Antinuclear

Forcing Aboriginals off their land in the interests of uranium mining

A monster has been created in our name called the Mining Industry, we all benefit from it, but not nearly as much as the Mining Magnates who run and control them. Our silence in the face of such blatant land grabs is no longer acceptable – we can no longer be innocent bystanders in our own country.

Terry Fitzpatrick Homily July 4 2010 NAIDOC WEEK » St Mary’s “……… ….Under the new Northern Territory Housing laws, and with the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, Aboriginal people living on their own country who receive any form of Centrelink income support are being forced to give up their control of their land. If they don’t sign a life or 90 year lease, they are told they cannot have housing. Going into a government determined lease is the only way at having the possibility of getting a house (even though it appears incredibly unlikely that they will get one). Despite all the money being spent on the intervention (some 350 million dollars), just 3 houses have been built for the aboriginal people, while 56 houses have been built for white managers.
Journalist John Pilger writes, ‘every government since Bob Hawke has tried to claw back the land rights that were won in the Northern Territory’. Pilger says it’s now happening by stealth and it’s happening quickly. In 2006, there were 180 licences for the exploration of minerals on Aboriginal land. By 2009, this has leapt to 400 licences. Uranium, gold, oil, iron ore – these are the reasons Aboriginal people are humiliated; their land and languages destroyed.
These communities, as minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Jenny Macklin stated are “economically unviable”.  So much for “closing the Gap” and saying “Sorry” – these words are meaningless and rendered VOID in the face of this disgusting LAND GRAB. But if you had any doubts who is running this country in recent weeks, one has only to read the papers and listen to the news. Mining companies are extremely powerful, just ask our recently deposed prime minister, Kevin Rudd.

Any attempt to control or to get them to act in a more just manner is met by being ruthless and put in one’s place. These companies pay extremely low tax, significantly lower tax rates than the average worker. Given that they are given $5 billion dollars a year from the public purse already – in subsidized fuel, tax rebates, and billions of dollars in greenhouse pollution that isn’t paid for and millions of dollars of subsidized science – that’s before we talk about Government provided roads, rail, ports, electricity networks and other infrastructure.

A monster has been created in our name called the Mining Industry, we all benefit from it, but not nearly as much as the Mining Magnates who run and control them. Our silence in the face of such blatant land grabs is no longer acceptable – we can no longer be innocent bystanders in our own country. “If you are neutral in the time of injustice”, said South African Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu, “you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.

We have an election looming some time soon, late August maybe, a good time to put pressure on our politicians, to let them know we are not happy with the Intervention and the displacement that is occurring of Indigenous people from their lands. And the whole system of Apartheid that has occurred through the Income management scheme, where income is quarantined and only available through the use of a Basics Card for specified items, in specified places. Humiliating and degrading.

Terry Fitzpatrick Homily July 4 2010 NAIDOC WEEK » St Mary’s

July 10, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, uranium | aboriginal, antinuclear, Australia, BHP, BHP Billiton, indigenous, Muckaty, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, uranium