Welcome to the STICS website! STICS (Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney) is an open collective of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people committed to the repeal of the NT Intervention and the struggle for Aboriginal self-determination.
We meet every first and third Monday of the month to discuss the campaign and plan for actions and awareness-raising. 6pm Monday nights, Federation Conference Centre, Level 1, 23-33 Mary Street Surry Hills (turn off Elizabeth st at Albion St and left onto Mary street) - http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=23-33+Mary+Street,+surry+hills&sll=-24.686952,135.703125&sspn=61.631455,97.207031&ie=UTF8&z=17&iwloc=A. Everyone is welcome. Should you require further information and would like to attend, please call Cathy on 0422385852 (after 3pm) or E-mail: [email protected]
The endless Intervention:
First Nations speak out!
Sydney Protest & Online Conference
Saturday, 19 June 2021 - 1pm
Rally and March - Sydney Town Hall
For the rally on facebook: please click here
For the flyer: please click here
For the poster: please click here
Sunday, 20 June and Monday, 21 June
Online conference
Sunday at 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm &
Monday at 7pm AEST
For the conference on eventbrite: please click here
For the conference on facebook: please click here
Join this free online event at https://amnestyau.zoom.us/j/99176238579
Meeting ID: 991 7623 8579, for phone access please see here
(Same Link / Meeting ID for Sunday and Monday)
For the recordings of the online conference: please click here
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The Endless Intervention: 14 years too long
End racist laws!
Rally and March
Time: Saturday, 19 June, 1pm
Location: Town Hall then march to Djarrbarrgalli (The Domain)
Since 2007, Northern Territory First Nations communities have been subject to oppressive legislation passed by both Labor and Liberal governments that has done irreparable damage to these communities. The laws removed permit systems which opened up access to Aboriginal lands, imposed the BasicsCard, decimated jobs, suspended the Racial Discrimination Act, allowed the Government to compulsorily acquire land.These laws have caused a deterioration of social capital and well-being on Australia’s most severely disadvantaged population. They have resulted in greater youth incarceration, increased rates of suicide and child removal, deepening poverty, despair and the further loss of self-determination.
We demand: The repeal of ‘Stronger Futures’ laws, strengthen land rights and community governance of councils and housing, the right to bilingual education, the closing of youth prisons, having alternatives for all prisons, dignified meaningful jobs programs managed by community, the scrapping of compulsory BasicsCard and the return of children stolen during the Intervention. We demand an end to police wearing guns in communities, to land theft, mining and fracking and the increased militarisation of the NT. We demand treaties now!
NOW IS THE TIME TO RETURN HUMAN RIGHTS TO THE VICTIMS OF THE ILLEGAL NT INTERVENTION
REPEALTHE LAWS PASSED BY PARLIAMENT UNDER LIBERAL AND LABOR. NOW!
END THESE DESTRUCTIVE RACIST POLICIES!
The endless Intervention: First Nations speak out!
Online conference: 20 June 2021 at 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm
Recordings of the sessions of the Online Conference
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On Sunday 20th June 2021, a major zoom conference will be convened, titled “The endless Intervention: First Nations speak out!” marking the 14th anniversary of the Intervention/Stronger Futures.
About this Event:
As the laws enter their last year of implementation it is time to look to what has been the legacy, what lessons can be learnt and where to in the future. Professor Larissa Behrendt OA will be the moderator. This will be a powerful landmark forum organised by the Intervention Rollback Action Group (IRAG) Mparntwe (Alice Springs) and Stop The Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS) with support of 'concerned Australians' (cA).
Now is the time for in-depth discussion from such a range of eminent speakers whose contribution will be profound. It will help raise awareness, so that future decisions made regarding First Nations Peoples in the Northern Territory will have the full free, prior and informed consent of the people affected and are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
There will be three sessions: 11am, 1.30pm, 4pm, with hour long meal breaks
1. The perspective of politicians
2. The perspective of people living under the laws and those working with them.
3. The perspective of policy reviews
The following evening will be a follow up zoom event to the major conference, moderated by Alison Whittaker.
For important background information, see the open letter sent to the Hon. Ken Wyatt AM MP by the Intervention Rollback Action Group in 2019, Stand Up 2017 report from the Alice Springs conference, Statement of Eminent Australians and Statement by the Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation.
13 years of failed NT Intervention
First Nations people demand their solutions
Free Online Forum
Friday 19 June 2019 6pm – 8pm (AEST)
Join the Zoom Meeting at https://amnestyau.zoom.us/j/97829224417
This forum moderated by Professor Larissa Behrendt will be an opportunity to hear First Nations People speak of their lived experience and discuss the way forward in the struggle to be heard.
Speakers include: Aunty Pat Ansell Dodds, Arrernte/Amjatere, Central Australia Yingiya Mark GUYULA MLA - A Liya Dhalinymirr leader of the Djambarrpuyngu people Amelia Pangarte Kunoth-Monks, NT youth leader living on the BasicsCard Harry Jakamarra Nelson, Warlpiri Elder, Yuendumu, NT Barbara Shaw, Arrente, Kaytetye, Warlpiri and Waramungu Greg Marks, International human rights law expert, Indigenous rights, who has lived and worked in the Northern Territory and retained a close interest in NT issues Stephen Gray, Senior lecturer, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University. Head researcher of The Northern Territory Intervention: an Evaluation report (Feb 2020).
For the flyer: please click here
Join the Zoom Meeting at https://amnestyau.zoom.us/j/97829224417
Meeting ID: 978 2922 4417One tap mobile+61861193900,,97829224417# Australia+61871501149,,97829224417# AustraliaDial by your location+61 861 193 900 Australia+61 8 7150 1149 Australia+61 2 8015 6011 Australia+61 3 7018 2005 Australia+61 731 853 730 AustraliaMeeting ID: 978 2922 4417Find your local number: https://amnestyau.zoom.us/u/adcQ5Xl5Qv
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NT Intervention 12 years too long
Grassroots versus the Intervention
Rally and March
Saturday 29 June 2019 at 1pm
Hyde Park North (near Fountain)
Hear Garrwa Leaders and NT Elders' Statements
Speakers: Scott McDinny - Garrwa and Yanyuwa, SEED Indigenous Youth Climate Network Gadrian Hoosan - Garrwa and Yanyuwa, Lock the Gate
For the flyer:please click here
12 Years NT Intervention - IRAG (Intervention Rollback Action Group) Report Card (June 2019): please click here
Open letter from IRAG to the Hon Ken Wyatt AM MP, Minister for Indigenous Australians: please click here
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End the NT Intervention!
March and Rally
Saturday, June 23 at 1pm
Hyde Park North
The NT Intervention was introduced by Howard as an “emergency” in 2007. This draconian policy was extended for 10 years and re-labeled Stronger Futures by the Rudd/Gillard government. Stand against this huge injustice and suffering imposed on First Nations Peoples.
Speakers: Christine Palmer, Arrernte Kaytetye woman Raymond Finn, Wongkangurru man Eva Cox, Jumbunna, UTS David Shoebridge, Greens MP
When will this backward policy be repealed?
Eleven years is eleven years too long!
For the flyer: please click here
For the poster: please click here or here
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"10 years since the Federal Government Intervention and everyone needs to remember that we experience the failings of that invasion every day."
Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA, Independent member of Nhulunbuy and Elder and spokesperson of the Yolŋu Nations Assembly. From his recent Open Letter to the Northern Territory Government: Genuine outcomes for Yolngu communities, June 1st 2017 here
For the leaflet:please click here
For the poster: please click here
For the media release: please click here
For the event on facebook:please click here
For the event on eventbrite:please click here
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Human Rights, where are they?
- 10 years of failed NT Intervention
Public Forum
Friday, 8 December 2017, 5.30 for 6pm start
Redfern Community Centre, 29-53 Hugo Street Redfern
Speakers
Laura Lyons, Wiradjuri Woman: Instrumental in assisting to form FIRE (Fighting In Resistance Equally) and was involved in setting up GMAR Sydney Branch (Grand Mothers Against Removals)
Very passionate about Aboriginal issues and a big believer in equality for all in all instances.
Greg Marks, International human rights law expert, specialising in Indigenous rights. Policy analyst, researcher and writer. Centre Associate, Indigenous Law Centre UNSW.
Sylvia Purrurle Neale, Eastern Arrernte
Aunty Elaine Kngwarraye Peckham, Apmereke-artweye of Mparntwe, NT
Ashley Rose, Cammeraygal man, organiser Finance Sector Union of Australia, member of the ACTU Indigenous advisory committee.
MC:
Dr Jeff McMullen AM, Journalist, author, film maker.
For the event to share on facebook: please click here
For the leaflet: please click here
Human rights: where are they?
It has now been over 10 years since the Racial Discrimination Act was suspended in order to roll out the Northern Territory Intervention.
This so-called ‘Emergency Response’ saw the military sent to remote Aboriginal communities, Aboriginal land compulsorily acquired by the state, dramatically increased policing, the abolition of CDEP jobs and the introduction of welfare quarantining, among many other brutal and paternalistic measures.
Indigenous health expert Pat Turner has described the Intervention as a “complete violation of the human rights of Aboriginal people”.
Now, this punitive policy continues under the guise of ‘Stronger Futures’, and continues to fail First Nations people.
The effects of these measures are only too clear. Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM, Arrernte-Alyawarra Elder, describes the Intervention as an abusive assault, done with impunity, on our people. ‘How long,’ she asked, ‘are we – collectively as Australians – going to tolerate this outrage, these unmentionable crimes committed against my people?’
Aboriginal children continue to be removed from their families at an alarming rate, incarceration of Indigenous people has more than doubled, and the rate of suicide for Indigenous people in the Northern Territory has increased sixfold since the commencement of the Intervention.
And yet despite this disastrous failure, we can begin to see the spread of some of these policies to other areas under the guise of Healthy Welfare Card. The Government does not feel any shame in continuing the Intervention and expanding these draconian policies to other underprivileged (especially to high Aboriginal populated) areas in Australia.
So we ask: where are the human rights?
The Northern Territory
Intervention
10 years of Australia's shame
- Events to commiserate about the
Intervention's 10th Anniversary
Wednesday, 21 June 2017 - 6pm
Redfern Community Centre
Forum and Discussion
29-53 Hugo St, Redfern, Sydney
Facilitator: Jeff McMullen, Journalist and Filmmaker
Speakers:
Amelia Pangarte Kunoth-Monks, East Arrernte
Nicole Watson, Birri-Gubba
Stephen Bunbadgee Hodder-Watt, Lardil (Mornington Island)
Enough of Brough rhymes by MC Dibirdi (Stephen Bunbadgee Hodder-Watt):
https://www.reverbnation.com/mcdibirdi/song/1954218-enough-of-brough
Media release: please click here or
http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/pr-article/the-intervention-ten-years-of-australias-shame-public-forum/
For more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/459055084443182/
(please like and share)
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/WgarNews/status/865528593924866049 and https://twitter.com/WgarNews/status/865851216957329410
On other sites:
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/forum-10-years-resistance-nt-intervention
https://mapdance.com/Events/10-years-of-resistance-NT-Intervention-Forum-and-Discussion-4051181621935
Saturday, 24 June 2017 - 1.30pm
Meet at Archibald Fountain, North end of Hyde Park
and march to Redfern Park
Northern Territory Intervention - 10 years of racist shame
Sydney Rally and March
Speakers from the Northern Territory
For more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/492712027519174/ (please like and share)
Also on: https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/rally-march-against-nt-intervention
For the poster (A3): please click here
For the colour leaflet (A5): please click here
For the leaflet double-sided for printing: please click here
For the leaflet: please click here
STICS T-Shirts for sale: please click here
The sudden and brutal upheaval of Aboriginal people’s lives in the Northern Territory in June 2007 by the Howard Government called the “Intervention” & its extension in 2012 by the Gillard Government for 10 years the so-called “Stronger Futures” has caused widespread havoc and distress.
The statistics tell us that:
• Child removals have increased; children are not safer.
• Housing is still overcrowded and in an appalling state
• Indigenous incarceration rates are increasing rapidly
• Suicide and self-harm incidents have increased
• The gap has not closed
• Violence is a continuous threat
• Poverty, trauma and despair is ongoing
• 99-year leases are just a Land grab
This racist, paternalistic policy denies First Nations peoples their Human Rights and is maintained by both major parties. It must be repealed and First Nations peoples be given the right to self-determination and build their own future.
Let’s use our Collective voice to finally help
REPEAL THE INTERVENTION!
Satellite Events:
Monday, 19 June 2017 – 5pm for 5.30pm start
THE INTERVENTION TEN YEARS ON:
Northern Territory Women Speak
Room 005, Level 3, Dr Chau Chak Wing Building (Building 8), 14-28 Ultimo Road, Ultimo
RSVP: Registration essential, click here.
The Northern Territory Intervention, launched by John Howard in June 2007, was the biggest attack on Aboriginal rights in many generations. The Australian Army was sent into Aboriginal communities and the Racial Discrimination Act was suspended to push through a host of draconian measures to allow the Commonwealth to take control of Aboriginal people and their lands.
A decade later, the Intervention has disappeared from public debate, but Aboriginal communities continue to deal with severe breaches of their human rights. Many of the measures remain in place, extended until at least 2022 under ‘Stronger Futures’ legislation. Conditions in communities have deteriorated, with many social indicators such as rates of incarceration, child removal, attempted suicide and school attendance going backwards. Intervention policies such as the quarantining of welfare payments and withdrawal of resources from remote Aboriginal communities have spread out across Australia.
This forum offers a unique opportunity to hear directly from Aboriginal women from the Northern Territory about their experiences of life under the Intervention, their struggles against injustice and their vision for a positive future.
The panel will be hosted by Prof. Larissa Behrendt, Chair of Indigenous Research at UTS and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS.
Speakers include:
Pat Turner - An Arrente woman with many years experience campaigning for Aboriginal rights and working as a senior public servant, including as Deputy CEO of Centrelink and CEO of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Pat is currently the CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Heath Organisation.
Nancy McDinny - A Garrwa and Yanyuwa woman living on her homelands near the Borroloola community in the Gulf country. Nancy is an artist, linguist, Elder and community leader who has campaigned strongly against mining developments on her lands.
Kylie Sambo - A Warlmanpa and Warumungu woman living in Tennant Creek, Kylie was 14 years old when the intervention was launched and has consistently spoken out about the negative impacts on Aboriginal youth. Kylie is a hip hop artist and played a leading role in the fight to protect her traditional lands at Muckaty from a nuclear waste dump.
For more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1672735183035409/ (please like and share)
Thursday, 22 June 2017 – 6pm for 6.30pm start
“Politics In The Pub”
Gaelic Club, 1/64 Devonshire St, Surry Hills NSW
Speakers: Stephen Hodder-Watt Bunbadgee, Lardil and Eva Cox
For more info: please click here
8 to 29 July 2017
A Widening Gap: The Intervention, 10 Years On
...This is the second in a series of exhibitions that witness and discuss The Intervention and Australia’s ongoing human rights abuse. The first exhibition Ghost Citizens: Witnessing the Intervention, was presented in 2012 to coincide with the Sydney Biennale and shown in Sydney (XAP), Project Contemporary Artspace Wollongong, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne and NCCA, Darwin. ... Some of the original artists have been joined by a growing band of artist activists.
Co-curators: Jo Holder and Djon Mundine OAM
http://www.crossart.com.au/next
Events in other cities:
Alice Springs
24-26 June 2017
10 years ago on June 21 2007 the NTER (Northern Territory Emergency Response, aka the Intervention) was announced...
There will be a convergence from June 24 -26 2017 in Alice Springs. Barbara Shaw is calling out to people to come together to talk about it all, and work together to come up with ways to overcome these problems. We want to talk about all the issues, such as youth (in)justice and children being taken from their families. ...
You can see Barb’s call out at https://youtu.be/0mDHM5WapEA
For IRAG's Media release: please click here
For the poster: please click here
For the workshops: please click here
10 years of the NT Intervention Information leaflet: please click here
For the programme of events, more info about the Intervention, its measures and effects:
https://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/10-years-of-the-intervention/
Melbourne
Wednesday 21 June - 6pm - 7.30pm
Public Meeting
The Northern Territory Intervention: Aftermath!
Evangelist Uniting Church, 4 Elm Street, North Melbourne
Speakers:
Joe Morrison (CEO Northern Land Council)
Muriel Bamblett (CEO Victorian Child Care Agency)
Thalia Anthony (Associate Professor of Law researching the treatment of Aboriginal youth in detention
Facilitator:
Jon Altman (Professor at Deakin University and long term critic of the NT Intervention)
Article by Jon Altman (published by NLC in Land Rights News Northern Edition, April 2017): please click here
For the poster: please click here
Further info: http://arena.org.au/event/aftermath-10-years-of-intervention-into-nt-aboriginal-communities/
The Northern Territory Emergency Response Intervention: Ten Years On (page 5-6)
http://ipcs.org.au/pdfFiles/IPCS%20Newsletter%20Mar%202017.pdf
Thursday, 29th June 2017 - 2.45pm for 3pm – 5.45pm
A Conversation with NT Aboriginal Elders and Community Leaders
10 YEARS OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY INTERVENTION
& WORKING TOWARDS TREATIES
RMIT Building 80, 4th level, Room 11, 445 Swanston St, Melbourne - Directions here or Tram stop (route 64, stop 7)
Introduction: Jon Altman, research professor in anthropology at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University
Speakers: Josie Crawshaw, Elaine Peckham, Uncle Harry Jakamarra Nelson, Frank Baarda
For the poster: please click here
For more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1416115268445355/ (please like and share) and http://melbournecatholic.org.au/About-Us/forum-to-mark-10-years-of-nt-intervention and http://www.childjustice.org/index.php/en/169-10yrs-of-the-nt-intervention
Message from Rev. Dr. Djiniyini Gondarra OAM, senior Elder and Dhurili political Clan Leader of the Yolngu people of North-East Arnhem Land
In 2007 under the Howard Government Aboriginal peoples’ lives in the Northern Territory were suddenly and brutally traumatized. Labeled the ‘Northern Territory Emergency Response’ or ‘NT Intervention’ the policy was later expanded in 2012 by the Gillard Government for ten years and rebranded as ‘Stronger Futures’. These imposed Government policies have caused widespread havoc and disempowerment amongst First Peoples’ communities in the NT, breached human rights and United Nations guidelines, and were not consented to.
The policies are failing. Aboriginal land rights have been weakened and the Gaps are widening.
The people have long called for this LEGISLATION TO BE SCRAPPED.
The sovereignty of the clans and First Nations Peoples must be recognised and respected.
There has been a resounding call for substantive reform and PATHWAY TO TREATY/IES.
RSVP to Pia at [email protected] by 26 June 2017
New Book: Published 1 May 2017
'And there'll be NO dancing'
Perspectives on Policies Impacting
Indigenous Australia since 2007
Editor(s):
Elisabeth Baehr, Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp
Contributors:
Leon Terrill, Dorothee Klein, Barry Judd, Victoria Herche, Victoria Grieves, Lindsay Frost, Michelle Dunne Breen, More...
Book description:
... Fourteen essays by scholars from Australia and Germany examine (historical) contexts and discourses of the Intervention and subsequent policies impacting Indigenous Australia since 2007 from the perspective of diverse academic disciplines including history, sociology, law, Indigenous studies, art history, literature, education and media studies. They invite readers to engage in the debate about human rights, about Indigenous self-determination, and about the preservation of Indigenous culture.
For an extract: please click here
For further info:
http://www.cambridgescholars.com/and-therell-be-no-dancing
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Treaty Now!!!
STICS invites you to a Public forum:
First Nations
“Young Women speak out for Treaty”
Wednesday, 22 March 2017
5.30 for 6 pm start
Redfern Community Centre,
29-53 Hugo Street Redfern
Speakers:
Lynda-June Coe, Wiradjuri woman
Natalie Cromb, Gamilaraay woman
Amelia Pangarte Kunoth-Monks, Eastern Arrernte
Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman
Facilitator:
Jeff McMullen, journalist and filmmaker
Contact:
Cathy on 0422 385 852
For the event on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/966376453500015/
For the leaflet: please click here
For the poster: please click here
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Not a mention of the Intervention
- 9 Years of Racist shame!
NT Intervention - Stronger Futures
Join us for an anniversary march and rally
Saturday, 18th June 2016 - 1pm
Town Hall Sydney
Bring clapsticks, drums, etc.
Confirmed Speakers:
Jenny Munro, Wiradjuri Elder, founder of the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and tireless activist.
Uncle Ken Canning, Bidjara Elder, activist, poet, candidate for the Federal Senate.
Nicole Watson, Birri-Gubba woman, Senior Lecturer, The University of Sydney Law School.
Jason De Santolo, Garrwa-Barunggam man, Senior Researcher, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning.
Paddy Gibson, Senior Researcher, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS
For the event on facebook: please click here
For the poster: please click here
For the leaflet: please click here
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TIME FOR TREATIES
STICS Public Forum
“Men speak out for Treaty”
Monday, 14 March 2016 - Redfern Community Centre,
Following on from STICS’ successful 2015 forum, First Nations ‘Women Speak out for Treaty’, this event featured five First Nations Men:
Yingiya Mark Guyula, Djambarrpuyngu Nation, Yolngu Nations Assembly Spokesperson
Terry Mason, Awabakal Man, Chair of NTEU Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee
Tony McAvoy SC, Wiri Man, Barrister
Tauto Sansbury, Narungga Elder and Aboriginal Advocate
Chris Sarra, Gurang Gurang, Founding Chairman, Stronger Smarter Institute
Facilitator: Jeff McMullen, Journalist and Film-maker
For more info about the Forum: please click here
For last year's Forum "Women speak out for Treaty": http://stoptheintervention.org/past-events/20-mar-2015-treaty-forum
For more info, also see: http://www.respectandlisten.org/treaty.html
YINGIYA MARK GUYULA
also spoke on Tuesday, 15 March at the
Trades Hall Auditorium
For more information about Yingiya, please see:
http://www.yingiya.net/english.html and https://www.chuffed.org/project/ymgfortreaty
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Public Forum to mark Human Rights Day
Expansion of NT Intervention and Erosion of Human Rights
Friday 11 Dec 6pm for 6.30 start
Redfern Community Centre, 29-53 Hugo St
Speakers:
Barbara Shaw, Central Australian Aboriginal leader who lives under the Intervention and has continually campaigned against it.
Lex Wotton, an activist from Palm Island, who has recently been released from a government gag order. Monique Wiseman, Senior Aboriginal Project Officer, Wayside Chapel, who works at the frontline in Sydney.
Paddy Gibson, Senior Researcher, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS and long-time opponent of the Intervention.
Contact: Alex on 0449 184 801 or Cathy on 0422 385 852
For the flyer: please click here
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/519354548235419/
Panel Discussion:
The Intervention - An Anthology
Wednesday, 2 Sept. 2015
6.30pm for 7pm start
Redfern Community Centre -
Downstairs, 29-53 Hugo St, Redfern
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