Fudging funding for the NT Indigenous housing program
Two years ago, a $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP) was announced for the Northern
Territory. It was supposed to involve the building of 750 homes, 230 rebuilds and 2500 refurbishments by 2013. As yet, not one home has been built. Let’s see what’s going on, shall we?
Tom Calma: Indigenous Advisory Body to have Full Gender Equality at All Levels
Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, announced today at the National Press Club the proposed formation of a new national advisory body to bring the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to the Minister, Parliament, and bureaucrats. Tom Calma is lder from the Kungarakan tribal group and a member [...]
Northern Territory Aboriginal people seek refugee status with UN
ABC Online: “Aboriginal people seek refugee status” A group of Aboriginal people has asked the United Nations to register them as refugees, saying the Northern Territory intervention has made them outcasts in their own country Richard Downs, a spokesperson for the Alyawarra Nation, which represents about 4000 people in central Australia, says the request was [...]
On unexamined privileges and unconscious behaviours
Is there anyone reading along here who knows enough feminist theory to grok the concept of unexamined privilege who doesn’t believe in unconscious/subconscious sexism? Surely we all know by now that many if not most of the most insidious and difficult to change sexist behaviours are those that operate as unexamined habits rather than conscious choices.
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards: Results
Lasseter History Story by Warakurna Artists 2009. 1524mm x 2134mm: acrylic on canvas by Eunice Yunurupa Porter, Waynatjura Bell, Nancy Nyanyarna Jackson, Melissa Mitchell-Stevens, Judith Yinyika Chambers and Polly Pyuwawyia Jackson. Thriving in the Desert brings news of the 26th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. This year’s winners are: * Major [...]
11 August 2009: Yolngu Nation Federation
Edited to add 11 Aug 2136(+8): The Indigenous people of north-eastern Arnhem Land have formed a federation and declared self-government — and nobody noticed. There is almost complete radio silence in the media, blogs, twitter… everywhere. It’s rather eerie. SMH: “Yolngu clans decide on self-government” Sixty Yolngu clans of East Arnhem Land representing at least [...]
Diplomacy, Kid-Style
We were planning to start watching some Star Trek. Lad: Do they have laser guns? Me: Let me think. Yes, they do have laser guns of some sort. Blasters, I think they call them. And they’ve got communicator devices, and teleportation. Wait, they called them phasers. Lad: Are they going to war with the aliens [...]
Fifteenth Down Under Feminists Carnival: July 2009
Welcome to the Fifteenth Edition of down under feminists carnival! This carnival features posts made by Aussie and Kiwi feminists during July, 2009.
Quickhit: “Plan to strip blankets from Alice homeless”
At the ABC: Proposed Alice Springs by-laws would allow rangers to take homeless people’s blankets away from them, an Alice Springs alderman says. The council last night voted unanimously to put a raft of controversial by-laws out for public consultation. The proposed changes include $130 fines for beggars and a crackdown on camping in the [...]
Coroner to rule in heatstroke/burns killing of Aboriginal elder in police van
UPDATE 12 June 2009 P.M.: Coroner Alistair Hope has handed down his findings in the case. The ABC reports, in “Coroner’s damning findings on elder’s prison van death”: West Australian Coroner Alistair Hope says an Aboriginal elder who died after being driven for 360 kilometres in a prison van in 40 degrees heat suffered a [...]
Mabo – what it means, what it doesn’t mean
Jo Tamar is a human rights lawyer who blogs about things that catch her eye relating to feminism and equality generally. At the moment, she is attempting to post regularly about issues affecting Indigenous Australians in order to help raise awareness of those issues. This post is part of her series for Reconcilation Week. Before [...]
United Nations: Elder’s heatstroke death in police van possible torture or inhuman punishment
Today, a senior chemist who assisted in a re-enactment of the incident in similar conditions told the inquiry the air temperature in the back of the van reached 50.4C [123 F]. He also told the court the surface temperature of the metal floor in the back peaked at 56.6C [134 F] during the re-enactment.
Quickhit: Is the WA government going to try to pre-empt Stolen Wages legal action?
Aboriginal people in Western Australia were enslaved and exploited from 1905 to 1972 by the government of this State. They are owed at least 300 million dollars according to Aboriginal activist Howard Riley. A report that yet remains secret is said to be attempting to pre-empt legal claims by allocating a much smaller amount in [...]
Maternity Services Review: Medicare payments to OBs up from $77m to $211m since 2004.
Update 16 Sep 2009: Last year’s $211 million figure for taxpayer-funded obstetric care, mostly of pregnancies and births that are or could have been normal, has blown out further to $298 million. [Via the Courier Mail.] ~~~ The Maternity Services Review is finally out. But you knew that, because last week the Australian Medical Association [...]
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