Songlines

National Indigenous Times
Thursday, 13 November 2008

By Adam Gartrell

“CANBERRA, November 28, 2008: The federal government’s plan to reinstate the permit system in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities has been killed in the Senate.

Family First senator Steve Fielding and independent senator Nick Xenophon on Thursday sided with the opposition to vote down part of a Labor bill that would have reinstated the controversial permit system.

The permit system, which gave the local Aboriginal community the right to exclude people from their land, was scrapped by the Howard government as part of its dramatic NT intervention last year.”

full story
http://www.nit.com.au/story.aspx?id=16728

Media Release | Spokesperson Rachel Siewert
Friday 28th November 2008, 10:50am

The Australian Greens attempts to restore the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) in the NT failed in the Senate last night.

“I’m extremely disappointed that the Government sided with the Opposition to oppose my amendments to restore the RDA,” said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

“The Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) is blatantly racist legislation – we knew this from the outset, when Howard and Brough required the suspension of the RDA in the first place.”

“If the NTER measures are to the benefit of Aboriginal communities then the Government has nothing to fear from restoring the RDA. Actions that are to the benefit of Indigenous communities are exempt. They should be able to stand or fall, therefore, on their own merits.”

“Given that the ALP objected to the suspension of the RDA when they were in Opposition, their lack of support for these amendments just serves to show their true colours. The Greens will continue to work to overturn this discriminatory piece of legislation,” said Senator Siewert.

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Australian Human Rights Commission Friday, 28 November 2008

The Australian Human Rights Commission has just updated the online Face the Facts education resources, which aim to provide students with a stronger understanding of issues concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, migrants and multiculturalism, asylum seekers and refugees.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma said there was a clear need for information that addressed prevailing myths and stereotypes about refugees, migrants and Indigenous peoples.

“The Face the Facts education resource is designed to complement the material in the 2008 Face the Facts publication and uncovers issues that are often misrepresented,” Mr Calma said.

“It is an essential resource for exploring these issues in the classroom.”

The activities are suitable for use in a range of key learning areas for secondary students across Australia. Teaching notes, student activities and worksheets are provided, plus a range of recommended online resources and further reading.

The resources are designed to introduce Australian students to human rights concepts in an engaging, relevant way and are available online at: http://humanrights.gov.au/education/face_facts/

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Australian Human Rights Commission

Thursday, 27 November 2008

The Australian Human Rights Commission will be holding a ‘Sport and Cultural Diversity’ forum on 2 December from 1.30-3.30pm.

Part of the international Sport, Race and Ethnicity Conference being held at the University of Technology, Sydney from 30 November to 2 December 2008, the forum aims to build on the findings and recommendations of the Commission’s What’s the Score? report released last year.

Recent policy developments, initiatives and innovations to adapt to the growing cultural diversity of sporting participants in Australia will be discussed, along with issues around social inclusion and sport.

What’s the Score? surveyed cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport and can be found online at www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/whats_the_score/.

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“Former Australian of the year Professor Fiona Stanley has devoted much of her career to trying to improve the health of Aboriginal people, especially children. Delivering the annual Hawke Lecture in Adelaide recently, she discussed some of the causes of poor Indigenous health and outlined some strategies for improving it.

Fiona Stanley is the founding Director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. She is Chair of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, and holds a chair in the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia. She is also the UNICEF Australia Ambassador for Early Childhood Development.

The duration of this video is 64’17″.

This video is presented in conjunction with ABC Fora, a great source of talks and debates online.

Comments on this story appear both here (see url below) on Unleashed and on the ABC Fora site.”

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2428982.htm

National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.
Media Release 13 November 2008

The annual general meeting in Broome this week of the national peak body for Aboriginal health, NACCHO, has endorsed the “Inteyerrkwe Statement” from the July Aboriginal Male Health Summit in Central Australia acknowledging and apologising for the suffering some Aboriginal men have caused in their communities.

The meeting called on all Aboriginal men to think about the statement and to commit to its principals of caring for children in a safe family environment and recognising the need for the love and support of Aboriginal women to help men move forward.

The four day NACCHO annual general meeting includes representatives of over 140 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services from across Australia and concludes on Friday with a series of recommendations arising from the members.

Dr Mick Adams, chair of NACCHO said, “We recognise that most Aboriginal men are responsible family members and committed to providing a secure and comfortable environment for their families, but we also recognise there is a need to address the problems in our communities”.

More information on the first Central Australian Aboriginal Male Health Summit is available from www.caac.org.au/malehealthinfo

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Australian Human Rights Commission – Monday, 17 November 2008

“Compulsory income management is at best a stop-gap measure and no substitute for the sustained, long-term action needed to make these communities safe for women and children,” he said. “Any measures to be applied to communities should only be implemented with the voluntary agreement of the entire community, including vulnerable women and children,”

Carefully targeted approach to income management required

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma tonight outlined a way forward for the federal government to modify the compulsory income management scheme operating under the NT intervention so that it is better capable of leading to sustainable improvements in the lives of Aboriginal communities

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