Antinuclear

Before his election last September, Tony Abbott claimed he’d be a Prime Minister for Indigenous affairs.

But in his government’s first budget, Indigenous affairs have taken some of the most savage cuts……..The budget will see 150 Indigenous program areas cut down to five: employment and land, education, health and safety, culture and remote strategies.

Funding for Indigenous languages has been cut by almost 10-million dollars over four years.

Indigenous leader and head of the Indigenous Land Corporation, Dawn Casey, says there are no other elected bodies in Australia that could fill the role played by Congress.

“It means that Aboriginal people aren’t truly making decisions about what ever area they’re dealing in and that should happen. This is the 21st Century. What comes with the decision making comes responsbility and accountability, so don’t take that away from people, given that it’s well over 200 years since Australia was colonised. We should in fact be growing organisations to take on more of those.”

There will be some money going into Indigenous affairs – or perhaps a redirection of funding…..