Stop the Intervention Campaign
Thursday 10th December, 2009

Today, to mark International Human Rights Day, Aboriginal rights activists and supporters Australia-wide call for the immediate and unconditional repeal of the NT Intervention, to be replaced with local community development models of self determination.

The uncompromising call for “self-determination not assimilation’’ comes one week after the United Nations Special Rapporteur Anand Grover described the NT Intervention as a “direct breach of Australia’s international human rights obligations”.

Despite announcements by Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin that the Intervention will be brought in line with Australia’s human rights obligations through the reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA), all discriminatory aspects of the legislation are set to continue.

The government continues to ignore the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission and various committees and bodies of the UN to immediately and unequivocally reinstate the RDA and has instead announced in its last parliamentary sitting that the RDA will remain suspended until December 2010.

Monique Wiseman from Stop The Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS) said, “The Rudd government’s commitment to suspending the RDA for another 12 months is a commitment to racism, human rights violations and misery on the ground for affected Aboriginal communities.

‘Special measures’ have been announced to maintain the discriminatory nature of intervention measures such as compulsory acquisition of land”.

Ms Wiseman continued, “The government’s own progress report released last month has proved the intervention is a disaster. Child malnutrition is up 13%, domestic violence is up 61% and substance abuse is up 77%. The evidence speaks for itself”.

The continued suspension of the RDA and proposed expansion of income management has been met with fierce criticism from a broad range of organisations including Amnesty International, ANTaR, St Vincent De Paul and welfare rights groups.

“Punitive welfare regimes have been proven to increase hardship not remedy it. The projected expansion of welfare quarantining will not make it less racist. Indigenous people will remain overwhelmingly affected”, continued Ms Wiseman.

“The answer is empowerment. This is clearly outlined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Self-determination not assimilation! ”, concluded Ms Wiseman.

The suspension of the RDA has been used as a bargaining tool to pressure Alice Springs Town Camps to sign 40 year leases to avoid permanent compulsory acquisition by the government.

Town camp resident and member of the Intervention Rollback Action Group (IRAG) Barbara Shaw stated:
“People are living in third world conditions here and yet the government made the delivery of basic services and rights conditional on the rolling back of land rights. No other group in Australian society would be treated in this way.

“Human rights are for everyone, everywhere. There needs to be more education about human rights and the international treaties Australia is signatory to", continued Ms Shaw.

Marisol Salinas, from the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective said, “The disempowerment of local Aboriginal organisations through the abolition of community controlled CDEP and, in particular, the mainstreaming of Indigenous housing services, is a disgrace. The top down imposition of the intervention has attempted to paralyse communities.

“Current CDEP workers are no longer paid through their local Aboriginal organisation but instead through Centrelink. Many are working for income management, being paid with basic cards. This marks a shameful return to the ‘working for rations’ days.Aboriginal workers are entitled to basic rights not basic cards and that means equal pay, continued Ms Salinas.

“We need to replace the intervention with a genuine community engagement model that supports communities to develop and implement their own solutions. Funding needs to be channelled to grass-roots communities, not ineffective government bureaucracies. Aboriginal people must have full access to their inalienable human rights”, continued Ms Salinas.

“We will hold a national day of action on February 13 2010, the two year anniversary of the Apology, to call for an immediate end to the NT Intervention. We will chant from our hearts, as we always do, ‘Self-determination not assimilation. Stop the Intervention, Human Rights for All!!”, Barbara Shaw announced.

For more information contact:
Barbara Shaw on 0401291166 or Hilary Tyler 0419 244 012 (Alice Springs)
Monique Wiseman on 0415410558 or Olivia Nigro on 0401955405 (Sydney)
Marisol Salinas 0413 597 315 or Sue Liegh 0466 480 331 (Melbourne)
Sam Watson 0401 227 443 (Brisbane)

www.rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com
www.interventionwalkoff.wordpress.com
www.stoptheintervention.org