The Director of Youth Affairs Network of Queensland, Siyavash Doostkhah today slammed the Howard emergency plan for Aboriginal communities, saying "this is a repeat of the children overboard saga which helped Howard to retain power in the last election".

"If the Government was serious about addressing disadvantage, then it would, among other actions, be negotiating a Treaty with the First Australians. A Treaty would be the only genuine way that the Australian Government could show it is committed to treating Indigenous Australians fairly and as equal citizens."

KANYINI is a story told by an Aboriginal man, Bob Randall, who lives beside the greatest monolith in the world, Uluru in Central Australia.   Based on Bob's own personal journey and the wisdom he learnt from the old people living in the bush, Bob tells the tale of why Indigenous people are now struggling in a modern world and what needs to be done for Indigenous people to move forward.

This is a map of Aboriginal Australia, created by Dr David Horton and produced by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.  You can access it at the AIATSIS website here.

The map indicates only the general location of larger groupings of people. The larger groups may include smaller groups such as clans, dialects or individual languages in a group.

Healthy Vibes is a website with information on health issues for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Speech delivered at the YANQ Conference, 2005

In this speech ( transcript here) Dr Zohl de Ishtar discusses the impact of racism on the futures of young Indigenous people in Central Australia. Dr de Ishtar argues that

"[c]ultural racism is so ubiquitous and invasive that those of us who are part of the dominant culture (that is on the delivery end) often fail to recognise it. It occurs when dominant cultural norms are taken for granted, when dominant systems and lifeways – our structures (or institutions) and ways of doing and being (our customs and practices) – are simply assumed to be the norm."

Download the transcript from http://is.gd/aLmLv.

Slides from a Speech delivered at the YANQ Conference, 2005

In this presentation ( slides here), Chelsea Bond discusses:

• Construction of Aboriginality
• Community development & engaging communities
• The role of young people in community decision making processes

Download the slides from: http://is.gd/aLjsx.

This report investigates early intervention and diversionary practices to prevent offending by Indigenous young people who have a cognitive disability and/or a mental health problem.

The Australian Human Rights Commission told a conference in Sydney recently that Australia's current way of dealing with Indigenous young offenders is not working and it's time to take a whole new approach. In particular, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma suggested the Justice Reinvestment Model as a model that was working overseas.

This paper attempts to identify Commonwealth expenditure in the area of Indigenous affairs over the 40 years from 1968 to 2008 and to plot that expenditure by agency.

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has recently released a report - Does circle sentencing reduce Aboriginal offending?

• View Media release
• View PDF version of report "Does circle sentencing reduce Aboriginal offending?" (pdf 312Kb).

The Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (the Strategy) 2000–2004 was an Australian Government initiative funded by the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) to help build family and community capacity to deal with challenges and take advantage of opportunities. In 2002, a consortium led by CIRCLE (the Collaborative Institute for Research Consulting and Learning in Evaluation) at RMIT University was commissioned by FaCS to undertake a national evaluation of the Strategy.

This report discusses what has been learned from the Strategy 2000–2004 about how to strengthen Indigenous families and communities.

Book Review by John Tomlinson.  First Posted Wednesday, 20 February 2008 at On Line Opinion.

Coercive reconciliation, Altman, J. & Hinkson, M. (eds.) [2007] Arena, North Carlton.

Coercive reconciliation is an outstanding book which deserves to be read by every politician, bureaucrat, social worker, nurse, doctor, community worker, employee of Territory Indigenous organisations and others who have an interest in non-Indigenous/Aboriginal relations.

The following statement was made by the Prime Minister, the Honourable Kevin Rudd MP, in the Parliament of Australia at 9am on Wednsesday February 13th, 2008.

I move:

That today we honour the indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

Earlier in August (2007) the Federal Government (with the Oppositions approval) passed the legislation that overrides the Racial Discrmination Act and allows Indigenous Land to be 'acquired', again.  Members of the Social Action Office were in Canberra at the time.  Here's their account:

If you would like to take action related to the Federal Government's takeover of Indigenous Communities , consider the following sites:

• For information on the campaign to achieve comparable health outcomes for Indigenous Australians see the Close the Gap campaign by GetUp:  http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/CloseTheGap&id=28.  The campaign is based on a Policy Briefing Paper produced by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and Oxfam Australia.  (For a copy of the Paper see: http://www.oxfam.org.au/media/files/CTG.pdf).
• ACOSS has developed an email letter, loosely based on the Combined Aboriginal Organisations' response, which you can send to your local Federal MP and State/Territory Senators through http://www.acoss.org.au/Action.aspx
• SNAICC (the national peak body for Indigenous children) is asking people to write personal letters to key decision makers.  Their paper suggests some of the main points you might want to make!  See their paper on Developing a National Response to Child Abuse and Neglect (release 12 July 2007).
• Governments SAY they are committed to strengthening Aboriginal communities so they can live in peace and harmony ... but then take away their power when it comes to caring for their land. We can't have it both ways!  Supporting traditional owners' right to protect their land is inextricably linked to enabling communities to address issues such as child abuse.  Please think about signing, and circulating, this petition to help support Kokatha Traditional Owners in maintaining fresh water in the Artesian Basin.  To sign the petition: http://www.geocities.com/healthykokatha For mor information contact: healthykokotha@yahoo.com.au

Source: Suzi Quixley

Non-Aboriginal contractors at the Territory’s largest Aboriginal town, Yuendumu, three weeks ago bulldozed a corrugated iron shelter, home to a couple and their seven month old daughter. The object of the exercise? To build a residence for one of the federally-funded outside employees being parachuted into some 70-odd Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

Read the rest of this article by Anna Lamboys at Crikey - http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070926-Broughs-bulldozing-backyard-blitz.html.

The last Young Indigenous Leaders Forum was held over two days on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 May in Brisbane, and involved twenty young Indigenous people from across Queensland.  This year the forum also included participation by three young South African people as part of the South African Youth Exchange program.

In the last week of June 2007 the Commonwealth Government announced it was taking 'emergency measures' to overcome violence, child abuse and alcohol abuse in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

For information on
Places to take action
click here.

The measures being taken were in response to the Northern Territory Government's report entitled Little children are sacred: Report of the NT Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse.

The response to the Prime Minister's announcement has been mixed.  Below we include some of these responses.

This report from Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) shows that Indigenous-led health care initiatives often get the best results. The stories demonstrate that progress in improving Indigenous health is achieved when there is significant engagement with the Indigenous communities concerned and appropriate funding and support provided.

Read the full text of Success stories in Indigenous health (PDF file).

Source: Australian Policy Online

During the last week of August (2007) a number of articles appeared on Crikey , claiming that as part of the Federal Takeover of Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory, the Commonwealth Government plans to seize assets of Aboriginal organisations and rent those same assets back to them.  Crikey also reports that roughly 8,000 Indigenous workers employed under CDEP programs will be effectively fired, moved onto social security payments instead and new jobs founds for only 2000 of them.

Saving children's lives is a matter of long-term will

You can't protect children without supporting and involving their community, argues FIONA STANLEY, director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

Read Fiona Stanley's full argument at http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/comment_results.chtml?filename_num=170255.

Oxfam Australia and Prof. Jon Altman from Australian National University's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research have examined the proposed legislation and how it affects the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.

The report can be downloaded from: http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/indigenous/docs/land-rights-altman.pdf

Suzi Quixley has worked in the Human Services industry for 30+ years.  On her website Suzi has compiled a range of responses to the Federal Takeover of Indigenous Communities and other relevant papers.

You can access Suzi's list at http://www.suziqconsulting.com.au/invasion_of_aboriginal_communities.htm.  The articles which Suzi has listed that are not included in YANQ's own collection of responses, are listed below (with Suzi's own words).

Pearson. Great tool for the Howard Government. Very poor Aboriginal Leader.

By Aletha Penrith

I am an Aboriginal Woman, mother to three and current Youth Reconciliation representative for NSW. Previously, I represented the metropolitan area of Sydney on the Aboriginal Youth Justice Advisory Network; a junior section of AJAC, that comments and implements social policy for Indigenous Youth, among other things.

Mental health and other professionals inexperienced at working with Indigenous clients struggle with the limits of their cultural awareness, with language barriers and with the historical legacies of mistrust and misunderstanding. Cultural competency is more than sharing a joke. So what is it? And how can psychologists, doctors and others acquire it?

The Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT (CAO-NT) have responded to the Federal Government's interventions to address child abuse in the NT.

Source: Commission for Children and Young People 

The Child Guardian Report 2006 has revealed Indigenous children in out-of-home care are over-represented in the number of serious concerns raised about their quality of care.

The report, released by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian, reports on children and young people in the child safety system in Queensland.

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission's (NATSIEC) position statement on Child abuse intervention by Federal Government.

NATSIEC completely supports action to end child abuse, wherever it is found. We have long been calling on the Government to hear the pleas of Aboriginal people and to take action to assist them in addressing the woeful conditions that plague their communities; to address issues of lack of health care, lack of proper education, lack of adequate housing and the high rate of violence, abuse and alcohol related issues. While it is tragic that these Aboriginal voices have been ignored for so long and are now being characterized as being part of the failure, we see this change of heart from the Federal Government as an opportunity to make a real and dramatic improvement to the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Howard's New Tampa - Aboriginal Children Overboard

By Jennifer Martiniello.

Howard's new Tampa children overboard are our Aboriginal children. The Little Children are Sacred report does not advocate physically and psychologically invasive examinations of Aboriginal children, which could only be carried out anally and vaginally. It does not recommend scrapping the permit system to enter Aboriginal lands, nor does it recommend taking over Aboriginal 'towns' by enforced leases. These latter two points in the Howard scheme hide the true reason for the Federal Government's use of the latest report for blatant political opportunism.

What I would do If I were the Prime Minister

by Judy Atkinson.

JUDY ATKINSON has been writing about violence in remote communities for two decades. Here she responds to measures announced by the prime minister last week

I WOKE up this morning with a sense of doom. What was wrong? Yes. I remember! The prime minister has announced that he is “sending in the troops.” He has declared, in effect, a National Emergency.

Read the rest at Australian Policy Online...

Comparing the Recommendations to the Government's Response

IAN ANDERSON compares the federal government's response to the Little Children Are Sacred report with the authors' recommendations.

Media Release from the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Care (SNAICC)

Released 22 June 2007

SNAICC Chairperson Ms Muriel Bamblett has called for proper consultation by the federal government with Indigenous child and family services, expressing concerns that the policies the government will put in place are not the comprehensive child protection plan required to turn around abuse in remote communities.

Open letter to The Hon. Mal Brough MP

Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600 

Dear Minister Brough

The undersigned organisations write this joint and open letter in order to convey our views on action required to stop the abuse of children in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, and our concerns about aspects of the Australian Government's response to this problem as outlined in your statement of 21 June 2007.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma

This statement was made on June 22, 2007.

I have been calling for governments to turn commitments into action so I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to tackle violence and child and alcohol abuse in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. I, like all Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, want to see every Indigenous child enjoying the basic right to live free from violence in a safe and supportive home and community.

By John Tomlinson.  First published in On Line Opinion on June 29, 2007.

The first Howard Government Budget 1996-7 removed $400 million from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. In 2004 he abolished the Commission in its entirety.

Howard claimed he was going to solve the practical problems which prevented Indigenous people taking their place in modern Australia. He claimed he would end “dependence on welfare”. Howard attacked those he accused of promoting a black armband version of history. He refused to say “Sorry” to the stolen generations. He consistently argued that issues of symbolic importance to Indigenous people paled into insignificance when compared with his determination to seek practical solutions to the problems facing the Aboriginal community. 

This speech by Professor Lowitja O'Donoghue was  given on the 24th of May, 2007 at a forum in Canberra to mark the Tenth Anniversary of the Bringing Them Home Report.  The forum was hosted by the Stolen Generations Alliance: Australians for Healing, Truth and Justice , in the Great Hall of Parliament.