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AFTER 31 of their number were arrested this morning, protesters evicted from the Aboriginal tent embassy in Musgrave Park in South Brisbane have marched on Queensland’s parliament. Around 250 police moved on the embassy this morning after protesters refused comply with a Brisbane City Council eviction order.

 

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has defended Budget savings achieved through changes to Abstudy eligibility criteria and the scrapping of a $56.3 million intensive literacy and numeracy program for underachieving Indigenous students. Speaking to Triple J Radio today, Ms Gillard said savings from the latter would be redirected to other measures under the Government's Stronger Futures legislation. She said her Government was doing more than any government in Australia's history to close the gaps in Indigenous disadvantage.

THE Australian Greens have vowed to vote against the Federal Government's Stronger Futures legislation in the Senate today, but will propose a range of amendments to limit its harm if Coalition and Government senators insist on supporting the controversial bills. Senator Rachel Siewert said the time had come for a new approach, and called on her fellow Senators to pay attention to the wishes of communities and individuals speaking out against the measures.

THE 2012 Budget has assured the establishment of a free-to-air national Indigenous television channel by the Special Broadcasting Service Corporation (SBS) next financial year. The new channel will replace National Indigenous Television (NITV), which is currently broadcast on pay television and has worked closely with SBS on the changes. Most of its staff will be Indigenous. Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, said SBS would receive $63 over four years for the new channel, which would greatly expand the availability of Indigenous broadcast content for all Australians. 

LOBBY group ANTaR has welcomed 2012 Federal Budget announcements of more the $3.4 billion over ten years to fund health, education, justice and homelands services in the Northern Territory. But it says funding for positive initiatives such as Indigenous Engagement Officers in remote communities and programs to support governance and leadership sit uneasily with the Government's Stronger Futures bills, listed for debate in the Senate today. ANTaR National Director Jacqueline Phillips said relationships between many NT Aboriginal communities and governments would be damaged if the bills were passed without major changes. 

THE Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) has welcomed news it'll receive $6.4m over two years to help digitise parts of its vast and priceless audio, visual and print collections. Many of those materials are at risk of irretrievable loss because of ongoing deterioration and changes in technology, with only a third of them having been digitised to date. AIATSIS Chairman Professor Mick Dodson said the Institute could now afford to keep employing more than 30 digitisation specialists but was still in the midst of a long-term funding crisis.  

THE National Congress of Australia's First Peoples has welcomed funding arrangements for the Northern Territory, detailed in last night’s Federal Budget, but says it is still analysing the Budget’s Indigenous spend to gauge how much of it is new investment. Congress Director Rod Little said the ten-year NT funding would mean greater certainty for Aboriginal community organisations and enable better planning and program continuity. He said communities would be more viable with strengthened local decision-making and greater flexibility rather than blanket approaches and punitive measures that didn't increase long-term sustainability. 

THE Australian Government says the 2012 Federal Budget continues its investment in closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. It has detailed $5.2 billion in spending for Indigenous employment, education, health services, community development and community safety, including $3.4 billion for a 10-year package underpinning its controversial Stronger Futures in the NT bills, which are expected to go before the Senate today. Much of the Indigenous spending had been announced previously, including the Stronger Futures funding and $1.5 billion for a new Remote Jobs and Communities Program aimed at solving high levels of remote unemployment. Other initiatives detailed in the Budget included:

• $11.8 million to extend the Cape York Welfare Reform Trial for 12 months;
• $43.4 million for municipal and essential services in 350 remote Indigenous communities;
• $21.2 million for infrastructure projects in the Torres Strait;
• $63 million for a free-to-air Indigenous TV service;
• $55.7 million over three years for home-based parenting and early childhood programs;
• $1.1 million over four years to vaccinate Indigenous kids against pneumococcal disease;
• $14.3 million over three years to expand the Teach Remote program;
• $4.8 million over three years to expand Clontarf Academies into NSW;
• $30.6 million over four years for extra Indigenous aged care places;
• $48.6 million for health care services in 10 regional and remote Indigenous communities;
• $1.8 million to increase Indigenous employment in the Australian Public Service;
• $6.4 million over two years to AIATSIS for digitisation of its collections; and
• $10 million to build community awareness about proposed constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Last night's Budget delivered a $1.5 billion surplus, compared to the 2011 Federal Budget deficit of $44.4 billion. Key features included an increase to family payments, $1 billion for the first stage of the Government's new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the shelving of planned cuts to company taxes and superannuation taxes for high income earners, a reduction in defence spending and a drop in foreign aid. 

THE National Congress of Australia's First Peoples has established an electronic letter campaign to encourage Australians to protest Federal Government plans to extend the NT Intervention for a decade. Congress co-chairs Les Malezer and Jody Broun say the Government's new Intervention laws, encapsulated in Stronger Futures bills currently before the Senate, have not been tested for human rights violations. The representative body's letter campaign (at www.nationalcongress.com.au) encourages people to write to their local federal parliamentarian to do what they can to have the bills withdrawn and Aboriginal people consulted properly. 

THE Australian Senate is set to debate the Federal Government's proposed Stronger Futures legislation on Wednesday, as critics including the group 'concerned Australians', the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC), SNAICC and ANTaR continue their calls for the controversial bills to be scrapped. If passed, the legislation will continue the Northern Territory intervention for up to another ten years.

INDIGENOUS leader Warren Mundine has been recruited to lead the GenerationOne campaign, which aims to end the disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in one generation. Mr Mundine has been working as chief executive of NTSCORP, the NSW and ACT native title service provider. Deputy chief executive Natalie Rotumah will be appointed acting CEO from 1 July while a formal recruitment process takes place. GenerationOne founder Andrew Forrest said Mr Mundine would replace outgoing CEO Tim Gartrell in June. Mr Gartrell has taken up a position as campaign director for Reconciliation Australia.

THE state memorial service for Uncle Jimmy LIttle is being broadcast live from the Sydney Opera House from 9.30am today (Thursday), and can be heard online by visiting http://www.abc.net.au/radio/digital/extra/3492934.htm Following the service, ABC Radio is presenting a special broadcast of Uncle Jimmy's songs. The Yorta Yorta Elder passed away on 2 April.
 

ABORIGINAL leaders from Arnhem Land have warned they will refuse to approve mining exploration leases and participate in land lease negotiations unless the Federal Government scraps its proposed Stronger Futures legislation. Dr Djiniyini Gondarra, spokesperson for a group representing 8000 Yolgnu people, also called for an end to compulsory teaching in English, and more recognition for Homelands.

 

MOREE Aboriginal community representatives are celebrating a decision by Woolworths to scrap plans to build a Big W store on top of a listed Aboriginal burial site in the northern NSW town. In 2009, the Murri Taskforce proved in court that the NSW Government failed to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage when it sold Taylors Oval to Woolworths, despite it being a registered site. The supermarket chain has now pulled out of the development, citing concerns about its financial viability and retail sector uncertainty. Local Aboriginal man Lyall Munro described the announcement as 'a big achievement'. 

PEAK Indigenous childcare agency SNAICC has welcomed the Australian Government's decision to establish a National Children's Commissioner but wants the Government to go further and create a national deputy children's commissioner with a specific focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. SNAICC Chairperson Dawn Wallam says if that's not possible, the new National Children's Commissioner should have a clear mandate, specific functions and adequate resources to engage on the issues facing Indigenous children. 

THE PUBLIC Health Association of Australia has condemned plans to introduce compulsory income management in Bankstown, and other places in Australia, despite overwhelming concerns from stakeholders. PHAA New South Wales branch president Gabriel Moore said PHAA supported voluntary income management managed by Aboriginal community-controlled organizations.

TORRES Strait Islander leader and Elder George Mye MBE OAM has died of pneumonia. The passionate campaigner for Torres Strait Islander autonomy and lifelong friend of the late Eddie Koiki Mabo was 85. Tributes have flowed from political and community leaders including Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, local federal MP Warren Entsch and AIATSIS Chairman Professor Mick Dodson. John 'Toshie' Kris, chairman of the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) – which Mr Mye helped to establish – said the region would mourn the loss of an outstanding political leader and one of its greatest advocates on the Australian political stage. 

ABOUT 500 people gathered in the Sydney suburb of Redfern this afternoon for the annual Black Diggers march. The crowd comprised of war veterans, their families and friends, community leaders and politicians commemorated the contribution of Aboriginal servicemen and women. Pastor Ray Minniecon told the Koori Mail the march was about ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers got the respect they deserved. "They fought in every war and they're our black warriors but a lot of them didn't get the benefits of other diggers," Pastor Minniecon said. "We want to make sure history does not repeat itself. We want to make sure all our warriors are recognised in this country."  

THOUSANDS of people lined Townsville's Esplanade this morning to cheer on marchers in the far north Queensland city's Anzac Day Parade, many of them Indigenous. Amongst the marchers was former serviceman and Torres Strait Islander Elder Arthur Ahwang. Laying a wreath for Indigenous servicemen and women at the cenotaph in Townsville's Anzac Park was Robyn Illin whose father-in-law Alec Illin served during the Vietnam War. 

A SMALL contingent of Aboriginal people and supporters marched outside the Australian War Memorial in Canberra this morning to commemorate those killed during Australia's frontier wars. Although not officially part of the ANZAC Day Parade, the group led by Canberra Aboriginal Tent Embassy co-founder Michael Anderson brought up the rear of the parade, flanked by police. Mr Anderson said it was time that wider Australia faced up to its history of Aboriginal massacres, and recognised the Aboriginal people who not only fought for their own country during the colonial invasion but also for Australia in every major conflict overseas.

CALLS are continuing for an independent investigation into a Kings Cross car chase at the weekend that ended after a stolen car hit two pedestrians and police shot the car's 14-year-old driver and a 17-year-old passenger. About 200 people attended a rally outside State Parliament in Sydney yesterday, many shouting anti-police slogans. A lot of anger was directed at officers involved in the car chase, one of whom appeared on video footage to repeatedly punch the injured 17-year-old after he was pulled from the car. Greens MP David Shoebridge has referred the matter to the Police Integrity Commission but wants an independent investigation into the matter. 

INDIGENOUS leader Warren Mundine wants the Australian Defence Force to consider providing exercises for military medics to set up clinics in remote Indigenous communities. On the eve of ANZAC day, Mr Mundine said the plan would help clear treatment backlogs and support existing health care services.

REDFERN community representative Mick Mundine has called for 'cool heads' as investigations continue into the police shooting of two Aboriginal youths during a car chase at Kings Cross at the weekend. Mr Mundine, who runs the Aboriginal Housing Company, says community distress over the incident is understandable but investigations into the dramatic incident must be permitted to run their course, and the community's first priority must be the welfare of the injured youths, aged 14 and 17 years, both of whom remain in hospital tonight in a serious but stable condition. High-ranking police representatives met today with relatives of the younger teen. 

A RALLY is being planned for Sydney tomorrow, to protest the circumstances of a dramatic car chase in Kings Cross early on Saturday morning that saw two pedestrians struck and ended in police shooting two Redfern teenagers. The 14-year-old driver of the stolen car and an 18-year-old passenger remain in hospital. Video footage has emerged in which an officer appears to repeatedly punch the heavily bleeding passenger after he was dragged from the car. A police investigation into the incident is underway, amid calls for a separate independent one into the level of force involved in the arrests. Tomorrow's rally outside NSW Parliament House will start at 1.30pm.

WESTERN Australia's Corruption and Crime Commission has recommended charges be considered against police officers from the Perth Watch House who repeatedly tasered Aboriginal man Kevin Spratt when he was arrested in 2008. The report, tabled State Parliament on Monday, said the taser use was excessive, undue and unreasonable. Any reasonable person viewing the video of officers tasering Mr Spratt nine times in a little over a minute would be left feeling considerable disquiet if not outrage, according to the Acting Commissioner Mark Herron. The report also criticized a Police Internal Affairs Unit investigation into the matter. It made nine recommendations to improve procedures.

 A GROUP of 21 Aboriginal nations within the northern Murray Darling Basin have demanded that all water licences be revoked and that the rivers' water be dealt with from a base of Aboriginal sovereignty, dominion and ultimate title. The Northern Murray Darling Basin Aboriginal Nations (NBAN) says the proposed Murray-Darling Basin plan fails to recognise the sovereign rights of Aboriginal peoples, and the Murray Darling Basin Authority and state and federal governments should enter into immediate negotiations for a treaty with the Aboriginal nations of the northern basin.

THE head of the Kimberley-based Aboriginal Economic Development Foundation (KRED) has called for more government support to help those involved in the Native Title process. KRED chief executive Wayne Bergmann made the call after the Barnett Government announced it was setting up a special project team to help miners resolve stalled mining leases.

TWO Indigenous athletes have completed the 2012 Boston Marathon as part of former marathon runner Rob de Castella’s Indigenous Marathon Project. Tegan Pigram from Derby, Western Australia, and Jamie Wunungmurra from Yirrkala, Northern Territory, overcame many hurdles to make their way through the tough 42.195 km course. With a temperature of 31 degrees at the start line, Tegan completed the course in 5 hours and 14 minutes, with Jamie coming in at 6 hours and 7 minutes.

AN outbreak of petrol sniffing in the remote community of Beswick in the Katherine region of Western Australia has prompted calls for the introduction of low-aromatic Opal fuel into all five petrol outlets in Katherine. Sunrise Health Service Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Graham Castine along with Beswick community member Malcolm Fox both said genuine action was needed to save young people’s lives.

THE Australian Rugby League Commission and North Queensland Cowboys have banned halfback Robert Lui for the rest of the 2012 Telstra Premiership. Lui pleaded guilty last month to assaulting his partner Tahleah in Sydney last September after his then club Tigers were defeated by New Zealand. ARL Commission Chief Executive David Gallop said the decision to stand Lui down made a clear statement about the need to prevent violence against women.  

THE late, great Jimmy Little was laid to rest today at Walgett in western New South Wales. The legendary singer/songwriter was buried next to his late wife Marjorie. While Uncle Jimmy's funeral was a small affair for close friends and family, a State Memorial Service will be held for him at the Sydney Opera House next month followed by a concert performed by his friends and peers in the entertainment industry.

A PROTEST is planned for Melbourne next month to mark the 3rd anniversary of the death of transgender women, Veronica Baxter and the 23rd anniversary of the fatal shooting by NSW police of Aboriginal man, David Gundy. The rally, on Saturday 12 May, is part of the 2012 year of action launched by the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) - Melbourne. Cheryl Kaulfuss from ISJA says it's shameful that, 21 years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC), most of its recommendations gather dust and people continue to die needlessly.

 THE Northern Territory Government has allocated $5.7 million in budget funding for remote community clinics. Construction Minister Gerry McCarthy said today that more than 4000 people would benefit from improved health facilities in three northern communities. The biggest chunk of the funds announced was $4.5 million for a clinic at Milingimbi. The Men's Clinic at Gapuwiyak will get a $350,000 extension, and Borroloola's existing remote health facilities will get an $800,000 upgrade.

A YOUNG man from Alice Springs is set to blaze a new trail as a role model in mountain biking. Twenty year-old Hayden Jude is expected to be the first ever Indigenous youth to participate in the Ingkerreke Commercial Mountain Bike Enduro, a multi day stage bike race that covers 251km over five days of racing from 14-18 May. The Alice Springs boilermaker and competitive BMX rider says he's never done anything like it before but is just out to have some fun. 

 NEW South Wales activist Michael Anderson has called on Aboriginal people throughout the country to march on Anzac Day in commemoration of frontier wars perpetrated by British invaders and 'the ongoing war of attrition against Aboriginal peoples'. Mr Anderson says some Aboriginal people joined in behind the Anzac Day march in Canberra last year and he hopes they'll do so again this year. He said it would not be a protest, rather 'a remembering of the wars and the losses of those who suffered'.

NEW South Wales activist Michael Anderson has called on Aboriginal people throughout the country to march on Anzac Day in commemoration of frontier wars perpetrated by British invaders and 'the ongoing war of attrition against Aboriginal peoples'. Mr Anderson says some Aboriginal people joined in behind the Anzac Day march in Canberra last year and he hopes they'll do so again this year. He said it would not be a protest, rather 'a remembering of the wars and the losses of those who suffered'.

A STATE funeral will be held for Indigenous entertainer Uncle Jimmy LIttle at the Sydney Opera House at the end of this month. NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell said today that Mr Little’s family had accepted the offer after the pioneering musician passed away on Monday following a long illness.

NITV video journalist Ramahn Allam has won the World Indigenous Journalism Award for his piece, Kimberley Gas Hub Series, and Daniel Bourchier from the Northern Territory bureau was highly commended for his piece, Amnesty Chief Visit to Utopia. The awards were announced at the WIJA award ceremony in Kautokeino, Sápmi, Norway on 29 March.

THE Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory [AMSANT] has welcomed the Federal Government’s ‘historic’ announcement of a ten year funding commitment for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in the Northern Territory as part of its Stronger Futures funding package. AMSANT chief executive John Paterson said it was the first time in history that Aboriginal Community Controlled organisations in any sector had received a commitment funding extending to ten years.

MORE than $443 million will be spent over 10 years to strengthen the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal children, youth and their families in Northern Territory communities, as part of the Stronger Futures package. The Federal Government said the funding would help support families by continuing to fund playgroups, home and parenting support services, youth workers and safe houses to communities for the next decade.

MOREE’S Cameron Hammond has joined Queenslander Damien Hooper in the Australian boxing team for this year’s London Olympic Games. Welterweight (69kg) Hammond had decisive wins at the Oceania Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in Canberra last week. Light-heavyweight (81kg) Hooper earlier had qualified for the London Olympics by finishing in the top eight at last year’s world championships.

NSW Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation Linda Burney has called on the North Queensland Cowboys to sack Robert Lui after he admitted assaulting his pregnant girlfriend last year. Ms Burney said twenty one Rugby League Clubs and their 900 players had joined a movement called 'Lets Tackle Domestic violence' and were taking a stand against the horror of domestic violence. She said the North Queensland Cowboys, supported by the new ARL Commission and the National Rugby League, should take a stand as well.

AUSTRALIAN rock band Eskimo Joe are to be official ambassadors of the Close the Gap campaign that aims to close the Indigenous life expectancy gap by 2030. Their announcement coincides with National Close the Gap Day (Thursday 22 March), which sees over 100,000 people around the country taking part in community events.

POLICE have arrested fugitive Malcolm Naden near Gloucester in NSW. It follows an extensive and expensive search for the 38-year-old from Dubbo – the state's most wanted man – who is now being questioned over the murder of 24-year-old Kristy Scholes in Dubbo in June 2005, the disappearance of 24-year-old Lateesha Nolan four months earlier, the aggravated indecent assault of a 15-year-old girl in Dubbo in 2004, and the shooting of a police officer near Nowendoc before Christmas last year.

AUSTRALIANS are being urged to take part in one of the hundreds of events on the 22 March that will mark Close the Gap Day. Oxfam Close the Gap Day campaign coordinator Tom Widdup said around 600 community groups, health services, schools and individuals around Australia had already registered online to hold a Close the Gap event in their homes, workplaces, schools and communities.

NORTHERN Territory politician Marion Scrymgour has announced that she will not stand at the next election. The Member for Arafura, who was Australia’s first Indigenous woman to become a Minister, made the announcement at the on the Tiwi Islands to coincide with the grand final.

THE National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples has accused a Senate committee of ignoring and disrespecting much of the detailed content contained in submissions to the recent inquiry into the proposed Stronger Futures legislation for the Northern Territory. Co-chairs Jody Broun and Les Malezer said it appeared that submissions had been ‘cherry-picked’ to build a case for the continuation of the intervention, and that there was no mention of Congress calls for the bills to be tested for Human Rights compliance.

THE Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory has called on Government and Opposition parties to give an assurance that they would maintain, for the next decade, the extra resources required to improve health care, education, policing, job creation and housing as a result of continuation of the Northern Territory intervention. AMSANT chief executive John Paterson said the Senate Community Affairs Committee had ‘failed to get to the guts of what is needed out of Stronger Futures – and that is how it is going to be resourced’.

APART from the Australian Greens, all Senators who took part in an inquiry into the Federal Government’s proposed Stronger Futures legislation, which would extend the Northern Territory intervention, have backed the bills albeit with recommendations to improve future consultations, and to re-evalute the measures in five years, instead of seven. The Senate Community Affairs Committee, made up of Government and Coalition Senators, tabled its report on Wednesday evening, with only Greens Senator Rachel Siewert writing a dissenting report calling for the scrapping of the bills entirely.

NEARLY 30 leading Australians have written to the Gillard Government asking it to abandon its proposed Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory legislation and instead negotiate with Aboriginal Elders and other leaders on ways to improve the lives of Indigenous Territorians. Former Family Court chief justice Alastair Nicholson has analysed elements of the Government's parliamentary bills. He and others in the high-level group including former politicians, Elders, academics, church representatives and justice campaigners say the Government's approach is demeaning, coercive, racist and a return to failed policies of the past.