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A remote Aboriginal Health Service is struggling to attract staff to fill a fifth of its positions, despite one job being advertised for more than a year and a half.

The Bourke Aboriginal Health Service is desperate to fill five positions - four Aboriginal health workers and an eye health coordinator.

The most recent round of advertising failed to attract more than a few applications.

The service’s CEO, Judy Johnson, says the positions have attractive employment terms but the remoteness of the community seems to put applicants off.

“Because we are rural and remote it is extremely difficult to attract those people out here with those skills,” she said.

“The skilled up people tend to stay closer to the bigger cities and what it has meant to our community is that we haven’t go the services that is desperately needed on the ground and our community misses out.”

Ms Johnson says existing staff are trying to fill the gap.

“It’s an integral part of our community service, as it links up the eye health team that comes out from Prince of Wales Hospital, Fred Hollows old team, links them to the community and provides eye healthcare on a whole of service basis, to the whole community.”

An Aboriginal leader in The Hills area of north-western Sydney say he is concerned that the local council is about to backtrack on plans for an indigenous cultural centre.

When the 300-hectare Bidjigal Nature Reserve was set up four years ago, The Hills Shire Council promised to convert a disused scout hall into a cultural centre.

The bushland around the site has significant Aboriginal heritage.

But at a recent meeting the council agreed to consider a request by Rotary to use the scout hall as a mens centre.

The Darug custodian, Bundeluk says it was always understood that the disused hall was earmarked for the centre.

“It is the best site because we don’t want to have to knock down any bush,” he said.

The matter was deferred and The Hills Shire Mayor Larry Bolitho, says he believes the dispute can be resolved.

“I believe the community is big enough to accommodate both,” he said.

But the Darug custodian is not happy.

“I was very angry and I’m still angry that it’s only been deferred,” said Bundeluk.

The Council is expected to decide on the matter in February.

THEY call the offence “driving whilst black”.

“If you are white you can drive around Northern Territory towns like Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs and rarely get pulled up by the police,” said a lawyer, Glen Dooley. “But if you are black you can be pulled up regularly, given the police focus on Aboriginal people.”

Mr Dooley described as a “disgrace” the largely unnoticed statistic that 83 per cent of prisoners in the NT’s overcrowded jails are Aborigines.

He warned the rate of imprisonment - almost four times higher per capita than elsewhere in Australia - is set to increase because of “blinkered” government policies that focus on the perceived “barbarism” of Aborigines.

“Ninety-five per cent of a so-called crackdown on crime in the Territory appears to be a never-ending search to bully and shock people into mending their ways,” Mr Dooley said. It was hardly surprising the NT - which is “infamous for its mandatory sentencing policies” - leads the rest of Australia for locking up its citizens.

Mr Dooley cited the building of 18 police stations in remote communities under the federal indigenous intervention, plans for a $320 million, 1000-bed jail near Darwin and Australia’s toughest mandatory sentencing for violent crimes as measures hastening the criminalisation of Aborigines.

“The Government here is adopting policies that are politically popular but they are doing nothing to stop the spiralling rate of crime,” said the principal lawyer for the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency.

“Instead of sending increasing numbers of Aboriginal people to jail the Government should be providing better housing, health and education to help those who are struggling in life.”

Such people “do not see jail as a place of deprivation”.

But Chris Burns, the NT’s Minister for Justice, said the Government’s law and order policies were working, with a fall in the number of offences committed against the person.

Dr Burns said there were 199 fewer such offences in the September quarter - a 12 per cent decrease compared with the September quarter last year.

Mr Dooley told the Herald issues that were “fertile ground for mediation” or would have been settled by traditional law in the past now end up with charges before a magistrate at “sausage factory” bush courts.

Of 372 jail sentences for traffic offences in 2006-07, 359 were imposed on Aboriginal people. “Gauged from my personal and professional experiences, Aboriginal drivers are pulled over much more often than non-Aboriginal drivers.”

He said remote communities should have “activity best guided by trained coaches, youth workers, health workers, school-based support workers and the like”.

“Extra police were sent to communities under the intervention to protect children but we haven’t seen many charges resulting from that,” he said.

The Opposition’s justice spokeswoman, Jodeen Carney, said the Government’s policy of “simply banging people up in jail is doing nothing to change the mindset of offenders when they are on the inside”.

When Labor won office in 2001, she said, 60 per cent of prisoners were Aboriginal. Aborigines make up 30 per cent of the Territory’s population.

JESSICA MAUBOY was dressed to the nines, hanging out by the harbour - and happy to be there. “This is kinda where it started, from Australian Idol and being up there on the stairs and being runner-up, that’s kind [of] where my life just began, which is amazing,” she said.

Come Wednesday night, the 19-year-old singer won’t be quite so relaxed. Her first Sydney New Year’s Eve - she usually celebrates with her family in Darwin - will see her perform by the harbour as part of Channel Ten’s bill of entertainment.

She will perform two singles, Burn, which she co-wrote, and Running Back, which she wrote. “It’s taken about two years to put out this album and I’m glad that I took the time and didn’t rush it,” she said.

“Honestly, I love all the songs. I don’t think there’s one song on the album that I doubt.”

Mauboy had just wrapped filming for her role in Bran Nue Dae, an adaption of an indigenous musical also starring Ernie Dingo, Geoffrey Rush, Missy Higgins and Deborah Mailman that will be released in the middle of next year.

“It’s based in Broome in the ’60s, so you might see us wearing high-waisted coral denim but it’s very cultural and it’s a very joyous movie, and I was very lucky to be a part of it,” she said.

Her character, Rosie, is a young girl who dreams of a singing career - a case of art imitating life, perhaps.

Police in far north Queensland say they have foiled two attempts to smuggle large amounts of alcohol into remote Indigenous communities in Cape York for New Year’s Eve.

Alcohol management plans strictly limit the amount of alcohol allowed into the communities.

Police say they are remaining vigilant to sly-grogging in the lead-up to new year’s celebrations.

On Christmas Eve, four vehicles with alcohol on board tried to get into Pormpuraaw but were intercepted by police who found 63 cartons of beer and 70 bottles of spirits.

On the same night, 80 kilometres south of Kowanyama, another two vehicles were stopped with 21 cartons of beer and eight bottles of spirits seized.

Several people have been charged over both incidents and will appear in court at a later date.

Police Inspector Steve Kirsley says the seizures have kept community violence to a minimum over the holiday period.

Tightened alcohol restrictions in the Indigenous community of Yarrabah, near Cairns, start on January 2.

Police in far north Queensland say they have foiled two attempts to smuggle large amounts of alcohol into remote Indigenous communities in Cape York for New Year’s Eve.

Alcohol management plans strictly limit the amount of alcohol allowed into the communities.

Police say they are remaining vigilant to sly-grogging in the lead-up to new year’s celebrations.

On Christmas Eve, four vehicles with alcohol on board tried to get into Pormpuraaw but were intercepted by police who found 63 cartons of beer and 70 bottles of spirits.

On the same night, 80 kilometres south of Kowanyama, another two vehicles were stopped with 21 cartons of beer and eight bottles of spirits seized.

Several people have been charged over both incidents and will appear in court at a later date.

Police Inspector Steve Kirsley says the seizures have kept community violence to a minimum over the holiday period.

Tightened alcohol restrictions in the Indigenous community of Yarrabah, near Cairns, start on January 2.

Police are warning troublemakers at an Aboriginal settlement near Mildura they will not tolerate any further confrontations.

Eleven people were arrested at the weekend after a riot involving about 20 people at the Namatjira Avenue mission at Dareton.

It is the second riot in three weeks at the mission.

Bail has been refused for the majority of those charged and they will appear in court again on January 6.

Inspector Kylie Smith from Dareton police says the trouble has been fuelled by alcohol, but she wants to tackle the underlying causes.

“We need to look at the long-term solution in relation to the problems occurring in the mission at the moment,” she said.

“We are looking at meeting with local elders, also I have arranged a meeting with Murdi Paaki Housing corporation in relation to housing in the area and I would also like to meet with the land council to address some of the social issues.”

The Catholic Education Office (CEO) says a $2.3 billion commitment to Indigenous education should help improve literacy standards in remote Queensland communities.

The money from the Federal Government is available from the start of the new year.

Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard says it will help lift the performance of Indigenous students.

CEO spokesman Phillip Dreise says the money needs to be spent in the right way.

“The Federal Government should be looking at employing people to work one-on-one with Indigenous students, especially in the early years, to try to bridge that gap so the gap doesn’t get larger as the students get older,” he said.

“I really think the Government should employ people at a local area to help with Indigenous students.”

The Northern Territory Government says it’s on track to have a new policy framework for Aboriginal outstations by June next year.

The Government assumed responsibility for 500 outstations in July and a review of the services being provided is now underway.

The first stage of the report is expected to be released in February, before an audit of population and infrastructure gets underway in March.

The Deputy Chief Minister Marion Scrymgour says the consultation process has encouraged debate about how the outstations can be used more productively.

“There are homelands that are viable, unfortunately we have a whole lot of outstations that aren’t viable, and we’ve gotta look at what are the opportunities that we can take and do, to utilise that unused infrastructure that is out there in those remote communities.”

The Government has also suggested virtual schooling as a means to deal with the teacher shortage in the outstations.

The Government is struggling to ensure children on outstations get access to education, and the issue is also part of the review of outstations.

Ms Scrymgour, who is also the Education Minister, says the idea of virtual schooling has been welcomed so far.

“Talking to a lot of communities and homeland centres about this, everyone is excited about it. Everyone can see that access can be overcome through the virtual schooling modelling.”

Businesses are maintaining their commitment to an employment project for Aboriginal Australians, despite the faltering fortunes of the project’s chief promoter, Andrew Forrest.

Last week, Mr Forrest’s company, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), suffered its sharpest drop in value in two months.

But a member of the Australian Employment Covenant for Indigenous people says that Mr Forrest and the rest of the business supporters remain committed to the initiative.

Mr Forrest and his executives have remained confident that Fortescue’s downturn will not last.

This is how executive director Graeme Rowley recently described the situation.

“Losing value for the company in any marketplace gives rise to levels of uncertainty,” he said.

“It’s demonstrably showing us that out there in the marketplace, there’s a lack of interest in resource stocks, and that’s unfortunate because the fundamentals of the business are still extremely sound.”

FMG’s share price has taken a hammering since it reached a high in June. On December 22, the price dropped by more than 20 per cent.

Along with trying to boost the value of his ailing company, Mr Forrest has been leading the Indigenous employment strategy known as the Australian Employment Covenant.

Covenant team member Wesley Aird says FMG is totally separate.

“We launched the Covenant on October 30 at Kirribilli House, we’re up around the 7,000 to 8,000 jobs that have been promised, and there’s a dozen more companies that we’re talking with at the moment,” he said.

“So we’re quite hopeful that we’ll get off to the New Year with some big numbers then as well.”

Mr Aird praised Mr Forrest’s efforts in helping the Covenant.

“FMG is quite separate from the Australian Employment Covenant. Andrew has been fantastic over the last few weeks,” he said

“He’s had a lot on this plate and yet he’s found time to help out with the road show that’s happened over the last two weeks.

“There’s no doubt about his personal commitment to overcoming Indigenous disadvantage.”

Mr Aird says Fortescue remains committed to the jobs it has promised for Indigenous people.

He says this is also true of other companies that have been hit by the financial crisis.

“There is tremendous amount of corporate goodwill, the heroes in this story have been all of those companies that are showing some real leadership in spite of what we hear about on the news with the global economic conditions,” he said.

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) says the Northern Territory Government should not build a new prison in the Top End unless it gets a mandate at the next election.

The Government announced plans to replace the existing jail at Berrimah during the last election campaign, but is yet to announce the preferred site.

But NAAJA’s principal lawyer Glen Dooley says he doesn’t think a new multi-million dollar prison will reduce crime rates in the Territory.

He says the $320 million would be better spent on education and rehabilitation.

“I think the public want to see the crime rate go down and it’s not going to be the result of more prisons and police stations.

“It’s going to be a result of a better standard of living for all Territorians.

“The money should be spent on better housing, better health services, better education.

“I mean the “Little Children are Sacred” report talked about getting pre-schools out in the bush, (but) we’ve got police stations going out the bush as a result of this intervention, not pre-schools.

“They need pre-schools and primary schools where kids get a start. And a real chance to develop.”

He predicts residents will begin to question their choice in government when crime rates don’t come down.

But the Territory Government says it plans to go ahead with building the prison before the next election.