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Indigenous intervention is a 'land grab'

July 14, 2007 03:49pm

www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22073603-29277,00.html

THE Federal Government has sent police into indigenous communities in the Northern Territory to access valuable uranium deposits, not to protect children from abuse, a rally was told in Melbourne.

About 30 demonstrators mingled with shoppers and tourists as two didgeridoo players kicked off the Stop the Genocide on Stolen Aboriginal Land rally at 12.30pm (AEST) today on the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets in the city centre.

Protest organiser Robbie Thorpe, who was also behind the Black GST and Camp Sovereignty protests during the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne last year, said the Federal Government had no interest in the welfare of indigenous children.

"It's the only bit of land the commonwealth government hasn't got access to and there are minerals like uranium there,'' Mr Thorpe told the rally.

"That's what it's about.

"How can you believe Howard? He don't give a f**k about our kids.''

Mr Thorpe told the crowd that indigenous Australians had suffered from 100 years of abuse.

"You (the Federal and State Governments) have taken our people to the brink,'' Mr Thorpe said.

"There has been 100 years of human rights' crimes against our people,'' he said.

"Things are not going to change until there is a treaty (with the indigenous community) in this country.''

The rally ended with protesters walking around the block along Swanston Street, Flinders Street and Collins Street before ending at City Square.

The protest was part of a national day of action being held in capital cities and Alice Springs.

Eora Country (Sydney)

Aborigines protest PM's NT 'land grab'

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22072908-1702,00.html

July 14, 2007

INDIGENOUS people will never agree to the abolition of the permit system in the Northern Territory nor the land rights they fought so hard to earn, a Sydney protest has been told.
Around 250 demonstrators marched today from Redfern, inner-Sydney's Aboriginal heart, to the city's town hall to protest against the federal government's intervention in Northern Territory indigenous communities.

The marchers met at The Block in Redfern at 10.30am (AEST) before making their way to Sydney's CBD where they were addressed by Aboriginal leaders.

The protesters were angry about the federal government's compulsory acquisition of remote indigenous communities and the abolition of the permit system, which they consider a land grab.

The demonstrators waved banners bearing the message, "Justice, where the bloody hell are ya?'' and bellowed chants about land rights as they held up traffic on the 30-minute march into the city.

Pat Turner, a member of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations (CAO) and chief executive of the new National Indigenous Television (NITV) service, told the crowd that a six-month emergency intervention to tackle child abuse would be acceptable.

But it had to be done in partnership with local Aborigines and be followed up with a fully-funded long-term strategy to provide services.

"We'll show you how to do it properly,'' she said.

"Leave the police at home, leave the soldiers at home, and let the real workers come in.''

Ms Turner said Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory had endured a long, hard struggle to win land rights in 1975 and were not about to give them up.

"We will not say yes to removing the permit system and we will never agree to the removal of inalienable freehold title,'' she said.

She called on Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd to differentiate himself from the government's position or risk losing the black vote.

The Sydney protest is part of a national day of action against the intervention being held in every capital, as well as Alice Springs.