Labor to overhaul native title law
Patricia Karvelas & Padraic Murphy; 22/5/08
Fifteen years after the passage of the historic Mabo legislation, the Rudd Government has flagged sweeping changes to native title to ensure the benefits of the mining boom flow to Aboriginal communities and are not locked up in trusts or frittered away. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, delivering the third annual Eddie Mabo Lecture in Townsville, said yesterday that native title legislation was too complex and had failed to deliver money to remote Aboriginal communities, despite lucrative agreements with mining companies. She said changes to native title should be used “as part of our armoury to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians”.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23738718-601,00.html
Jenny Macklin’s message to indigenous: use hard-won rights
Paul Toohey; 22/5/08
What Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin was really saying in her 2008 Eddie Mabo Lecture, in her very nice way, was this: you, Aboriginal Australia, have won, through land rights and native title, interests in 20 per cent of Australia. Start using it. Jenny Macklin comforts Bonita Mabo after the naming ceremony for the the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library at JCU. Picture: Michael Chambers She’s no bully and suggested, modestly, that governments and mining companies were partly to blame for development impasses on Aboriginal land. But her Mabo lecture should be read for what it is: a kick in the pants to Aboriginal land holders, whom she believes must start sharing - and, most particularly, activating the vast wealth at their disposal for the greater good of their fellow indigenous people.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23738415-5013404,00.html
Mining money must close indigenous gap; Jenny Macklin; 22/5/08; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23737211-7583,00.html
Royalties threat to lift Tiwi schooling
Natasha Robinson; 22/5/08
Parents at Tiwi Islands Aboriginal communities who fail to send their children to school may lose their royalty payments under a plan being proposed by the local land council. Traditional owners at Melville and Bathurst islands, about 100km north of Darwin, have voted on the plan to financially punish parents whose children attend school less than 80 per cent of the time, and have written to local schools requesting their co-operation. The plan would affect five schools - three primary and two secondary.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23738410-5013404,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Education, Land, Trade