Antinuclear

From the bush to Bankstown, communities prepare to fight ‘Stronger Futures’ welfare laws Green Left, May 10, 2012 The Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney released the statement below on May 9.

Remote NT communities are joining with the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown in a pledge to challenge the implementation of ‘Stronger Futures’ legislation which is set to be debated in the Senate.

“Stronger Futures” will extend draconian NT intervention powers for a further 10 years. The laws also facilitate the national expansion of income management, pioneered under the NT intervention, beginning with Bankstown and four other “trial sites” across Australia.

“Stronger Futures” has faced fierce opposition from Aboriginal communities, churches and peak organisations. More than 36,000 people have signed the online “Stand for Freedom” campaign calling for withdrawal of the legislation.

In a historic statement from Arnhem Land last week, Yolŋu Elders pledged to refuse to negotiate any leases, including mining exploration leases, while the government pushed ahead with “Stronger Futures”.

In Bankstown, the Say No to Government Income Management Campaign Coalition, with strong roots in the community sector, Aboriginal and migrant communities, is organising a major seminar on May 26 to discuss strategies for stopping the implementation of income management…… Paddy Gibson from the Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney has just returned from a research trip to the Northern Territory.

He said: “The NT intervention was designed to deny any control or opportunity to Aboriginal people in remote communities and force a migration into town and larger settlements. Every time I visit these communities the situation has deteriorated further. People are completely disenfranchised, there is next to no employment and in places even basic amenities like sewage are collapsing.

“Scratch the surface of the government’s ‘Stronger Futures’ budget announcements for the NT and you find even less funding for homeland services than the current levels which keep people living in third world conditions.

“The decision not to fund a waged employment program to replace CDEP, once 7500 strong in the NT, is a death sentence for many communities. Meanwhile funding for bureaucracies to punish and control Aboriginal people through the income management and prison systems are spiraling out of control.”…. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/50971