Well worth taking the time to listen.

The audio is presented in small segments.

TITLE: Fairer deal on ATMs for remote indigenous communities – The Hon Jenny Macklin MP

PORTFOLIO: Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

SNIPPET: The Gillard Government today announces a new commitment by the Australian banking industry and two major independent ATM companies to voluntarily provide free transactions at 76 ATMs across very remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.

Indigenous people and residents living in very remote communities often rely on a single ATM located in a community store owned by an independent ATM company to access their cash and check their account balance.

This important initiative follows the recommendations from a joint Treasury/Reserve Bank of Australia Taskforce (Taskforce’) that looked into issues relating to expenditure on ATM fees and the cost of ATM access in very remote Indigenous communities.

Full media release:
http://www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/mediareleases/2012/pages/atms_remote_indigenous_communities250512.aspx

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/05/27/3511947.htm

Last week, representatives from across the Australian trade union movement at the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ Congress resolved to campaign for recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution.

From Sunday 27 May, Australians will come together at a record 278 events across the country to celebrate National Reconciliation Week.

New resources to start the conversation

In honour of this year’s National Reconciliation Week theme, ‘Let’s Talk Recognition’, ANTaR has created a toolkit for you to inform, educate and mobilise your community. Start a conversation in your school, workplace, university or home with:

A factsheet about the national conversation on Constitutional Recognition.

Answers to frequently asked questions about changing the Constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and remove racial discrimination.

A powerpoint presentation to explain Constitution Recognition. Email us to get a version you can edit.

8 ways you can take action right now.

Hints and tips on how to hold a successful events.

The Australian Constitution is currently silent on the First Peoples of this country. It fails to acknowledge their prior occupation, history, cultures and languages. Our Constitution even permits laws that prevent people from voting, owning property or working in certain professions on the basis of race.

Australians have been presented with an historic opportunity to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution and protect future generations of Australians from discriminatory laws.

Together, we have the power to end our Constitution’s silence on the existence and prior occupation of the First Australians, the custodians of the oldest continuing cultures on Earth.

http://www.antar.org.au/constitutional_recognition
Email: antar@antar.org.au | Web: www.antar.org.au

They’re on opposite sides of the political divide but Member for Barkly, Gerry McCarthy and CLP candidate Bec Healy stand united on Muckaty

The CLP’s candidate for the Barkly, Bec Healy says she does not want to see the proposed nuclear waste facility at Muckaty Station go ahead.

“I know some of the traditional owners out at Muckaty…and you have to be sensitive with how people live, that’s their life and I’m willing to support them,” she says.

The Federal Government put forward the proposal to build a radioactive waste management facility at Muckaty Station in 2008. The station is located 120kms north of Tennant Creek and leased from Indigenous landholders.

Ms Healy stands united with current Member for Barkly, Gerry McCarthy who maintains his strong opposition to the proposal.

Both candidates stand against their own parties federally on the issue.

Full story, audio and photos:

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/05/24/3510368.htm

Five years of struggle and still standing strong: Tennant Creek residents and supporters set to rally against Muckaty nuclear waste dump

This Friday May 25 marks five years since the Northern Land Council (NLC) voted to nominate a site in the Muckaty Land Trust, 120km north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, to be assessed for a national nuclear waste dump.

Under new legislation, the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, Muckaty is the only site that will now be actively pursued by the federal government.

A rally and march will be held in Tennant Creek on Friday lunchtime, building on years of community campaigning, outreach and public events. Traditional Owners have travelled extensively around the country to raise support for their campaign, and last week secured unanimous support from delegates at the Australian Council of Trade Union National Congress in Sydney.

Despite efforts by the federal government and NLC to thwart legal action, a federal court case challenging the nomination of the site remains underway, with the next hearing scheduled for June 26 in Melbourne.

Muckaty Traditional Owners will be joined at the rally on Friday by Tennant Creek residents, Barkly pastoralists and supporters from Alice Springs, Darwin, Sydney and Melbourne.

Speakers at the rally include Muckaty Traditional Owners, NT Member for Barkly Gerry McCarthy, Maurice Blackburn lawyer Elizabeth O’Shea and Friends of the Earth national nuclear campaigner Dr Jim Green.

WHAT: Rally against the Muckaty nuclear waste dump
WHEN: 12pm Friday May 25, 2012
WHERE: Peko Park Tennant Creek, marching to Northern Land Council office.
WHO: Muckaty Traditional Owners and supporters from across the Territory and country.

More info:
http://beyondnuclearinitiative.com/contact/

“EDMOND ROY: The United Nations has heard that Australia is breaching its human rights obligations by moving to extend the Intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities The chairman of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples says it’s a major disappointment that the Government is extending laws for another 10 years, without the consent of the people concerned. Les Malezer says the laws are racist. Meredith Griffiths reports. MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: This week Indigenous people from all over the world came together in New York for the annual meeting of the UN’s forum on indigenous issues. The stories they heard from Australia weren’t good. Les Malezer from the Congress of Australia’s First Peoples told the gathering that Australia is breaching its human rights…”

to read the full story on your mobile please use this link
http://m.abc.net.au/browse?page=11144&articleid=3506198&cat=Indigenous

to read the full story on a PC or Mac please use this link
http://goo.gl/gxU3F

Muckaty Traditional Owners have welcomed news that Australia’s peak trade union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, has today committed to actively support the campaign against a proposed radioactive waste dump at Muckaty, 120km north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

The ACTU National Congress unanimously passed a motion (full text below) expressing ‘disappointment that the highly contested Muckaty Land Trust site will continue to be pursued’ and agreeing to stand ‘in solidarity with Traditional Owners and communities resisting federal government plans for a radioactive waste dump’.

The move comes as a further blow to plans by Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson to advance the highly contested waste dump site at Muckaty. Recent legislation, the National Radioactive Waste Management Act (NRWMA), names Muckaty as the only site to be further assessed for a national radioactive dump and allows the Minister to override any state or territory law that would hinder the dump being built, but the plan faces growing political, legal and community challenge.

Muckaty Traditional Owner and hip-hop artist Kylie Sambo attended the Congress in Sydney to share her community’s story with delegates and call on union representatives to support her family’s struggle.

“We have been saying no for a long time and the government has not been listening, so we are very happy the unions are supporting us to say no to the waste dump,” said Ms Sambo. “We are working hard to look after our country and need lots of support.”

“Today the unions passed this motion in Sydney and next week the community is holding a protest in Tennant Creek to mark five years since Muckaty was nominated as the possible waste dump. It is time that the government listened to all the Traditional Owners because we are not going to stop until they stop”.

Beyond Nuclear Initiative coordinator Natalie Wasley said the ACTU position highlights the growing national opposition to the Muckaty plan.

“The proposed radioactive waste dump at Muckaty is opposed by the Northern Territory government, national health and environment organisations, residents and pastoralists across the Barkly region and the wider NT community. Senior Traditional Owners of the Muckaty Land Trust have also launched a federal court action against the site nomination”.

“As well as supporting the community’s right to say no, workers on the frontline of loading and transporting radioactive materials earmarked for Muckaty are at risk. It is important, appropriate and appreciated that the ACTU has taken a clear stand on the health and environmental risks of the Muckaty dump plan”.

“A secretive, top down decide-announce-defend approach to such an important national issue will continue to be met with resistance. Rather than spending another decade attempting to force a waste dump on an unwilling community and jurisdiction, the government must now hear and heed the call for a comprehensive commission in radioactive waste management in Australia”.

===

Motion adopted at ACTU Congress 2012

Pursuant to standing policy, Congress:

1. Acknowledges that the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act has been repealed, but expresses disappointment that the highly contested Muckaty Land Trust site will continue to be pursued under the National Radioactive Waste Management Act.

2. Stands in solidarity with Traditional Owners and communities resisting federal government plans for a radioactive waste dump and commits to supporting trade unions refusing to cooperate with implementation of the policy.

3. Rejects any legislation which would continue to target a site on the Muckaty Land Trust, or any site in Australia for a nuclear waste dump that is not based on recognised scientific and international best practices.

4. Notes the recent application by ANSTO for reprocessed spent fuel waste to return to the Lucas Heights facility in Sydney and acknowledges this as an opportunity to review radioactive waste management in Australia by conducting an independent and comprehensive public commission into all aspects radioactive waste transport, storage and management in Australia.

Senator Ludlam asked the Minister representing the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, upon notice, on 26 March 2012:
With reference to the contract signed in June 2007 by the Commonwealth Government, the Muckaty Land Trust and the Northern Land Council, regarding the location of a nuclear waste dump:
(1) Did the Northern Land Council receive a payment of $200 000 from the Commonwealth Government upon the acceptance of the Muckaty Land Trust nomination.
(2) Does the Northern Land Council have a responsibility or liability in relation to the receipt and disbursement of these funds.
(3) If traditional owner signatories wish to withdraw from the contract, will: (a) recipients of funds; and (b) the Northern Land Council, be required to repay funds from the initial disbursement of $200 000.

Senator Chris Evans: The Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Minister for Disability Reform provides the following answer to the honourable Senator’s question:
(1) Yes. It is noted that the Northern Land Council (NLC) provided detailed advice regarding this payment in oral testimony on 30 March 2010 to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee and in a written response dated 28 April 2010 to questions on notice from the Committee (Senator Ludlam and Senator Crossin).
(2) Under the deed, the NLC was responsible for the receipt and disbursement of the funds for the benefit of the traditional Aboriginal owners and other Aboriginals concerned in relation to the nominated site. The NLC detailed its fulfilment of that responsibility in its oral and written testimony to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee in 2010. Accordingly, the NLC has no liability for these funds.
(3) (a) and (b) The site nomination deed was signed by representatives of the Commonwealth, the NLC and the Muckaty Aboriginal Land Trust, rather than by individual traditional owners in their own right. This accords with the structure and requirements of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Accordingly, any question of individual traditional owners withdrawing from the deed (or associated liability as to payments received) does not legally arise.

From Hansard 10 May 2012

7 – 18 May

The Doctrine of Discovery: its enduring impact on indigenous peoples and the right to redress for past conquests (articles 28 and 37 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples).

http://social.un.org/index/IndigenousPeoples/UNPFIISessions/Eleventh.aspx