Antinuclear

Abbott government cuts Aboriginal funding, and promotes discrimination

Budget cuts stir Aboriginal anger in Australia Ft.com By Jamie Smyth in Sydney, 3 June 14,  “……This is our land. They have pulled our houses down and want to replace them with student accommodation and shops,” says the 66-year-old, who has lived for a half century in Redfern, seen by many Aboriginals as their spiritual home in Sydney.

This battle for social housing is just one of the many struggles Aboriginal communities face as they strive to emerge from two centuries of discrimination and grinding poverty.

The Redfern protest – timed to coincide with National Reconciliation Week – is taking place against the backdrop of a A$500m cut in Aboriginal funding programmes in the federal budget, which includes A$160m in health services alone. It also comes as Canberra proposes a watering down of the racial discrimination act, which was introduced in 1975 following a long and bitter political battle.

The government changes are alarming Aboriginal leaders, who were told by Tony Abbott when he was elected in September 2013 he would be a “prime minister for Aboriginal affairs”. Critics say it is a broken promise by Mr Abbott, who has been accused of backtracking on several key election commitments since May’s budget – the toughest in Australia for almost two decades.

“What beggars belief is they are saying they support freedom of speech while at the same time they are taking away money from [Aboriginal] advocacy bodies,” says Thomas Calma, an Aboriginal elder from Darwin and former race discrimination commissioner

The coalition wants to repeal a section of the race discrimination act, which makes it unlawful to “offend, insult or humiliate” another person because of their “race, colour or national or ethnic origin”.

“People do have a right to be bigots,” said George Brandis, Australia’s attorney-general, when he proposed the changes to parliament as a way to bolster free speech.

“With this budget the government is really moving back to the discriminatory policies we saw in the past. It is back to the future in Australia.” http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5d031d70-eab5-11e3-80fb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz33hiLRfqj

June 4, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics