What is now referred to as Australia was once a continent upon which lived approximately 500 indigenous nations. Since colonisation by the British in the 1770’s, the number of indigenous people living on the continent has been significantly reduced. Now they represent only 2% of Australia’s population.

Colonisation by the British brought diseases and sicknesses to which the indigenous peoples had not been exposed before and their numbers were significantly reduced. At the same time and thereafter, indigenous-owned and occupied lands were stolen by force. Many indigenous people were massacred and others were driven from their land. There has never been any justification given for the theft of these lands, or any recognition that the land was stolen. However, in 1992, the High Court of Australia, for the first time recognised indigenous rights to land, based upon a continued connection to the land and upon indigenous spiritual, religious and other obligations.

These rights to land, however, could only be recognised where the Crown had not already given the land to someone else. And of course settlers, squatters and the government had already stolen most of the “rich” lands of this country. So this left only small tracts of fertile land available but considerable amounts of desert.

Since the Commonwealth government’s native Title Act of 1994 (set in place to manage indigenous land claims), only a handful of claims for land have been successful.

The majority of indigenous Australians remain dispossessed and landless. As a result of more than 200 years of colonisation, indigenous Australians are the most disadvantaged racial group on the continent. They experience high mortality rates, limited access to education, sub-standard housing, high unemployment rates, over-representation in the jails, the continued dispossession of lands... the list is endless.

read more: http://www.rainbowdreaming.org/dispossession.html

Labor's spokesman for Indigenous Affairs Shayne Neumann has now called on the Prime Minister to step in.

"The Prime Minister and Indigenous Affairs Minister should condemn and repudiate the stance," Mr Neumann told the ABC.

He described the comments as evidence of the "right-wing extremist elements of the Liberal Party".

The Greens Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Rachel Siewert is also calling on the Coalition leader to act.

"Malcolm Turnbull should show leadership," Senator Siewert said. "We need an unreserved apology from Mr Jensen.

"Mr Jensen has displayed his extreme ignorance of Aboriginal culture, of the effects of colonisation, disadvantage and of our international obligations under various conventions."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-24/labor-greens-call-on-turnbull-to-condemn-dennis-jensen/7196836

Aboriginal disadvantage in Canada mirrors that of Indigenous people in Australia because both are survivors of colonialism, a leading Canadian advocate has said.

Aboriginal peoples in Canada were grappling with record numbers of their children being placed in the child welfare system and a huge over-representation in the criminal justice system – the same issues that faced Australia, said Jonathan Rudin, head of Aboriginal Legal Services of Canada.

“It’s the same story,” he said at a Legal Aid Victoria event in Melbourne on Tuesday. “And the reason it’s the same story is English settler colonialism works the same way, which is that you find a place with an indigenous population and then you destroy them as a people.”

The statistics were almost identical. Aboriginal peoples make up 4% of the Canadian population and 25% of its prison population. In Australia, the 3% of the population who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders make up 27% of those in prison.

Aboriginal women make up a third of the female prison population in both countries. The only significant difference in incarceration rate is among juvenile detainees, where Australia is markedly worse: 59% of all children in detention in Australia are Indigenous, compared with 40% of children in Canadian youth jails.

In the child welfare system, which Rudin said was the most significant concern for most Aboriginal peoples, almost 50% of children were Aboriginal. The Australian rate is 51%.

“If it’s something people want, Aboriginal people have less of it, and if it’s something people don’t want Aboriginal people have more,” he said.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/25/indigenous-australians-and-canadians-destroyed-by-same-colonialism

A story of Indigenous family separation and the demise of traditional languages has moved the Prime Minister to tears.

NITV's new current affairs program The Point aired a lengthy and wide-ranging interview with Malcolm Turnbull on his approach to Indigenous policy.

The Prime Minister spoke about the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in jail as a "crisis", echoing the language of Indigenous leaders and many influential legal and health groups across the country.

He also left the door open to holding a referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution next year, if the Coalition Government is returned.

He described that timeframe as a "feasible" prospect and also cautioned of the challenges.

But it was his recounting of the lead-up to this year's Closing the Gap speech to Federal Parliament that provoked the rare show of prime ministerial emotion.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-29/lullaby-moves-pm-to-tears-in-indigenous-affairs-policy-interview/7209172

Hopefully this burst of emotion will translate in genuine cash. I mean genuine, because a lot of "Aboriginal" moneys are siphoned off by whitey regulations, overseers, government departments and not really given in the spirit of "help". I know of many stories where Aboriginal people have started a business which needs the government cash to grow, but won't get any more of it as soon as the business makes a bit of dosh — but not enough to be sustainable. Starved of funds, the business fails. With a bit more confidence from the government the self-help could be a winner. But no, as soon as these Aboriginal people get above the poverty line, they fall into the whitey business regulations and get hammered.

ATSIC was a point in case. There was a bit of "corruption" in ATSIC but not enough to justify its axing. It could have been sorted out with a rebranding, a merger (with a new entity) as often government department are, when a new government wants to get rid of managerial staff they don't like. It's less painful than a paternalistic take it away.

The Liberal Member for the federal West Australian seat of Tangney, Dennis Jensen, has been dumped by preselectors after a ballot in Perth.

He was beaten by the party's former state director Ben Morton.

Dr Jensen, who has held the safe seat since 2004, has lost branch support before but had previously been saved by State Council.

On this occasion however, State Council is expected to endorse Mr Morton's preselection.

Following the ballot, a furious Dr Jensen told the ABC an "absolute smear campaign" had been run against him by the Morton camp, after extracts of a novel he had written containing sexual content was published by The Australian newspaper.

Last month, West Australian of the Year Robert Isaacs called on the Liberal Party to disendorse Dr Jensen over his comments about Aboriginal communities.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-03/dennis-jensen-furious-at-losing-endorsement/7295310

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