Mission & Justice

Patricia Karvelas; 14/11/08

Indigenous academic Marcia Langton has called on Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma to find solutions to indigenous disadvantage instead of accusing the Rudd Government of not consulting enough with Aborigines. Mr Calma said in a speech on Wednesday night there was a “yawning chasm” between the Government’s commitment to new policy and its actions since issuing an apology to the Stolen Generations and its failure to engage indigenous communities. Ms Langton defended Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, saying she had travelled all over the country consulting Aborigines and had seriously considered positions put to her.

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Corrie Perkin; 13/11/08

The owners of a 1983 painting by Rover Thomas are suing auction house Lawson-Menzies for not revealing details about previous ownership in its June catalogue, which caused the work to be withdrawn from sale. Sydney couple Steve and Amanda Howe sent the work, Bedford Station, to Melbourne University’s Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation this week for viewing. Depending on the legal outcome, the owners may then instruct centre director Robyn Sloggett, who has worked on problematic Thomas paintings in the past, to examine the work to gain further insights into its history.

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Padraic Murphy; 13/11/08; (2 Items)

The Queensland Government ignored advice more than two years ago that funding shortfalls in indigenous communities were so severe that councils risked breaking legislative requirements and could not provide core services of the type expected by the wider community. A government-commissioned Review of Funding of Indigenous Councils, which has been obtained by The Australian, recommended the Government increase funding to indigenous councils by almost 50per cent to allow them to meet basic costs. The Morton Consulting Group report, which has never been publicly released, was presented in January 2006 to the Department of Local Government, and found that State Government Financial Aid funding of $24.6million to Queensland’s 34 indigenous councils was not sufficient.

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13/11/08

The Queensland Government ignored advice more than two years ago that funding shortfalls in indigenous communities were so severe that councils risked breaking legislative requirements and could not provide core services of the type expected by the wider community. A government-commissioned Review of Funding of Indigenous Councils, which has been obtained by The Australian, recommended the Government increase funding to indigenous councils by almost 50per cent to allow them to meet basic costs. The Morton Consulting Group report, which has never been publicly released, was presented in January 2006 to the Department of Local Government, and found that State Government Financial Aid funding of $24.6million to Queensland’s 34 indigenous councils was not sufficient.

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Mark Davis; 12/11/08

Kevin Rudd;s pledge to “close the gap” between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians on a range of socio-economic indicators could take more than 100 years to achieve, say Australian National University researchers. Using census figures, researchers at the ANU’s Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research examined how trends in the welfare and living standards of Aboriginal Australians compared to the non-indigenous population. They found that if progress on closing the gap between the two populations continued at the rate of the past 35 years, it would take another 28 years for the Aboriginal unemployment rate to come into line with unemployment among non-Aboriginals. Lifting the share of Aborigines in the workforce to a level comparable with the rest of the population would take more than 100 years.

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Jewel Topsfield; 12/11/08

Victoria would become the first state in Australia where Aboriginal people could establish land rights without pursuing onerous native title cases in the Federal Court under a ground-breaking deal being negotiated with the State Government. Former social justice commissioner Mick Dodson, who is chairing a committee to develop a framework for the alternative land settlements, described the proposal as a “huge breakthrough”. “It would be the first in Australia where there would be an agreement to negotiate land justice outside of native title or land rights law,” he said. Professor Dodson said Victoria had the worst record of any state and territory in Australia when it came to returning land to dispossessed Aborigines.

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Patricia Karvelas; 11/11/08

Nursing homes with 24-hour service will be built in two remote Aboriginal communities under a revamp of indigenous aged care services by the Rudd Government. Under the scheme, the first overnight aged care service will be built at Mutitjulu near Uluru, and a general works and equipment program will be initiated to raise standards. Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot said yesterday she had last month visited Mutitjulu, where female community elders expressed their concerns about the lack of an overnight aged care service.

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Patricia Karvelas; 11/11/08

Nursing homes with 24-hour service will be built in two remote Aboriginal communities under a revamp of indigenous aged care services by the Rudd Government. Under the scheme, the first overnight aged care service will be built at Mutitjulu near Uluru, and a general works and equipment program will be initiated to raise standards. Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot said yesterday she had last month visited Mutitjulu, where female community elders expressed their concerns about the lack of an overnight aged care service.

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Padraic Murphy & Patricia Karvelas; 11/11/08

The Queensland Government is considering the introduction of a permit system to restrict access to indigenous communities across the state, as a key independent senator threatens to terminate it in the Northern Territory. Independent senator Nick Xenophon has forced the Rudd Government to defer debate on legislation to reinstate the system, which was abolished last year by the Howard government as part of its emergency intervention into 73 NT communities. The move from the balance-of-power senator came after he visited the central Australian communities of Hermannsburg, Papunya and Santa Teresa last week. “We can’t use the remoteness of these places as an excuse,” Senator Xenophon said yesterday. “They’re two hours away by plane; they’re not another world.

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Marcia Langton; 8/11/08

‘Big bunga (men) politics” describes the endemic pattern of lateral violence that plagues Aboriginal family and community life, especially - though not exclusively - in remote Australia. It also encapsulates the dysfunctional response of mainstream Australian political institutions to the accelerating crisis in the Aboriginal world. Many remember the big bunga politics that brought the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission into disrepute and finally led to its disestablishment in 2004. Periodically throughout the life of that body, Aboriginal men and women who were without doubt leaders in their communities became embroiled in political theatre led by “big men” who failed to show leadership on the most pressing issues in those communities: housing, health and education. While the first chairwoman, the gracious but formidable Lowitja O’Donoghue (who started her long and distinguished career as a nurse) was at its helm, the body proved successful at influencing governments, negotiating bilateral federal-state arrangements for indigenous programs and leveraging state funding allocations with commonwealth “carrot” funding.

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