The federal government is pushing ahead with plans for a nuclear waste dump in the NT. But traditional owners of the site say claims they support the dump are false, writes Freya Cole.
Politics / Australia / NT
Lajamanu — police communications back to the Stone Age
Concerns about the Northern Territory Police’s call centre operations have been around for a while.
The slow death of Aboriginal Research? AIATSIS suspends research grants
Fields of research including anthropology and linguistics are under threat after research grants have been suspended at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, writes Bob Gosford.
Ethics, anthropologists and anthropolitics in the wild, wild west
Scrolling through a thread on the Australian Anthropological Society web discussion group, Bob Gosford found an illuminating article that raises issues of relevance for anthropologists that provide consultancy services.
Still no evidence for Macklin’s NT intervention
The Labor government’s legislation continues to concentrate power in the hands of government and vilify Aboriginal people, write Dr Hilary Tyler and Paddy Gibson, NT indigenous workers.
The cunning of consultation: school attendance and welfare reform
Kids, even in remote indigenous Australia, do not live by school attendance alone, they also need food. And families with no income will inevitably become an economic burden for others in their community, writes Jon Altman.
Cox: Stronger Futures demands are un-Australian
How un-Australian is it for the federal government to invite submissions and input from an affected population and then expect them to spend Christmas doing the submission?
Climbling the fence of the Delamere air weapons range
Most people wouldn’t have heard of the Delamere air weapons range before Barack Obama’s visit to Darwin last week. So where — and what — transpires in this area that covers around half a million acres? asks Bob Gosford.
The 98% — over-policing, suicide and Aboriginal youth in the NT
Most young people in custody in the NT are on remand, the consequences of which – social isolation, family and community fracture, stigmatisation, disrupted education, cultural and work opportunities – are all significant suicide risk factors.
The intervention is dead, long live the intervention
The most recent data on progress suggests that the intervention is failing, at least if its aim is to close gaps of socioeconomic disadvantage between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in the NT, writes ANU professor Jon Altman.
‘True Territorians’ teased by terrible tosser taunts
Last Thursday Ararafura MLA Marion Scrymgour apparently let the serried ranks of the Country Liberal Party Opposition know exactly what she thought of their parliamentary antics by making a ‘wanking’ gesture. It’s part of a grand tradition of indigenous hand signals, writes Bob Gosford.
NT govt gets real on remote service delivery … maybe
The most challenging part of Olga Havnen’s new job will be to renew the faith and trust in governments as service providers of choice among the NT’s Aboriginal communities.
Ignoring evidence may explain why the income management gap doesn’t close
Today the Productivity Commission releases its latest report on Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage, which shows only 13 of 45 measures showed any improvement and seven went backwards.
Does new evidence from NT women undermine supposed benefits of income management?
A new research report, which has sought the views of more than 180 women in the NT, raises questions about income management’s level of support or perceptions of benefit.
Assaults an inevitable consequence of a failing detention system
Assault charges arising from an incident at Darwin’s Northern Immigration Detention Centre again have highlighted the detrimental consequences of significant delays in the processing of security clearances for refugees, writes freelancer Nigel O’Connor.
Census 2011: finding and counting 2.3% of the population
Thanks to $20 million from the government to address the undercount of indigenous people this time around, a significant amount of census resources have been allocated to ensure indigenous communities are counted accurately, reports Amber Jamieson and Crikey intern Sophie Malcolm.
‘I will have the Police shoot your Dog’ — animal management in the NT
Judging from a sign put up in Nyirripi, a small township in the Tanami desert, there are people in positions of power in remote townships who think that the bullet from the gun of the local cop is an effective means of animal control, writes Bob Gosford.
Intervention sign wars in the Tanami Desert
Bob Gosford writes on the amusing political war going on in Yuendumu, where locals deface (perhaps improve?) the signs spruiking the government’s NT Intervention and erect their own signs.
Export ban lifted; too soon say welfare groups
Crikey media wrap: Agriculture minister Joe Ludwig last night lifted month-long ban on live export of cattle to Indonesia, announcing a “progressive” examination of the industry.
Cox: new intervention proposals … same old, same old
A new consultation process on more intervention proposals does not please the many critics of the current version’s costly failures.
Live cattle ban: the beginning of the end
The Northern Territory pastoral farming industry is not economically viable, it is not ecologically sustainable, and it is an obstacle to obtaining wise fire management in the NT, declares Strider on The Northern Myth.
PHOTO GALLERY The PM’s visit to Yirrkala, Arnhem Land
On the weekend Julia Gillard visited Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem land, where she spoke about the extension of the bauxite mining operation at Gove Peninsula. Bob Gosford presents excerpts from the speech and a collection of photographs taken on the day.
Questions Gillard should ask in Alice Springs, but probably won’t
It is four years this month since the Mal Brough emergency intervention in the NT and today the PM goes to Alice Springs to see the “progress” supposedly being made.
Federal Court decision breaks through the native title roadblock
This power to determine native title applications without a court hearing has been neglected in most Australian state jurisdictions, however in the NT the government, native title representative bodies and non-government parties have embraced the approach set out in section 87.
‘Sorry’ doesn’t mean everything is OK
As National Sorry Day approaches, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) says more work still needs to be done to achieve meaningful justice for the Stolen Generations, writes Bob Gosford.
