Breaking News

A THREE-DAY Indigenous summit in Canberra concluded yesterday with the election of a taskforce to examine the issue of international and domestic sovereignty and a demand for the resignation of Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin. Summit convenor Michael Anderson says the taskforce will also develop an Aboriginal Charter of Rights and establish protocols for inter-nation relations. 

CAPITAL work on housing and infrastructure at the Alice Springs town camp of Ilpeye Ilpeye is believed to be underway, after resident traditional owners last week agreed to the Federal Government acquiring freehold title to the land under the NT intervention in exchange for 'just terms' compensation. The deal sits outside earlier agreement by 17 other town camps to grant the Government 40-year sub-leases over their land. 

TORRES Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) chairperson Toshie Kris says he's disappointed that the Queensland Government seems to want to use funds earmarked for closing the gaps in Indigenous communities to address the current tidal inundation threat in the Torres Strait. Mr Kris has sought Premier Anna Bligh's assurance that Major Infrastructure Program (MIP) funds won't be diverted from environmental health projects.

THE Australian Greens say the postponement of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's annual Indigenous 'report card' to the Federal Parliament from today's first parliamentary sitting day for 2010 is a sign that the Government is not up to the job of Closing the Gap. Mr Rudd deferred the statement until 11 February because it was closer to the second anniversary of the 13 February National Apology.  

ABORIGINAL people who walked off the Northern Territory community of Ampilatwatja last year to protest the NT intervention plan to open a 'protest house' at a nearby bore on 14 February. Trade unions are helping to build the house within just six weeks, to illustrate unnecessary government delays in addressing overcrowding and providing other services in the community.
 

THE Goldfields Land and Sea Council has announced that The Goldfields Conversation would be held at the WMC Centre on 2 and 3 February 2010. GLSC chief executive Brian Wyatt said the Conversation would enable Aboriginal leaders, stakeholders and organisations to plan ways to address issues affecting their communities.
 

KIMBERLEY Land Council Director Wayne Bergmann said new statistics that revealed local students were well below the national average should be cause for alarm, calling on the State Government to step up their support for education projects and work in partnership with the KLC.

SOUTH Australian Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon today launched a peak national body that will help to build the workforce capacity of the country's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers. Mr Snowdon said the Federal Government would provide $1.2 million over the next three years to establish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers Association.

THE Federal Government has committed $7.5 million towards growing the community development financial institution sector, to give Australians shunned by mainstream banks and services access to fair and appropriate financial products including loans. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin’s announcement follows concern that desperation is driving vulnerable Aboriginal people in the WA Goldfields to accept high-interest loans from an unauthorised lender.

A TWO-DAY forum facilitated by the Goldfields Land and Sea Council (GLSC) will bring together Aboriginal groups to plan for the future needs of the community. The Goldfields Conversation, to be held in Kalgoorlie early February will engage the community in identifying key issues and solutions for disadvantage including health, education and employment. 

THE Federal Government has announced extra emergency relief and financial counselling services for local residents of Laverton and the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in WA experiencing financial hardship. The WA Consumer Affairs Department is investigating a complaint against a local businessman providing Aboriginal people with unofficial, very high-interest 'loans', which he recovers by holding people's bankcards and PIN numbers. 

AUSTRALIA Day has concluded for another year with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people involved in a wide range of events, from an Invasion Day rally in Hobart, a celebration of sovereignty at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, Survival Day events in many locations, and several Indigenous people collecting Australia Day Honours.

ABORIGINAL country music star Troy Cassar-Daley was the king of this year's Country Music Awards in Tamworth, taking home six Golden Guitars for his latest album 'I Love This Place'.

THE first seven inductees into the Queensland Indigenous Sport Hall of Fame will be announced on the Gold Coast on Friday 12 February. Indigenous Sport Queensland, which hosts the annual Queensland Indigenous Sports Awards, will announce the nominees when it launches the Hall of Fame website at its 2009 sports award gala dinner at Skilled Park, Robina - the night before the big Indigenous All Stars National Rugby League (NRL) All stars game at the same venue.  

ABORIGINAL people affected by nuclear testing in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s may be able to sue the United Kingdom government. Australian Legal Rights Movement chief executive Neil Gillespie said a ruling by English courts in June 2009 had opened the way for people to pursue personal injury actions.

A PLAN to establish 120 safe houses in South Australia to combat domestic violence has been unveiled by the SA and Federal Governments. Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the government was also delivering new family violence prevention projects in numerous communities.

THE way that NSW authorities handle cases of suspected child abuse and neglect will change this Sunday, with only children deemed ‘at risk of significant harm’ to be reported to the Department of Community Services. Teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers and other mandatory reporters will refer less serious cases to non-government organisations and other government agencies.

DEFENDING champions Queensland will take on Victoria in a Twenty/20 match on the opening day of the 2010 Imparja Cup cricket carnival in Alice Springs on Monday 8 February.

PRINCE William got an enthusiastic welcome when he visited The Block in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern yesterday on the first day of his Australian visit. Met by Elders and local Aboriginal housing and health representatives, the 27-year-old heir to the heir of the British throne toured the Redfern Community Centre and read and yarned with Aboriginal kids.

2009 Australian of the Year Mick Dodson says he's confident that Australians will one day choose a more inclusive date than 26 January to celebrate the country's national day. Professor Dodson says he's still optimistic about the prospect of a reconciled Australia but questions about Indigenous land and compensation for the Stolen Generations remain 'unfinished business'.

THE Federal and NT Governments have announced a $5.4 million 'Safe and Sober' program aimed at providing support to people at risk from alcohol abuse in Alice Springs. The funding will enhance rehabilitation facilities, expand community-based interventions and include a program for prison inmates. More than 65 per cent of assaults in the town in 2008 reportedly involved alcohol.

UP to 80 per cent of Australian prison inmates have a mental illness, according to the Mental Health Council of Australia. The Council's CEO David Crosbie said yesterday that magistrates in some regional areas were sending mentally ill people to jail because of a lack of community assessment and treatment options or facilities.

THE Tamworth country music festival has kicked of another huge year with the Aboriginal cultural showcase setting the stage for over 100 musicians. The Showcase focuses on developing new talent but also boasts some iconic Aboriginal performers including Jimmy Little, Archie Roach, Charlie Trindall and Johnny Huckle.

A UNITED Nations report, The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, is based on outdated information, according to the Federal Government. A spokesperson said rather than a 20-year gap in life expectancy, the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced in May 2009 the new figures were now between 9.7 years for women and 11.5 years for men.

ABORIGINAL and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma today welcomed the launch of the United Nation’s first report on The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Mr Calma said although Australia had taken some 'giant steps forward', Indigenous people remained marginalised and faced ongoing discrimination and poverty.

AUSTRALIA’S Indigenous people have the worse life expectancy rates of any indigenous population according to a report released today by the United Nations. Of the 90 countries examined, indigenous people in Australia and Nepal fared the worst, dying 20 years earlier than their non-indigenous counterparts.

A National Australia Day Council survey has found 90 per cent of Australians believe it's important to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and cultures as part of Australia Day celebrations. The Council says this shows Australians are thinking about where we've come from and how to make Australia a better place, rather than just enjoying the public holiday.

RESPECTED Nyoongar leader Ken Colbung MBE OAM has passed away peacefully after a short illness. Mr Colbung, 78, was heavily involved in many key Aboriginal organisations and campaigns, including that which led to the return of the remains of Nyoongar warrior Yagan to Perth from England in 1997.

ABORIGINAL Tent Embassy founder Michael Anderson says there's been overwhelming interest in a summit he'll convene in Canberra on 30 January and 1 February. Mr Anderson says he hopes the summit will lead to a communique of grievances and suggestions for a new approach to Indigenous issues that can be read to the Federal Parliament.

GREENS lead Senate candidate for Queensland Larissa Waters has warned that Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's bid to overturn wild rivers laws in Cape York would threaten both Aboriginal jobs and the area's pristine environment. Ms Waters said the Greens backed the legislation as it safeguarded Indigenous rights and protected the environment.

TASMANIAN Aboriginal Centre legal director Michael Mansell has condemned the newly-appointed ethics council of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples as a 'patronising and discriminatory' double standard not applied to non-Aboriginal politicians and other public figures.

FEDERAL Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has met with Aboriginal leaders in Cairns in north Queensland to discuss Cape York wild rivers legislation that he says denies traditional owners economic opportunities. Mr Abbott says he’ll launch a private member's bill to override the state laws. 

DARWIN-based academic Dr Yin Paradies has won a John McKenzie Fellowship to continue his research on the link between racism and ill-health among minority populations. Earlier studies have demonstrated a clear association between interpersonal racism and poor mental and general health outcomes as well as chronic disease and behaviours such as smoking.

TOURISTS will continue to climb Uluru, with the Federal Government announcing today that the drawcard would remain open until its popularity dwindled, or new visitor experiences were developed. The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park board of management lhad wanted to close the climb out of respect for the Indigenous owners and safety reasons, and concerns about visitors using the World Heritage-listed rock as a toilet and leaving litter behind.
 

Queensland selectors have dropped a bombshell by omitting one of their best performed players as they prepare to defend their Imparja Cup cricket title in Alice Springs next month.

ABORIGINAL artist and musician David Williams joined jazz legend James Morrison on stage for one of the most popular gigs at the six-day Woodford Folk Festival, wrapping up on the first day of the New Year. The Koori Mail were there to capture some of the festival highlights.

THE Koori Mail office will be closed from Monday 21 December until Monday 4 January. We'd like to draw some inspiration from three-month-old Dustilee Jackson Willis-Ardler (shown here), from Dubbo in western NSW, in wishing all of our readers, subscribers and advertisers a very happy and relaxing festive season.

NEGOTIATIONS to resolve native title over Perth and south-west WA are underway, following the signing of an agreement between the State Government and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC). Under the agreement, the Noongar people are expected to receive recognition of their traditional ownership, economic benefits, a revised heritage regime, land and joint management of some national parks.

A PLANNED $7.2 million upgrade of Horn Island Airport in the Torres Strait will proceed after the Queensland and Federal Governments committed $3.1 million to the project. Premier Anna Bligh said the upgrade would allow larger planes to once again land at airport, where surface damage had limited plane size, and cut the number of available passenger seats by around 2000 per month.

CANBERRA Aboriginal lawyer Louise Taylor says the Federal Government has missed an easy opportunity to appoint a woman to the job of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, for the first time in its 17-year history. However, Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin and outgoing Commissioner Tom Calma have both backed health advocate Mick Gooda’s appointment to the position. 

COOPERATIVE Research Centre for Aboriginal Health CEO Mick Gooda has been named Tom Calma’s successor as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner with the Australian Human Rights Commission. Attorney General Robert McLelland said Mr Gooda’s five-year appointment would commence on 1 February.

THE Federal Government says a new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report is further evidence that income management is working in Indigenous communities under the NT intervention. Three quarters of 76 people on income management surveyed in four communities – out of 16,000 in 73 communities – reported that their children were eating more and were healthier, since income management began.

DELIVERING his sixth and final Social Justice Report in Sydney on Friday, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma called for what he labelled 'justice reinvestment' in communities with large numbers of offenders.

QUEENSLAND'S wild rivers debate has found a national voice and opponent with Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.  New Cape York Land Council (CYLC) Chairman Richie Ahmat welcomed the news after Mr Abbott met with Aboriginal leaders and traditional owners in Cairns recently, lodging a private member's bill to over-ride the state's environmental laws.

A UNITED Nations report has highlighted how Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are facing the same problems which plague Indigenous communities worldwide. The State of the World's Indigenous Peoples report lists violence, continuing assimilation policies, marginalisation, forced removal and denial of land rights among many other abuses.

AN Aboriginal man living in Alice Springs has taken on the search engine Google after discovering links to a racist website which vilifies Aboriginal people. Steve Gumerungi Hodder-Watts, a broadcaster, complained to the Human Rights Commission about Google's listing of the website Encyclopaedia Dramatica, which contains racist descriptions of Aboriginal people. Google Australia has since removed links to the site.

SYDNEY'S Redfern Aboriginal community welcomed Prince William with open arms during his visit to The Block last week. The 27-year-old second in line to the British throne, dubbed Australia's first 'Royalorigine', delighted local Elders during afternoon tea, read a story to a group of Redfern children and yarned with youth.

AN Aboriginal consultancy in Perth has won a West Australian Government contract to trial a new mentoring service for Indigenous youth in the state's two juvenile detention centres. The service, called RAW, is a new approach to mentoring Aboriginal juvenile offenders involving a 10-week program that begins before the teenagers are released from detention.

THE forced eviction of Nyoongar couple Elder and Barbara Abraham and their family from their Homeswest house in the Perth suburb of Armadale has been referred to the Human Rights Commission.

'Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land'. This was the fitting theme to this year's putalina festival, in southern Tasmania. Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre State Secretary Nala McKenna Mansell said the festival celebrated the return of Aboriginal land to traditional owners. 

DEFENDING champions Queensland will take on Victoria in a Twenty/20 match on the opening day of the 2010 Imparja Cup cricket carnival in Alice Springs on Monday 8 February. The Maroons will be attempting to win the Cup for the third year in a row to make it their sixth victory in the Cup’s ten-year history.

THE first seven inductees into the Queensland Indigenous Sport Hall of Fame will be announced at the Gold Coast on Friday 12 February at the Queensland Indigenous Sports Awards. Indigenous Sport Queensland Chairman Wayne Coolwell said the awards recognised Indigenous Queenslanders on the local, national and international stage.

THE Kaiwalagal Rugby League competition on Thursday Island will kick off earlier than normal in 2010 to accommodate representative games for men, women, and juniors. KRL President Harry Cook said it was planned to have a pre-season competition on Saturday 20 February, with the season proper starting a week later on 27 February.
 

AURUKUN, Mapoon, Napranum and Weipa teams look certain to take part in a Cape York wet season rugby league competition set to start next month. Nine rounds are planned, with the season opener on 27 February, semi-finals on 19 June and the grand final on 26 June.
 

THE FORMATION of a new representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is one step closer with the appointment of six people to an Ethics Council to oversee the process. 

THE stars turned out recently for the Melbourne premiere of the new movie Bran Nue Day. Based on Jimmy Chi's popular and historic stage play, the movie features a line-up of Indigenous talent including Ernie Dingo and Jessica Mauboy. Bran Nue Dae is in cinemas across the country now. 

BOARD members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation have been named. It will address trauma and healing in Indigenous communities, using Federal funding of $26.6 million over four years. An official launch date for the Foundation will be announced soon.

A MEETING of nearly 40 people in Western Australia has strongly supported the notion of an Aboriginal political party proposed by Koori former public servant Les Ridgeway. Leading the West Australian arm of the party is Yamatji man Phil Moncrieff, who told The Koori Mail support for the party was strong. 

THE Stolen Generation Alliance (SGA) has called for an urgent national inquiry into compensation payments made by governments to individuals or groups who have suffered because of government policies or actions. SGA National Chair Jim Morrison said the 'pittance' of payments were yet another injustice for Indigenous people.

ABORIGINAL health professional Mick Gooda has been appointed to the Australian Human Rights Commission as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. He will replace outgoing Commissioner Tom Calma next month.

COUNCIL worker and Wiradjuri father-of-four Alan Tumeth says he'll take legal action against his employer, the Gold Coast City Council, unless it puts a stop to what he says is ongoing racial bullying in his workplace, including being told repeatedly that Aboriginal people 'stank' and were nothing but lazy drunks. 

THE final section of the former Maralinga nuclear test site in remote South Australia returned to traditional owners will house a training facility for Aboriginal rangers tasked with caring for the former prohibited zone. The official return marked the end of a 50-year struggle for the Maralinga Tjarutja people.

PRESTON WHITE, who almost single-handedly won the Imparja Cup for Queensland last year, is a notable omission from the Queensland team to defend the cup in Alice Springs next month. Selectors apparently think it’s time for White, who plays grade cricket in Brisbane, to move to a higher level.

INDIGENOUS player Jessie Williams is the only Australian in a World American football (gridiron) team to play against 45 of the best high school seniors in the United States on 30 January. Williams, from Brisbane, plays in the defensive line with Arizona Western College.
 

AN outer Torres Strait Islands rugby league competition looks set to start this year. This follows a Queensland Rugby League (QRL) Northern Division summit hosted by Badu United Sporting Association at Badu Island just before Christmas. The summit examined the way forward for rugby league in the Torres Strait, Northern Peninsula Area, and Central Cape region.

EXCITING Darwin teenager Jaylene Bonson is on course to represent her country in two sports. The Casuarina Senior College 16-year-old has been named in the Australian under-18 women’s touch football side preparing for the 2011 World Youth Championships. Jaylene has also made the Australian under-17 basketball squad.

LEADERS in the Torres Strait have called on the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to visit them during king tide season in January, to see just how urgently they need $22 million in funding to help combat tidal inundation and coastal erosion.

LITTLE Sisters town camp last week became first of the Alice Springs town camps to receive a clean-up under the Federal Government's $150 million Alice Springs Transformation Plan. Camp resident Baden Williams welcomed the arrival of a team of about 50 workers to clear the camp of years of accumulated rubbish, from bottles to car bodies.

THE Walmajarri people of the Kimberley region have finally been able to rebury on country five of their ancestors whose remains were stolen by a Swedish anthropologist almost a century ago. The remains, which were amongst 14 remain repatriated by a Swedish museum in 2004, were reburied at Old Cherrabun Station near Fitzroy Crossing on 25 November. 

ABORIGINES in Tasmania have continued to protest the construction of a road, which they say will destroy Aboriginal heritage that is older than Egypt's pyramids. There have been more than 40 protester arrests for trespassing at the site, at the Brighton Bypass on the outskirts of Hobart.

A DEAL has been struck between the NT and WA governments to provide dialysis services in Alice Springs for patients from across the WA border, but the SA Government has refused to support the solution. Western Desert Dialysis Project manager Sarah Brown said the deal paved the way for affected patients to re-engage with health care services in the NT and receive life saving treatment.

CHANGES to the Australia Council's Indigenous organisations arts funding have been alternately welcomed and condemned. Ten Indigenous arts and cultural organisations are in line to receive substantial long-term funding following a two-year review into the Indigenous arts sector, but others have missed out on vital funding.

FORMER residents of the Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls Training Home in NSW have donated to the National Museum of Australia a painting gifted to them by artist Albert Namatjira more than 50 years ago. The watercolour's whereabouts were unknown until it was discovered hanging in a NSW government meeting room in 1996 by one of the former Cootamundra 'girls' Lola Edwards.

WONGATHA Elder Geoffrey Stokes says damage to country by uranium mining will be far greater than that of feral camels being culled in some parts of Australia. Mr Stokes, from the WA Goldfields region, says a State Government decision to overturn a previous ban on uranium mining places the environment at risk of contamination from any accidents when transporting the deadly material.

A UNIQUE arts program run in South Australia's Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands is being credited with reducing substance misuse among its young participants by 80 per cent. Eighteen young people from Ernabella and Amata took part in the APY Lands Project, which Carclew Youth Arts says also greatly increased participants’ engagement with education, employment and training.

A TRAINING course in youth work for young Koories at risk of contact with the criminal justice system is among ten programs receiving grants totalling $400,000 under the Victorian State Government's Aboriginal Justice Agreement (AJA). Share Your Story II will provide training to 12 young Kooris for a Certificate IV in Youth Work at Swinburne University.

THE Bundjalung Elders' Council Aboriginal Corporation - believed to be Australia's first established Elders' council - recently marked its 20th anniversary. The council was established in 1989 in response to Elders' concerns about a breakdown in cultural values, and today plays an important role in educating younger generations about Bundjalung history.

QUEENSLANDERS Wasie Toolis and Kertisha Thompson led the charge at the 2009 Australian All- Schools and Youth Athletic Championships in Hobart last month.

THERE was much fun to be had at the third Nunga Little Athletics day, Indigenous children took part in track and field events following basic training sessions earlier in the day.

THE 16th annual First Contact Sports and Cultural Festival kicked off last month with three days of footy and fun as families travelled from across the country, including a large contingent of international visitors.

ANTHONY Mundine has challenged Danny Green to a rematch that all Australian boxing fans want to see. Despite being four weight divisions apart, Mundine dared Green to step back in the ring for a sequel to the the 'Man versus Machine' showstopper in 2006.

FOR local Noby Clay the marathon journey from her Aboriginal community of Palm Island to Geelong in Victoria was worth it, coming away with a  win an Australian boxing title.