Mission & Justice

Nicolas Rothwell; 16/8/08

For millennia, the deep, inhospitable heart of the Simpson Desert was a human landscape: a few hundred members of the Wangkanguru tribal group maintained a fragile presence there, amid the tall, straight sand dunes, the salt lakes and the claypans. They moved constantly between its mirages and red horizons, tracing their way along a network of shallow wells, refining their elaborate songs and stories, perfecting a material culture austere and full of grace. Then, about 100years ago, they left abruptly, expelled by savage drought; lured, too, by the food and water supplies of the new cattle stations around the Simpson’s creek-lined fringe. After their departure, few people ventured far into the desert: a handful of explorers, an incautious stockman or two. Silence filled the dune fields. The Wangkanguru and their world, and all their exquisite adaptations to the extremes of that arid zone, were forgotten until recently. It is only in the past few years that the network of their mikiris or wells has gradually and painstakingly been rediscovered by scientists and adventure-minded surveyors working with the last desert-born witnesses, or with the sparse clues they left.

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Paige Taylor; 16/8/08

Aboriginal entrepreneur Barry Taylor, whose company last year won the largest contract ever awarded to an indigenous business in Australia, claims the resources sector is still getting it wrong when it comes to indigenous employment. Mr Taylor, a Nyamal Aborigine from the Pilbara and executive chairman of indigenous contractor Ngarda Civil and Mining, yesterday labelled as farcical Fortescue boss Andrew Forrest’s plan to create 50,000 jobs for indigenous people within two years. Mr Taylor said Australia’s richest man had failed to understand the importance of doing business with more indigenous companies such as Ngarda. He is also critical of Rio Tinto, which employs more than 1500 indigenous workers. Ngarda cemented its position in the Pilbara last year when it won a $300 million, five-year deal to run BHP Billiton’s Yarrie mine.

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Nicolas Rothwell; 16/8/08
A hybrid artwork combining indigenous-made video and Australia’s oldest painting tradition was the star turn at last night’s 25th annual Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, breaking boundaries and winning hearts.Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, a 63-year-old hearing-impaired tent-dweller in remote northeast Arnhem Land painted her flowing, dramatic Incident at Mutpi (1975) on bark, in memory of the moment when a wild buffalo caught her unawares and gored her repeatedly, almost killing her. A video of the artist retelling this episode, with traditional song soundtrack and illustrating scenes of narrative, hangs just beneath the bark on the exhibition wall at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory - and two distant worlds are bridged.
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Imre Salusinszky; 16/8/08

Aboriginal children in schools will be targeted with governance training in an attempt to fill the leadership vacuum in indigenous organisations. The move is part of an assault on corruption, cronyism and mismanagement in about 5000 Aboriginal organisations across Australia, and was approved recently at a meeting of state and federal indigenous affairs ministers. Other suggestions contained in a document prepared for the ministers, which has been provided to The Weekend Australian.

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Nicolas Rothwell; 15/8/08

In busy dry season Darwin, on the eve of the 25th annual Telstra Aboriginal art award, in the week of the city’s fledgling Aboriginal Art Fair, a discreet contest is being waged for the moral high ground of the indigenous art trade. It is a battle of spin, and leaks, and backroom pressures: it pits the art centres of remote Australia against the private dealers who control much of the marketplace. But behind this struggle lurks a deeper dilemma. Which way forward for indigenous art: freedom or regulation? Should adherence to a code of practice for Aboriginal art dealing be voluntary or mandatory, and who judges the workings of the market?The stakes are high and closely watched, for the indigenous art scene has a bewildering number of interest groups, disseminators and middlemen. Rival visions of the art trade are also clashing here: the art centres and their backers believe the maintenance of traditional cultures is the key task of the moment. A range of art dealers and traders argue that a strong, untrammelled marketplace benefits indigenous artists and serves to spread their work before a wide public. Over the next few days, with the nation’s leading gallerists and key collectors gathered in Darwin, the northern capital will be host not only to a dizzying display of exhibitions, but to a range of debates about the future of the nation’s most fragile artistic current.

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Rosemary Neill & Padraic Murphy; 15/8/08

Contrarian feminist Germaine Greer argues that Aboriginal men suffer a rage they “can’t get over”, one that is responsible for violence in their communities. She also argues that indigenous women who supported the federal intervention in the Northern Territory Aboriginal communities will be seen as colluding “with the enemy”. But her arguments have angered indigenous leaders, who claim her comments discourage personal accountability and are a step backwards in tackling violence.

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14/8/08

The recent Federal Government apology to the stolen generation does not go nearly far enough, provocative intellectual Germaine Greer says. Years of ill treatment had been eating away at Aboriginal communities and threatened their future, she told ABC Television last night. “We’re only on the edge of what we’ve done to these people, we have ripped away everything, language, culture, land, self esteem,” she said. “You name any of the things that make you a human being and they have all been stripped away.” Professor Greer said she feared that it was already too late for many Aboriginal communities, criticising the Federal Gvernment’s intervention in the Northern Territory.

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John Wiseman; 13/8/08

Jenny Macklin will today face down Aboriginal leaders on remote homelands in South Australia, telling them the time is almost up for them to sign a new federal housing agreement. On her first official visit to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, the Indigenous Affairs Minister has delivered an ultimatum to the communities to accept the $25million housing deal. “I want the agreement and we just can’t take any more time about it,” she said after visiting Amata, near the Northern Territory border. Ms Macklin and state counterpart Jay Weatherill will today meet members of the APY executive, including chairman Bernard Singer, who has resumed his position after being told to stand aside pending criminal proceedings for assault, alcohol and driving offences.

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Padraic Murphy; 13/8/08

Two families struggling with child abuse yesterday became the first to appear before the Families Responsibilities Commission - the next stage in welfare reform in indigenous communities. The FRC hearing on Cape York made legal history by being the first deliberative body with the power to quarantine welfare payments and take control of an individual’s finances. It is hoped the initiative masterminded by Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson to improve behaviour in four Cape York communities will be rolled out across the country. Sitting in Coen yesterday with two local representatives, Commissioner David Glasgow denied the measures were paternalistic.

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Michael McKenna & Sean Parnell; 13/8/08

Queensland’s anti-corruption watchdog has attacked state police over years of delay in the completion of an internal inquiry into the mishandling of the investigation of the 2004 death in custody of Palm Islander mulrunji Doomadgee. In a rare public stoush between the two leading law enforcement agencies in Queensland, Crime and Misconduct Commission head Robert Needham yesterday told The Australian he was concerned about the stalled inquiry and had repeatedly asked police to hand over the final report from its Investigation Review Team. At least five officers face disciplinary action, and possibly criminal charges, over the death in custody and the police investigation, which was slammed in 2006 by deputy state coroner Christine Clements as lacking transparency, objectivity and independence.

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