- Future Aboriginal leaders outraged by "racist" Federal Intervention
- Reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory - Petition
- A year of NT Intervention - Amnesty International Australia
- Traditional owners locked out of sacred McArthur River site
- National protest against the Federal Intervention into (NT) Aboriginal lands
Future Aboriginal leaders outraged by "racist" Federal Intervention
Submitted by admin on 29 July, 2008 - 22:19.
Letters to the editor re: NT intervention, written by the youth that attended the Tasmanian Aboriginal Youth Leadership Program.
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"10 Aboriginal youth aged 12-14 from around Tasmania, met at Bridport (June 08) to take part in the Tasmanian Aboriginal Youth Leadership program.
Part of the program included discussions on the NT intervention / Invasion, each participant then wrote letters to the editor in relation to the Intervention. Two of the letters have so far been sent to the local newspapers and have been published."
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"The youth also mentioned that they would somehow like to let all the blackfullas up that way know, that even though we are a long way away, we are thinking of them, and are doing everything we can to try to stop this racist Intervention. We have travelled to Hobart and protested when Jenny Maclaine came down here, and were on the news chanting “JENNY MACLAINE, GO BACK HOME, LEAVE OUR PAKANA KIDS ALONE”, We protested the Intervention during John Howard’s visit to Tasmania last year, while wearing T-shirts with pictures of John Howard pointing and saying “I want your kids”. We held a rally on the parliament house lawns for the National day of action against the NT intervention and have written many letters to the editor and press releases."
- Nala Mansell (Youth Worker) Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre |
Letter to the editor
NT Invasion
Nunami Sculthorpe-Green
Aged 15
Hobart-Tasmania
A year later, the race-based Northern Territory Intervention continues to disempower
Aborigines in the Northern Territory and strip them of their basic human rights.
While the rest of Australia is free to receive their pension cheques, Aborigines
in the Northern Territory are being forced to line up in queues to receive
food vouchers.
They are also being forced to move from their traditional homelands and assimilate
into the cities.
This policy, that the Government claims is not racist, is in fact so racist that amendments
had to be made to the racial discrimination act so that the intervention could be put
in place.
It is not an intervention, it is an invasion.
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Letter to the Editor
Warena Burgess
Age 15
I am a fifteen year old girl living in a small Aboriginal community on Cape Barren Island.
I love the Cape Barren Island lifestyle. I am free to learn and speak my own language, live among my own people,attend a school with other Aboriginal children and travel to the bird Islands every season to go Mutton-Birding.
However, if the racist policies of the Howard and Rudd Governments, which take away the welfare payments from aborigines, are put in place On Cape Barren Island as they have been in more than 60 Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, then I would no longer be able to afford to travel to go Mutton-Birding.
I would be forced to move to the city to get an education, and the freedom that I once had to practice my culture would be stripped from me, just as it was done to my people 200 years ago.
Sending in armed forces and stripping our people of their basic human rights is never going to solve health issues.
If Jenny Macklin and Kevin Rudd really want to help our people, take out the armed forces and send in the Aboriginal Health Workers
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Call for Aboriginal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
Ashlee Hogan
Age 17
Hobart-Tasmania
Racial discrimination is in full force in the Northern Territory.
The Labor Government prides itself on its commitment to supporting Aboriginal people, but refuses to abolish
this racist and inhumane Northern Territory Intervention.
Kevin Rudd has apologized to the stolen Generation and has promised that Aboriginal people will never have
to suffer the injustices of the past ever again, but supports a policy that is based around violence, racism, and one race having full control over the lives of another.
It is a white invasion all over again.
Jenny Maclin, you are a white woman who does not understand, or want to understand what will work best
for our people, your time is up, move over and let an Aboriginal person be in charge of Aboriginal affairs.
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The White way is not the Right Way
Letter to the editor
Cianna Mabb
Age 15
Hobart, Tasmania
I could just imagine how fearful Aborigines in the Northern Territory must be at the moment.
The Government is moving them out of their homelands from the lands they have always known, to cities that they
are not accustomed to.
Why does the Government still find it necessary to force our people to adapt to white culture, white language,
white cities and the white way of living?
This racist intervention will not assist Aborigines, it is just another way of the Rudd Government highlighting
the fact that they have full control over our people.
______________________________________
Letter to the editor
Kobi Sainty
Aged 15
Launceston, Tasmania
The 21st June marked the 12 month anniversary of the racist Northern Territory Intervention.
I am a proud Tasmanian Aborigine who is outraged at this intervention, that is targeting Aborigines only and is being
supported by a so-called apologetic Prime Minister.
Kevin Rudd needs to re-think the reasons of why he felt an apology was necessary and then use the power that he
has over our people to do the right thing and abolish all NT intervention legislation.
______________________________________
Letters to the editor
Racist intervention
Sarah Smith
Aged 15
Launceston-Tasmania
Discrimination against Aborigines is still occurring a year later in the Northern territory.
Shame on you Kevin Rudd and Jenny Macklin for following John Howard's racist, un-lawful attacks against Aborigines
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NT Intervention
Letter to the Editor
Dimity poole
Age 15
Hobart, Tasmania
Poor health affects many white people in Australia, so I wonder why the Government havn't replaced doctors with
armies to fix their health issues?
Many lawyers, doctors and police officers waste their money, so I wonder why the government doesn't replace
their money with vouchers.
The white Government is trying their best to destroy us but as long as we can come together in the fight for
Aboriginal sovereignty and self-determination, there is hope that this intervention will be abolished and Aborigines
may once again, have full control over our own destinies.
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Letter to the editor
Jessica Moss-Farley
Age 16
Launceston-Tasmania
There are three words to describe the Northern Territory intervention, Racist, disgusting and awful.
Sending in White armies to the Northern Territory is not going to improve health issues.
There have been many cases within the past few years with School teachers sexually abusing students in
schools, but these people are not subjected to the same treatment as Aborigines.
In years to come the Government will look back and realize that they have once again repeated a history of
invasion and have created a new generation of stolen children.
The Government will then be responsible for compensating those affected, when people like Jenny Maclin
could've put a stop to the racist policies in the first place.
______________________________________
NT INTERVENTION
Letter to the Editor
Jessie Smith
Aged 14
Launceston, Tasmania
It saddens me when I think of Aborigines in the Northern territory being subjected to this type of racism.
How can the Government say the NT intervention is not racist if the racial discrimination act had to be
amended for the intervention to be put in place?
The Millions of dollars the Government has spent invading the 60+ Aboriginal communities should've
been spent training Aboriginal Health Workers.
It has been proven time and time again that Aborigines understand what their own needs are a lot
better than white people do.
If the Government is sincerely concerned about the Health of our people, money would be spent
on Community controlled Aboriginal Health Services, not armed forces.
______________________________________
NT INTERVENTION
Megan Walsh
Age 14
Launceston, Tasmania
It is the year 2008 yet Aborigines are still being handed out rations.
The Prime minister has apologized for the wrong doings of the past, yet he supports policies
based on assimilation.
We are saddened by the wars going on around the world, but turn a blind eye to the fact that
armed forces have been sent in to control Aboriginal communities in Australia.
Reconciliation is a word commonly used by the Government, but the NT intervention targets
Aborigines and not whites.
Enough is enough.
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