ICNN

Frank Sebastian’s 72-year-year old body shook as he addressed the crowd and dabbed his weather-beaten face with a hanky.

“It’s took a long time for us to get here. It’s took us over 16 years.” he said quietly into the microphone.

“Some people reckon it’s a big deal. Well, I reckon it’s bigger than Ben Hur.”

It was a welcome to country ceremony loaded with significance for the Broome community.

After 16 years of negotiations with a succession of State Governments, the Yawuru people signed a deal that they say offers them a real shot at improving the conditions in which they live, in land that was legally found to be there’s.

When the Yawuru people were awarded native title by the Federal court in 1994, they were handed a powerful asset - the land covering the Western Australian tourism town of Broome.
The town is booming and land is in short supply.

The Yawuru have essentially cashed in that asset in a way they hope will improve the lot of future generations.

Under the deal, the native title holders will release almost 2000 hectares of land for housing, industry and tourism development.

In exchange, they’ve secured a similar amount of land within the township as well as $56 million dollars tied to housing and job creation programs.

Mr Sebastian’s was one of hundreds of beaming faces, all beaded with sweat, to witness the deal being formalised in a signing ceremony.

The smell of charred sausages drifted across the park and local school children serenaded the crowd in the Yawuru language.

But for elders like Mr Sebastian (or Gudjai as he’s known locally) the celebration marks the start of a long journey converting the Yawuru’s nest egg into practical improvement for their people.

The Challenges Ahead

When Yawuru Corporation Chairman and former Australian of the Year Pat Dodson speaks, people tend to listen.

At the signing ceremony, he spoke on his home turf and with great passion.

“I think it’d be pretty hard to explain how we feel today,” he told the assembled media.

” I describe my feelings as having come out of a locked room after about 14 years and throwing the window open and seeing that the world is still there.”

He’s quick to emphasise that this is no cash-in-hand deal.

“We now have physical assets and benefits. We now have opportunities but we also have burdens in terms of the commercial burden.”

The $197 million package of land and cash will be controlled by a specially formed company with five directors, two of whom are independent.

The board includes Pat Dodson, Peter Yu and the former Kimberley magistrate, Antoine Bloemen.

Their shareholders are the 3000 Yawuru claimants, many of whom are in serious need of what Mr Dodson calls “a foothold in the Broome economy.”

Broome is a remarkably harmonious place but the gulf in living conditions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents is staggering.

The curves of Roebuck Bay and Cable Beach are dotted with shimmering resorts but nestled in the dunes are dozens of humpies and semi-permanent camps.

The sand is often littered with the ubiquitous ‘green cans’ and a tarpaulin stretched between bushes is usually the only shelter from the harsh Kimberley sun.

Less visible, but equally as dire, is the overcrowding of the battered state houses in Old Broome.

Broome real estate prices do not favour those on the pension or basic wage and bodies often spill out on mattresses in front-yards in the few public houses on offer.

These are just some of the challenges facing the Yawuru as they contemplate their windfall.

In the meantime, Mr Dodson is allowing himself a brief moment to savour the achievement.

“Today is reward for our patience and commitment to the fight for the recognition of the Yawuru people in this country.”

“It is some justice for our community, which was pushed to the fringes of the Broome town, and for the exclusion of our people from the full enjoyment of life in this town for almost a century. ”

THE Northern Territory government has moved to allay concerns that interstate patients needing life-saving dialysis are being turned away from its hospitals, saying all urgent cases will continue to be treated.

The Alice Springs Hospital was the scene of controversy earlier this week when it emerged that an Aboriginal elder who had travelled from her home in northern South Australia for dialysis faced having to travel hundreds of kilometres to be treated in her home state.

Nura Ward said she wanted to receive her treatment in Alice Springs — a five-hour drive from her home in Ernabella — rather than face a 20-hour trip to Adelaide.

But after the South Australian government rejected suggestions it was to blame for the impasse, the Northern Territory government has sought to defend itself from suggestions it has made different arrangements for Central Australians who come from Western Australia as opposed to South Australia.

A spokeswoman for South Australian Health Minister John Hill said the southern state had been paying more than $1 million a year for its residents to receive dialysis treatment in the Territory, and this would continue for pre-existing patients.

However, to manage soaring demand, both governments had agreed that future dialysis patients would be treated in South Australia, she said. Port Augusta and Whyalla dialysis facilities had been upgraded to handle the extra load, and other options were being considered to provide dialysis services on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands from where Ms Ward comes .

But a West Australian health department spokeswoman confirmed a separate agreement with the Territory allowed residents of north and east Warburton to receive dialysis treatment in Alice Springs — regardless of whether they were new or existing patients.

SCHOOL students will learn about Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, Chinese medicine and natural therapies but not meet the periodic table of elements until Year 10 under the new national science curriculum.

The curriculum, obtained by The Weekend Australian, directs that students from primary school through to Year 10 be taught the scientific knowledge of different cultures, primarily indigenous culture, including sustainable land use and traditional technologies.

The indigenous strand is part of a topic called Science and Culture examining different cultural groups and their perspectives on science.

The curriculum, to be released on Monday for public consultation, sets out a course of study from kindergarten to Year 10 that takes in physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences but teaches them as one rather than in separate disciplines.

The curriculum is organised into three inter-related strands of science: inquiry skills, about the collection of data; science as a human endeavour, about the history and nature of science; and science understanding, which teaches fundamental concepts.

Australian scientists and their discoveries are prominent in the curriculum, with students at different years learning about Nobel Prize-winners including Ian Frazer and the cervical cancer vaccine, Alexander Fleming and Howard Florey and the rise of penicillin and antibiotics, as well as scientists such as Graeme Clarke and the bionic ear. The curriculum has had to take account of the different year levels for high school, which starts in Year 8 in some states and Year 7 elsewhere, and as a result the curriculums for those years are more general in content, covering public health guidelines, the law and science, sustainability and recycling, with less experiment-based work than in some existing state curriculums.

The periodic table of elements is not introduced until Year 10, when the curriculum is packed with scientific ideas including DNA, genetics, evolution, the universe and plate tectonics.

“Specific knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is incorporated where it relates to science and relevant phenomena, particularly knowledge and understanding of nature and of sustainable practices,” it says. “For example, systematic observations by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures over many generations of the sequence of various natural events contribute to our scientific understanding of seasons in Australia.”

Primary students will look at traditional bush tucker and natural remedies used in indigenous cultures as well as the use of fire to promote new plant growth and their strategies for finding water. For Year 4 students, the curriculum says they should research “historical examples of different cultures’ knowledge about the national environment and living things (e.g. Aboriginal peoples’ Dreamtime stories that explain significant characteristics of the Earth’s surface and interactions between living things)”.

The curriculum for Year 7 directs that students research “Aboriginal X-ray art to investigate Aboriginal knowledge of the internal biology and physiological processes of animals” as well as “traditional Chinese knowledge of the structure and function of human body systems”.

In Year 8, students will discuss “traditional stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as a basis for understanding complex ecosystems at local and regional levels” and through “personal interaction or stories” research the “special relationship” of indigenous people with the land and its flora and fauna.

CATTLE baron Paul Holmes a Court has warned the $700 million live-cattle export industry is under threat of collapse from plunging profits, Indonesia’s growing import restrictions and animal-welfare concerns.

And the chief executive of the Heytesbury cattle empire, which stretches across the Northern Territory and into Western Australia, said a key to saving the industry was for station owners to hire more Aboriginal cattlemen.

In a veiled swipe at mining chiefs, he argued this would create “real jobs” and do more to address indigenous disadvantage than government programs or mining companies that “brag” about how many indigenous people they employed.

Speaking in Perth yesterday at the annual meeting of Western Australia’s Pastoralists and Graziers Association, Mr Holmes a Court said cattle prices were falling while labour, fuel and other costs continued to rise.

“We face a very real set of serious and imminent threats,” he said.

“If current trends continue, our business as we know it will cease to be.”

Both Mr Holmes a Court and federal agriculture minister Tony Burke told the meeting they were concerned Australia exported 90 per cent of its live cattle to Indonesia and Mr Burke encouraged the industry to spread the risk by branching out to countries such as Vietnam.

Mr Holmes a Court said Indonesia had moved last week to limit Australian imports after indicating it wanted to become self-sufficient in beef.

He said more should be done to address community concerns over animal welfare in destination countries, especially in overseas abattoirs.

And finding jobs for Aboriginal people was critical to the survival of cattle stations across northern Australia, he said.

It would address growing labour shortages and garner crucial respect and support from the community and governments.

“The jobs we can give are real . . . not jobs that are part of the latest government program . . . and not jobs that are appearing on some mining company’s indigenous employment quota, that they brag about on their website,” Mr Holmes a Court said.

The federal Indigenous Affairs Minister says she expects people will be happy to pay to stay in a new Alice Springs facility for visitors from the bush.

The 150-bed facility will be built in Len Kittle Drive, south of the town, by mid-year.

Jenny Macklin says other hostels in Alice Springs are very popular with visitors.

“Certainly in one of them that I’ve been to recently, where [people have] renal disease and they’re getting good care, people do pay and I know that one is almost full to capacity, so I think it will be very welcome that there’s more visitor accommodation in Alice Springs,” she said.

Australia will face the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in September accused of racially discriminating against Indigenous communities during the Northern Territory intervention.

The final report of the UN’s special rapporteur on Indigenous rights, Professor James Anaya, found the intervention limits the rights and freedoms of Indigenous people in breach of Australia’s international obligations.

It follows similar preliminary findings during a visit to Australia last year.

The report does not discuss the Federal Government’s planned changes to the intervention because they are not yet complete.

Professor Anaya says there is little evidence that measures such as welfare quarantining actually work, and he welcomes planned changes.

“I have not in my report made a specific assessment of the reforms. I think that that would be inappropriate on my part since they’re still being debated and still subject to ongoing revision,” he said.

“The Government itself, in presenting me with a summary of these reforms, has stated that there’s a reform on the table and that it’s being debated now.”

He says he understands the need for specific measures in extreme situations, but they must not restrict Indigenous rights.

“If we look at the different alternatives available, what experience around the world with Indigenous people shows what works and doesn’t work?” he said.

“What experience in Australia shows what works and doesn’t work, that will actually improve the situations?

“There are a number of alternatives that could be less rights-impairing and discriminatory.”

Queensland Parliament has passed legislation to insert a preamble into the State Constitution.

The preamble will recognise the Indigenous people as the first Queenslanders.

Opposition MP Rob Messenger has told Parliament the Government should concentrate on improving Indigenous living standards rather than inserting words in the Constitution.

“While words and symbolism are always important it’s actions that count,” he said.

But Premier Anna Bligh says it is an important addition.

“Words matter - words capture our thoughts and our feelings and words express who we are,” she said.

“Australia is home to the oldest living culture on Earth - this is not only something that we should recognise, it is something that we should celebrate.”

The Liberal National Party (LNP) wanted a referendum to decide the issue but Ms Bligh says that would be a waste of money.

Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek has told Parliament recognising one ethnic group above another will divide the population.

“Instead of changing the preamble of the Queensland Constitution to recognise Indigenous Australians, which will provide no practical improvement to the lives of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents, the Bligh Government should be focused on improving the literacy and numeracy levels of all Queensland children,” he said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Minister Desley Boyle says she is disappointed the Opposition would not support the bill.

“The refusal of the Opposition leader and his Liberal National Party team to support the preamble with its recognition of the first Australians is indeed a shame, but a shame on him and his members and not on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people themselves,” she said

Goodooga, northwest NSW, 24 February 10 – Aboriginal people will be called from all over Australia to protest in the Northern Territory against any movement of nuclear waste across their traditional lands, an Aboriginal activist says.

Michael Anderson, chairman of an Aboriginal Summit Task Force recently elected in Canberra (pictured at right), says in a media release: “Nothing will move down the former American Vice-President Dick Cheney’s Halliburton railway line from Darwin to Alice Springs.”

Mr. Anderson was responding on behalf of a majority of traditional land owners to an announcement by Resources and Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, that the Federal Government will pursue the first Australian radioactive waste repository at Muckaty Station, about 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek.

Mr. Anderson condemned the Bureau of Northern Land Council for “ignoring the majority of the traditional land owners who do not want their country, Muckaty Station, used for nuclear waste dumping”.

He said the general Australian public fails to understand how much influence the federal government has over organisations such as the Northern Land Council, whose CEO is appointed by government. 

“Aboriginal people are under siege from the tyranny of a Labor government who have no consideration whatsoever for our rights,” Mr. Anderson charges.

 “What we have here is a repeat of the Ranger uranium mine agreement fiasco. The arrangements that are being made are illegal and the government and the Northern Land Council know full well that the traditional owners have little to no chance of fighting against this dictatorship.

  “But don’t underestimate our resolve as a resistance group. It is time the Australian government woke up and understands that they are pushing us into a corner and we will come out fighting with all that we have.

 “Our communications thus far with the traditional owners suggest that a fight is looming, and maybe then the Australian public will get the picture.”

 Mr Anderson, the last survivor of the four Black Power activists who set up the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra in 1972, says he is pleased that the unions are offering support.

 “The New Way Summit Task Force has been asked for their support to bring this matter to the attention of the public. The Task Force puts the Australian government on notice that like Noonkanber in Western Australia in 1979, we will call upon Aboriginal people to come from every part of this country and protest any movement of nuclear waste across our people’s traditional lands.”

 “If the Europeans, Americans and China along with the rest of the world want to use nuclear power, then dump your rubbish on your own soil. You take it from us against our will and you now want to return it against our wishes.”

 Muckaty Station is the country of the mother of Barbara Shaw (pictured left), Alice Springs camps activist and a member of the Summit Task Force. Ms Shaw commented on uranium mining in the Northern Territory at the Canberra summit from 30 January to 1 February.

 She said only some people agreed to the dump “because they saw the dollar sign”. Although Elders had long warned that the radiation is dangerous, a lot more awareness needed to be created in the area.

South Australia’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jay Weatherill has attacked a Liberal plan to dismantle the Government’s Social Inclusion Unit.

The Liberals want to scrap the key welfare unit which supports the disadvantaged, mentally-ill, homeless and Aboriginal young offenders.

Mr Weatherill says the Liberals would put the Unit’s good work at risk.

“What is at stake here are some very significant things. We now know that the Liberal Party are talking about dismantling the Social Inclusion Unit so there are some very important risks at this next state election,” he told a public forum.

Opposition frontbencher Duncan McFetridge says the Unit’s Aboriginal engagement commissioner would be retained and its Aboriginal Advisory Council made transparent.

“Instead of being a secret advisory board we’d be making sure that the advice was open to all Aboriginal people in South Australia because I think it’s important that all the stakeholders know what sort of advice government’s being given,” he said.

Mr McFetridge says the rest of the Social Inclusion Unit’s role would be replaced with various other services.

Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond says the Government has been using the head of the unit, Monsignor David Cappo, to deal with issues it should address directly.

“Government should have the role as listening to all of the different participants and making the right decisions for the whole of the community, not just using I think a church person as a shield for criticisms that they might otherwise face for their decisions,” she said.

On the issue of the Stolen Generations, Mr McFetridge told the public forum the Liberals would set up a compensation tribunal modelled on one in Tasmania.

“There’s a significant cost associated with that but the cost of doing nothing for people who’ve been affected by all the issues surrounding the Stolen Generation is something that you would find very difficult as a politician to put a price on,” he said.

Leaders on the remote Aboriginal Lands of South Australia’s far north-west say the South Australian Government has committed to funding renal dialysis services on the Lands.

The Northern Territory Government refuses to take new kidney disease patients from the central desert region because it says its resources at Alice Springs Hospital are stretched.

Patients from the APY Lands have been forced to move permanently to Adelaide to get treatment.

The APY Executive Board has had talks with SA Health Minister John Hill.

General manager Ken Newman says the Minister has committed to funding renal dialysis on the Lands.

“One of the proposals that was put to the meeting was making use of the substance misuse facility at Amata because it’s under-used,” he said.

The SA Government previously had said it should not have to meet the bill for extra renal services at Alice Springs Hospital to allow patients from the APY Lands to be treated.

Early stage

Mr Hill has confirmed that SA Health and the Nganampa Health Council are exploring delivery of renal dialysis on the Lands.

But he says it is in the early stages and no decision or funding commitment has been made.

Mr Hill says the process will be guided by what Nganampa Health thinks is the best approach.

He says the SA Government will keep providing funding for those South Australians who are already dialysis patients in Alice Springs, which is costing more than $1 million per year.

But any new patients will still have to travel to Adelaide, Whyalla or Port Augusta for now.

SA Opposition MP Duncan McFetridge says establishing a facility on the Lands would take time and attracting specialised renal nurses would be difficult.

“If you can achieve it then it would be wonderful, but to achieve it is going to be a big ask and in the meantime going to Alice Springs is certainly the answer,” he said.

Mr McFetridge declined to give a Liberal funding pledge to have patients treated in Alice Springs.