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CROWDS are building at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra to celebrate the iconic site’s 40th anniversary. This morning, the Embassy features a sea of tents as thousands of people prepare for a three-day gathering, which will officially commence this morning with a march through Canberra streets to the lawns of Old Parliament House.  

AN Aboriginal Elder from northeast Arnhem Land has been named Senior Australian of the Year. Laurie Baymarrwangga, aged in her nineties, was recognised for her commitment to cultural maintenance and caring for her traditional country. In the national awards announced in Canberra last night, Geoffrey Rush was named Australian of the Year, Marita Cheng was named Young Australian of the Year and Lynne Sawyers was named Local Hero of the Year.

LOBBY group ANTaR has urged the NSW Government to ensure non-serious child offenders are not caught up in tough measures planned for serious adult offenders, under reforms to the state’s bail act. President of the body’s NSW branch Sally Fitzpatrick says ‘get tough’ approaches may be politically attractive but can be inhumane and ineffective whereas alternatives to incarceration, such as police cautions or case conferencing, lead to lower levels of re-offending.

CANBERRA’s historic Aboriginal Tent Embassy will be honoured during this year’s NAIDOC celebrations. The National NAIDOC Committee says the 2012 national NAIDOC theme will be 'Spirit of the Tent Embassy: 40 years on'. NAIDOC co-chair Anne Martin said the Embassy, established on 27 January 1972, had become a powerful symbol of unity and its founders had instilled pride, advanced equality and educated the country on the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

AN expert panel has recommended scrapping racist sections of the Australian Constitution and recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the body of the Constitution rather than in the preamble. The panel, led by co-chairs Patrick Dodson and Mark Leibler, presented its report to Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Canberra this morning.

ALL-ROUNDER Worrin Williams will lead the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander XI for the first time next month in the annual clash with the Queensland Academy of Sport at Allan Border Field. Williams, 24, will lead an experienced line-up that includes former Queensland Bulls batsman Daniel Payne, Queensland Country batsman Bradley Stout and fellow Australian Indigenous squad members Cameron Trask and Preston White.

RISING Indigenous tennis sensation and reigning Wimbledon junior champion Ashleigh Barty was an early casualty at the Australian Open tennis titles in Melbourne on Monday. The 15-year-old from Ipswich was beaten 6-2 7-6 (7-4) by Georgian Anna Tatishvili in the first round.

 A good crowd turned out at Oyster Cove, south of Hobart, for this year's Putalina festival. The gathering – one of the biggest Aboriginal events in Tasmania – included a feast of musical entertainment.

Aboriginal player Ashleigh Barty takes to the court today in the first round of the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne. The Wimbledon junior champion won a wildcard entry to what is her first grand slam event.

AMNESTY International has called for an independent investigation into the death in police custody of Aboriginal man Terrance Briscoe in Alice Springs. Mr Briscoe's death is being investigated by the police themselves as well as the NT Coroner. Amnesty International wants all levels of government to implement the 339 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in 1991.
 

A MAJOR line-up has been announced for Saturday 4 February for the Yalukit Willam Ngargee Aboriginal celebration at the start on the nine-day St Kilda Festival. The program includes free Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, dance, arts, children’s activities and more in O’Donnell Gardens.

MILLIONS of dollars have been wasted on Aboriginal employment programs in New South Wales that have failed to produce results, according to a review commissioned by the State Government. Undertaken by the Allen Consulting Group, the review found that 14 job programs for Aboriginal people were basically redundant, despite costing around $17 million. NSW Aboriginal Affairs Minister Victor Dominello said the findings  were ‘another significant reason why a new approach to Aborginal Affairs is needed’.
 

INDIGENOUS basketball star Patty Mills has slammed reports that he was faking a hamstring injury, as his Chinese club terminated the Australian basketball star's lucrative contract. Mills last week was released by Xinjiang Flying Tigers, with the club accusing the dynamic point guard of faking the hamstring injury which has troubled him since 23 December. Mills took to Twitter to fire back at a club release that said ‘due to a fake injury, the Xinjiang team has cut the foreign player Mills’. "Basically everything in the Chinese media is totally inaccurate and false. I’ve been honest and professional throughout," Mills said in reply.

TALENTED junior indigenous swimmers Thomson Fleming, 9, and Jorjhara Koraba, 8, are making names for themselves in far west NSW and beyond. Thomson, a descendant of the Barkindji tribe, and Jorjhara, a descendant of Saibai Island and the Bidjara and Birri-Gubba tribes, are members of the Silver City Swim Club in Broken Hill.

UP and coming Yolngu songstress Gambirra brought her soulful stylings to The Dreaming festival, which was run as part of the Woodford Folk Festival over the New Year period. Festival director Bill Hauritz said at this stage it was the Queensland Folk Federation’s intention for The Dreaming to return as a stand-alone event in 2013, to be run over the Queensland Labour Day long weekend in May. It has yet to be determined whether The Dreaming festival will be run as part of the Woodford Folk Festival in 2012.

THE Wilderness Society says an announcement by developer Woodside that it will seek an extension to make a final investment decision on the James Price Point gas hub, north of Broome, shows how ‘ill-conceived’ and ‘destructive’ the project has been. A Kimberley campaigner with the conservation group Glen Klatovsky says the Federal Government should remove or alter conditions on gas leases for the project to allow proponents to process gas at existing facilities at Karratha, to the south.

DEBATE is brewing over plans to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Australian Constitution. Lobby group ANTaR has urged all political parties to await the final report of an expert panel considering the issue before ruling out particular reform options. In the past week, the Federal Opposition and ALP member Warren Mundine have expressed doubts over suggestions that a new section promoting the advancement of Indigenous people should be added to the nation’s founding document if the so-called ‘race power’ was removed.

ABORIGINAL author, performer, dancer and poet Boori Pryor has been announced as one of the country's first two Australian Children’s Laureates. Under the Australian Children’s Literature Alliance (ACLA) initiative, Mr Pryor and author and illustrator Alison Lester will act as national and international ambassadors for Australian children’s literature and will separately visit every state and territory inspiring young people to tell their own stories.

HEALTH workers tackling smoking in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have two new resources to use in their quest – the first a guide about Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and another to encourage communities to develop their own healthy lifestyle activities to combat chronic disease. Launching them, Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon said nearly 50 per cent of Indigenous people smoked but if the figure dropped to the non-Indigenous rate of around 19 per cent, 420 lives would be saved each year.

THE West Australian Supreme Court has today ruled that three compulsory acquisition notices, issued by the WA Government for land at James Price Point near Broome for a proposed gas hub, were invalid. Chief Justice Wayne Martin said any decisions made since the notices were issued were also unlawful but said his declaration did not prevent WA Lands Minister Brendon Grylls from issuing further notices of intention to take land in the area.

TRIBUTES have flowed for Arthur ‘Artie’ Beetson, who died at the Gold Coast this morning. The rugby league legend and Former Origin Great, aged 66, is believed to have suffered a heart attack. Beetson was the first Indigenous Australian to captain an Australian representative sporting team (Kangaroos 1973) and also captained the first Queensland State of Origin side. Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Qld Premier Anna Bligh, 2012 Indigenous All Stars captain Johnathan Thurston, Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda, and the ARL Indigenous Council today remembered Beetson for his stellar career and commitment to inspiring young Australians to finish school and move into jobs.

HER office hasn’t said yet whether Julia Gillard wants her shoe back but, with the Prime Minister interstate today, it’s unlikely she’ll take up an invitation from Aboriginal Tent Embassy activists to retrieve it from them any time soon.
Ms Gillard lost her size seven, blue suede Midas pump yesterday afternoon as she and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott were bundled by police and her security out of an emergency medals presentation ceremony held at a restaurant next door to the historic Aboriginal site.
About 1500 people had been taking part in celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the heritage listed Tent Embassy. Several hundred of them descended on the nearby restaurant, after hearing that Mr Abbott, who’d earlier suggested that it was time the Tent Embassy moved on, was inside.
Yesterday morning, media in Sydney asked Mr Abbott whether he thought the Tent Embassy was still relevant or ‘should it move'?’
He replied that he could understand why the site had been established ‘all those years ago’, but ‘I think a lot has changed since then and I think it probably is time to move on from that’.
At about 2pm in Canberra, Tent Embassy protesters banged loudly on The Lobby restaurant’s three glass walls. They chanted ‘racist’, ‘shame’ and slogans including ‘Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land’, and demanded that Mr Abbott come out to speak with them.
Protesters were pushed and shoved off the road so that the Prime Minister’s Commonwealth car could leave the area.
There were no arrests but the violent scuffles between the protesters, the PM’s security officers and dozens of police officers with batons, plastic shields and dogs are today national front-page news.
The last surviving founder of the Aboriginal Embassy, Michael Anderson, said Mr Abbott’s ‘confrontationist’ comments had incited the fracas and that police had then over-reacted in their response.
“People need to look at those videos very closely; it was the police who were manhandling the Prime Minister out the door and the national security mob who caused her to fall,” Mr Anderson told the Koori Mail.
“There was more danger to her from that than anything we’d have done. I repeat, there was no risk whatsoever to the Prime Minister. She could have walked out of there.
“It’s a situation where Aboriginal people are just sick and tired of what’s happening in our communities. We’re watching people die – we’re burying them on a weekly basis in every community – and we’re watching police harass our kids, deaths in custody increase, and police become much more violent in our communities.”
Another Embassy spokesman Paul Coe, from Sydney, said the activists were disgusted at the behaviour of police, who had tried to ‘intimidate members of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, who were peacefully protesting at a family gathering’.
“There was no need for that number of police to be there, or to have that level of menace or intimidation,” Mr Coe said.
The Prime Minister’s office is believed to have clarified that Ms Gillard was not pushed by protesters and merely lost her footing while being rushed out. But there’s been strong condemnation of the protesters’ actions from within Indigenous circles.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said he was appalled at the level of disrespect and aggression shown towards Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott.
“An aggressive, divisive and frightening protest such as this has no place in debates about the affairs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or in any circumstances,” Mr Gooda said.
“While we need to acknowledge that there’s real anger, frustration and hurt that exists in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities around Australia, we must not give in to aggressive and disrespectful actions ourselves.
“It is particularly distressing that this has occurred at a time when we are so close to moving towards cementing respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our Constitution.
“Aggressive behaviour was not acceptable 40 years ago to the original early campaigners at the Tent Embassy and it is not acceptable today.”
Aboriginal man and former ALP President Warren Mundine went further, describing the protesters’ actions as ‘cowardly and disgusting’ and himself echoing Mr Abbott’s comments.
"It is totally unacceptable and pathetic to threaten and harass anyone, least of all the Prime Minister of our nation, because of the harmless comments of the Leader of the Opposition," Mr Mundine said.
"I am appalled that people claiming to represent Indigenous Australians would behave in such a disgusting way. They don't speak for me, and they don't speak for thousands of our people across the country.
"I'm a big believer in robust debate, and that democratic tradition is part of what makes Australia great, but there is never room for violence and intimidation to be part of that dialogue," Mr Mundine said.
"Unfortunately, some people are more interested in petty politics and making a name for themselves than achieving real solutions for our people.
"Even if you give them all they want, they will still be sitting on the lawns of Old Parliament House complaining.”
Mr Mundine said that, while the Tent Embassy was an important historic and symbolic group, they no longer represented the views of mainstream Aboriginal Australia.
"I respect the important impact they had on the movement for Aboriginal rights in the 1970s, but we've moved on,” he said. “The only way to achieve justice and opportunities for Indigenous People is to work constructively with the other twenty-two million Australians.”
While visiting a library in Melbourne this morning, Mr Abbott reportedly stood by his original comments about the Tent Embassy.
He said it was not true that Indigenous policy had been neglected or the Government was indifferent to the plight of Aboriginal people.
"That might have been true 40 years ago. It certainly isn't true today,” the Herald Sun reported.
The Tent Embassy was established in 1972 after the then McMahon Coalition Government rejected Aboriginal land rights. Since then, the site has consistently championed Aboriginal sovereignty and has morphed into a platform for other Indigenous grievances, including against mining and the Northern Territory Intervention.
Yesterday was the first day of a three-day gathering encompassing a street march, speeches, musical performances, men’s and women’s circles and formulation of a document to be presented to the Government. Amongst emotion-charged speeches was Jenny Munro’s recital of the names of more than 300 people associated with the Embassy over its 40-year history, more than a third of whom are now dead.
Some of those attending the anniversary celebrations were at the Tent Embassy when it was originally established, also amidst violent clashes with police.
As for the Prime Minister’s shoe, activists have alternately promised to auction it on eBay to raise money for the Tent Embassy and to return it if the Government returns stolen Aboriginal land.
At a press conference held near the Tent Embassy’s sacred fire last night, Paul Coe said those there wished return the shoe to Ms Gillard ‘as a gesture of friendship and in the spirit of co-operation’.
“We hope she will turn up here tomorrow to accept it in the same spirit,” Mr Coe said. “It’s to show we mean no harm…The shoe is now a symbol of trust between two nations of people.”
Mr Coe said the former First Nations Parliament would be re-established within a year.
“We’re sending letters out to our lawmen and women asking them to meet with First Nations to convene our parliament and to draft our constitution,” he said.

Check out our photo gallery for more pictures.

A GROUP of talented Indigenous performers are hoping they will soon have the skills ‘to run away with the circus’. They were taking part in a week-long masterclass in Melbourne last week under the tutelage of expert trainers from Circus Oz.
 

THE Melbourne Indigenous event on Saturday 4 February Yalukit Willam Ngargee will kick off the nine-day St Kilda Festival. The day will include a program of free Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, dance, arts and children’s activities in O’Donnell Gardens.
 

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has urged all Australians to say ‘yes’ when asked to recognise Indigenous people in the Constitution. Ms Gillard said changing the Constitution would recognise ‘the unique and special place of Aboriginal people and strengthen our identity as a nation’. She made the call after receiving a report in Canberra last week from the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, led by co-chairs Patrick Dodson and Mark Leibler.
 

TEARS flowed freely – followed by cheesy smiles – when 59-year-old cancer sufferer Wayne G Williams met his mother Joyce Plumb (Williams) and sister Lynette Padmore for the first time in 32 years at the Townsville Hospital last week.
 

Bushwhacked!, a new adventure series with a focus on Aboriginal culture, has begun filming in Tasmania. The 13-episode series takes stars Brandon Walters, who shot to fame as Nullah in the movie Australia alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and ABC3 kids show host Kayne Tremills to some of Australia’s most spectacular remote locations.
 

PALM Island Mayor Alf Lacey has called on parents and Elders to educate Indigenous youngsters about the inappropriate use of Facebook and other social networking sites. Various Elders have blamed social networking sites for a variety of problems including blood feuds between warring clans, other acts of violence, and false criminal accusations against people.

DIMINUTIVE Aboriginal mother of four Noby Clay will travel to Hobart early next month (2-5 February) in a bid to represent Australia at the 2012 London Olympic Games. The 29-year-old Palm Islander has been training hard hoping to gain selection in the Australian team.
Women’s boxing will make its Olympic debut in London.
 

RAIN and sunshine were in plentiful supply on day one of the world’s biggest cricket carnival – the Goldfield Ashes at Charters Towers where Indigenous players were in early form. The three-day Ashes started last Friday with 226 teams in six grades.

TEENAGE Indigenous tennis sensation Ashleigh Barty bowed out in the first round of the Australian Open in Melbourne last week with a straight-sets loss to Georgian world number 56 Anna Tatishvili. The 15-year-old from Ipswich, near Brisbane, went down 6-2 7-6 (7-4). She was the youngest player in the tournament.
 

THE teams have been chosen and excitement is building towards the annual Harvey Norman National Rugby League (NRL) All Stars game at Skilled Park, on the Gold Coast, next Saturday 4 February.
 

CHRISTMAS came early for Nathan Freeman Jnr, seen here with Douglas Timothy Graham...ahem...Black Santa...at the Undoonoo Day Care Centre Christmas party in Woorabinda, central Queensland, last week.

A NEW preamble specifically recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the Australian Constitution is almost certainly off the cards. But recognition could still be included in a new section inserted into the nation's founding document to ensure that laws affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aren't affected, should the current so-called 'race power' be removed – according to the expert panel advising the Federal Government on possible constitutional reform, which held its final meeting in Melbourne last week.

TASMANIAN Aboriginal heritage campaigner Aaron Everett says he has mixed feelings about being highly commended in the Tasmanian Human Rights Awards for raising awareness of the history and stories of Tasmanian Aboriginal people, given the State Government is pressing ahead with controversial plans to build a bridge over the 40,000-year-old kutalayna heritage site, as part of the Brighton Bypass near Hobart.

THE National Congress of Australia's First Peoples has held its first meeting with Prime Minister Julia Gillard. The meeting was described as 'a starting point for a working relationship to produce results' but current issues were off the agenda. The PM has agreed to meet with Congress representatives every year. Co-chair Les Malezer says the Congress will be very disappointed if the Parliament shrugs off what it has to say, including on such issues as the NT Intervention.

NORTH Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch has told the Federal Government it should 'hang its head in shame', after failing to fund much-needed sea walls and protection works on outer islands in the Torres Strait. Mr Entsch says he'll hold Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government Minister Simon Crean personally responsible when king tides inundate island communities in the coming months, destroying more of the Saibai Island cemetery.

FROM the openly angry to the quietly fuming, the First Nation's Pathways Conference in Townsville last month had them all. The event attracted more than 60 speakers and 150 delegates, including Palm Islander Lex Wotton in his first sanctioned public appearance under his notoriously strict bail conditions.

THE Jewish Museum in Sydney has honoured Aboriginal protester William Cooper with a panel unveiled in the museum telling the story of his support for the Jewish people in the lead-up to World War II.  At an event to mark the occasion at the Jewish Museum recently, Cooper's great grandson, Kevin Russell, said he was honoured to speak about the life of his grandfather and the recognition by the Jewish community.

THE big fella may have been farewelled by family, friends and former team-mates, but sporting and Indigenous Australia will mourn the loss of rugby league great Arthur Beetson for many years to come. 'Big Artie' died from a heart attack on the Gold Coast on 1 December. About 600 people attended a private funeral for him at Redcliffe Leagues Club, near Brisbane, on Friday and there'll be a public memorial for him at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium (Lang Park) this Sunday, 18 December.

INDIGENOUS All Stars coach Laurie Daley has described his 2012 rugby league squad the best in the concept's three-year history, with Test centres Greg Inglis and Justin Hodges set to make their first appearance in the game on the Gold Coast on 4 February. The inclusion of Inglis and Hodges - who have missed the first two versions of the game due to injury - adds a touch of class to a line-up that boasts ten internationals, with Sam Thaiday also returning after being scratched from the 2011 encounter.

A COMEBACK by Indigenous sprinter Joshua Ross has taken athletics officials by surprise. Ross, 30, announced last month that he was ready for competition again. Ross retired from athletics in November 2009 after becoming disillusioned with the sport. The 30-year-old says he is refreshed and refocused, and ready to launch an assault at qualifying for next year's Olympics.

SURPRISE packet Dan Christian put up his hand to don Shane Watson's cape and perform his key all-round role at Bellerive Oval, Hobart, in the second cricket Test against New Zealand. Christian admitted he was as stunned as anyone when named in Australia's 12-man squad for the second Test, but believed he could continue on the success of debutants, if selected. In the end, however, he wasn't named in the starting line-up, with selectors deciding to give opener Phil Hughes another chance. 

AFTER playing 109 softball games for Australia and winning a world title in 2009, Wiradjuri man Jeff Goolagong decided to give the game away. But, after some encouragement from Softball Australia, Goolagong - a nephew of tennis legend Evonne Goolagong-Cawley - came out of retirement. Four months later - just last week - the third baseman was back playing for Australia in a qualifying tournament leading up to the 2013 world men's softball championships in New Zealand.

THE signing ceremony for the Mandingalbay Yidinji Indigenous Protection Area (IPA) in Cairns last week heralded a new era in conservation and management of Yidinji country, just east of Cairns across the Trinity Inlet. The area includes a diversity of environments including marine areas, mangroves, freshwater wetlands, rainforest and mountains, coastal plains, beaches, reefs and islands, some 9,740 hectares. It is the first multi-tenured agreement of its kind in the country.

PREPARATIONS have begun in earnest for 40th anniversary celebrations at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra on 26-28 January. A special song has been written for the milestone, and an organising committee has begun distributing invitations to a Corroboree for Sovereignty at the iconic site.The single Tribute to the Elders was created and performed by Kaiyu Bales, Jodi Haines, Alice Haines and Michael Anderson, with guest performer Soni Williams.

VISION impaired Aboriginal man Steve Widders and his dairy-farming mate Jason Blake have met a puppy, Kokoda, that will be trained using money they raised while trekking the Kokoda Trail this year. Mr Widders, an Aboriginal liaison officer in Armidale, and Mr Blake took part in the Blind Courage trek, which was the brainchild of Mr Blake and his brother-in-law Craig Smith.

AFTER several trials and a coroner’s inquest, family and supporters of three Aboriginal children murdered 21 years ago are hoping that action, and closure, may finally come with the New South Wales Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner now lending his support. The victims, 16-year-old Colleen Walker-Craig, her four-year-old cousin Evelyn Greenup and 16-year-old Clinton Speedy-Duroux, were reported missing between September 1990 and February 1991 after parties at Bowraville mission on the NSW mid-north coast. Evelyn and Clinton’s bodies were found showing signs of trauma, but Colleen was never found. About 50 supporters and family members gathered outside NSW Parliament in Sydney on 24 November to protest at the lack of action.

ABORIGINAL people turned out to be front and centre throughout much of American president Barack Obama’s visit to Australia. It began with Aboriginal Elder Jeanette Phillips’ Ngunnawal welcome to country for Mr Obama at a Parliamentary dinner in Canberra on 16 November, continued with encounters with Australia’s only Indigenous Federal MP Ken Wyatt and Larrakia Elders Bill Risk and Mary Lee, and concluded with performances by some of Indigenous Australia’s best known singers at the Darwin Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base.