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INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA

The Australian community has developed a deeper appreciation of the unique place of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our community, but the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remain over represented among the most economically poor and socially excluded people in Australia.


UN reports critical of NT children’s care
Overcrowding and the failure to provide adequate and safe housing for children in the Northern Territory is threatening lives, according to two reports presented at the United Nations. The reports looking at Australia’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child have just been released.  

Colour, culture and freedom of identity
Brian McCoy | October 5, 2011
I am deeply proud of my Aboriginal friend, who is now a doctor. I have not had the heart to tell her that once she was judged for not being dark enough to be awarded an Indigenous scholarship. While Andrew Bolt argues about freedom of speech, I argue about freedom of identity.  

Australian government deepens Northern Territory ‘intervention’
Susan Allan | July 21, 2011

The Gillard government last month marked the fourth anniversary of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Intervention by announcing a further intensification of its regressive measures against Aboriginal people. A ‘second stage’ of the intervention will commence next year, when the emergency legislation was due to expire.  

March marks Mabo Day anniversary
Map: Townsville 4810

It is 19 years since Mabo Day when Eddie Mabo won a decade-long fight for land rights through the courts in the 1990s but the struggle continues. Several hundred Townsville residents marched through the city to commemorate the anniversary and the organiser of the June 3 action, Moses Neliman, says the fight for recognition of traditional ownership is an ongoing issue. "The sea rights claims are still going on in the Torres Strait and in other parts of Australia," he said. "In a way, the Mabo decision [which came just after the death of Eddie Mabo] may have opened up the proverbial can of worms for not only Indigenous Australians but all Australians, particularly issues with mining and the resources boom at the moment.  

Time to move beyond grievance in Treaty relationship, Tribunal says
Meanwhile, New Zealand is at a crossroads in race relations and in its quest for a mature sense of national identity as a result of the settlements of historical Maori land grievances and tribal economic renewal, along with growth in Maori population and other social changes, according to The Waitangi Tribunal's report into the Wai 262 claim, released July 2.  

The Love That Surprises: lessons from Timor-Leste
The principles of Catholic Social Teaching underpin the elements of good developmental accompaniment in the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council's latest booklet, The Love That Surprises: Lessons from Timor-Leste by former Caritas country director of the Timor-Leste program, Mark Green.

Green explores lessons that can be learned from working alongside people as they strive to achieve a better life for their community.  

Closing the gaps (Catherine Marshall)
A new Jesuit school will open its doors in the Sydney suburb of Redfern later this year – the first Jesuit school to be established in Australia in 60 years, and one that goes to the very heart of Jesuit teaching: equality and opportunity for all.  

Social Justice and Indigenous Wellbeing
In Social Justice and Wellbeing, Mick Gooda, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner presents a human rights approach to Indigenous wellbeing.  

NATSIEC Calls for Full Reinstatement of RDA
Commenting on the Federal Government's plan to redesign the Northern Territory Intervention, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumencial Commission calls for the full reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Social Justice & Native Title Reports 2009
Download the reports and community guide.

Will They Be Heard?
The Research Unit of Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning finds the consultations with Northern Territory Aboriginal communities concerning the redesign of the Intervention to be inadequate.