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26 Aug 2011 Gurindji Freedom Day


For the statement by the Central Land Council, Kalkarindji, 26 August

2011: please click here

 

45 years since the Wave Hill walk-off -Celebrate the past - fight for the future

Rally on Gurindji Freedom Day - Friday August 26

12:30pm @ Minister Tanya Plibersek's office

150 Broadway, between City rd and Abercrombie st, Broadway


Demand: Stop the NT Intervention
Land Rights not leases
Jobs with Justice for all communities
Stop Income Management - No expansion

Speakers:
Daphne Lake, Bankstown Aboriginal Elder
Paul McAleer, Maritime Union of Australia
Violet Roumeliotis, Metro Migrant Resource Centre


For the flyer: please click here

For the Media Release: please click here


In August 1966 Gurindji workers at Wave Hill Station went on strike against being paid in rations by cattle baron Lord Vestey. They took up the demands for both equal pay and Aboriginal land rights and won historic success in 1975 with the hand-back of Daguragu. Their walk-off galvanised Aboriginal rights activists and unionists across Australia, helping to catalyse the modern Land Rights movement.

45 years on, the NT Intervention has taken away many of these rights. The government has seized control of Aboriginal township land. A compound for the Government Business Manager, surrounded by cyclone fencing, has been built in the heart of Daguragu without consultation with traditional owners.

The Daguragu local government council and community employment programs have been abolished. Under new CDEP arrangements, Aboriginal workers are being forced to work for a ‘BasicsCard' which can only be used to buy 'essential' items at government approved stores. Many say this is working for rations again.

The federal government say they are 'consulting' with communities about the future of Intervention powers, which expire in June 2012. But this process is a sham. Key measures which strip resources from communities and ensure total government control are not up for negotiation and new legislation is expected by December which will extend the Intervention.

The BasicsCard is being rolled out across Australia from 2012, including to Bankstown in south-western Sydney. Resistance is growing, with more than 40 organisations signing a call to abolish welfare quarantining.

On August 26 the Gurindji will celebrate their past and raise their voices once again for equality and justice. Join this Sydney protest in solidarity to demand Land Rights, jobs with justice for all communities, an end to the BasicsCard and no second Intervention!

For a media release from Gurindji spokespeople demanding an end to the Intervention at recent consultation meetings see: http://rollbacktheintervention.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/mr-gurindji_stop_intervention.pdf

For a video documenting the struggle of Gurindji against the NT Intervention see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guge6MI6cTA

Organised by the Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney

More info:
Mon 0415 410 558 or Dave 0407 209 520