A national emergency: Howard acts

[montag]

Sweeping new federal laws to combat a problem that has existed since the Europeans first landed on these shores, so why the urgent need to act now..?

Under the federal plan:

■Alcohol will be banned in some regions for six months, and X-rated porn outlawed in communities and on public computers.

■The need for outsiders to have permits to get into townships and roads on indigenous land will be scrapped.

■Every Aboriginal child under 16 will be required to have a medical check-up at federal expense.

■States have been asked to donate 10 police officers each to boost the uniformed presence in each community, working alongside federal bureaucrats who will be sent to live in selected regions as town managers.

■Centrelink will immediately begin quarantining 50 per cent of welfare payments to people in the communities, which can only be spent on food and other essentials. Further money can be docked if children fail to attend school, and to pay for meals for the children.

■Welfare recipients will be forced to help clean up homes and streets to ensure safe and hygienic living conditions, with managers able to inspect houses.

This is a quote from the indigenous affairs minister..

Mr Brough said the compulsory acquisition of homes was "to ensure that people are living in hygienic conditions" and to "control … the condition they are in, who is in them, and what is occurring in them".

The wider welfare reforms would apply to anyone receiving a family or child payment. "It shouldn't have a black or white boundary," he said. "Every child should be going to school." The extra security would ensure that justice was served, he argued. "The fear that people may have today, when grog flows in, drugs flow in, and the strong men prevail, won't be there," he said

This whole thing stinks to high heaven to me, but try arguing the point and you'll get "what about the kid's?" It's a highly emotional charged debate that
will see tighter laws enacted that will in the end effect anybody on government welfare..

Full story here.. (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/howard-acts-on-nt-emergency/2007/06/21/1182019284327.html)

[auron]

Please tell me this is is a joke, right??? :confused:

[whitenight639]

yer where is that info from, and where will it affect (eg states) im guessing thats america.

[montag]

Please tell me this is is a joke, right??? :confused:
Unfortunately, but the biggest joke is on the sleeping Australians who support this move.. Genocide is being committed against our indigenous peoples so why should the government all of a sudden become so concerned with their welfare?
This is about wider controls that will affect all people receiving government benefits and may well tie in with the new ID card..

[montag]

yer where is that info from, and where will it affect (eg states) im guessing thats america.
It's Australia, the testing ground for the NWO..:rolleyes:

[auron]

Unfortunately, but the biggest joke is on the sleeping Australians who support this move.. Genocide is being committed against our indigenous peoples so why should the government all of a sudden become so concerned with their welfare?
This is about wider controls that will affect all people receiving government benefits and may well tie in with the new ID card..
Damn right!! :mad:

[i_am]

I am in two minds on this one.

I hate the authoritarian way it is being forced on everyone but if you have any idea of what goes on in the communities, something needs to be done. Five year olds have STDs, Babies are being raped, some so badly that they have been damaged beyond repair. Children are prostituting themselves for petrol. It is horrific and something that most Australians have no real conception of.

It can only be implimented in the Northern Terroritory as it is a territory, not a state, otherwise it would have been implimented in Queensland NSW and Western Australia. Now I hear they are going to use the military to enforce it. What's that I hear you say? Yep!! martial law. Scary shit!!

Something needed to be done, has been needed for decades, so why now? What is the agenda here. Oh yeah, thats right! Apart from being, as was said by montag, a NWO testing ground, we have an election coming up. Let's drag up this shit that should have been dealt with and be seen to be doing something.

[i_am]

Here is a story from over 12 months ago. NOTHING was done by the government but NOW they are outraged and something has to be done immediatley. Gimme a break!!

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/abor-m22.shtml

[james777]

I'm no Austrailan and I'm not a conformist, but I do not see the harm in this 'Howard Act'

[i_am]

I'm no Austrailan and I'm not a conformist, but I do not see the harm in this 'Howard Act'

It is a hard one james. It is a matter that does need addressing however it has been a huge problem for decades. The question is ...why do they suddenly (appear to) care.


Alcohol is major factor in the violence. Combine this with the pornography...big problem!

Children are going hungry while all of the 'dole' money is spent on grog. less than sanitary conditions are seeing diseases resurface that have been virtually eradicated.

The under 16 medical exams are to establish how many have been abused and given STDs.

Children walk around with cans of petrol around their neck, sniffing. They sell their bodies to old men for petrol.

These things need addressing. They have needed addressing for decades. Has the government given a shit. HA!! There is an agenda for them to be seen to be doing something now.

One thing that is slipped in there is the scrapping of permits to enter their lands. Why? What purpose can that serve?

[montag]

Hey I Am and James I agree the problem is horrific, but I believe more laws and control are never the answer and besides the government has never given a shit about the aboriginals in the past so why the urgency all of a sudden?

I believe this is about wider control and monitoring of all families, Mal Brough states that clearly in the article. Who defines what child abuse is? Could I be classed as a child abuser because I refuse to vaccinate my children? This is where I believe all this is heading with the state wanting exercise complete control of our children.

Who's going to have the audacity to argue against this new legislation with such a highly charged emotional issue as the sexual abuse of minors, but the fact is this has been occurring for decades now and it's only because a report has written on it and publicized in the MSM that folks are now outraged. Can you say P.R.S.?

I wish I knew how to solve the problems of Australia's indigenous communities, but I don't and government intervention in to their affairs has a poor record.
What I'm saying is lets read between the lines here and try to see the bigger picture of whats really happening.

By creating more laws you create more criminals end of story, there has to be another way to help our Aboriginal brothers and sisters.

[i_am]

Hey I Am and James I agree the problem is horrific, but I believe more laws and control are never the answer and besides the government has never given a shit about the aboriginals in the past so why the urgency all of a sudden?.

Yep!! Thats what I said

I believe this is about wider control and monitoring of all families, Mal Brough states that clearly in the article. Who defines what child abuse is? Could I be classed as a child abuser because I refuse to vaccinate my children? This is where I believe all this is heading with the state wanting exercise complete control of our children.

I agree. There is definately a hidden agenda as to why now?

Who's going to have the audacity to argue against this new legislation with such a highly charged emotional issue as the sexual abuse of minors, but the fact is this has been occurring for decades now and it's only because a report has written on it and publicized in the MSM that folks are now outraged. Can you say P.R.S.?

Yep!! and who is pulling little Johnnie's strings?

I wish I knew how to solve the problems of Australia's indigenous communities,

I do too.

Here is another site with a lot of info on the problems.

http://www.mako.org.au/newsart546.html

Scroll down to Communities 'need army'

an indigenous leader asked for these measures to be implimented over a year ago. Why has it taken them this long to act and why are they making out it was their idea out of 'compassion'? Why now?

Why did Mr Brough say this then:

Mr Brough believes self-determination has failed and indigenous communities have to stop hiding behind cultural sensitivities. But he rejected Mr Yu's reconstruction suggestion, saying the approach of sending in administrators had already been successful in the Aboriginal town of Balgo in Western Australia, and would be expanded. The Australian (17-05-2006)
Patricia Karvelas and Tony Koch

[whitenight639]

speaking out of pure ignorance, i never even knew australia had any indigeous peoples, i though you were much like america, i know new zealand does. Is there a language barrier that prevents them from intergrating, as if there drinking then i imagine western culture must be influencing them, i also imagine regular crimminals would go there if the police were after them, much like some people join travellers (gypsys).
if you have any info on indigeous australians i'd love to read.

[james777]

MONTAG:

I see your points and you're right, there is definitely reason to be suspicious here. The 'magic' word seems to be CONTROL, CONTROL, CONTROL.

On the other hand, perhaps our collective consciences have begun to break through and the government is actually willing to 'do the right thing'. I know this seems far fetched, but if we condem them when they do try to do good, why should they try? It is our money that our governments use, so maybe they're trying to meet our needs.

Then again, all the shots and all this kind of stuff could be further infecting these people and eventually rendering them extinct. Remember in the USA when they began giving free AIDS vaccinations? They gave them in mostly Gay and minority populated areas and the only thing that happened is the disease grew at an alarming rate, even reaching to the upper echelon of society......talk about BACKFIRE.........same with crack, heroin and now 'CHEESE'.......when will all this bullshit stop? Maybe everyone should just declare 'nuclear war' so we won't have to deal with this bullshit any more.....

[montag]

It's beginning to become clearer on what Howards true agenda is here..

Child abuse crackdown on benefits

FAMILIES across Australia could be subject to tough new rules linking their children's school attendance and basic welfare to government payments.

As debate raged over the Federal Government's dramatic strike against indigenous child sex abuse, Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said he was considering introducing food stamps in the form of Eftpos cards for anyone receiving family benefits whose child's wellbeing was in doubt.

"It allows you to swipe … items which the Government deems to be ones that are right and reasonable and proper for people to receive," he said of the Eftpos system.

Prime Minister John Howard said a portion of benefits could be quarantined in situations where parents were not responsibly spending the money on the welfare of their children.

"This is a view the Government has irrespective of the colour of the parents' skin. It's nothing to do with race; it's got everything to do with responsibility and parents," he said.

More.. (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/child-abuse-crackdown/2007/06/22/1182019373091.html)

[i_am]

speaking out of pure ignorance, i never even knew australia had any indigeous peoples, i though you were much like america, i know new zealand does. Is there a language barrier that prevents them from intergrating, as if there drinking then i imagine western culture must be influencing them, i also imagine regular crimminals would go there if the police were after them, much like some people join travellers (gypsys).
if you have any info on indigeous australians i'd love to read.

Here ya go. This should keep you busy for a few days following links :p

http://www.dropbears.com/l/links/aboriginal.htm

http://www.crystalinks.com/dreamtime.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians

http://www.aaia.com.au/

http://bovination.com/cbs/australianAboriginalHistory.jsp

http://www.mako.org.au/newsart546.html


They do have their own languages but language has been the least of the problems. Most speak english now. The white fella came here, took their lands, took away their children and introduced them to alcohol. It is a sad story of a conquered people which has only gotten worse over the past 230 years. Their dreamtime stories have been handed down through the ages and their art incorporates this. I have a couple of aboriginal paintings and the energy from them is amazing. I love them!

No criminals can't (couldn't) go there as in most of their lands you have to have a permit to enter BUT that is one of the things the government is scrapping and I really can't understand why. How the hell is opening it up to everyone going to help the situation.

[ashyr]

yeah its really big thing on the news in NZ also. lol there going to think about it here also.

NZ is the testing ground for Aussie. which is the testing ground for NWO

[montag]

yeah its really big thing on the news in NZ also. lol there going to think about it here also.

NZ is the testing ground for Aussie. which is the testing ground for NWO
Yep, welcome to the nanny state..

[cruise4]

"I wish I knew how to solve the problems of Australia's indigenous communities"

Its easy... give them back their rights, land and ownership.

This is the same old, same old

Problem (created years ago)
Reaction (a few posters on this thread demonstrate this)
Solution (more control and interference)

I read somewhere the NWO, illuminati or whoever want to move the financial centre from London to Australia at some point. Bet you are all looking forward to that! makes me wonder about London's future, mind!

[montag]

"I wish I knew how to solve the problems of Australia's indigenous communities"
The only solution to the indigenous problem is a spiritual one, not material..
They are a broken people and until they can regain their dignity and sense of who they are they are doomed to extinction like the Do Do bird..

[i_am]

"I wish I knew how to solve the problems of Australia's indigenous communities"

Its easy... give them back their rights, land and ownership.



:rolleyes: If only it were that easy. Where would you have the rest of us go, because we would have to give them back Australia? That would have been a wonderful thing two hundred years ago but is not feasible now. I wish we could all live in harmony but as montag said, that is a spiritual problem that needs to be resolved.

[ngawaka19]

When a country is colonised/overthrown, the indigenous peoples of that land automatically start a downward spiral of sickness, self denial, mass low self esteem etc. The indigenous peoples of the pacific have seen these types of power and control exercises come and go for the last 200 years.

Why?

As Merata Meta, a Maori activist and filmmaker once said, " when you live in or come from a colonised country you are automatically racist". I thought at the time it was a very profound statement. What else can one be. When a country is colonised, the original peoples of that country have to be shepherded otherwise the process of colonisation and re establishing the new government will not have longevity and therefore, the threat that the new government could and will perish. So, how does one take full control of a country that is inhabited by natives?..........by debasing them. How do you debase them? By taking away their spirituality and replacing it with another, with a side order of alcohol and drugs. And to top that off, you indoctrinated the indigenous via schooling and the education system. Again lets not forget that always in these situations alcohol and drugs are a big commodity.

A few of the more common statements that are flung around the tables of the controllers are "lull the masses", "keep them ignorant", "breed them out", there has and always will be a verbal lowering of all brown/black people, its normalised in our everyday language and beliefs. These are the messages that they are given, the affirmation that they are lower than.

If we can all go back to look at what happened in Tasmania not so long ago, where a group of fascist men joined hands and walked the width of Tasmania, (this is crazy but...) the reason?....every black man they came across was to be shot. The out come was that there were only a small group of koori people (their name for themselves) who managed to survive on this small sub island. The brutality that these people have had to suffer in the jails, the schools, in-fact in most institutions in Australia, is inhumane. The koori people have been treated like dogs, and I believe treated the worst of all the colonised indigenous, the only people I think are closely similar are the American Indians. In the end, all this manipulation has a fundamental effect to contaminate and inject the indigenous with mass low self esteem, therefore, rendering them with the mentality of confusion, self loathing, self hatred and to me, this is why most indigenous of colonised country's are suffering from sickness, alcoholism and drug abuse. Its a spiritual sickness. And I believe its a form of 'cultural genocide', the elimination of culture within an indigenous people.

When you take away a peoples spirituality, its like saying to Europe, you must not be Christians or Catholics any more in-fact what you have been doing is wrong and you have been worshipping the devil, you now must take on the new religion of the koori people. You must act and do as they and you must forget who you used to be. To deny the self. So if you could imagine that.

And what is commonly known amongst some of the indigenous people is this,

'they come into our country and take our spirituality, our lands, our resources, our women, they brutalise, rape and murder, and then they say we must live like them, as them, and change our ways, change our culture and our religion, but no matter what, no matter how hard we try, when we wake up in the morning and look into the mirror, our faces will always and forever be brown!'

This is just a peek at some of the deep scars that some indigenous peoples suffer. It is these scars/wounds that render those people emotionally and spiritually handicapped.

Howard is out of control, how dare he go to this extreme, his paternal attitude, that he and others have been executing for years, has got to stop. Self determination..........power back to the people.

The koori people are a passive people, they were not a waring people, this makes it so much easier for non koori to insult, abuse and devastate the gentle indigenous race of the koori.

And I look at all this and all I see is the f.... Illuminati......its been them all along......

To unite and stand together against racism and institutionalised racism. Something we can all do is make friends with your brown/black neighbour, learn about their culture, fight with them and for them. Kia ora tatou katoa.

[lumukanda]

firstly, it's a so called 'solution' to a problem caused by previous laws and attitudes (these people were considered fauna until the 60's?), the treatment of native australians is so shocking, the extent of it was worse than most parts of africa.
someone said nanny state, south africa, along with being an oppressor, also used to have these laws that 'benefitted' the local people, all it does (and yes there may appear to be short term gains) in the long term is to make people feel seperate, oppressed and as we know how these bastards operate, will be used to crush the native people.
seeing the initial post of this thread was like looking back in time to an 80's south african newspaper. to think the australian government was so opposed to apartheid in south africa (bloody cheek considering the way the aborigines were treated) and yet are doing some of the very same things, never forget apartheid was there to 'help' africans (at least that's what the spin at the time was.)

[ngawaka19]

Yes lumukanda, the indigenous of Africa are more of our brothers and sisters that have been fractured, brutilized and oppressed. I have over looked this in my last posting, which is stupid of me because the crimes committed on these people were and are astronomical, and also, did you follow the Springbok protests that erupted in New Zealand in 81? I was there, it was an incredible feeling of bonding with fellow NZ'ers. We got beat up but afterwards we were glad we protested against apartheid. Though I was, and still am, an avid Rugby Union fan, my father was in the selections for the Maori All Black team in the early 70's, he was against me doing it. We argued from one end off the house to another (he wasn't politically aware then, but is now) though he tried to stop me, it was not hard for me too do it, I wanted to make a mark, and fight against the colonisers of that land. To this day, I still don't have a clear view of all the happenings from your neck of the woods, I always have to prepare before doing indigenous work as its such a gut wrenching experience most the time. There are so many issues to look at down my way and just not enough time in the day. No rei ra regards to you lumukanda.
arohamai
ngawaka

[montag]

Here is a story from over 12 months ago. NOTHING was done by the government but NOW they are outraged and something has to be done immediatley. Gimme a break!!

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/abor-m22.shtml

Howard took no interest last year: NT

THE Northern Territory's Chief Minister, Clare Martin, wrote to John Howard a year ago proposing a national plan to deal with Aboriginal communities in crisis, but received no meaningful reply, according to Territory officials.

Mr Howard said this week that he launched his dramatic takeover of powers because the Territory Government was not treating the sexual abuse of children in Aboriginal communities as an urgent matter.

Mr Howard on Thursday announced a unilateral Commonwealth decision to impose alcohol bans for six months, take over about 60 communities, impose conditions on welfare payments, and to bring the army in to provide logistical support.

He said he was acting in response to a disturbing new report, Little Children are Sacred, and in the face of Territory inaction: "I got a very general letter today saying, 'Well we've had a look and we are getting ready to say something about it and we'll be happy to talk to you'," Mr Howard told reporters.

"Well I don't think that's a Government that regards this as an urgent problem."

However, in a letter dated June 13 last year Ms Martin proposed to Mr Howard a "holistic, intensive intervention to communities in crisis".

The letter, obtained by the Herald, said: "The plan could identify priority areas for action, starting with the need to address the foundation issues of alcohol abuse, overcrowded housing, law and order, governance and welfare reform."

Ms Martin proposed setting performance targets, "ambitious but achievable", for every five-year phase of the next 20 years. She called it a "generational plan for indigenous communities throughout Australia as a national initiative."

She offered to draft a paper outlining the main steps for an upcoming meeting of the state and federal governments. She sent a copy to the Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, and circulated her plan to all the state and territory governments. However, she received "no meaningful response" from Mr Howard or the Federal Government according to officials of her government.

A Federal Government spokesman contested this claim. He said the Commonwealth had taken short-term action last July, providing $120 million for urgent policing needs in the territory, and that the Commonwealth also endorsed the territory government taking charge of work on a long-term plan.

That work on a 20-year plan was still under consideration within the Council of Australian Governments, he said.

A Queensland doctor, Lara Wieland, also said she had tried to tell the Prime Minister several years ago of the extent of abuse of indigenous children.

Dr Wieland personally handed Mr Howard a 10-page letter saying state authorities had ignored her multiple reports of child abuse, including cases of five-year-olds with sexually transmitted diseases.

That was in August 2003, when Mr Howard was visiting Weipa, in Cape York.

"Not much has changed," she said yesterday. "Not in Queensland anyway. I lost my job and that was about it."

Dr Wieland, who was then in a Cape York indigenous community, said she was levered out because of official anger over her disclosures.

A spokesman for Mr Howard yesterday said Dr Wieland was not alone in raising the issue. In the month before his visit to Cape York, the Prime Minister had convened a meeting of indigenous leaders on domestic violence.

Since then the Government had spent more than $300 million on a dozen programs in indigenous communities. Dr Wieland said there was little evidence the federal programs had made a difference in Cape York.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/howard-took-no-interest-last-year-nt/2007/06/22/1182019367427.html

[ngawaka19]

However, in a letter dated June 13 last year Ms Martin proposed to Mr Howard a "holistic, intensive intervention to communities in crisis".

The letter, obtained by the Herald, said: "The plan could identify priority areas for action, starting with the need to address the foundation issues of alcohol abuse, overcrowded housing, law and order, governance and welfare reform."

Ms Martin proposed setting performance targets, "ambitious but achievable", for every five-year phase of the next 20 years. She called it a "generational plan for indigenous communities throughout Australia as a national initiative."

She offered to draft a paper outlining the main steps for an upcoming meeting of the state and federal governments. She sent a copy to the Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, and circulated her plan to all the state and territory governments. However, she received "no meaningful response" from Mr Howard or the Federal Government according to officials of her government.

A Federal Government spokesman contested this claim. He said the Commonwealth had taken short-term action last July, providing $120 million for urgent policing needs in the territory, and that the Commonwealth also endorsed the territory government taking charge of work on a long-term plan.

That work on a 20-year plan was still under consideration within the Council of Australian Governments, he said.

A Queensland doctor, Lara Wieland, also said she had tried to tell the Prime Minister several years ago of the extent of abuse of indigenous children.

Dr Wieland personally handed Mr Howard a 10-page letter saying state authorities had ignored her multiple reports of child abuse, including cases of five-year-olds with sexually transmitted diseases.

That was in August 2003, when Mr Howard was visiting Weipa, in Cape York.

"Not much has changed," she said yesterday. "Not in Queensland anyway. I lost my job and that was about it."

Dr Wieland, who was then in a Cape York indigenous community, said she was levered out because of official anger over her disclosures.

A spokesman for Mr Howard yesterday said Dr Wieland was not alone in raising the issue. In the month before his visit to Cape York, the Prime Minister had convened a meeting of indigenous leaders on domestic violence.

Since then the Government had spent more than $300 million on a dozen programs in indigenous communities. Dr Wieland said there was little evidence the federal programs had made a difference in Cape York.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/howard-took-no-interest-last-year-nt/2007/06/22/1182019367427.html

[/QUOTE]

Ms Martin sounds very onto it, she is obviously culturally sensitive. I know that with people like her on board these issues will get dealt with. She obviously understands that some of the more senior koori people are incredibly concerned about this problem and are wanting to participate in the next actions taken. To be able to recognise that the culturally wounded koori need to participate and be educated to a qualified level and therefore are able to self determine the means and workings of healing this dreadful pain within their own communities is insightive, intellectual and necessary. Self determination is critical to the koori and other underprivileged groups, to be able to gain the fundamental confidence and esteem needed to move into the future. Having the critic of a non sensitive government who sees that only paternal methods are the answer is destructive.

Montag, do you think that one of the actions that we as a group in this forum from down under could do is maybe write letters of protest and address them directly to Howard? What are your thoughts?

kindest regards
ngawaka

[i_am]

Ms Martin sounds very onto it, she is obviously culturally sensitive. I know that with people like her on board these issues will get dealt with. ngawaka

Ms martin no longer has any power in this issue. The federal government has taken it out of her hands.

many of the reforms mean Aboriginal issues in the territory are no longer under her control.

Speaking to journalists in Darwin this afternoon, Ms Martin said the first conversation she had with Prime Minister John Howard about the plans occurred hours after his press conference in Canberra today.

http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,,21947205-5001028,00.html


Greens leader Bob Brown said appalling evidence of neglect and abuse has been in the public arena for years but the Howard government had failed to act until now, several months before an election.
Democrats leader Lyn Allison condemned the move as "an outrageous authoritarian crackdown".

Aboriginal lawyer Michael Mansell said the government's actions were an "immoral abuse of power" and aimed at taking over Aborigines' lives.

http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=393504

[ngawaka19]

Ms martin no longer has any power in this issue. The federal government has taken it out of her hands.

Hi iam, thanks for wondering why it seems I have overlooked this point. I do need to explain myself better. Sometimes I forget. Sorry matie.

To explain;

I don't like to think about things literally at the best of times, this is because, I believe in the power of suggestion. Though this onto it lady Ms Martin, has seemingly been removed from her post, she won't have dropped the ball. I don't think that someone that has cut a career of this sort out for herself. would simply walk away. She may have a wee rest. But its a moralistic fight, a life style and a passion. You may already know this, so excuse me if you do, but, when one has done indigenous work it's common knowledge with these workers/advocates, that you have a burn out time. Its such a run of the mill thing for there to be consistent gate stops that are lined with non indigenous calling the shots and giving you the bad news, and making decisions for you. Its a very draining, disheartening and at times gut wrenching job. Well you take it on the chin and keep going until you need a rest or like this woman, get fired, and is forced to either take a rest or go back to the drawing board.

The mere fact that she thinks the way she does suggests to me that there is hope.

My belief is that people like Ms Martin are better off working within the group anyway. Whilst working as a public servant or for the government, all you really are is a messenger, they never really are going to help or grant rights. She is better off working from the underground.

Its a shame that Howards non response, or his pathetic false promises have been long winded only to come to this point. The truth of who he is and who he's joined too, was inevitably to unfold to the public, and in this case later rather than sooner.

And meanwhile the koori are in desperate need of healthy, pro active, genuinely, concerned leadership. As I said before in another post, to be embraced and empowered to head them towards self determination.

I hope this helps clear up your concern with what may have seemed like I was skimming the surface and making myself and the issues look, shallow and trivial. I very much don't want to do this. My apologies.

I'd really like to hear what you think about this situation. Did you consider my suggestion about whether we should or could group together with letters of protest? What do you think of this suggestion? Is this a small thing we may be able to do? Should we brainstorm and try to come up with some other pro action?

It is such a huge situation, a tin of worms as we say. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

arohanui
ngawaka

[i_am]

Though this onto it lady Ms Martin, has seemingly been removed from her post, she won't have dropped the ball. I don't think that someone that has cut a career of this sort out for herself. would simply walk away. She may have a wee rest. But its a moralistic fight, a life style and a passion. You may already know this, so excuse me if you do, but, when one has done indigenous work it's common knowledge with these workers/advocates, that you have a burn out time. Its such a run of the mill thing for there to be consistent gate stops that are lined with non indigenous calling the shots and giving you the bad news, and making decisions for you. Its a very draining, disheartening and at times gut wrenching job. Well you take it on the chin and keep going until you need a rest or like this woman, get fired, and is forced to either take a rest or go back to the drawing board.

arohanui
ngawaka

Hello ngawaka

I am not really sure that you understand the situation. Clare Martin is chief minister of the NT. NT is not a state and therefore has a Chief Miinster which is the equivilent of the state premiers. The federal government cannot intervene in State matters but they can in the ACT and NT. She has not been removed from that position. She has just had the power for indigenous affairs taken away. She is not taking a break or walking away. She is still Chief Minister.

And ....it sounds as though she is working tirelessly for the aboriginal community, please read this entry in Wikipedia. Now I know that is not the most reliable of sources, but I believe this is pretty much spot on. Ms martins 'career' has not been as an activist is aboriginal affairs, I'm afraid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Martin

Aboriginal Issues
The tragic suicide of a seven year old Aboriginal girl in a remote community in July 2006, brought the Northern Territory's record on Aboriginal human rights into world attention. Largely ignored by mainstream Australian newspapers, the story was reported in the respected Australian newsmagazine, The Bulletin.

Although Martin appointed Aboriginal Territorians to her cabinet, she has been criticized for not improving the lot of her Aboriginal constituents, the majority of whom have a life expectancy well below that of white Australians. A respected commentator in The Bulletin, has suggested that she has gone slow on Aboriginal issues because she fears a white backlash that could result in her government being toppled.

The life expectancy of the Northern Territory's Aboriginal citizens has not increased markedly during Martin's administration. Alcohol abuse is rampant in most Aboriginal communities and third-world diseases like Trachoma can be seem in remote Aboriginal townships. Martin's failure to markedly improve the lot of Aboriginal Territorians has angered many Australians. Nevertheless, Martin is widely regarded as being more friendly to Aboriginal causes than her political opponents who are currently in opposition.

[ngawaka19]

thanks iam, will do.

love and light

[i_am]

thanks iam, will do.

love and light

:)

They are all playing politics. The NT government has been pretty ineffective and the federal government hasn't given a shit in all the time they have been in power, until now. Seen to be doing something in a federal election year? or just a sample of things to come? Whichever, I doubt it is has anything to do with giving a damn about the people.

[ngawaka19]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6239788.stm

this in the news today. I was very pleased to see, non aborigine and aborigine joining together to meet, discuss and create hopefully a successful protest to reverse Howards abuse plan. I hope that one of the strategies to counter this is to produce a viable implication of remedy, a more precise, more practical and empowering process of solution than the one Howard is having. I would so like to attend this meeting. iam, I'm wondering would you have any information about this group meeting? If not, how hard would it be to find out who they are even if its just an address I may write a letter of support to. Appreciate any suggestions.
ngawaka

[i_am]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6239788.stm

this in the news today. I was very pleased to see, non aborigine and aborigine joining together to meet, discuss and create hopefully a successful protest to reverse Howards abuse plan. I hope that one of the strategies to counter this is to produce a viable implication of remedy, a more precise, more practical and empowering process of solution than the one Howard is having. I would so like to attend this meeting. iam, I'm wondering would you have any information about this group meeting? If not, how hard would it be to find out who they are even if its just an address I may write a letter of support to. Appreciate any suggestions.
ngawaka

No I have no idea where you could send a letter. I can't find any reference as to who is organising the protest.

this is another story from an hour ago

http://au.news.yahoo.com/070626/19/13u0d.html

[ngawaka19]

Wow, that's a twist. My gosh this is turning out to be out of control. iam is this for real, do you believe that this was the governments agenda all along? Of course it's highly possible, but surely this is just scepticism. I can understand the koori being protective and seeing this is a set up for confiscation of land, but surely the government is not using this highly sensitive issue as a fore runner to taking the land? If this is so, my thoughts and aroha are with you and the fellow men who are concerned, working hard against this, and are just flabagasted over it. ka arohamai
love and light
ngawaka

ps i'll keep searching for an address, shall pm you if i find one

[ashyr]

watch the ads with aborignal people on aussie ads.

we have the "were the bloddy hell are" ad campaign for instance.
classic, the time they choose to use the aborigine actor he was holding a bottle of wine. symbolic isnt it. planned. you bet

[ho1ogram]

I received this pdf email, underlines are mine...

Below is the text of an article by Jennifer Martiniello which will be forwarded to major newspapers in Australia. Please pass on to your networks. Jennifer Martiniello is a writer and academic of Arrernte, Chinese and Anglo descent. She is a former Deputy Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts, and a current member of the Advisory Board of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History at the ANU.

Howard’s New Tampa - Aboriginal Children Overboard

Howard’s new Tampa children overboard are our Aboriginal children. The Little Children are Sacred report does not advocate physically and psychologically invasive examinations of Aboriginal children, which could only be carried out anally and vaginally. It does not recommend scrapping the permit system to enter Aboriginal lands, nor does it recommend taking over Aboriginal ‘towns’ by enforced leases. These latter two points in the Howard scheme hide the true reason for the Federal Government’s use of the latest report for blatant political opportunism.

It has been an openly stated agenda that Howard wants to move Aboriginal people off their lands, and has made recent attempts to buy off Aboriginal people by offering them millions for agreeing to lease their lands to the Federal Government, e.g. Tiwi Islands and Tangentyere in Alice Springs. There was also the statement by the Federal Government that it could not continue (?!) to provide essential services to remote communities, which raised an uproar of responses in the press. The focus on the sexual abuse of children is guaranteed to evoke the most emotive responses, and therefore command attention, just like the manipulation of the Tampa situation.

But while the attention of the media and the public is being emotionally coerced, what is being sneaked in under the covers? Two issues specifically - mining companies have applied for more exploration permits in the Northern Territory, the Jabiluka uranium mining operations at Kakadu have already hit the media because of the mining company’s applications to the Government to significantly expand its operations, including establishing new mines at Coronation Hill, and another critical issue - nuclear waste. The Howard Government has already mooted that nuclear waste should be dumped in the Northern Territory, on Aboriginal lands. Aboriginal traditional owners are absolutely opposed to this. We have a long history of deaths and illness from radiation, from the atomic tests at Woomera in the 1950s to the current high incidences of carcinomas in the community at Kakadu near the Jabiluka site. The main obstacle to the Federal Government’s desired expansion of mining operations in the Northern Territory and nuclear waste dumping is, of course, the Aboriginal people who have occupancy of, and rights under the common law to, their traditional lands.

Following the stages of the Howard Government’s usual modus operandi (defund, blame, eliminate), defunding of critical programs for remote Aboriginal community projects began in July 2004, with coerced changes to funding contracts, and monies for critically needed youth and health programs in remote areas being the first dollars to go. Take Mutitjulu for example, which was notoriously profiled by the ABC’s Nightline program. I say notorious because one of Senator Mal Brough’s personal staffers was the so-called ex-youth worker interviewed on that program, and the content of that interview was laden with myths and mistruths. The staffer in question failed to appear when summoned before a Senate inquiry to explain and the Senator’s office is yet to issue a statement. When the community lodged a formal protest to Government, it was raided and their computers seized. But the program did show the effects of the Howard Government defunding of essential programs on that community, in particular the youth centre and health centre. The people at Mutitjulu also just happen to be the traditional owners of Uluru, one of this country’s most lucrative tourist attractions. The Howard Government would not like us to ask who benefits by the people of Mutitjulu being forced off their community. Under the amendments to Native Title made by the Howard Government, once Aboriginal people have left their traditional lands, forcibly or otherwise, their rights under the common law that every other Australian enjoys over their land are significantly impaired.

Progressive defunding of Aboriginal art centres has also begun, with a range of community art centres not having their funding renewed by DCITA in July 2005 and 2006 in the Northern Territory, from communities in Arnhemland to mid and southern Territory communities. The art production facilitated by those Aboriginal art centres are the only means through which members of those communities can actually earn a living, as opposed to being on welfare. But then, dependent people are easier to control by means of that dependency. The Howard Government’s failed Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs) have also been the catalyst for further blame shifting and progressive defunding, take Wadeye for example.

Our Aboriginal communities are being squeezed further into dysfunction and disenfranchisement by carefully targeted political engineering, the systemic and ruthless roll-out of a planned agenda. It is no accident that Howard’s scheme to address what he calls the urgency of the Little Children are Sacred report’s 97 recommendations was trotted out so very quickly, and addresses so very few of those recommendations. It is sheer political opportunism to advance an already in motion agenda, and to score points in an election year. After all, The Little Children are Sacred report is not the first of such reports, nor are its findings and recommendations new. The Federal Government has had the 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997 and 2002 reports gathering dust and deliberate inaction on its shelves. Perhaps Mr Howard has been saving them up for a rainy election year?

And of course Mr Howard’s scheme targets only Aboriginal communities, despite the fact that the findings specifically state that non- Aboriginal men, that is, white men, are a significant proportion of the offenders, who are black-marketeering in petrol and alcohol to gain access to Aboriginal children. What measures is the Howard Government going to take about non-Aboriginal sex offenders, pornographers, substance traffickers and the like? Nothing according to the measures announced, but then, they’re not Aboriginal and they don’t live on the Aboriginal communities where their victims live.

So who are the real victims here, the silenced victims of John Howard’s scheme? Aboriginal children, of course, who will be subject to physically and psychologically invasive medical examinations, irrespective of their home and family circumstances, and who will deal with the mental and emotional fall-out from that? Aboriginal men, too, who become the silenced scapegoats, painted by default by John Howard as all being drunken, child-raping monsters. Perhaps the fact that almost every picture shown of Aboriginal men in the media these days shows them drunk, with a slab, cask or bottle under their arms leads Mr Howard to expect that one to pass unchallenged, irrespective of the fact that statistics show that only 15% of Aboriginal people drink alcohol, socially or otherwise, compared to around 87% of non-Aboriginal Australians. The greater majority of Aboriginal men are good, decent people. Perhaps the media would like to rethink its portrayals of Aboriginal men? How about some photos of the other alcoholics, you know, the white ones. There’s more of them.

And what of our communities? The Howard Government also hasn’t mentioned that the majority of Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory are already dry communities, decided and enforced by those communities. But then that would spoil the picture Mr Howard wants to paint of our Aboriginal communities. Other large communities, such as Daly River, have controlled the situation by only having alcohol available from the community’s club and enforce a strict four can limit. Also forgotten in the current politically opportunistic furore is the fact that Aboriginal communities around Tennant Creek and Katherine have been lobbying Governments and town councils for decades to restrict the sale of alcohol on Thursdays, when Aboriginal community people come to town for supplies. So far their pleas have been rejected. Nothing in Mr Howard’s plan to facilitate that, either. Or about the control of alcohol when those people, once forced off the communities into the towns, bring their problems with them, child abuse or alcoholism and all the rest. Of course that would make access to Aboriginal children a lot easier for white offenders, they won’t have to go so far to find a victim.

One last word on focus of attention. In the famous Redfern Address, the then Prime Minister, Paul Keating asked perhaps the most important question for all Australians to consider. He said ‘We failed to ask the most basic of questions. We failed to ask - What if this were done to us?’ What if this were done to us - to Mr and Mrs Average Australian, to our schools, youth centres, health centres, access to medical care, communities, homes, children, grandchildren? After all, current national health reports from a wide range of health organisations name sexual abuse of non-Indigenous Australian children as a crisis area in need of urgent attention. And the numbers of victims are higher. National reports into mainstream domestic violence, alcohol and substance abuse also call for urgent action, again the issues are at crisis level, and the numbers of victims and abusers are far higher than in the Little Children are Sacred report.

None of the recommendations in all of those hundreds of national health reports recommend compulsory sexual health tests for every Australian child under sixteen. Not one of them recommends that a viable solution is closing down youth and health programs, in fact they all advocate that more are needed. None recommend that the victims’ or the offenders’ communities and homes should be surrendered to the Federal Government and put under compulsory lease agreements, and none advocate processes which would lead to either the victims or the abusers losing their rights under common law to their property as measure to control or remedy the occurrence of abuse. Would the Howard Government even dare to contemplate such as that? I think not. It would be un-Australian, and the Government it would expect immediate legal repercussions on the grounds of impairment of human rights, extinguishment of rights under common law, discrimination, and a raft of other constitutional issues. Besides, Mr and Mrs Average Australian don’t, for the most part, live on top of uranium and mineral deposits or future nuclear waste dumps.

But seriously, the most critical question for all Australians to ask themselves in the lead up to this year’s Federal Election is just that - What if it were done to us? With full acknowledgment of what has already been done to workers, trade unions, student unions, public primary, secondary and tertiary education, elderly care, palliative care, medicare, crisis health care, nurses, teachers, multicultural affairs, migrant groups, women, child care, small businesses and artsworkers, among the many, through the exercise of policies of social engineering and fear, your answer at the polling booth may just determine whether it will be done to you, or continue to be done to you. As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald 25th June, the Howard Government last week used the military to seize control of 60 Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, which are now under military occupation. This is not Israel and Palestine. The Northern Territory is not Gaza or the West Bank. This is Australia - but is it the Australia you thought you lived in? Walk in our shoes, Aboriginal Australia’s, and ask yourselves, what would it be like to have this done to us? And then, walk with us.
Jennifer Martiniello

[ho1ogram]

John Howard admits Aboriginal land grab intent
2007-06-29 11:37 AM +0800
Friday June 29, 2007

"Prime Minister John Howard has this morning admitted, in response to questions by Neil Mitchell on Southern Cross radio, that "if" it comes to taking lands away from Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal people, he will adequately compensate them", WA Rights group Project SafeCom said this morning...

Media Release - John Howard admits Aboriginal land grab intent

"Prime Minister John Howard has this morning admitted, in response to questions by Neil Mitchell on Southern Cross radio, that "if" it comes to taking lands away from Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal people, he will adequately compensate them", WA Rights group Project SafeCom said.

"The Prime Minister's comments, given in his usual, passive, non-denial style in which he makes an initial admission, using his frequently used 'policy by stealth' methodology, have outed Mr Howard's true political intent of the dramatic 'invasion' of the army against the backdrop of health and community workers into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, with the otherwise valid agenda of creating safety for especially the children in those communities," spokesman Jack H Smit said.

"It is now abundantly clear, what many pundits have suspected during the last week," Mr Smit said. "The taking away of lands from Aboriginal people, and given those lands over to commercial interests and mining companies, was always Mr Howard's intent."

"We know, from the now confirmed departure of the Canadian Stephen Harper government from Canada's previous long-standing commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of Indigenous people, and confirmed influencing of Canada by Mr Howard in this Canadian decision, where Mr Howard stands in relation to the Rights of Indigenous People," Mr Smit said.

"Now we also know what his intent is for Australian Indigenous people." Mr Smit concluded.

For more information: Jack H Smit, Project SafeCom Inc.
Office 2 (08) 9336-6048 | mobile 0417 090 130


http://perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=95356

[i_am]

I received this pdf email, underlines are mine...

Howard’s new Tampa children overboard are our Aboriginal children. The Little Children are Sacred report does not advocate physically and psychologically invasive examinations of Aboriginal children, which could only be carried out anally and vaginally. It does not recommend scrapping the permit system to enter Aboriginal lands, nor does it recommend taking over Aboriginal ‘towns’ by enforced leases. These latter two points in the Howard scheme hide the true reason for the Federal Government’s use of the latest report for blatant political opportunism.

But while the attention of the media and the public is being emotionally coerced, what is being sneaked in under the covers? Two issues specifically - mining companies have applied for more exploration permits in the Northern Territory, the Jabiluka uranium mining operations at Kakadu have already hit the media because of the mining company’s applications to the Government to significantly expand its operations, including establishing new mines at Coronation Hill, and another critical issue - nuclear waste. The Howard Government has already mooted that nuclear waste should be dumped in the Northern Territory, on Aboriginal lands. Aboriginal traditional owners are absolutely opposed to this. We have a long history of deaths and illness from radiation, from the atomic tests at Woomera in the 1950s to the current high incidences of carcinomas in the community at Kakadu near the Jabiluka site. The main obstacle to the Federal Government’s desired expansion of mining operations in the Northern Territory and nuclear waste dumping is, of course, the Aboriginal people who have occupancy of, and rights under the common law to, their traditional lands.

The question I have been asking right from the start of this debate is why the hell are they scrapping permits? What does that have to do with abused children and alcoholism? How is that going to help? It just seemed like a little clause slipped in there which was way removed from the issue at hand. The picture is starting to emerge.

Something does need to be done, has needed to be done for decades but why now and why this way? I don't believe it has anything to do with 'saving' anyone. If that is the case why did they not respond when asked for assisatnce by the leaders themselves and by the NT government? There is a definate agenda here.

[ho1ogram]

There's an agenda alright..

Link to Jennifer Martiniello's article: http://www.safecom.org.au/howards-new-tampa.htm
"Our Aboriginal communities are being squeezed further into dysfunction and disenfranchisement by carefully targeted political engineering, the systemic and ruthless roll-out of a planned agenda. It is no accident that Howard's scheme to address what he calls the urgency of The Little Children are Sacred report's 97 recommendations was trotted out so very quickly, and addresses so very few of those recommendations."


Link to the Government report:
Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle
“Little Children are Sacred”

NORTHERN TERRITORY GOVERNMENT
BOARD OF INQUIRY INTO THE PROTECTION
OF ABORIGINAL CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL ABUSE
http://www.nt.gov.au/dcm/inquirysaac/pdf/bipacsa_final_report.pdf

[i_am]

Yeah and here is the first point in that report.

1. That Aboriginal child sexual abuse in the Northern
Territory be designated as an issue of urgent national
significance by both the Australian and Northern
Territory Governments, and both governments
immediately establish a collaborative partnership
with a Memorandum of Understanding to specifically
address the protection of Aboriginal children from
sexual abuse. It is critical that both governments
commit to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people
in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities.

They sure did that, didn't they? NOT!!

[friendsinthesky]

I don't know the validity of this, But apparently x-rated video's in Australia are only legal in N.T and Canberra. (note; x-rated)

[parel]

the 'x' rated restriction refers only to the sale of such literature. so, it's legal for people in States to order x rated stuff through the mail and to be in possession of it.

also, they haven't made any laws regarding internet pornography as yet. this assault on central Australia might well be the genesis of such a plan though. I mean, if they can just pick a group of people and target them for shtorm-trooper treatment, what's to stop them targeting another group next... like say, welfare recipients.

[ngawaka19]

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/070709/9/u34.html

This is what the Maori mps are saying at the moment, its not over, till they allow thru unconditional support senior indigenous peoples to create a long term remedy.

[montag]

Intervention in NT is worrying and sickening: Yunupingu

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7156/180597546wideweb470x320ii9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Shot at 2007-08-03
Galarrwuy Yunupingu.


August 4, 2007 - 1:02PM

The federal government's intervention in the Northern Territory is sickening, rotten and worrying, says one of the most powerful Aboriginal leaders in the territory.

Speaking at the 2007 Garma Festival, deep in the heart of a stringybark forest in north-east Arnhem Land, former Northern Land Council president, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, called on people to fight the Howard government's takeover of Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

"I have got a political agenda to run," he said.

"This government is a worrying government, not worried about us but worried about himself (Prime Minister John Howard) and worried about his few rich people and business people that support the coalition that puts them back into government to run amok in the nation."

Aboriginal leaders, politicians, academics, judges and artists have gathered at Gulkula, a dry community close to the mining town of Nhulunbuy, for Australia's leading indigenous festival.

Now in its ninth year, the theme of this year's festival is Indigenous Health: Real Solutions for a Chronic Problem. But Canberra's unprecedented emergency intervention to combat child sexual abuse following a damning NT government report took centre stage on the first day of the four-day event.

"We in the Northern Territory are about to be dispossessed of everything, everything that we've got left from the original dispossession of our land and lives.

"That I should go and change my lifestyle and become a white man is worrying, worrying and sickening."

Mr Yunupingu called the federal government move "the lowest of anybody's form of policy".

"I am just reminding people that this is a struggle.

"I appeal to you to stand beside us to fight the rottenness that is ... the sickness of this government setting out to simply take away what's rightfully ours."

Mr Yunupingu spent most of the morning in deep discussion at a closed forum with more than 30 indigenous leaders from the region, drafting a letter that sets out their opposition to the prime minister's decision to seize control of more than 70 communities to stamp out child sexual abuse.

It is also expected to include opposition to the scrapping of the permit system and a request to meet with Mr Howard in person.

The meeting, in bushland overlooking the Gulf of Carpentaria, is being attended by such well-known figures as the "father of reconciliation" Patrick Dodson and the current and past members of territory land councils.

Jackie Huggins, co-chairwoman of Reconciliation Australia, told a gathering of people earlier today that Aboriginal people needed more than "a band-aid solution".

"The blame game across governments is shameful and has to end," she said.

But she stopped short of damning the federal initiative altogether, saying she oscillated between hoping it would be a positive move providing long-term improvements for her people and fearing that Canberra would entirely ignore the accumulated wisdom of her people.

"Listen to your Northern Territory brothers and sisters carefully and respectfully, what you should have done in the first place," she said.

"(Do) not be mute with them for this absolutely serves no purpose."

AAP

[i_am]

http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/node/51326

Central Australia as Howard's troops move in...


My favourite story of the week: the Willowra community on Warlpiri country, 250km north-west of Alice Springs, setting up signs:

At the entrance to their community: "Welcome to Willowra Community: Please feel free to take over"

At the Youth Centre: "Army Recruitment"

At a random patch of grass: "Helipad"

At another: "[Army] Tank Angle Parking"

At a termite mound: "Beware! Pointy Land Mines"

At the only public telephone: "Communications HQ"

Pics courtesy of: http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/willowra-community-on-warlpiri-country.html


http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/1037/3360x270hv6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5961/4360x270kc4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3884/5360x270wr0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/8754/6360x270fv2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/7024/r161366591519zj9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8617/willowra20frontpagevf6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[i_am]

Just saw this in Yahoo News

http://au.news.yahoo.com/070914/2/14fkx.html

Lancet slams Howard on indigenous health

Prime Minister John Howard's legitimacy to govern Australia has been "fatally compromised" by the government's poor indigenous health record, a leading international medical journal claims.

An editorial in The Lancet is sharply critical of the government, and Mr Howard specifically, for failing to deliver on an 11-year-old election promise to improve Aboriginal health and social wellbeing.

"This dire situation now looks set to worsen," write the editors, arguing against the federal government's emergency response legislation which condones the takeover of 73 Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

"The Howard administration's latest approach to indigenous health will not fulfil its decade-old election promise," they wrote.................