National Congress of Australia’s #FirstPeoples elect the first co-chairs #Aboriginal #Indigenous

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New Era Ahead For 

Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People

Appointment of Jody Broun and Les Malezer as the first elected Co-Chairs of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples heralds the start of a new era for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said today.

Commissioner Gooda congratulated Ms Broun and Mr Malezer on their election.

“I congratulate Les and Jody on what is both an honour and an enormous responsibility,” Commissioner Gooda said.

“Having the first elected Co-Chairs of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a voice at a critical time in the nation’s history. “I have worked with both Les and Jody over the years and know them to be strong and determined advocates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” he said.

Commissioner Gooda said election of the Co-Chairs signified the importance of self-determination and self-governance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and was consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the means to be heard on issues that affect us from policy and program developments that impact on our standards of living, through to big picture issues so critical for our futures,” Commissioner Gooda said.

“I look forward to continuing to work with the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples and with Jody and Les as Co-Chairs on these issues.

“In particular, I will be looking to work with them closely on advancing support for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians and implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Source: Australian Human Rights Commission

via Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources

Latest news from the #Yindjibarndi in their resistance to #TwiggyForrest and #FortescueMetalsGroup(FMG)

Banner from the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation website

Brothers and Sisters,

FMG’s VIDEO BACKFIRES
A lot has happened since FMG acted to remove our video from the Vimeo Host site with legal threats – interest in our video and our story has redoubled. Even though FMG has bought advertising on GOOGLE to put their corporate video – “The True Yindjibarndi Story” aka “The Yindjibarndi Meeting” – at the top of all GOOGLE searches in an effort to hijack and confuse people searching for our video, this just seems to have boosted interest in “FMG’s Great Native Title Swindle”, and also attracted the attention of mass media. ‘Social media’ especially is not buying the FMG spin. See HOTLINKS bulletin below for media coverage.

YINDJIBARNDI REPLY TO ANDREW FORREST
See articles attached [or visit www.yindjibarndi.org.au/]
After a week of intense attention to FMG and Andrew Forrest’s controversial dealing with the Yindjibarndi people over land access, which was triggered by the video “FMG’s Great Native Title Swindle”, Andrew Forrest was privileged by an opinion piece in The Weekend West(AGENDA 9 April 2011, p66). The West Australian gave Yindjibarndi and Michael Woodley a right of reply the following week (The Weekend West AGENDA, 16 April 2011, Page 64).
In his piece, “Handouts a poor agent for help”, Andrew Forrest specifically targeted the Yindjibarndi, incorrectly claiming that they “overwhelmingly voted” to withdraw their objections to, and work with FMG. Forrest also stressed that equitable financial compensation (capital equity) should not be ‘handed out’ to Aboriginal people in agreement making [as it is with other land title holders!]. Michael Woodley’s reply focused on the kind of agreement that would truly respect Yindjibarndi Ngurra and people, and give genuine, long-term opportunities for self-development, rather than the paternalistic, strings-attached offers of ‘help’ from Forrest.
Read and judge for yourself.

HOTLINKS
Links to all the latest articles in the media are made easily accessible on the Yindjibarndi web site. See the HOTLINKS page www.yindjibarndi.org.au/

YINDJIBARNDI TV CHANNEL
Yindjibarndi have responded to FMG’s censorship-by-legal-threat by relaunching its online TV Channel. To see all of our videos please visit: 
http://www.isuma.tv/lo/en/yindjibarndi
On the Yindjibarndi Channel you can also tune in to a SPECIAL NEW RELEASE – “Swine River”, a TV play by David Milroy about the ‘stacked deck’ of native title dealing. Swine River was broadcast nationally on the remote indigenous network ICTV last weekend. This weekend ICTV will broadcast the sequel – “Killer Kane”, a play about the destructive ‘divide and conquer’ attack by a mining company on Aboriginal community (to be posted online soon).


DONATIONS THANKYOU
Please see attached a special message of thanks from Yindjibarndi CEO Michael Woodley to all those who have voted with their wallets, and made donations to the Yindjibarndi FIGHTING FUND. This is so important in helping us to get our message out and to assist with legal expenses.
If you can please donate by visiting:www.yindjibarndi.org.au/
Click on the  “YINDJIBARNDI FIGHTING FUND” button.


A PALM SUNDAY PRAYER FOR YINDJIBARNDI
Last Sunday (17/4/11) the thoughts of a church congregation were with Yindjibarndi in a Sermon given by Neville Watson of the Wembley Downs Uniting Church. Neville Watson’s Sermon offered a profound moral perspective on the attack by FMG on the Yindjibarndi community. See attached “Palm Sunday Prayer for Yindjibarndi”.


GETUP – ‘Save Us From FMG’ TOPS INDIGENOUS IDEA
Thanks to overwhelming public support, the Yindjibarndi GetUp Campaign Idea – Stop mining company rorts of Native Title – Save us from Twiggy Forrest/FMG – has gone to the top of the ‘Indigenous’ issue list with 1217 votes and has gathered 323 comments!  It is now ranked 20thover-all. Please encourage GetUp to ACTION the campaign.
http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-campaign-ideas/suggestions/1617547-stop-mining-company-rorts-of-native-title-save-u?ref=title<http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-campaign-ideas/suggestions/1617547-stop-mining-company-rorts-of-native-title-save-u?ref=title>

YINDJIBARNDI FACEBOOK
The Yindjibarndi Facebook is also gathering pace. It is another solid way to keep information flowing. Please join us at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yindjibarndi-Aboriginal-Corporation/172898829429496?sk=wall

THE WAR BEGINS TOMORROW
Yindjibarndi have been greatly encouraged by the ‘rolling thunder’ of public support, but we know the biggest battles lie ahead. Just today (19 April) FMG’s VTEC staff were out door-knocking in Roebourne peddling their ‘Trojan Horse’ of employment & training – the decoy that hides the massive annihilation of our native title rights that is buried in the belly of their ‘Indigenous Land Use Agreement’. We remain daunted by the struggle that lies ahead. FMG coffers and resources are gigantic – Yindjibarndi survive on the smell of a possible justice.

PLEASE PASS ON THIS MESSAGE

CONTACT:                              
Michael Woodley                              
CEO Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation
0419 097 130
mwoodley@juluwarlu.com.au
media@juluwarlu.com.au
For background & research materials please visit:
www.yindjibarndi.org.au/


5 attachments — Download all attachments

Donors Thankyou from Yindjibarndi.pdf
251K   View Download

Donors Thankyou from Yindjibarndi.pdf
251K   View Download

Michael Woodley Reply to Forrest Opinion Piece 16April2011.pdf
170K   View Download

Palm Sunday Prayer for Yindjibarndi.pdf
100K   View Download

Original Press Release Woodley response to Forrest.pdf
105K   View Download

Further reading:

#TwiggyForrest tweaks stacked meeting to twubble #nativetitle holders in Roebourne #mining #land #resources #indigenous #Aboriginal

#TwiggyForrest : #Yindjibarndi : #AustralianEmploymentCovenant/AEC : #GenerationOne #Aboriginal #indigenous #employment #mining #resources #vimeo

FMG's reply to  Yindjibarndi video (Australian Mining)

Dispute over Fortescue  Aboriginal compensation deal (ABC  AM)

Fortescue releases its own native title video (Crikey) 

Related articles

• Censored: FMG's Great Native Title Swindle (aboriginalpress.blogspot.com)

#TwiggyForrest : #Yindjibarndi : #AustralianEmploymentCovenant/AEC : #GenerationOne #Aboriginal #indigenous #employment #mining #resources #vimeo - PART 2

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Screen shot from here 

at 9.40am Tuesday 19 April 2011.

Click to enlarge in new tab. 

Then look at the Google ads on the right.

For Networkers who may not have discovered the controversy with Twiggy Forrest and Fortescue Mining Group on one side and the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation on the other, please go to my previous post.

I "Follow" Jim Belshaw on Twitter and I am a frequent visitor to his blog, Personal Reflections, and I happened to glance at his sidebar and discovered the Yindjibarndi advertisement.  Google ads do their best to match advertisement type to site text.  Jim occasionally writes about Aboriginal matters/history around New England in New South Wales where he lives as did his family before him.  So the word 'Aboriginal' is the only connection between Jim and his blog and the Google ad.

If you click on the ad you will get the Twiggy version of events.  I saw Twiggy's video a couple of days ago.  Twiggy is the wealthiest man in Australia and I would have thought that when he used video, it would be a bit better than this cut-to-pieces version.  To be sure, it won't hit Cannes or the Oscars.

What appears to have now happened though is that Twiggy is using his fortune or that of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) to push his "product" and his point-of-view.  Ah well, I suppose there's not much point in having the money and the corporation at your disposal, if you can't use it to try and change perceptions and get your own way.

I have written to the Yindjibarndi advising them of the Google ad.  I have placed their reply below.  Please note the details so you, too, dear Networkers can keep in touch and spread the word about what has been happening at Roebourne.

Click on picture to enlarge in new tab

#Resurrection to new life : the #Buxton_Silver_Gum #trees #environment

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Eucalyptus crenulata (Buxton Silver Gum)

Picture from here

It's an ill wind bushfire that blows burns nobody any good, it is said.

This story will cause a flutter of excitement in many places.  Thanks to the bushfires more was learned about this rare tree and rejuvenation of the species in its special locality is expected.  It is this sort of thing  that gives us, the human species, hope.  

In a week when Christians will be commemmorating a death on a cross and a resurrection to new life, Australia's beautiful, ancient soil has thrown up a story of continuing life in the face of adversity.  This is an impressive thing.

Related articles

• Silver gum rises from Black Saturday ashes (news.theage.com.au)
• What were the environmental impacts of the Black Saturday bushfire in Victoria Australia (wiki.answers.com)

#Watershed_Vivctoria : #Wonthaggi #Desalination Plant : #PublicPrivatePartnerships

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I am always in awe of Watershed Victoria. The Wonthaggi desalination plant is on its way and the ink has long since dried on the contracts.  But they have never given up.  Please find their latest newletter/bulletin below.

Related articles

• Victorians will be 'grateful' for desal (news.theage.com.au)
• Brotherhood founder defends men's club (news.theage.com.au)
• Almost $24 billion down the drain (heraldsun.com.au)
• Shocking desal plant cost revealed (heraldsun.com.au)
• Desal plant debacle for builder (theage.com.au)
• Flash flooding eases in Victoria (news.theage.com.au)
• Govt can't change desal contract: Baillieu (news.theage.com.au)

Victorian #Climate Action #Calendar 16April to 25 May 2011

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The Victorian Climate Action Calendar

16 April to 25 May 2011

#YarraRiverkeepers Autumn Newsletter #yarra #rivers #sewage

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Ian Penrose has just sent over the latest Yarra River Keepers Association Newsletter.  

Interesting reading. Why don't you download a copy?

Gathering #chestnuts and #friendships at Gembrook.

 

Yesterday was Chestnut Gathering Day at the Gembrook Retreat at Gembrook in the Dandenongs, east of Melbourne.  Friends - and friends of friends - descended on Steve and Jane's place; about a hundred in all as it turned out.  People spread themselves all over - in the house; out on the terrace; around a fire under the chestnut trees roasting the harvest on an open fire; and, as can be seen in the collage above, some went up a tree and some just sprawled in the sun. As for me, I made some beautiful new friends and met up again with some old friends whom I hadn't seen for quite a while.


Miss Eagle's harvest - more than enough for a single lady of great antiquity - is in the white basket.  To-day, I will score the harvest. Then I will boil it.  I will then apportion the chestnut flesh into zip-lock bags for the freezer where in the weeks and months to come it will get added to all sorts of dishes.  The 'net is full of chestnut recipes.  Yesterday, Somara cooked the speciality of the house, a chestnut and vegetable soup.  I contributed some of my home-made bread.  Yummo!


By the way, it was Sharee’s birthday – so much jollity.  Sharee was my chauffeur – and I am very appreciative of her services in this regard and her friendship.

Bess Price : Barb Shaw : Marlene Hodder : Two sides of #TheIntervention coin #Aboriginal #Indigenous #NT

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Northern Territory friends Barb Shaw and Marlene Hodder have spoken out against statements by Bess Price on Q & A last Monday night, 11 April.  Clearly, on matters of public policy there will be at least two sides to the issue.  Rarely, does any public policy issue attract long-term bi-partisan support.  

Bess Price had her national hour on Monday last on Q & A.  Bess supports the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) commonly known as The Intervention.  Aboriginal voices in support of The Intervention are seldom heard in the major centres of the nation.  Many of us who are opposed to The Intervention have worked from the very beginning to facilitate the voicing of Aboriginal opposition to The Intervention.  

In assessing policies, the key question must always be "Cui bono?".  To whose benefit is the Northern Territory Emergency Response?  To whose detriment is the Northern Territory Emergency Response? 

It was clear within approximately eighteen months of the Intervention that - except for the basics card and income quarantining - there was widespread antagonism to the policies of the Intervention.  On the matter of income quarantining and the basics card, opinion was either evenly divided or too close call across Aboriginal communities.  

Bess Price appears to be an uncritical supporter of The Intervention.  If anyone reading this post can advise of any criticism from Bess, please email me and I will correct this post.  When one examines Bess's CV, one view could be that Bess does benefit from government policy.  Bess sits or has sat on numerous government entities or bodies which work closely with government entities.  It is not surprising if people who benefit in such a way might be acquiescent on the public policy of governments who appoint them.  Conversely, people who are not brought into the kindly light of governments at public policy level might not be willing to be acquiescent - particularly if their firm belief is that such policy is, in their daily lives, working to their detriment.

This has been the experience of Barb Shaw who fought strongly to keep her home in Mount Nancy Town Camp in control of Aboriginal people. Barb is articulate and energised.  She took her anti-Intervention stance to the voters of Lingiari in the last Federal election as a candidate for The Greens. Barb was well supported within Aboriginal communities and, as can be seen, the long-standing Member for Lingiari took a substantial hit.

Shoulder to shoulder, with Barb in Alice Springs is Marlene Hodder. I prefer to let Marlene speak for herself on The Intervention, so please go here.

Controversy has reared its head this week with Larissa Behrendt and Bess Price as the dominant characters. Marlene and Barb have spoken out on this and have, this morning, issued a media release:

Media release   

April 15 2011 

for immediate release

Town camp leader outraged by Bess Price claims on Q and A

Barbara Shaw, spokesperson for the Intervention Rollback Action Group (IRAG) in Alice Springs and resident of Mount Nancy Town camp says that comments by Bess Price on Q and A about the "success" of the Intervention ignore the huge evidence of continuing failure.

IRAG says Mrs Price's comments have caused distress amongst people living in prescribed areas under the Intervention, whose experiences of deteriorating social conditions continue to be ignored by government and mainstream media.

“It is outrageous that Bess Price can continue to go on national media and spread false information on the Intervention while life in our town camps and communities gets harder and harder”, says Barbara Shaw.

“We now have a massive crisis in Alice Springs as people come in from the bush because of the failure of the Intervention.  On Monday night, while Bess was on Q and A talking about our kids being safer, I was dealing with multiple situations of children needing emergency care.”

“The Intervention has done nothing to help.  I find it harder to look after my family because I am still on the Basics Card. If things are so good, why do government statistics show more children being admitted to hospital for malnutrition and more young people committing suicide and self-harm?  Why are more and more children being taken away from parents and put into care?”  Ms Shaw asks. "

“Bess says education is the key to improving lives. But she didn't say that Yuendumu school attendance rates have halved and are now down to only 30 per cent since the Intervention came in and bilingual education was banned by the NT government.”

Ms Shaw says she is very concerned that Bess Price is misinforming the wider community about the feelings and views of NT Aboriginal people about the Intervention.

“Marcia Langton wrote in The Australian today that Bess Price ‘resides ‘in Yuendumu’. This is untrue and The Australian needs to correct the public record. Bess does not live under the Intervention.  She lives a comfortable lifestyle in the eastern suburbs of Alice Springs, not in a prescribed area.  She does not have a Basics Card and she does not work for the dole.  She doesn’t have her home raided.  She doesn’t have her alcohol taken away at the bottle shop,” Ms Shaw concluded. 

Bess says Aboriginal women have been given a voice by the Intervention - but which ones?

• Thousands of women have lost their jobs as Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) close down, 
• Many women leaders have lost their positions of authority as community councils were closed and Government Business Managers and Shires took over. 

Ms Shaw said, "In the last federal election, I out-polled all other candidates in remote communities in Central Australia because people agree the Intervention and Shires have failed.”

"Women do need a voice - we need for the government to listen, to scrap the Intervention and empower us with resources and jobs to go forward." An Alice Springs based community worker and IRAG member Marlene Hodder says, “Many Warlpiri women living in Alice Springs are very unhappy that Bess Price assumes she can speak for them. 

Last year they sent a strong recorded message to Minister Macklin as she refused to meet with them on more than one occasion.  They are tired of not being listened to as they feel the Intervention is an insult to them as mothers, grandmothers and carers. These women say they struggle to maintain their dignity with racist taunts being thrown at them as they walk into town and the unfairness of the BasicsCard when the reality is that there is no work for them." 

Strong in their culture and staunch Christians, they pray every night for the Intervention to end.”, concluded Ms Hodder.

http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com

Get Involved!
Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective (MAIC) meets 

every Monday, 6.30pm at the New International Bookshop (NIBS). 

The bookshop is easily found in the basement of the Trades Hall building 

(Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton).
 
www.maicollective.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=91084301876&ref=ts

Please also read this post  by Michael Brull

#The_Economics_of_Happiness #localization #economics #environment

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Click to enlarge in separate tab

Free film screening:

The Economics of Happiness

Join us for a special, free screening followed by an opportunity for discussion with producer and director, Helena Norberg-Hodge.

Both hard-hitting and inspirational, the film 'The Economics of Happiness' reveals some uncomfortable truths about today’s global economy, which is creating divisiveness, financial instability and environmental breakdown worldwide. But it also shows how people around the world are already engaged in exploring alternative visions of prosperity: uniting around a common cause to build more ecological, more human-scale, more local economies.

David Suzuki: 

"A powerful film that cuts deeply to the heart 

of the global crisis. Magnificent!". 

When: 

6.30pm-8.00pm Tuesday 3 May 

Where: 

Basement Theatre, ‘The Spot’, Business & Economics, Building 110, 

198 Berkeley Street (cnr Pelham St), The University of Melbourne, Carlton

REGISTER HERE »

Download the flyer and send to your friends.

This event is proudly co-sponsored by:

Australian Conservation Foundation

Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute

Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab

#TwiggyForrest : #Yindjibarndi : #AustralianEmploymentCovenant/AEC : #GenerationOne #Aboriginal #indigenous #employment #mining #resources #vimeo

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Twiggy Forrest (with arm in sling) -

out in the open with his back to the wall.

Picture from here.

This post is further to this most interesting one

Crikey is on Twiggy's case again to-day.  It appears that the video embedded in that previous post is likely to incite racial hatred.Mmmmm.....I don't deal in hatred but the only racial hatred that I could see which would be incited by this video is how to form extremely negative views about a white billionaire mining magnate. 

Andrew Forrest is a man who seeks his own way - you don't get to where he is in the industry he is in without being a forceful and single-minded character.  Andrew Forrest also knows that miners seeking credence and social licence in the wider Australian public need a veneer of respectability in their dealings with Aboriginal Australia.  This Twiggy has tried to do with Generation One. The jury is still out on the success of this program but there is some doubt expressed that it will get to its goal. See here and here.

Vimeo ought not to have taken the complaint - backed though it may be with power, influence and money - against the Yindjibarndi video as seriously as it did.  Vimeo should realise that, by its compliant action, it has walked into a minefield of power, racism and dispossession.  In fact, from one angle it could seem that Vimeo has, with alacrity, done to an Aboriginal community what white people and their corporations have been doing for over two hundred years.  They have taken one-sided action which benefitted themselves instead of looking objectively and dispassionately at the situation and considering any detriment that might accrue to the Yindjibarndi from acquisence to the Forrest camp with the removal of the video from the Vimeo site .  If Vimeo had bothered to examine the video itself it could have seen for itself what was going on and faced up to Twiggy and his lawyers with fortitude instead of a lillied liver.

I think it could be useful to examine the Yindjibarndi video in the light of the the Australian Employment Covenant (AEC) experience which has carried through to the GenerationOne experience.  Time and events demonstrate the lack of veracity in AEC claims that it  "brings all Australians together to help close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in employment and employment opportunities."

Firstly, the words of Sharon Firebrace provide some insight into some Aboriginal views on AEC/Generation One: 

Sharon Firebrace, spokeperson for the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective, agrees. GenerationOne has been a “failure in the past” and it’s time for Aboriginal people to start speaking out on the issue, she says.  “Jobs for Aboriginal people will be delivered through fighting against the interests of the people like Andrew Forrest and challenging this government,” Firebrace told Crikey.”....

But according to Firebrace, the GenerationOne website fails to mention land rights, dispossession, racism and the “ongoing genocide that lies at the heart of Aboriginal disadvantage”.

“These issues need to be discussed seriously, well before Aboriginal people commit to Fortescue’s ‘brave new world’ solution,” she said. “We need to have Aboriginal people discussing this and the implications of it.”

The implications of Forrest's actions in regard to the divided Yindjibarndi community and legitimate claims relating to Yindjibarndi country and legitimate questions seeking details on use of Yindjibarndi land appear, from the video, to be ignored or skated over by Forrest and Fortescue.  This land is not only a spiritual, historical, and geographical resource for the Yindjibarndi nation but an economic resource as well.  It is unmitigated hypocrisy for Forrest to drive a program like AEC/GenerationOne on the one hand and then with the other seek to drive a wedge into an Aboriginal community and fail to provide the most basic of answers to the community's questions put through their legal advisor.  

So we look at the AEC/GenerationOne set-up comprising wealthy, conservative business people and privileged Aboriginal people supported by a conservative Australian Labor Party government. We listen to views which appear to indicate that Twiggy Forrest's employment scheme has not met the targets envisaged for it.  We look at the video of the Yindjibarndi meeting with Twiggy Forrest and find that he cuts a less than attractive figure in the proceedings given his education, experience, power and privilege.  So perhaps Twiggy needs to come clean with Australians and confess that his idea of AEC/GenerationOne was to provide him and his cohort a veneer of respectability particularly when dealing with a serious and sombre national issue - Aboriginal unemployment and economic exclusion.  Successful intervention in an Aboriginal economic issue would stand him in good stead in any negotiations for his companies involving Aboriginal people and their interests.

I think your cover has been blown, Twiggy.  Your cause has been hit amidships by your own actions.  Tell Vimeo you withdraw your complaint.  Tell them they can re-instate the video.  What a reconciliatory action that might be!  That could be reconciliatory action No. 1.  No 2 reconciliatory action could be to take responsibility for your role in dividing an Aboriginal community which seeks to forward its own interests and well-being while maintaining its identity and culture.  If you could revisit these matters with a mature and reconciliatory attitude which did not put your own self-interest in a dominant and dominating position, then your reputation might be rescued and advanced and, eventually, you might do something for Aboriginal economic interests.

#TwiggyForrest tweaks stacked meeting to twubble #nativetitle holders in Roebourne #mining #land #resources #indigenous #Aboriginal

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FMG's Great Native Title Swindle from Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corp. on Vimeo.
Wednesday 13 April 2011
6.35pm
Dear Networkers,

I have just had my attention drawn to the fact that this video, published on Vimeo and embedded by code in this blog, has now been withdrawn from Vimeo.   Some of the goings on is reported in Crikey to-day in this article. It appears that Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) is being very alert to correct views of the meeting referenced below which disagree with the corporate line on this matter. 

The video has now become available on YouTube and I am now embedding this code on this post and republishing the blog.  It is to be hoped that YouTube shows fortitude in the face of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) solicitations that Vimeo, for some reason, was unable to.

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2011 16:47:08 +0800

Subject: Yindjibarndi-FMG Action - New Video Release - ONLINE

From: media@juluwarlu.com.au

To: media@juluwarlu.com.au

Brothers and Sisters,

We have edited and put ONLINE video from the fake Yindjibarndi #1 Claim meeting staged by FMG on 16 March 2011:

FMG’s Great Native Title Swindle:Caught red handed – this is a record of a supposed 'native title' meeting staged by the iron ore miner, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG). It shows how FMG, its agents, a lawyer and an opportunist splinter faction tried to destroy the unity of the Yindjibarndi people and give open slather to FMG for its Solomon Hub project. The video shows the actions of this miner in trying to entrap and bully traditional owners into a land use 'Agreement' that will see massive disturbance of country and will swindle generations of Yindjibarndi people.

See the video at: http://vimeo.com/21871850 (or above)

Or go to the Yindjibarndi website and click on the link on our HOME Page:

www.yindjibarndi.org.au/

You might like to take one or more of the following ACTIONS:[If you haven’t already.]

ACTION 1

VOICE YOUR OPINION – PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AT:

http://yindjibarndi.org.au/yindjibarndi/?p=940

ACTION 2

MAKE A DONATION TO THE YINDJIBARNDI FIGHTING FUND

Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation has established a FIGHTING FUND specifically to combat the actions of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG). We are struggling to

• counter their teams of lawyers and ‘land access managers’;

• mount and defend court actions;

• counter their mis-information.

While the FMG Goliath has a bottomless fund to keep up their assault on our community and country, Yindjibarndi must fund their resistance independently –

YAC receive absolutely no legal aid assistance for this from any government agency.

TO MAKE A DONATION:

• Visit YAC HOMEPAGE:www.yindjibarndi.org.au/

• Click on the YINDJIBARNDI FIGHTING FUND button in the top right-hand corner

• This will take you to YAC’s PayPal account [The account will be active in a couple of days – please persist].

NB: Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corp. (YAC) has Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) Status.

The Australian Tax Office has recognised YAC as a Public Benevolent Institution (PBI), thereby endorsing us for Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status. This category allows individuals, and corporate entities, to make tax-deductible financial gifts to YAC.

ACTION 3

Support on our GetUpcampaign idea page has been running HOT. We have 107 votes and55 comments – an astounding result in just 13 days.

Please keep supporting Yindjibarndi on the GetUp social action site.

VISIT THIS LINK AND REGISTER YOUR VOTES AND COMMENTS:

http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-campaign-ideas/suggestions/1617547-stop-mining-company-rorts-of-native-title-save-u?ref=title

ACTION 4

PLEASE PASS ON THIS MESSAGE TO OTHERS WHO CARE

Thankyou!

CONTACT:

Michael Woodley

CEO Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation

0419 097 130m.woodley@juluwarlu.com.au

For background and research materials please visit:

www.yindjibarndi.org.au/

Further reading:

Traditional owners fail to mend rift over proposed iron ore mine

FMG Tries To Strong-Arm Traditional Yindjibarndi Community Into Signing An Agreement

This land is whose land?

Andrew Forrest

Dynasties: Andrew Forrest

Andrew Forrest tops Aussie rich list

Andrew Forrest cleared of misleading investors

Forrest to take fight to High Court

Support #AnimalLovers and #BanJumpsRacing: work & spend to stop #horses being killed for #sport

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Every great campaign needs resources and energy.  

So does Ban Jumps Racing. Ban Jumps Racing comprises a coalition of activists and organisations who want to stop the killing of horses. Horses are dying regularly, sometimes frequently, and horses are being injured often seriously to give humans something they define as 'sport'.  You can read why jumps racing needs to be banned - immediately.  

Eight days ago three horses fell at Warrnambool.  

One horse was put to death.

See picture below

The new Victorian Racing Minister, Denis Napthine, as his predecessors have done, 

has promised review but not banning.  

The Warrnambool Racing Committee.

Picture by Damian White in The Age.

From here

Clearly, the jumps racing industry is highly influential and manages to capture each racing minister as he comes to power, if not before.  Reviews and similar motions make not a fig of difference in the long term.  Eventually, jumps racing becomes business as usual and part of the business is the killing and injuring of horses.

Society has made illegal the blood sport that is dog-fighting.  

We need to abolish the blood sport that is jumps racing. 

Casa Boy had to be put down after this fall.

Picture from here.

#Jabiluka #Ranger and #Jabiru must be absorbed into #Kakadu #mining #resources #Aboriginal #indigenous

#

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Jabiluka:

the battle to mine Australia's uranium

by Tony Grey

Picture from here

I came to the conclusion long ago that Jabiluka would never be mined. I came to this conclusion after reading Tony Grey's fascinating book  It is clear to me from reading Grey's reporting that there is something special, a Spirit of Place, protecting Jabiluka.  Every attempt to mine uranium from Jabiluka across the last four decades has been thwarted.  It is time for whitefellas, their corporations, and their governments to concede defeat and give heed to the Mirrar people's call to have Jabiluka incorporated into Kakadu.

Picture from here

Ranger sits like a festering boil surrounded by Kakadu. Uranium mining continues to pollute the Magela Creek system, a major water network in the north-east of the Northern Territory. This is in spite of - and, at times, excuses from - the Office of the Supervising Scientist.  

THE FINAL WHISTLE BLEW LONG AGO ON

RANGER.

IT IS TIME TO HEED THE MIRRAR.

CLOSE RANGER.

REHABILITATE IT.

ABSORB IT AND JABIRU INTO KAKADU,

WHERE THEY BOTH BELONG.

Picture from here

Jabiluka: The battle to mine Australia's uranium

JABILUKA UPDATE.(Brief Article): An article from: Arena Magazine

Jabiluka: alarming precedents are being set. (Australian land rights and mining): An article from: Arena 

Jabiluka: Webster's Timeline History, 1977 - 2003

A DESCRIPTION OF THE REGOLITH AT JABILUKA, NORTHERN TERRITORY

AGE OF URANIUM MINERALIZATION AT THE JABILUKA AND RANGER DEPOSITS, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA: NEW U-PB ISOTOPE EVIDENCE

Related article

• Jabiluka's sacred power 'must never be disturbed' (theage.com.au)
• Kakadu elders reveal Ranger mine fears (news.theage.com.au)
• Analysis: Uranium supply outlook clouded after Japan crisis (reuters.com)
• Australia - Media Release: Uranium mining a black hole for Labor (tonyserve.wordpress.com)
• Profit plunge for ERA, plant suspended (news.theage.com.au)
• Kakadu owners want stop to uranium mining (news.theage.com.au)