FREE April 2015 VOLUME 5. NUMBER 1. PG. ## FERAL CAT ATTACK PG. 22 IAS CHAOS: EMPOWERING CREEK CRICKET MINISTERS FOR COMMUNITIES ABORIGINAL AT IMPARJA DESPAIR? CUP PG. 2 PG. 2 PG. 33 ISSN 1839-5279 59610 CentralLandCouncil CLC Newspaper 36pp Alts1.indd 1 10/04/2015 12:32 pm NEWS Aboriginal Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion confronts an EDITORIAL angry crowd at the Alice Springs Convention Centre. Land Rights News Central He said organisations got the funding they deserved. Australia is published by the Central Land Council three times a year. The Central Land Council 27 Stuart Hwy Alice Springs NT 0870 tel: 89516211 www.clc.org.au email [email protected] Contributions are welcome SUBSCRIPTIONS Land Rights News Central Australia subscriptions are $20 per year. LRNCA is distributed free to Aboriginal organisations and communities in Central Australia Photo courtesy CAAMA To subscribe email: [email protected] IAS chaos sparks ADVERTISING Advertise in the only protests and probe newspaper to reach Aboriginal people THE AUSTRALIAN Senate will inquire original workers. Neighbouring Barkly Regional Council re- into the delayed and chaotic funding round Nearly half of the 33 organisations sur- ported 26 Aboriginal job losses as a result of in remote Central of the new Indigenous advancement scheme veyed by the Alice Springs Chamber of Com- a 35% funding cut to community services in a (IAS), which has done as much for the PM’s merce were offered less funding than they had UHJLRQWURXEOHGE\SHWUROVQLI¿QJ Australia. reputation in Aboriginal Australia as his way previously for ongoing projects. President Barb Shaw told the Tennant with words. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion Times the council had missed out on money Publication dates: NT Aboriginal peak organisations are pre- scrambled to repair the damage with a prom- for workforce development and animal man- paring submissions for the inquiry, which will ise of an extra $20 million for regional youth DJHPHQWDQGWKDW\RXWKGHYHORSPHQWLQ¿YH August 2015 report in mid June. services after the MacDonnell Regional Coun- communities was “completely shattered”. “The IAS and last year’s federal budget cil President Sid Anderson said 51 community Another youth service, Katherine’s YMCA, November 2015 cuts have come to mean fears of front line ser- people would lose their jobs. the Institute for Aboriginal Development in vice cuts, remote community job losses and The council’s IAS offer was for just Alice Springs which delivers literacy, numer- Rates are available online at Aboriginal organisations closing down,” said $200,000, down from previously more than acy and job-ready programs and the Papulu http://www.clc.org.au/land- CLC director David Ross. $2 million. Apparr Kari Language Centre in Tennant “Funding for successful programs such as “These are the people working with our Creek all lost so much funding that they face rights-news the CLC rangers remains uncertain.” kids, doing programs about not doing suicide, closure. When the IAS funding round was an- staying away from drugs, staying away from At the time of writing the minster was still nounced in March, NT organisations reported alcohol,” councillor Greg Sharman told the negotiating with organisations about addi- having to sack hundreds, many of them Ab- ABC. tional funding. While he could not guarantee that the youth service cuts were the only errors in the ¿UVW,$6URXQGKHJDYHWKLVSURPLVHWR&$$- Plan to empower communities MA Radio: “Any gap in service provision, we’ll ¿OOLW´ INDIGENOUS leaders from eight remote, each region or community is unique and needs He said some services had not been good rural and urban regions have launched a new to put together its own structures. enough and that he would audit IAS funded plan for managing Aboriginal communities. “If I have any contribution to make to public organisations to make sure people received The Empowered Communities report aims policy in Australia this is it,” Noel Pearson (pic- ³¿UVWFODVVVHUYLFHV´LQWKHIXWXUH to end decades of top-down government service tured), one of driving forces behind the report, Legal services, big employers of Aborigi- delivery and welfare dependency. told The Australian. nal people in the NT, were told they would not The report is a joint policy development ef- “This is our best shot to chart a future not ¿QGRXWXQWLO0D\KRZPDQ\VWDIIWKH\ZRXOG fort by a group of 25 leaders brought together by just for our eight regions. We really have to be lose as a result of the 13.4 million dollar fund- the Jawun Indigenous Partnership Corporation a beacon for the rest of Indigenous Australia.” ing cut announced in 2013. before the last election and supported by both Under the plan other communities would The cut was reversed following nationwide major parties. be free to join the eight original Empowered protests (see story on page 9). Released by leaders from eight regions, in- Community regions on a voluntary basis. A combination of uncertain and short cluding the NPY lands, northeast Arnhemland Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion term funding, top down decision making and and the Kimberley, the report champions a new said the government will carefully consider cuts to women’s shelters and drug and alcohol Indigenous governance model based on formal the report and consult widely with Aboriginal services is making the NT’s domestic and fam- legal agreements between Aboriginal people people and leaders, among others, before it re- ily violence crisis worse. and government. sponds. Many witnesses at a Senate committee The model would support Aboriginal peo- In the NPY region the NPY Women’s Coun- hearing in Darwin in March criticised cutting ple on the ground to direct pooled government cil has involved all relevant Aboriginal organ- front line services while there is already a huge IXQGLQJWRZDUGVWKLQJVWKH\¿QGLPSRUWDQW isations and stakeholders to develop a strong unmet need. Stronger social norms such as going to regional model. The CLC has attended work- The Katherine Women’s Legal Service, for school and work, looking after houses, follow- shops to discuss the Empowered Communities example, reported losing half of its funding. came together in 2013 to develop their ideas for ing the law and keeping the vulnerable safe are model in the region, and is part of an interim The hearing was told that 73% of all do- “safer, prosperous and more dynamic commu- at the heart of the Empowered Communities regional steering committee to guide the proj- mestic violence victims are Aboriginal women, nities”. report. ect. The CLC will be discussing the model at 80% of domestic violence incidents involve al- “The beginning of Empowered Communi- So is winding back top-down government the April Council meeting, before preparing a cohol and half of all homicides in the NT were intervention and the widespread sense of pow- WLHVZDVDURXQG¿QGLQJFRPPRQJURXQGDFURVV response to the national report. linked to domestic violence. erlessness and despair that goes with that. a range of Aboriginal organisations and lead- ers,” she told the ABC. Andrea Mason from NPY Women’s Council The full report can be found at www.dpmc. Continued p.3. was one of 90 leaders from across Australia who Empowered Communities recognises that gov.au. 2 April 2015 59610 CentralLandCouncil CLC Newspaper 36pp Alts1.indd 2 10/04/2015 12:32 pm NEWS Closing the gap ... not GOVERNMENT statistics have ed high or very levels of psychologi- non-Indigenous people); By 2012, Aboriginal men could But most of the improvement in VKRZQ D ODFN RI SURJUHVV WRZDUGV cal distress (30 per cent in 2012-13 7KH UHSRUW VKRZHG WKDW ,QGLJ- expect to live to 69.1 years (1.6 more OLIH H[SHFWDQF\ FDPH EHWZHHQ µFORVLQJWKHJDS¶EHWZHHQ,QGLJHQRXV FRPSDUHGZLWKSHUFHQWLQ enous people are on average living WKDQ LQ DQG ZRPHQ WR DQGDQGWKHUHZDV³QRVLJQL¿- and non-Indigenous Australians. 5, three times higher than among longer. (73.1 in 2007). cant improvement” since 2007. Prime Minister Tony Abbott de- scribed the seventh Closing the Gap report as “in many respects pro- foundly disappointing.” “Despite the concerted efforts of successive governments since the ¿UVW UHSRUW ZH DUH QRW RQ WUDFN WR achieve most of the targets,” Mr Ab- bott said. The main successes listed in the UHSRUWZHUHDGHFUHDVHLQLQIDQWPRU- tality and an increase in the number RI,QGLJHQRXVVFKRROFKLOGUHQ¿QLVK- ing year 12. The target to ensure that 95 per cent of Indigenous four-year-olds in remote communities could go to pre- school or get other early childhood HGXFDWLRQZDVQRWPHWZLWKRQO\ per cent enrolled. But other things had gone back- ZDUGVRUVWD\HGWKHVDPH The number of Indigenous peo- ple employed (47.5 percent in 2013) ZDV OHVV WKDQ LQ SHU FHQW ZKLOH WKH SURSRUWLRQ RI QRQ ,QGLJHQRXVSHRSOHZKRKDGMREVLQ- creased; 7KHUH ZDV QR LPSURYHPHQW LQ UHDGLQJ ZULWLQJ DQG QXPHUDF\ DPRQJ ,QGLJHQRXV VWXGHQWV ZLWK the target set to close the gap by 2018. An increase in suicides (117 in FRPSDUHG ZLWK DQ DYHUDJH RI EHWZHHQDQG Prime Minister Tony Abbot was dubbed Minister for Aboriginal Despair as thousands protested on National Close the Gap Day. “All he ever More Indigenous people report- does is budget cuts,” said Ray Jackson, president of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, who coined the new title. Cartoon by Alan Moir. Confusion follows IAS cuts Continued from p.2 Even the Liberal deputy chair of the committee, Senator Cory Ber- nardi, admitted “it’s very, very dif- ¿FXOW ZKHQ \RX KHDU WKDW VKHOWHUV are operating on a one year funding basis. “You can’t have one year funding and expect to get long term results.” The Aboriginal Peak Organisa- tions of the NT (APO NT) used the hearing to ask the Prime Minister to give up responsibility for Aboriginal drug and mental health services. $32 17 ZDQWV 0U $EERWW WR hand these policy areas back to the federal health department be- cause it believes this is more likely to “achieve outcomes” than leaving them at the mercy of the IAS process.