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Stronger Futures Legislation


Repeal Stronger Futures: please click here


New Matilda - 18 April 2016

... One month ago, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights released its review into the Stronger Futures legislation, which replaced the Northern Territory National Emergency Response (disclosure: I was part of the Secretariat who assisted in writing that report). Notwithstanding some successes, it found that a blanket application of policies, absence of consultation, and an inability for Indigenous peoples to effectively challenge or seek review of particular measures, both infringed human rights and weakened the effectiveness of the measures. No plan to remedy these problems has been announced. ...
https://newmatilda.com/2016/04/18/not-content-with-wrecking-the-environment-greg-hunt-is-now-desecrating-sacred-sites/

Wind it back - Committee call for action on Stronger Futures - Koori Mail ed. 623, 6 April 2016:
A MULTI-PARTY parliamentary committee has recommended winding back many of the harsh conditions of the Stronger Futures legislation, including
compulsory income management. But the Federal Government has refused to say whether it will follow the advice....

please click here

Cloud over tough laws - Koori Mail, ed. 623, 6 Apr 2016:
please click here

Georgina Gartland of 'concerned Australians' said, “the recently released Review of Stronger Futures was disappointing. The legislation should have been repealed and on food security there was no mention of freight subsides for the delivery of food to remote communities which would help make food more affordable. Indeed it is quite ironic that a few days later we have reports of people starving and others going without food. Much more lies at the heart of this, including deliberate policy coercing people off county.”

For the full cA media release of 1 April 2016: please click here


2016 Review of Stronger Futures measures - 16 March 2016

For the report as pdf: please click here
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/Committee_Inquiries/strongerfutures2/Final_report


STICS and other submissions to the Stronger Futures legislation inquiry - 2014

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/Committee_Inquiries/strongerfutures2/Submissions


Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Eleventh Report of 2013
:
please click here


Review of Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act 2012 and related legislation
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/Committee_Inquiries/strongerfutures2/



Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill 2011 and two related bills have passed through the Lower House on 27 Feb 2012. The Senate Inquiry report was released 14 March 2012. The Stronger Futures legislation passed through the Senate on the night of 28 to 29 June 2012.


Amnesty International's newsletter in Germany: please click here


Please sign the Petition:
Stop Stronger Futures and support Aboriginal self-determination in the NT: please click here


Please write to Senators
: please click here -
Email addresses are: [email protected]


Take Action:
Stand for Freedom link to the petition, local MPs, sample letter: please click here


For a sample letter: please click here


For the Yolŋu Nations Assembly Statement and supportive Organisations/Groups' Statements: please click here

 


For some fantastic Media coverage: please click here

 

Stronger Futures Forum held at Maningrida on 21 February 2012

Aboriginal people from West, Central and East Arnhem Land give their views on the proposed Stronger Futures Legislation

Stronger Futures Forum held at Maningrida on 21 February 2012 on Vimeo.

Facilitator: Jeff McMullen
Produced by NITV

 


For more information on Stronger Futures and the 2011 NT Consultations: please click here

For Media coverage on the 2011 NT Consultations: please click here

For Media coverage on Stronger Futures: please click here



Please sign the Petition to Stop
Stronger Futures and support Aboriginal self-determination in the NT: please click here


Stand for Freedom

Feb 28: Parliament House protest against 'Stronger Futures',
new NT Intervention legislation

For the poster: please click here

For the Media Release: please click here

For video clips & speeches from the Canberra protest: please click here

For the Hon Alastair Nicholson's excellent commentary on the Stronger Futures, please see http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/ or
direct link at http://vimeo.com/37587868


Petition to the Attorney General: Stop Stronger Futures and support Aboriginal self-determination in the NT: please click here

Stand for Freedom campaign video: please click here

For full transcripts from recorded NT Consultations 2011: please click here


For further info on the 2011 NT Consultations: please click here

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Please have your say on the Extension of Key
NT Intervention Measures for another Decade

The Federal Government has extended the deadline for submissions on the legislation that replaces the Emergency Intervention into Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-02/20120202-more-time-comment-intervention-replacement-laws/3807380?section=nt


Main page for
Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill 2011 and two related bills:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=clac_ctte/strong_future_nt_11/index.htm

Direct link to view all uploaded submissions
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=clac_ctte/strong_future_nt_11/submissions.htm

For submission 250 from M Carlton & D. Kunoth (not on the above website):
please click here

Direct link to view all uploaded hearing info
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/2010-13/strong_future_nt_11/hearings/index.htm

Current Committee inquiries
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=inquiries/index.htm


For some recent documents: please click here


For the Stronger Futures Submission Guide: please click here


For the document with links to further info about the

New Policies, Aboriginal Elders voices and for Taking Action:


please click here


For a summary of the new laws by Paddy Gibson: please click here


For the December Tracker articles on Stronger Futures: please click here or here (under Media Coverage)


For info about the 2011 NT Consultations: please click here

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Stand for Freedom

Feb 28: Parliament House protest against 'Stronger Futures',
new NT Intervention legislation


For the poster, videos, speeches and further info: please click here

 

 

Petition to the Attorney General: Stop Stronger Futures and support Aboriginal self-determination in the NT: please click here


Stand for Freedom campaign video: please click here

 

 

Stand against Macklin's Decade of Discrimination

- Stop the Second Intervention!

Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory legislation currently before parliament would extend the NT Intervention for a further ten years. Explicitly racist laws, which vilify Aboriginal people & culture are being kept or strengthened including:

* "Star Chamber" powers held by the Australian Crime Commission for investigations in Aboriginal communities, including removal of the right to silence.

*Prohibition of consideration of Aboriginal customary law and cultural practice in bail and sentencing. * Blanket bans on alcohol on Aboriginal Land, despite consistent opposition from the Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT (APO NT) who have said, "The decision regarding alcohol restrictions should be for relevant residents to make... The principal effect of these widely flouted laws has been to further criminalise and alienate many residents".

* Increases in penalties for possession of alcohol on Aboriginal Land, including 6 months potential jail time for a single can of beer and 18 months for a 6-pack.

* Blanket bans on "sexually explicit or very violent material" on Aboriginal Land. These restrictions serve no purpose other than the perverse stigmatisation of Aboriginal men.

* Continued suspension of the operations of the permit system in communities

* Complete Commonwealth control over regulations in Community Living Areas Proposed amendments to the Social Security Act will see further attacks on the rights of Centrelink recipients. These measures will initially be targeted at NT Aboriginal peoples, but have national implications, especially in areas such as Bankstown where Income Management is being rolled out:

* An expansion of the School Enrolment and Attendance Measure (SEAM) means chronic school attendance problems could see families cut off certain Centrelink payments entirely.

* Staff from any nominated organisation will have the power to order people onto Income Management in the same way that Child Protection agencies currently do.

* Staff from nominated government agencies will be able to pass on information about clients to Centrelink, even if doing so contravenes State or Territory law.

* Income Management will follow you even if you move out of an Income Management area.



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For the Income Management petition: please click here

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For updates on


Income Management, updates on the 2011 NT Consultations, Walk With Us, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Barbara Shaw's Speaking tour, &
Support for Muckaty, Aboriginal Rights events in Sydney, Nov 11,
please click here

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Now is a crucial time to mobilise, with the Parliament considering Stronger Futures legislation which would spread Income Management around the country and extend the NT Intervention for ten years. Don't forget our rally in Canberra on February 28 against this legislation.

To get more info, sign the petition or view a video on Income Management please see http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/call-for-a-moratorium-on-government-income-management.html or http://stoptheintervention.org/facts/income-management

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Media Coverage

SMH - Scrap NT intervention laws: Malcolm Fraser - 8 March 2012 - Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser has attacked the federal government's consultation process with Aboriginal communities over plans to extend the NT intervention, saying Australia is "light-years" behind on indigenous policy. Mr Fraser also called on the Labor government to scrap the proposed next phase of the intervention, which will last 10 years, arguing it ignores the wishes of Aboriginal people. - http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/scrap-nt-intervention-laws-malcolm-fraser-20120308-1un2b.html

STICS - New report damns Stronger Futures consultations - 8 March 2012 - A new report, Listening but not Hearing, provides damning evidence of the disingenuous and fatally flawed nature of consultations on the future of the NT Intervention undertaken by government with NT Aboriginal communities between June and August of 2011. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser will launch the report tonight in Melbourne. In the wake of the report, the Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS) has reiterated calls for the Senate to reject the Stronger Futures legislation currently being considered by the Senate. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has relied heavily upon these discredited consultations to justify Stronger Futures. - http://stoptheintervention.org/facts/press-releases/new-report-damns-stronger-futures-consultations-8-3-12

ABC Radio National Breakfast - NT intervention review - 8 March 2012 - New laws extending the Commonwealth Intervention in Indigenous communities for another 10 years are currently before the Senate. But a new report to be launched tonight finds that the intervention remains racially discriminatory with 'flawed' consultation processes -- and continues to breach Australia's human rights obligations. -http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/2012-03-08/3875872

St Vincent de Paul's Society - The Northern Territory intervention - panel discussion on ABC Radio National - 7 March 2012 - On March 6, 2012 St Vincent de Paul Society Chief Executive, Dr John Falzon participated in a panel discussion about the Northern Territory intervention on the ABC Radio National Drive program hosted by Waleed Aly. The other panellists included the Mayor of the Tiwi Islands, Lynette De Santis and NT Parliamentarian Adam Giles. Earlier in the day Dr Falzon gave evidence before Senate Inquiry into the Stronger Futures legislation.  - http://blog.vinnies.org.au/the-northern-territory-intervention-panel-discussion-on-abc-radio-national/
or Radio National RN Drive - 6 March 2012 - ... Dr John Falzon has told a senate committee examining the legislation that the federal government's actions were 'unconscionable', 'degrading', 'disempowering' and would go down in history as a 'source of shame for the Australian government'. But the government has insisted the intervention is strongly supported in the Northern Territory and is helping to address problems, such as child neglect and abuse, which triggered the original emergency response back in 2007: click here

SMH - Scrap NT intervention laws: Vinnies' chief - 6 March 2012 - The head of the St Vincent de Paul charity has launched a scathing attack on the federal government, saying the next phase of the Northern Territory intervention treats Aboriginal people as if they were nothing. The Labor government's Stronger Futures legislation, passed by the lower house last week, extends the Howard coalition government's intervention to combat violence and alcohol abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities. - http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/scrap-nt-intervention-laws-vinnies-chief-20120306-1uhga.html

The Australian - New Aboriginal video campaign aims to overturn Northern Territory intervention - 6 March 2012 - A NEW campaign to overturn the federal government's intervention in the Northern Territory claims Aboriginal communities are at "breaking point" and people have been made to feel like criminals in their own lands. In a powerful video aimed at YouTube and social media, Dhalulu Ganambarr-Stubbs, a Yolngu scholar and artist from Yirrkala, Northeast Arnhem Land, says that in 2012 the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory are suffering. - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/new-aboriginal-video-campaign-aims-to-overturn-northern-territory-intervention/story-fn9hm1pm-1226290121518
or ABC The Drum - Video: A plea to oppose the Intervention - 6 March 2012 - please click here

Tracker - Prominent Yolngu artist speaks out against Stronger Futures - 6 March 2012 - NORTHERN TERRITORY: A prominent Yolngu artist and scholar has spoken out against the government's plans to extend the NT intervention for another ten years, saying that it has made her people criminals in their own lands. In the powerful video, Dhalulu Ganambarr-Stubbs states that the original intervention has failed Aboriginal people. - http://tracker.org.au/2012/03/prominent-yolngu-artist-speaks-out-against-stronger-futures/

ABC News - Opposition to Stronger Futures Bill strengthens - 6 March 2012 - Australia's peak public health body has urged a Senate committee to reject compulsory income management proposed under the Federal Government's Stronger Futures Bill. The bill, which replaces federal intervention legislation, is meant to build stronger futures for Indigenous people by tackling the areas of education, alcohol abuse and land reform. - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-06/more-opposition-to-stronger-futures-bill/3871408?section=nt

Reportage online - Stronger Futures Intervention, not so strong locals say - 5 March 2012 - The Stronger Futures Intervention now involves revoking welfare payments to parents who fail to send their children to school, but locals say such strategies aren't the answer. Rosemary Hill reports. How strong will the the future be? The Warlpiri people at Yuendumu have told the government they refuse to force their children to go to school while English-only teaching remains in place. - http://www.reportageonline.com/2012/03/intervention/

Indymedia Australia - "Stronger Futures will kill us" - 4 March 2012 - The federal government's special measures under the proposed Stronger Futures laws "will kill Aboriginal people", a forum in Maningrida, broadcast by National Indigenous Television (NITV), heard from an Elder. Elders and traditional owners from West, Central and East Arnhem Land came to the forum and vented many deep concerns about the legislation, already passed by the House of Representatives and soon to be decided by the Senate. -http://indymedia.org.au/2012/03/04/%E2%80%9Cstronger-futures-will-kill-us%E2%80%9D or click here
For NITV's Stronger Futures Forum video: please click here

9 News - Department under fire over NT intervention - 1 March 2012 - The federal department of indigenous affairs is under fire over reports the consultation process with Aboriginal communities for the next phase of the Northern Territory intervention was deeply flawed. The Gillard government's Stronger Futures draft laws, which extend the Howard government's NT intervention, passed the lower house earlier this week and have now gone to the upper house. - http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8428454

Michele Harris - Democratic process in tatters - 29 Feb 2012 - Imagine a Government that wishes to pass a package of controversial legislation, such as the Stronger Futures legislation. It calls for a Senate Inquiry as a way of showing that a democratic process will be followed, but once the actual process starts realises that its proposed legislation is being widely slammed by those who will be mostly affected by it. ... And so, Senators, where does this leave you? Your report will be released on 13 March. Senator Scullion has already cast grave doubt over the value of the consultations that were held between Government and Aboriginal people. You have heard over and over again, face to face, that the legislation is unacceptable to very many Aboriginal people living in prescribed communities. You know that eminent legal minds have expressed the belief that the proposed legislation will breach the Racial Discrimination Act. So where does this leave you?The only hope for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory is that the Senate will retain some integrity when the Bills eventually come before it.   - http://stoptheintervention.org/facts/articles/democratic-process-in-tatters-29-2-12

NIT - Nicholson reveals plan to sell Town Camp, community land - 29 Feb 2012 - Aboriginal Town Camps and community living areas would be sold off to private interests under the Stronger Futures legislation that extends the Northern Territory Intervention and which was pushed through the House of Representatives by the Labor, Liberal and National parties last Monday -http://www.nit.com.au/news/668-nicholson-reveals-plan-to-sell-town-camp-community-land.html

SMH - Aboriginal leaders reject NT intervention - 21 Feb 2012 - Aboriginal community leaders and advocates have rejected federal government plans to extend the Howard-era Northern Territory intervention policy, saying they haven't been properly consulted. - http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/aboriginal-leaders-reject-nt-intervention-20120221-1tlh9.html



WGAR Newsletters

3 March 2012 - NITV Current Affairs present the Stronger Futures Forum shot on location in Maningrida - http://indymedia.org.au/2012/03/03/wgar-news-nitv-current-affairs-present-the-stronger-futures-forum-shot-on-location-in-man

1 March 2012 - Press Conference on Stronger Futures legislation by Hon. Alastair Nicholson AO RFD QC - http://indymedia.org.au/2012/03/01/wgar-news-press-conference-on-stronger-futures-legislation-by-hon-alastair-nicholson-ao-r

23 Feb 2012 - Aboriginal leaders reject Stronger Futures" Tracker - [scroll down page]  - http://indymedia.org.au/2012/02/23/wgar-news-nyoongar-tent-embassy-marches-to-government-house-in-protest

21 Feb 2012 - New Website for Stronger Futures info and submissions - [scroll down page] - http://indymedia.org.au/2012/02/21/wgar-news-news-of-the-nyoongar-tent-embassy-on-heirisson-island-in-perth

19 Feb 2012  - More on Government's proposed Stronger Futures legislation - [scroll down page]  - http://indymedia.org.au/2012/02/19/wgar-news-book-report-launched-nt-consultations-report-2011-by-quotations

19 Feb 2012 - Book report launched: "NT Consultations Report 2011: By Quotations" - http://indymedia.org.au/2012/02/19/wgar-news-book-report-launched-nt-consultations-report-2011-by-quotations [Includes link to transcripts of consultations and book of quotations: http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/ ]

9 Feb 2012 - More on the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill - [scroll down page] - http://indymedia.org.au/2012/02/09/wgar-news-tent-embassy-protest-interviews-with-michael-anderson-jeff-mcmullen-chris-graha

8 Feb 2012 - Submissions received on Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill - [scroll down page] - http://indymedia.org.au/2012/02/08/wgar-news-four-actions-to-help-stop-the-proposed-nt-nuclear-dump-beyond-nuclear-initiativ