Australian govt policy grabs Aboriginal homelands, (suits uranium miners)
In its report to be released today, Amnesty International slams the federal and NT Government’s Closing the Gap policy ….More than one-third of the NT’s Aboriginal population lives in 500 remote homeland communities….
the federal government’s NT Intervention had been a “traumatising” land grab.
During the 2007 NT Intervention the federal government took over homelands under a five-year lease which is due to expire next year.
NT Aborigines driven out of homelands, Herald Sun, AAP , August 09, 2011 NORTHERN Territory Aborigines are being driven off their traditional homelands and herded into “hub towns” where the federal and NT governments are splashing out cash for resources and services, Amnesty International claims.
The human rights organisation profiled the Alyawarr and Anmatyerr people of the Central Australian homeland communities of Utopia.
Far from what the name suggests, most Utopia communities are more like third world slums.
The Utopia region, 260 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs, has 1400 residents in 16 different communities.
In its report to be released today, Amnesty International slams the federal and NT Government’s Closing the Gap policy that concentrates investment into 21 of the largest settlements.
The criticism comes after a Finance Department report prepared early last year revealed the Commonwealth is outlaying $3.5 billion each year on Aboriginal programs which yield dismally poor results.
More than one-third of the NT’s Aboriginal population lives in 500 remote homeland communities.
The Amnesty report says restrictions on health, housing and education services have resulted in many homeland communities falling through the cracks.
“The medium-to-long-term implication of the policy is the declining viability of homelands,” Amnesty said.
Amnesty International says federal and NT government policies ignore the connection Aboriginal people have to their land.
Internationally acclaimed indigenous artist, Anmatyerr elder Kathleen Ngal, 78, said if Utopia residents are forced to move to “hub towns” they will become “third-class, non-existent human beings.”….
“Country owns you or holds you, not you holding the country and becoming master of the land,” she said.
Ms Ngal said the federal government’s NT Intervention had been a “traumatising” land grab.
During the 2007 NT Intervention the federal government took over homelands under a five-year lease which is due to expire next year.
Amnesty International said the focus on “hub towns” also went against medical research that said there were health benefits to living on homelands.
There was limited access to alcohol in the Utopia region, the report said.
A Medical Journal of Australia study from 2008 said despite increasing levels of obesity and diabetes among indigenous people nationally, Utopian residents were healthier.
Amnesty International recommended ending the Closing the Gap policy’s discrimination of homeland people.
It says funding should be distributed equitably to include homelands and rectify the backlog of under-investment in housing……
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