WA Indigenuos News and Current Affairs
NIRS - Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the Federal Government
will not support legislation to force mining companies to employ
Aboriginal contractors.
The Pilbara Aboriginal Contractors Association in Western Australia
wants laws to ensure mining companies start hiring more Aboriginal
contractors to work on their projects.
The group has released a report stressing the importance of
Indigenous businesses in the resources boom.
But Ms Gillard says she won't back this type of legislation.
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NIRS - Govt won't force miners to employ
Aboriginal contractors
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Thursday, 01 April 2010 09:58 |
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the Federal Government
will not support legislation to force mining companies to employ
Aboriginal contractors.
The Pilbara Aboriginal Contractors Association in Western Australia
wants laws to ensure mining companies start hiring more Aboriginal
contractors to work on their projects.
The group has released a report stressing the importance of
Indigenous businesses in the resources boom.
But Ms Gillard says she won't back this type of legislation.
|
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The Western Australian Labor Opposition insists it is united in its
opposition to uranium mining.
Labor's spokeswoman for the environment, Sally Talbot took part in an
anti-uranium protest in Kalgoorlie over the weekend, featuring Labor
Members, environmentalists and Aboriginal traditional owners, who formed
the group, the West Australian Nuclear Free Alliance.
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Confusion during treatment of prisoner
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Friday, 26 March 2010 11:04 |
A coronial inquest into the death of an Aboriginal inmate at
Greenough Regional Prison in WA's Mid West has heard confusion
surrounding the seriousness of the prisoner's condition could have been
avoided.
The deputy state coroner, Evelyn Vicker, is inquiring into the death
of the 30-year-old prisoner known for cultural reasons as Mr Rex.
In September 2008, a prison guard called triple-O because Mr Rex was
vomiting and suffering a severe headache.
The inquest was told the call could not be made from the prison's
medical centre because of a security policy.
The guard was forced to speak with a prison doctor on one phone and
relay information to the St John Ambulance operator via a second phone.
In her closing statements, Ms Vicker suggested the situation may have
resulted in the confusion surrounding St John Ambulance's
prioritisation of the emergency.
She said it was crucial that someone observing the patient be able to
speak directly with emergency operators.
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Groups collaborate to oppose WA uranium
exploration
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Monday, 29 March 2010 09:18 |
Indigenous representatives have joined in partnership with
environment, peace and public health groups to strongly oppose uranium
exploration, mining and transport in WA.
At a statewide meeting in Kalgoorlie on the weekend, hosted by the
Wongatha Birni Aboriginal Corporation, the groups formed the West
Australian Nuclear Free Alliance (WANFA).
The WANFA intends to educate the Western Australian community on the
risks of the uranium industry, support individuals and communities
threatened by the uranium and wider nuclear industry, and prevent
uranium mining in WA.
WANFA members held a rally and public meeting in Kalgoorlie and
developed an action plan to keep WA nuclear free.
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ABC - Kimberley gas fight 'divisive'
By Emma Masters
28th March 2010
The Kimberley Land Council says a fight over the development
of a gas industry in
the region, in northern Western Australia, has become
divisive and nasty.
The land council and environmental groups are at
loggerheads over a proposal to
set up a liquefied natural gas hub at James Price Point.
The council's executive director, Wayne Bergmann,
says the local office had been
vandalised with graffiti and Indigenous families
were now fighting over the issue.
He called on environmentalists to take a step back.
He says Aboriginal traditional owners have a right to
develop a gas industry on
their land.
"It is great to have an open debate, but not a manipulative
one and a divisive one
that has no justification or basis," Mr Bergmann said.
"The Aboriginal people have a right to make an informed
decision about balancing
their environmental and cultural values and determining
the future that they want to
create and the opportunities that they want to create for
their children and their
grandchildren."
Mr Bergmann says Aboriginal people have been balancing
the environment and its
resources for thousands of years.
"We have a right to make decisions about how our country
is used, how to balance
the resources," he said.
"We have ingrained into us a responsibility to look after
the country and we haven't
given up on that.
"I am calling on the leaders of the environment movements.
We want them to work
with us, rather than against us."
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ABC - Kimberley gas fight 'divisive'
By Emma Masters
28th March 2010
The Kimberley Land Council says a fight over the development
of a gas industry in
the region, in northern Western Australia, has become
divisive and nasty.
The land council and environmental groups are at
loggerheads over a proposal to
set up a liquefied natural gas hub at James Price Point.
The council's executive director, Wayne Bergmann,
says the local office had been
vandalised with graffiti and Indigenous families
were now fighting over the issue.
He called on environmentalists to take a step back.
He says Aboriginal traditional owners have a right to
develop a gas industry on
their land.
"It is great to have an open debate, but not a manipulative
one and a divisive one
that has no justification or basis," Mr Bergmann said.
"The Aboriginal people have a right to make an informed
decision about balancing
their environmental and cultural values and determining
the future that they want to
create and the opportunities that they want to create for
their children and their
grandchildren."
Mr Bergmann says Aboriginal people have been balancing
the environment and its
resources for thousands of years.
"We have a right to make decisions about how our country
is used, how to balance
the resources," he said.
"We have ingrained into us a responsibility to look after
the country and we haven't
given up on that.
"I am calling on the leaders of the environment movements.
We want them to work
with us, rather than against us."
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ABC INDIGENOUS NEWS
Govt enters into Esperance native title talks
Posted Fri Mar 26, 2010 2:22pm AEDT
An Esperance native title bid has moved a significant
step forward with the
Western Australian Government confirming it is about
to start negotiations over the
claim.
An Office of Native Title spokeswoman says the
Government has agreed to enter
into negotiations with the Goldfields Land and
Sea Council towards reaching a
consent determination.
The determination would be a first for the
Goldfields-Esperance region and would
mean the claim would not have to proceed to trial.
The Nyungar claim includes the town of
Esperance and stretches to some land in
the Shire of Ravensthorpe.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/26/2857172.
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ABC - Coroner attacks St John over prisoner treatment
Updated Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:12pm AEDT
Western Australia's Deputy Coroner has criticised
St John Ambulance for ignoring a doctor's opinion
about the seriousness of an Indigenous prison inmate's
condition.
The prisoner later died of a brain haemorrhage.
DeputyCoroner Evelyn Vicker is examining the death of the
30-year-old prisoner
known, for cultural reasons, as Mr Rex.
In September 2008, a guard called the emergency
000 number because Mr Rex
was vomiting and suffering a severe headache.
St John listed the job as a priority three
and advised there would be a half hour
wait.
The inquest heard the guard told St John
a prison doctor was convinced if the
ambulance didn't hurry up, they "would lose" the patient.
The doctor told the guard to call again to
warn Mr Rex's condition had deteriorated
but the job's priority status was not upgraded.
Ms Vicker today told the inquest when the doctor
got on the phone, it appears the
operator heard his accent and dismissed his medical
opinion as irrelevant.
St John Ambulance Manager Julian Smith testified
it wasn't a policy to make a job a
priority on the basis of a doctor saying "we're going
to lose" the patient.
The patient died of a brain haemorrhage in hospital the
following day.
Ms Vicker said it was almost a blatant disregard
for the doctor's opinion.
The Deputy Coroner has reserved her findings.
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