Verity Edwards; 9/7/09
The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement says racism continues to be “systemic within Australian society”, after a motel manager on South Australia’s west coast was yesterday forced to apologise in six newspapers for refusing to give an Aboriginal woman a room in December 2007. Native title campaigner Marjorie May Strickland, who lives in Kalgoorlie, had travelled to Ceduna with her sister, a colleague and the Reverend Max Wright and his wife Naomi to attend a native title meeting. The group had sought accommodation at another motel, which was full, before being told there were rooms available at Brian Brew’s East West Motor Inn. In her statement of claim lodged with the Equal Opportunity Tribunal, Ms Strickland said Mr Brew refused to provide rooms because he did not want her relatives “coming here and camping around and smashing up the place”.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25754251-5013172,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Racism