Western Australian Premier would not meet Aboriginal land councils about remote communities

Colin Barnett turned down invitation to meet Aboriginal land councils, Guardian, Calla Wahlquist, 20 Feb 15

Councils called meeting with WA premier because they had received no offer of consultation over plans to pull funding from remote Aboriginal communities The Western Australian premier, Colin Barnett, turned down an invitation to meet Aboriginal land councils about a government proposal to close up to 150 of the state’s remote communities, one day before telling parliament he would consult Aboriginal people closely.

Barnett was invited to attend the meeting, to be held in Broome on 5 March, by the alliance of Western Australian Aboriginal land councils.

The Kimberley Land Council (KLC), which is hosting the meeting, told Guardian Australia it had called the meeting because it had received no offer of consultation from the government, or even formal notification that it was considering pulling funding from some communities.

But the premier’s office emailed the KLC on Monday to say he was unable to attend due to prior commitments.

The KLC offered to push the meeting back a day but on Tuesday, the opening day of WA parliament, that was also declined. On Wednesday the premier’s office emailed the KLC to say a representative was also unable to attend.

A few hours after his office sent the second email on Tuesday, Barnett mentioned the remote communities issue in his opening address to state parliament and promised consultation………

Barnett foreshadowed the closure of as many as half of the state’s 274 remote communities in November, after it was announced that responsibility for them, along with $90m in funding, would be transferred to the state. That funding runs out in June 2016.

On Wednesday, a few hours after Barnett’s office said he would not send a representative in his stead, the Aboriginal affairs minister Peter Collier told parliament the government would “soon commence consultation with Aboriginal people, particularly those in remote communities, as well as other stakeholders”.

KLC chairman Anthony Watson said it was “really sad” that the premier had declined to attend the meeting.

“They are saying it in parliament but going back on their word,” Watson said. “We are the major player and represent all of the communities and we are not being consulted.”

Watson said Barnett had not personally attended an alliance meeting since November 2012, despite promising he would meet regularly……

The meeting will be attended by four of the state’s five land councils: the Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation, the Central Desert Native Title Services, the Goldfields Land and Sea Council Aboriginal Corporation and the Kimberley Land Council.

Watson said the group usually met in Perth but was holding this meeting in Broome to be near communities at risk………

More than 200 of WA’s remote communities are in the Kimberley. Many are not fully occupied year round – people return to the larger towns in the wet summer and go back to country in the dry season – but are valued by the local people.

Watson, a Nyikina Mangala man, has just returned to his West Kimberley home of Jarlmadangah (which, according to government figures, has a population of 69) from Bidyadanga (population 593), about 180km to the south. About 100 members of his family gathered there for law and cultural ceremonies. Most have now returned to Broome to work.

“A lot of communities up here, they are doing really well in terms of employment and jobs,” Watson said………http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/20/colin-barnett-turned-down-invitation-to-meet-aboriginal-land-councils