A second Australian govt Aboriginal Intervention to provide land for uranium industry

Labor’s next phase seeks to go further in closing “unviable” remote communities, opening up Aboriginal land for exploitation and creating a “work-ready” cheap labour force….. Long-term leases are also being established over Aboriginal land to give open access to mining

Australian government deepens Northern Territory “intervention”, World Socialist website, By Susan Allan , 21 July 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.

Launched in 2007 by the Howard government, fully backed by the Labor Party, the intervention has become a testing ground for a continuous assault on welfare recipients, indigenous and non-indigenous alike. Labor’s next phase seeks to go further in closing “unviable” remote communities, opening up Aboriginal land for exploitation and creating a “work-ready” cheap labour force.

Accordingly, the announcement was widely welcomed by the corporate media. An editorial in Murdoch’s Australian applauded the extension of welfare measures to the wider community, suggesting that this could well prove to be “the most important legacy of the Rudd-Gillard years.”….

Under the heading of economic development and employment, Stronger Futures stresses that “welfare reform” is a “tool in promoting and encouraging family responsibility” to “break the cycle of welfare dependency”. In particular, the document foreshadows a review of remote participation and employment services, with new arrangements to be set in place by next July. This is likely to be a step toward removing the Remote Exemption Allowance, which excuses welfare participants in some areas from looking for work and provides a small additional financial payment.

The exemption has long been a bone of contention in establishment circles, including right-wing think tanks such as the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS). The provision is regarded as a barrier to forcing people out of remote communities and into cheap labour jobs. Forcing people from their homelands into the targeted “growth” towns—often hundreds of kilometres away—would cut individuals off from their community and family ties….. Long-term leases are also being established over Aboriginal land to give open access to mining and other forms of business exploitation. These processes, all referred to in Stronger Futures, have also been featured in the Murdoch media……

Also in the Australian, Helen Hughes, Sara Hudson and Mark Hughes from the CIS blamed Aboriginal land rights and communal ownership for “remote indigenous poverty and dysfunction……….

The intervention has never had anything to do with overcoming Aboriginal poverty or protecting Aboriginal children. The current “consultation” is a smokescreen for implementing a pre-determined agenda, in particular welfare cutting and the removal of all barriers to low-wage labour and corporate profit. The “second stage” like the first, will use Aboriginal people to test measures for use against the entire working class.–

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jul2011/ntin-j21.shtm

July 21, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, Northern Territory

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1.This month.

Zoom webinar – “Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange.”

April 7th at 11:30 am PST / 2:30 pm EST

Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange”

Join us for an informative webinar with renowned atmospheric scientist, Professor Brian Toon, as he discusses the environmental risks and global impacts of a nuclear war. Despite the potential damage caused by the blast from even small nuclear weapons, many countries continue to invest in and expand nuclear arsenals. Professor Toon will provide a scientific assessment of civilian fatalities, agricultural failures, climate concerns, and complications with food supply that would follow any international nuclear conflict. We need to plan how to prevent nuclear conflict and avoid catastrophe. Politicians and military planners must be made aware of global climate and agricultural complications that would ensue. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from, and engage in, this vital conversation

The Road to War brings a sharp focus to why it is not in Australia’s best interest to be dragged into a war with China which will almost inevitably go nuclear very quickly. The filmmaker has interviewed some of Australia’s senior foreign policy analysts who have vast experience behind them in analysing what really is going on here as the United States rattles its sabres with China. And sets us up to be its proxy, like the poor Ukranians have been fed into the Meatgrinder. So America can remain the Top Dog. The Road to War reveals how the United States through its spy base at Pine Gap and by stationing six nuclear capable B52 bombers in the Top End (without permission from the traditional owners) is making Australia a prime nuclear target if the current war of words suddenly melts down into full scale war.

The Road to War shows the implicit connection between Carbon emissions (the US military uses a whopping 70% of America’s annual petroleum to move its armies and vast War Machine around the globe to its 800+ military bases..but under a loophole wangled at Kyoto, the US military does not have to report its C02 annual emissions). The Road to War starts screening at selected cities and regional centres in March. See the trailer end for details.

Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items