Darkness at Noon

Dear Hammy

Thank you for your email regarding the federal government’s recent response to the problem of child abuse in Aboriginal communities, I share your concerns. Consultation is essential and we urge the government to listen to the strong concerns of Aboriginal people from
the Northern Territory about the implementation of their plans, including their widespread opposition to proposed amendments to the Land Rights Act. One of the key recommendations of the Little Children are Sacred report that precipitated the so-called national emergency was that “it is critical that both governments commit to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities”.

Please see the following links for more information on our response to the federal government’s plans:
http://www.democrats.org.au/campaigns/respecting_indigenous_australians_ebulletin_july_2007/

and on indigenous Australia:

http://www.democrats.org.au/campaigns/put_our_first_people_first/

Regards
Lyn Allison
Senator for Victoria
Leader, Australian Democrats

If you haven’t already done so, please go to http://democracyandjustice.org and send an email today.

It would appear that the Green’s are the first to reply to people about our campaign against the proposed amendments to the Northern Terriroty Land Rights act. Their reply is below:

Dear Hammy

Thank you for your email. The Greens have long been working to promote the urgent need to address Aboriginal health and welfare issues. Bob identified the rights of indigenous Australians as a priority for the Greens in his first speech in 1996 and since that time has been a leading voice in the national parliament about indigenous affairs. Bob has led the way on two milestones on two indigenous affairs in particular – mandatory sentencing of children in the NT and WA, and petrol sniffing in the Central Desert region. By contrast, the Howard government’s recent announcement of a state of emergency after eleven years of inaction is a cynical exercise.

The Greens recognise that there are serious issues in some indigenous communities that require immediate action. What we want to see is an action plan developed in consultation with indigenous communities and relevant support services, and one that is comprehensive, culturally appropriate, and one that will work over the longer term. It is important to note that the Little Children are Sacred report listed consultation with the communities concerned as a primary recommendation. We don’t think Howard and Brough’s military-style approach is a plan that will succeed in these terms.

The Greens support the approach to these issues put forward by the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT, and call on the Coalition and the ALP to support the CAO too. For this report, please click here: CAO report

I also include here a brief summary from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, which helps to give some context to e.g. the level of service provision and educational opportunities within remote communities of the NT: RACGP summary

The Greens remain concerned that the issue of child safety and social breakdown experienced by some aboriginal communities has been linked to an attempt to overturn community land title.

Rachel Siewert is the Greens Senator responsible for Indigenous affairs – please direct future correspondence in relation to indigenous matters directly to Rachel. Her email is senator.siewert@aph.gov.au. For further information about The Greens’ response please go to Rachel’s website – www.rachelsiewert.org.au. I also include the motion passed by the Australian Greens at the party’s most recent National Council (15 July 2007) below for your reference.

Thanks again for writing to us on this important matter.

Regards

Emma Belfield

Office of Senator Bob Brown

We’re undergoing a bit of a rejuvenation of our web site at the moment.

The first thing I’ve installed is a media player so you can now stream all the recordings of our forums.

I’ll keep you up to date with the wave of Web 2.0 that will be taking over our site although more of it won’t come into effect until the Land Rights campaign is over.

(Incedentally, if you haven’t done so yet please go to http://democracyandjustice.org to email Mal Brough today!)

Momentum behind our campaign to stop the federal government’s land grab is growing with Friends of the Earth now endorsing the campaign.

We’ve also had a steady flow of people emailing our pollies through the Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice’s site. If you haven’t done so yet, please go to http://democracyandjustice.org to send an email.

And if you’d like to help out please go to http://democracyandjustice.org/content/view/86/61/ to see how you can put an image up on your blog or website.

Well, we’re really web 2.0 now. This is our first podcast of our monthly forums.

This post is a recording of our Intellectual Property, Democracy and the Flow of Information forum with Jamie Wodetski

 

 Intellectual Property and the Law Forum - 17th July 2007 [61:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’ll be on 3CR (855 am) tomorrow morning at about 7:15 talking about the next ACDJ forum on Intellectual Property if anyone would like to listen.

Of course you should all come along to the actual forum as well which will be held at the Stork Hotel [504 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne], 7 pm tomorrow (Tue 17th) night.

We require your urgent action! Below is a letter from the Rirratjingu Clan, Yirrkala in north eastern Arnhem Land, NT asking you to act against the removal of the permit system from the Northern Territory Land Rights Act. Once this is removed, land rights will be diminished for many Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. Please read it then go to our website, http://democracyandjustice.org, to email Prime Minister John Howard, Minister for Indigenous Affairs Mal Brough, Leader of the Opposition Kevin Rudd, Opposition Spokes Person on Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin, Leader of the Australia Greens Bob Brown, Leader of the Democrats Lyn Allison, and Leader of Family First Steve Fielding expressing your concerns about these amendments. Please forward this email to your entire address book.

A letter from the Rirratjingu Clan, Yirrkala in north eastern Arnhem Land, NT:

As a Traditional Landowner in North East Arnhem Land, where my people, the Yolngu, have lived for thousands of years, I write to ask for your support.

The Permit System is a mechanism available to traditional Aboriginal people in the N.T. to manage access to our own lands and waters.

Permits enable us to ensure appropriate use of areas necessary for maintaining our culture in according to the principals of our ancient laws.

Our lands provide our identity. They are the foundation of our knowledge, of our ancient law. Our songs, dances, sacred designs and stories are embedded in the land. It is our living history.

My clan and others in North East Arnhem Land fought long to gain title to the lands we had occupied for millennia, starting with the Bark Petition to the Federal Parliament in 1963. We engaged with mainstream Australian law and after a High Court challenge, and a Royal Commission, in 1976 at last gained just recognition as traditional owners with passing of the N.T. Land Rights Act.

Under the guise of eradicating child abuse, the Federal Government proposes the abolition of the Permit system. This was not a recommendation of the ‘Children are Sacred’ which prompted the recent federal action.

Why will we be unable to say who enters our land when other owners and managers of communal property such as pastoral companies, multiple occupancy rural developments, gated communities, strata or community title developments are able to grant or refuse access to both private and communal areas of their property?

The permit system is fundamental to our cultural survival and essential for appropriate, sustainable management of our land.

Support us, the first Australians.

Please take action today and ask our politicians to vote against the amendments of the Aboriginal Land Rights (N.T.) Act which will abolish the Permit System.

– Langani Marika –Senior Law holder, Rirratjingu Clan
– Rarriwuy Marika – Senior member, Rirratjingu Clan
Yirrkala N.T.0880

What can you do?

1. Click here to send an email to John Howard, Mal Brough, Kevin Rudd, Jenny Macklin, Bob Brown, Lyn Allison and Steve Fielding.
2. Click here to download a letter that you can edit as you wish and send off to your local member (you can find the addresses of every member here.)
3. Email everyone you know about the campaign
4. Get your organisation to endorse our campaign (please reply to this email us for more details).
5. Click here to learn how to put a link to us on your site or blog.
6. Contact the Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice for more information or to share your story by emailing centre@democracyandjustice.org

But I also blame that tool of empowerment, the internet. Of course it is marvellously useful, allows us to exchange information, find the facts we need, alert each other to the coming dangers and all the rest of it. But it also creates a false impression of action. It allows us to believe that we can change the world without leaving out chairs. We are being heard! Our voices resonate around the world, provoking commentary and debate, inspiring some, enraging others. Something is happening! A movement is building! But by itself, as I know to my cost, writing, reading, debate and dissent change nothing. Action means moving your legs. Indeed, if this book has not encouraged you to want to do something, then I urge you to return it to the shop and demand your money back, for it has proven to be useless.

Monbiot, Heat, 2006:214

I met Auntie Sue Rakin at the Melbourne Social Forum in April – she’s a pretty special woman.

Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge that today she started her walk from Adelaide to Uluru. That’s no small walk.

I’ll be keeping up to date with her progress at her blog Sacred Life Walk.

Having just run a series of forums on Community Media and with a forum on Intellectual Property coming up my attention has been drawn to an initiative called Swarm of Angels:

A Swarm of Angels updates the current filmmaking models of Hollywood and independent film to create cult cinema for the digital age.

Whether you call it Cinema 2.0, or Open source cinema, it’s an innovative participatory experience you can be part of.

Our vision is to bring filmmaker and fan together into entertainment communities making distinctive films based on artistic choices not marketing ones. This is not about making a couple of bucks, but about making cinematic history.

A Swarm of Angels is a third way between the top-down approach of traditional filmmaking and the bottom-up nature of user-generated content. A way for anyone to influence the creation of a professional £1 million+ ($1.8M+) feature film.

We are gathering 50,000 people in a giant new media experiment to be part of an exclusive community which funds and helps make this film. We want people to freely download, share and remix the feature film and all original media made for this project and have embraced the flexible digital-age copyright of Creative Commons toward this end.

There is a lot to take in here but I think what is most significant is that it is actually viable. You can do it if you are able to conceptualise it and these guys certainly seem to have done a good job of that. I look forward to downloading it for free then remixing it.