The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 72/No. 20      May 19, 2008

 
Australia meeting protests federal gov’t
takeover of Aboriginal communities
 
BY RON POULSEN
AND BOB AIKEN  
SYDNEY, Australia—A packed meeting of more than 100 people here April 14 protested the ongoing federal government takeover of 73 indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. The takeover, initiated by the previous Liberal government, has continued under the Labor government elected last November.

Vince Forrester, an Aboriginal leader from Mutitjulu, said government authorities “want to take our land for nothing and sell it back to us” and are “squeezing the people economically.” The population of Mutitjulu has dropped from 500 to 200 since the intervention began, he said.

Forrester said that the intervention has emboldened the police. A speaker from the floor reported that 188 Aborigines were arrested in Alice Springs a few days before in a two-day sweep, under the pretext of tougher laws against public drinking.

Despite winning a measure of self-government and land rights in the 1960s, the Aboriginal communities in Australia remain marked by government neglect, with overcrowded housing and lack of health services and schools.

As part of the takeover, federal managers have been imposed on the townships, welfare payments to Aborigines have been restricted, and the main jobs program in the Northern Territory has been abolished. The government claimed it was intervening over allegations of child abuse.

Monique Wiseman from the Northern Territory Intervention Action Group, Pat Eatock from the Aboriginal Rights Coalition in Sydney, and Darren Dick from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission also spoke at the April 14 meeting.

Wiseman reported on the situation at Bagot, an overcrowded “town camp” of some 50 houses in Darwin, where the population rose from 500 to 1,200 due to an influx of people from remote areas. She said that one of the key measures of the intervention—issuing vouchers to people on welfare, to be redeemed at particular stores—had meant the closure of a community-run store which was not entitled to honor the vouchers. People are now forced to travel many miles, often on foot, to shop with the vouchers in town supermarkets.

Referring to the measures as a “land grab,” Eatock added that some of the town camps are on valuable land. “Eighty percent of the uranium still in the ground is under Aboriginal land,” she said.

A national conference against the federal takeover is being organized in Sydney May 24-25. A national day of action has been called for June 21, the first anniversary of the intervention. The Labor government has said it will “review” the measures then.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home