Comments on: Macklin advised not to consult Aboriginals over town camps

By: Sophie Black

Sophie Black — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:18:28 +0000

Amended:

The original story read: The Rudd government had demanded a five-year lease over the town camps in exchange for $125 million worth of upgrades to homes and infrastructure.

That has now been amended to “forty-year lease”.

By: Derek Butcher

Derek Butcher — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:42:25 +0000

how much have legal oppinions cost?

By: Jim Reiher

Jim Reiher — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:36:29 +0000

Labor can be so bloody disappointing when it comes to human rights issues. Indigenous Australians, refugees…. They are only marginally better than the Liberals. I reckon we need more Greens in Parliament. Shake the slackers up a bit!

By: Jon Hunt

Jon Hunt — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:23:34 +0000

Is this what they Government means by “Close the Gap”?

Little wonder then that the Gap is only getting bigger.

By: Liz45

Liz45 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:50:46 +0000

jungarrayi - I love it! Now you’re talking! When Rudd stated after the election that he was going to keep the public servants Howard et al had, I smelt trouble. This only reaffirms that fear. One of the first recommendations of the Little Children Are Sacred report stressed very firmly, that there MUST/SHOULD be co-operation, discussion etc with the aboriginal people. They in their ‘wisdom’ know better - that’s why it’s causing so much resentment. You’d think that smart people would’ve learnt by this. Sadly, no!

By: jungarrayi

jungarrayi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:02:05 +0000

Don’t know if what happened a couple of weeks ago in Yuendumu is the sort of thing Jenny Macklin’s advisors had in mind when they advised her against holding “consultations”.
Two weeks ago a meeting with I.C.C. personnel was held. I won’t bother to go into details of the short notice, that most people didn’t know it was on or what it was about and in any case were suffering from “meetings fatigue”.
At a meeting with “community leaders” held by Minister Macklin on the day she opened our swimming pool last year, she managed to remove our local media from the room (“we have already told the press that this is a private meeting”). She subsequently ambushed our community with media stuff that did not in any way reflect the opposition of a majority of Yuendumu residents to the Intervention.
This time Warlpiri Media (WMA) started to set up and were told that there was to be no filming inside where the meeting was to be held. Several of us objected. A group of around 40-50 people gathered around then decided that “no local media, no meeting”. On past experience we were adamant that we needed “proof” of what we were about to say.
When the lady running the show said “you can all go in now”, nobody moved. The “Mexican Stand-off” lasted a bit over one hour.
The Alice Springs delegation were on their mobile phones presumably seeking directions. A compromise was reached- WMA was allowed to film the meeting provided a copy of the footage would be provided to the I.C.C. So we went in.
After being told about the four tiers of “consultation” we were told of the 8 points of discussion. The first point of discussion (Income management) was the subject of several angry outbursts.
Initially (for at least half of the 3 hour event) all responses (comments, questions etc.) from community members were in the Warlpiri language. For once community members were in charge of the meeting. I’ve been to countless meetings in Yuendumu and whilst I’m not surprised it was amazing to see just how empowering the use of Warlpiri was. I saw people speak up that normally are silent at such meetings (at which in some cases they have no idea what
is being said).
I can’t recall anything positive being said about the Intervention during the meeting.