Central Land Council
in this section
CLC Press Releases
- 18 December 2008
- Senate see sense over waste dump ›› more
- 28 October 2008
- Devils Marbles handed back to traditional owners ›› more
- 27 October 2008
- Tanami Regional Partnership Agreement ›› more
- 27 October 2008
- Warlpiri use royalties to build Yuendumu Pool ›› more
- 15 October 2008
- Minister looks for distraction ›› more
- 14 October 2008
- CLC response to NTER review ›› more
- 14 August 2008 2008
- Communities have their say on intervention ›› more
- 31 July 2008 2008
- Fairfax news in bad taste ›› more
- 24 July 2008 2008
- election: accountability needed ›› more
- 17 July 2008 2008
- Royal commission needed into NT funding ›› more
- 11 July 2008 2008
- Simpson Desert: the last land rights claim under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act ›› more
- 8 July 2008 2008
- Sacred site damage at Wilora ›› more
- 30 May 2008
- Seal the Mereenie Loop Road Now ›› more
- 27 May 2008
- Angela Pamela Negotiations ›› more
- 9 May 2008
- Angela Pamela and the native title process ›› more
- 18 February 2008
- Coalition should support permit system ›› more
- 15 February 2008
- Politicians threaten to derail fresh start ›› more
- 22 January 2008
- Police ignorance upsets Lajamanu community ›› more
- 26 November 2007
- Optimism for a fresh consensual approach on Aboriginal affairs ›› more
- 21 November 2007
- Concerns over Central Petroleum tactics ›› more
Optimism for fresh consensual approach on Aboriginal affairs
The Central Land Council says it is looking forward to working with the new Rudd Labor Government and is hopeful that it will take a fresh, consensual approach to Aboriginal affairs.
The CLC called on the Government today to honour its promises to Central Australian Aboriginal people to restore permits for communities and CDEP.
The abolition of CDEP has caused hardship and undermined hard-won gains in the area of Aboriginal employment and the transition from welfare to work.
CLC Director David Ross said that any government cannot hope to achieve significant positive change unless it engages with the people it's trying to help.
“For too long we put up with a Minister who felt he could trample on Aboriginal people's rights but still achieve an objective which purported to improve their lifestyle,” Mr Ross said.
“That approach is doomed to failure and now we want to see a considered and informed approach which doesn't play with people's lives.
“The issue of compulsory five-year leases over entire communities was unnecessary and provocative and we call on the Rudd Government to immediately abandon that element of the intervention in favour of more practical leasing solutions,” he said.
“The CLC has immediate, pragmatic and appropriate solutions which involve leasing parts of communities for housing and infrastructure to improve the delivery of services and we expect these to be taken up,” he said.
“We will be doing everything we can to progress other issues associated with the intervention including domestic violence and the protection of children.
“On the question of the apology to the Stolen Generations, we believe that such a potent symbolic gesture would improve the lives of so many people damaged by their experiences,” he said.
“The intervention under the Coalition Government did commit large scale funding to the Northern Territory and recognise the great problems of child welfare and social disadvantage in Aboriginal communities but this was lost in the huge expansion of bureaucracy and bad will generated through its autocratic approach.
“We urge the Labor Government to recommit this funding to enable some of the better objectives to be achieved in a more successful way,” Mr Ross said.
26 November 2007