taken
into custody on
Saturday night. “There were no major problems and overall
the behaviour was
quite good,” she said. “People were moved on for loitering
in the area and being
intoxicated.”
This was confirmed by local NT Police Superintendent
Sean Parnell who told Alice
Brennan on ABC Radio783 in Alice Springs this morning
that there were no
incidents and only one arrest for the whole night for
disorderly behaviour and
possession of LSD.
I understand that the NT Police General Orders require
that Police officers carry
their sidearms at all times while on patrol.
But maybe it is time to ask if this is this really
necessary, particularly in
circumstances where the public are in a strictly controlled
venue, are there to have
fun and there is a low likelihood of any anti-social or
violent behaviour or of any
threat to life, limb or property.
The most ridiculous recent example I’ve seen of this
policy or practice was the
sight of at least six fully-armed NT Police at the
opening of the new Yuendumu
swimming pool in October 2008. As I’ve noted here
before, this was a day of great
celebration in the small community of Yuendumu that
had worked long and hard to
find the money to build the pool.
On the day there were hundreds of kids, adults,
a bevy of politicians and local
worthies all having fun, getting wet and having a
very relaxed day out. At the time I
asked the local Sergeant why he was fully-armed at
a community event where the
risk of any violence or anti-social behaviour was minimal.
His response was firstly
to be surprised at the idea that he shouldn’t be armed at
all times, and secondly to
defer to NT Police policy and General Orders.
We don’t talk much about the role of fully-armed police
much these days – but
maybe it is time to have a closer look at whether the
presence of deadly weapons
is necessary at community events where there is no – or
little – risk of violent
conduct or any threat to life.
I understand that in some other Australian jurisdictions
the carriage of sidearms on
general duties patrols is the norm but that carrying a
sidearm at events where
there are large numbers of the public engaged in peaceful
activities (music gigs,
community days, school fetes etc) is an operational
decision made at the local
level.
I’ve not been able to find a lot of research or comment
on this matter but one
valuable piece of research is a 1996 paper written by
Rick Sarre of the University
of South Australia titled “Firearms Carriage by Police
in Australia: Policies and
Issues” that examines many of the issues arising from
the carriage of side and
long-arms by Police, including the shift from a British
model (where the default
position was, or is, that Police did not usually carry
sidearms) to the American
position (where Police are always armed).
Sarre also considers these issues in his 1996 conference
presentation: “The
Public, the Police and Australian Gun Policy” where he
notes some of the issues
that cloud our consideration of cops and guns:
In the last two decades there have been major shifts
in the firearms policies of
Australia’s eight police jurisdictions. The moves amongst
Australia’s 35 000
serving police officers from the deployment of the baton
to the covered pistol, and
then to the widespread carriage of the exposed revolver,
have occurred more by a
process of incremental accretion, with tacit yet popular
public acquiescence, than
as a result of a careful series of decisions following
public debate. Harding’s note
in 1970 (1970, p 14) that the New South Wales Police Force
(as it was then
known) was the only force that was habitually armed has
become
an
anachronism, indicating how much things have changed
elsewhere
in Australia.
While the details of these changes vary from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction, there has
been a clear trend towards greater reliance by police on
firearms in their day to day
operations.
Both in the minds of large sections of the general
public,
and amongst many
police officers themselves, there exists an unchallenged
axiom
that the more
firearms are deployed by police the greater the effectiveness
of policing. That
axiom has been seriously challenged by recent events in
Victoria
but it has not
disappeared. There is still a very strong belief that,
despite
the risks to police
themselves by carrying their firearms, and despite the risks
to the wider
community, firearms are a necessary evil, and their carriage
is to be preferred
rather than rejected. The belief is that if there is a chance
that wrong-doers will be
carrying firearms, then the police ought to be prepared and
able to match them. It
is purely a belief. There is little evidence.
Sarre notes the personal and philosophical tangle that cops
and guns evoke
(remembering that he was writing post-Port Arthur massacre):
Let me declare a bias again. I would favour any policy
that places clear
restrictions on police (public and private) possession of a
firearm. My view is that
police carriage of guns encourages three things that may
work against the
common weal:
* an alienation of the police from the community they
serve by enhancing police
power and thereby frustrating the task of community
policing (Sarre 1996a, p.36)
* a belief that a weapon-based response is an effective
way of resolving conflict
* a view that the most threatening violence in our
community is random and
unpredictable when, for the most part, that is not the case.
So, what do you think – should our cops go to the school
fete with a sidearm on a
utility belt festooned with anti-personnel equipment?
We have a new Police Commissioner now with the recent
appointment of John
McRoberts to that post. He has made a few courageous
decisions in his short time
in office to date that have shaken up some of the more
entrenched poor attitudes
and approaches in the NT Police. Maybe he could have a
look at this issue – he
might make some enemies within the Police, but I think
he’d make a lot more
friends in the community.
*************************************
Larrakia frustration over land claim delay
By Emma Masters
29/03/10
The Larrakia Development Corporation says it
is
frustrated by Federal Government
delays in approving a land claim on the
\Cox Peninsula.
The Kenbi Land Claim is Australia's longest running
Indigenous
land claim, and
covers 65,000 hectares on the Cox Peninsula.
It was given in-principle support by the Territory
Government
in January last year.
Greg Constantine, from the Larrakia Development
Corporation,
said if approval
was not granted this year, it would have to shelve plans
for
the area.
"Everyone was very very keen this time last year that it
would
all be resolved," Mr
Constantine.
"But the Federal Government again with a couple of the
agencies
have interests on
the Cox Peninsula and it is just taken them a little bit
longer
than anticipated to
resolve their issues."
He said one project proposed for the land is a
water infrastructure
development
and an aged care facility.
"We are not going to the expense of developing master
plans,"
Mr Constantine
said.
"The cost of developing those is quite significant.
"We have already outlaid a fair amount of money in that
area,
and until such time
as we have got that certainly that it is going ahead, we
have
got everything sitting
on the back burner at the moment."
*******************************************************************************
The Sydney Morning Herald
First welfare penalties for truancy
Date: March 29 2010
Dan Harrison
THE federal government has for the first time
suspended the welfare
payments of
parents because their children were not attending school.
The suspensions took place in the Northern Territory just before the
last school
year ended, under a controversial trial that links school enrolment and
attendance
to welfare payments.
The Herald understands about 20 people had their payments suspended, for
one
week.
The federal Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Minister, Jenny Macklin, the Northern Territory Education Minister,
Chris Burns,
and Centrelink last week refused to say how many suspensions had been
made or
in which communities they had been made, citing privacy.
Ms Macklin's spokeswoman said the parents could have their payments
suspended again if they failed to take reasonable steps to ensure their
children
attended school. Centrelink was monitoring the cases to ensure quick
action if the
children did not appear.
Another 20 parents have been sent a notice telling them they have 28
days to
improve their child's school attendance or risk having payments
suspended.
Each had been referred to a Centrelink social worker to discuss the
circumstances
that might be contributing to their child's poor attendance.
The measure has been trialled for a year in the Northern Territory
communities of
Hermannsburg, Katherine, Katherine town camps, Wallace Rockhole, Wadeye
and the Tiwi Islands. Trials in the remote Queensland communities of
Doomadgee
and Mornington Island and parts of Brisbane's southern fringe started in
October.
No parent has yet had the payment suspended in Queensland.
When the federal government introduced the legislation in 2008 it said
payments
would be suspended only as a last resort. It has been criticised for not
carrying out
the threat until now.
The measure divided the Labor caucus when it was announced.
Teacher unions and principal associations have suggested it could lead
people to
turn to crime and could expose school staff to threats of violence.
http://tinyurl.com/y86zf47
THE AGE
Taking stock of an alternative route in life
LINDSAY MURDOCH, DARWIN
March 29, 2010
Queenslander Alward Foster turns his
stock horse as part
of horsemanship
training at Tipperary Station in the
Northern Territory.
Photo: Glenn Campbell
STOCKMEN call it the McLeod's Daughters syndrome.
Every year dozens of young people who have watched
McLeod's Daughters
on
television come from the southern states to help fill a
shortage of
stockmen on
cattle stations in Australia's north.
But strategic projects manager of the Indigenous
Land Corporation,
Paul Jenkins,
says most of them do not last much longer than a gap
year in the
harsh north.
"Most of them only stay one, possibly two years before
they go back
to university
or another job," he says.
Now government agencies and cattlemen are pushing young
Aborigines
into full-
time jobs on the stations, hoping they will become career
stockmen
(or women).
Tanya Callanan, 30, says she is proud to be taking up the
same horse
work as her
Aboriginal mother and grandfather, who worked cattle on
land that is
now Kakadu
National Park.
"The work is worth getting out of bed for," Ms Callanan,
a former
ranger at Kakadu,
says. "It's the smell of the leather, the smell of the
horses,
being
able to handle
horses and read and muster the cattle.
"And nothing beats sitting down around the campfire at
sunset
after a
hard day's
work swapping yarns with your mates."
Ms Callanan's mother, Margaret, became a paraplegic after
a horse
accident. But
Ms Callanan says this pushed her to be a better horse person.
The Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association has
secured jobs for
eight first-year
indigenous stockmen who are among 24 young Aborigines
on a two-week
training
course at Tipperary Station, 150 kilometres south of Darwin.
Ms
Callanan hopes
that when the course ends on Thursday she will secure
one of four
vacancies at
the station, which runs 75,000 cattle.
The Department of Families, Housing Community Services
is funding
the
Indigenous Land Corporation to convert 150 part-time
positions for
indigenous
people to full-time jobs, 45 of them on the land.
The corporation was set up in 2005 to help Aborigines
with land
management.
Head of the cattlemen's association Luke Bowen says
station owners
are keen to
employ Aboriginal stockmen who have done courses
such as the one
at Tipperary.
''The industry wants to ensure all involved enjoy
the training and
the job and as a
result come back next year,'' he says.
This week in the remote Arnhem Land community
of Yirrkala,
200 indigenous
children will each get a specially designed
laptop computer
as part of a One
Laptop per Child (OLPC) Australia program.
The program, backed by some big Australian
companies, plans
to provide laptops
to children in outer regional, remote and
very remote communities.
http://tinyurl.com/yesrqrx
