ICNN

The Northern Territory Opposition says the Government must explain why the number of houses it has promised to build in several remote Aboriginal communities appears to have decreased.

Government press releases from last year said there would be 80 houses built on Groote Eylandt and 90 on the Tiwi Islands under the federally funded SIHIP housing program.

The Opposition Leader, Terry Mills, says subsequent press releases show those numbers have slipped significantly, with 55 earmarked for Groote Eylandt and 29 for the Tiwis.

“It’s simply time to tell the truth,” Mr Mills said.

“This deception cannot continue.”

The Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, says it is difficult to say how many houses will be built in each community.

“The exact number of houses that need to be either rebuilt, upgraded, refurbished, aren’t known until we’re on the ground.”

But he says he will give an ironclad guarantee that a total of 750 houses will be built across remote communities in the Territory.

The federal Country Liberal Senator, Nigel Scullion, says the Territory Government should never have been allowed to administer a $672 million SIHIP project.

Mr Scullion says the Territory Government has stuffed-up the project and the Territory Housing Minister, Rob Knight, is not up to the job.

“Clearly it appears that since the provision of these funds to the Northern Territory Government so little has happened that in hindsight it would’ve been much better for the Commonwealth to administer the program.

“There is no doubt about that.”

Australian National University chancellor Kim Beazley says the spirit of reconciliation adopted by the university can be applied at the Australian War Memorial.

The War Memorial has faced criticism for failing to adequately recognise the contribution Indigenous people have made to the nation’s wartime history.

Mr Beazley, who was recently appointed to the War Memorial Council, says reconciliation can be applied across the whole community.

“There have been Indigenous soldiers in all our wars, fighting for Australia, the first Japanese prisoner of war taken was taken by an Indigenous person who was not a soldier, that is on Australian soil I should say,” he said.

“So there’s a story to be told and I certainly will take an interest on the Council, the way in which the Memorial carries the discussion of Indigenous Australians.”

The Northern Territory Minister for Central Australia says he shares many of the concerns raised by an NT politician who is threatening to quit Labor over Indigenous housing issues.

The Indigenous Policy Minister, Alison Anderson, made the threat last week in protest against the funding priorities of the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program.

Karl Hampton says he has been involved in three briefings, including one during this week’s Cabinet meeting, but he has not yet seen figures on how much a new house in a remote area is going to cost.

“I want to make sure we’re committed to the 750 new homes that are going to be built and we’ve been saying that we’re going to deliver, as a local Member and as the Minister for Central Australia, make sure those are delivered,” he said.

A group of prominent Australians, including swimming champion Ian Thorpe and Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson, has taken out advertisements in a national newspaper calling on the Federal Government to stop moves to acquire control of town camps in Alice Springs.

The Government has urged the Tangentyere Council, which manages 16 of the town camps, to sign a lease in exchange for $100 million in funding for housing and infrastructure.

The council yesterday agreed to sign the lease, just days before the Government’s deadline for compulsory acquisition.

Today’s advertisement, headlined “Stop the Blackmail – Keep Aboriginal Housing in Aboriginal Hands”, is published in the The Australian newspaper.

“We, concerned citizens, call on the federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, to immediately end moves to compulsorily acquire the Alice Springs town camps, represented by Tangentyere Council,” it states.

“Tangentyere Council is a democratic organisation that has been the only service provider to the town camps since their inception.”

It concludes: “We stand behind Tangentyere Council’s refusal to capitulate in the face of racial discrimination.

“All Australians will be diminished if the compulsory acquisition proceeds.”

Other names and organisations listed on the advertisement include lawyer George Newhouse and the CFMEU.

‘Dirty little secret’

In a speech in London earlier this month, Thorpe said Aboriginal living conditions were Australia’s “dirty little secret”.

“Australia’s grim record on health care for Indigenous people is by far the worst of any developed nation,” he said.

Two Alice Springs town camps not managed by Tangentyere Council have decided they want compulsory acquisition to go ahead.

Their plan is to convert the two camps into freehold so they will become part of the town plan of Alice Springs.

The chief executive of the Lhere Artepe association, which represents the native title holders of Alice Springs, is Darryl Pearce.

He says their plan will pave the way for commercial development and will allow town camp residents to one day think about owning their own homes.

A group of prominent Australians, including swimming champion Ian Thorpe and Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson, has taken out advertisements in a national newspaper calling on the Federal Government to stop moves to acquire control of town camps in Alice Springs.

The Government has urged the Tangentyere Council, which manages 16 of the town camps, to sign a lease in exchange for $100 million in funding for housing and infrastructure.

The council yesterday agreed to sign the lease, just days before the Government’s deadline for compulsory acquisition.

Today’s advertisement, headlined “Stop the Blackmail – Keep Aboriginal Housing in Aboriginal Hands”, is published in the The Australian newspaper.

“We, concerned citizens, call on the federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, to immediately end moves to compulsorily acquire the Alice Springs town camps, represented by Tangentyere Council,” it states.

“Tangentyere Council is a democratic organisation that has been the only service provider to the town camps since their inception.”

It concludes: “We stand behind Tangentyere Council’s refusal to capitulate in the face of racial discrimination.

“All Australians will be diminished if the compulsory acquisition proceeds.”

Other names and organisations listed on the advertisement include lawyer George Newhouse and the CFMEU.

‘Dirty little secret’

In a speech in London earlier this month, Thorpe said Aboriginal living conditions were Australia’s “dirty little secret”.

“Australia’s grim record on health care for Indigenous people is by far the worst of any developed nation,” he said.

Two Alice Springs town camps not managed by Tangentyere Council have decided they want compulsory acquisition to go ahead.

Their plan is to convert the two camps into freehold so they will become part of the town plan of Alice Springs.

The chief executive of the Lhere Artepe association, which represents the native title holders of Alice Springs, is Darryl Pearce.

He says their plan will pave the way for commercial development and will allow town camp residents to one day think about owning their own homes.

The Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia is fighting moves to give courts the power to reveal the details of juvenile offenders.

The Government will introduce legislation later this year to give courts the power to impose prohibitive behaviour orders.

That could include offenders being banned from the scene of their crime, and having their name and picture published in local papers and at railway stations.

But Dennis Eggington from the ALS says the state has an obligation to protect children.

“We’ve got an international obligation to some of the signatories that were put in place at the United Nations,” he said.

“The rights of the child is a convention that we’re a signatory to and this kind of thing just breaches our international obligations and shouldn’t even be considered.”

Mr Eggington says children should not be treated the same as adults.

“We’re getting quickly to the place in the state where we’re starting to try juveniles like adults and I think that’s wrong,” he said.

“We need to be trying to encourage juveniles to do the right thing. It doesn’t do anything to help give positive messages to these young kids.”

‘Badge of honour’

The shadow attorney-general, John Quigley, says naming juvenile offenders will only encourage more criminal activity.

“This can be counterproductive because some of these people can see the publication of their photos as badges of honour. You’ve got to be very careful with the sentencing of juveniles,” he said.

Mr Quigley, says increased punishment is not the answer.

“I don’t think that the juveniles, those sort of juveniles, will give a fig,” he said.

“You’ve got to be very, very careful about the law of unintended consequence. We’ve first got to try and rehabilitate them as best we can before they become adults.”

The Government hopes to introduce the legislation to Parliament before the end of the year

Two town camps in Alice Springs are likely to be forcibly taken over by the Federal Government.

Yesterday the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, announced 16 camps had accepted a 40-year lease deal with the Commonwealth worth $100 million.

In May this year, Ms Macklin threatened to compulsorily acquire the camps after lease negotiations collapsed.

Darryl Pearce from the Native Title body Lhere Artepe, which represents the residents of the Trucking Yards and the Golders camps, wants compulsory acquisition to go ahead.

“If there is compulsory acquisition and people are entitled to fair and just compensation, it will go to each of the housing associations.

“It is their decision as to what they want to do with it.

“We’re not going to be running off to court.

“We’re not going to be arguing the pedantic of it all.

“We’re saying to Jenny [Macklin], ‘Come on, let’s do it’.

“People’s lives need to change. We need to change people’s lives now.”

Helen Kantawarra, from the Trucking Yards Camp, says the decision not to sign leases is also cultural.

“We all know that we have a strong, very strong obligation as custodians to look after that land and it’s been handed down for many many generations.”

A joint statement released yesterday by the Federal and Territory Governments said: “Lhere Artepe, the organisation representing Traditional Owners and residents in these two town camps, would like compulsory acquisition to proceed to allow home ownership and commercial development.”

“Further discussions with Lhere Artepe and the residents will occur over the next few days.”

Two town camps in Alice Springs are likely to be forcibly taken over by the Federal Government.

Yesterday the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, announced 16 camps had accepted a 40-year lease deal with the Commonwealth worth $100 million.

In May this year, Ms Macklin threatened to compulsorily acquire the camps after lease negotiations collapsed.

Darryl Pearce from the Native Title body Lhere Artepe, which represents the residents of the Trucking Yards and the Golders camps, wants compulsory acquisition to go ahead.

“If there is compulsory acquisition and people are entitled to fair and just compensation, it will go to each of the housing associations.

“It is their decision as to what they want to do with it.

“We’re not going to be running off to court.

“We’re not going to be arguing the pedantic of it all.

“We’re saying to Jenny [Macklin], ‘Come on, let’s do it’.

“People’s lives need to change. We need to change people’s lives now.”

Helen Kantawarra, from the Trucking Yards Camp, says the decision not to sign leases is also cultural.

“We all know that we have a strong, very strong obligation as custodians to look after that land and it’s been handed down for many many generations.”

A joint statement released yesterday by the Federal and Territory Governments said: “Lhere Artepe, the organisation representing Traditional Owners and residents in these two town camps, would like compulsory acquisition to proceed to allow home ownership and commercial development.”

“Further discussions with Lhere Artepe and the residents will occur over the next few days.”

The Queensland Natural Resources Minister has welcomed the Federal Court’s decision to grant two groups of traditional owners native title rights over areas of western Cape York.

The ruling recognises the native title rights and interests of the Wik and Wik Way people over more than 1,000 square kilometres of land and water between Aurukun and Weipa in the state’s far north.

Stephen Robertson says it is Queensland’s 45th successful native title determination.

He says he is pleased the matter was resolved without a trial.

“To go down another path that is via litigation just adds significant costs to the process, makes people angry and certainly lengthens the period of time taken before traditional Indigenous owners can finally get official recognition of the traditional ownership of their land,” he said.

Mr Robertson has urged the Federal Government to look at how successful native title negotiations have been in Queensland as part of its review of the system.

He says it shows resolutions can be reached without litigation.

“We say our model in Queensland does in fact work and that the Commonwealth should look at the way that we resolve these issues and not in terms of any changes that they wish to make and in effect throw the baby out with the bathwater and make it more difficult to reach consent determinations,” he said.

The Chief Justice says Western Australia’s suicide rate is 50 per cent worse than the road toll, but gets much less attention.

Wayne Martin has addressed the Blank Page Summit on Suicide at Billard, about 120 kilometres north of Broome, where two young men took their lives.

The Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, opened the conference on Monday with a pledge to meet organisers and discuss their recommendations later in the year.

More than 200 delegates, including Health Minister Kim Hames and the coroner Alastair Hope, are spending five days trying to identify ways to reduce Indigenous suicide rates.

Chief Justice Wayne Martin has told the ABC 720′s Mornings program the problem is very significant.

“The recorded suicides, which are probably less than real ones, each year in Western Australia are about 300. That compares to the road toll of about 200, so the suicide rate is about 50 per cent more than the road toll,” he said.

“You know how much we talk and how much money we spend on the road toll but the suicide toll is 50 per cent higher.”

Mr Martin says young Aboriginal men are grossly over-represented.

“They are not exclusively or predominantly in those numbers but the are significantly over-represented just as they are in the criminal justice system,” he said.

He says Indigenous suicide is a complex issue.

“There is no single causative factor so it follows there’s no single solution. It’s really an interaction of all areas of disadvantage that are experienced by Aboriginal people,” he said.

The summit’s organiser, Mary O’Reeri, says there is a sense that real progress is being made.

“It’s been really wonderful, the atmosphere’s fantastic,” she said.

“The minds and the group of people that were able to come here is really excited and wanting to put something so good and so realistic, in terms of the outcomes, of what we want to achieve.”

An Aboriginal women’s group is urging the West Australian Government to force petrol stations to introduce non-sniffable fuel in the Goldfields.

The NPY Women’s Council says petrol sniffing rates in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, particularly in Warburton, are increasing.

The council’s chairwoman, Margaret Smith, blames the refusal of some Goldfields petrol stations to stock the non-sniffable Opal fuel.

In March, a Senate committee recommended Commonwealth legislation be drafted to force retailers to stock Opal fuel if they did not start supplying it voluntarily within six months.

Ms Smith says that is too long for communities to wait.

“We’re talking about young people here, very young children are doing it,” she said.

The council says the Federal Government should force Goldfields stations to start stocking the fuel immediately.

The Greens say the federal Indigenous Affairs Minister ignored their advice to call in an independent mediator to negotiate town camp leases in Alice Springs.

Minister Jenny Macklin threatened to compulsorily acquire the camps if they did not sign a 40-year lease in exchange for $100 million in housing upgrades.

A resident has now launched legal proceedings against the Minister, claiming she has not properly consulted with town camp residents about the possible takeover.

The Greens’ spokeswoman on Aboriginal issues, Rachel Siewert, says the Minister could have avoided a court battle.

“That does not indicate goodwill on the Minister’s behalf, I don’t think, because she resorted to her powers of being able to resume those leases which we don’t believe is appropriate,” she said.

“We don’t believe it’s appropriate to override the Racial Discrimination Act, which is essentially what she’s doing.”