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Sunday 5 August 2007, Media Release

HSWALC BACKS GARMA CALL

The New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council fully endorses the call from Aboriginal leaders at the Garma Festival for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister John Howard over his radical intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

The Howard Government should not introduce legislation into the Federal Parliament to seek to take control of 73 Aboriginal communities without first consulting with Aboriginal leaders and the people living in the affected communities.

There has been no meaningful consultation to date.

The Prime Minister cannot continue to ignore the key recommendations of the Little Children Are Sacred report on the need for consultation and seek to hide from any real debate with the Aboriginal leadership and the affected communities on a long term plan in response to that report.

Proposed legislative changes should not be considered without the full and informed consent of those affected.

Exposure drafts of any proposed legislative changes should be provided to those communities.

This will allow proper consideration and debate ahead of any proposals by the Howard Government in the Federal Parliament to water down the hard won land rights in the Northern Territory.

The Federal Government has yet to publicly respond to the concerns and the alternative proposals for the long term development of the affected communities put to it by a coalition of 60 Aboriginal, church and non-indigenous groups in Canberra on June 26.

The Federal Government should do so immediately.

Mr. Howard has so far offered a bandaid response to these matters. This is simply not good enough.

The affected communities deserve nothing less than full disclosure from the Federal Government. A meeting between the Aboriginal leadership and the Prime Minister
would be a good start to this process.

I was officially invited to represent NSWALC at the meeting at the Garma Festival.

I was extremely disappointed I could not attend because of a medical emergency in my own family but no-one should be in any doubt that NSWALC, which speaks for the land rights movement in NSW, has been closely following developments in the Howard-Brough intervention.

We have no hesitation in backing the strong message coming out of Garma.

Bev Manton
Chairperson
New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council

Further information: Paul Molloy 0419 690 926