Government School Organisations Inc. & Biliru Tours & Cultural Experiences
15th August 2008
The Northern Territory Council of Government School Organisations Inc. (COGSO) is the peak advocacy and representative body in the Northern Territory for over 39,000 parents and 151 School Councils and parent advisory bodies associated with public education in the Northern Territory.
Biliru Tours and Cultural Experiences is a Larrakia family owned and operated cultural and community development organisation, currently running cultural adult education programs in Darwin and surrounds for schools, tertiary institutions, government and non government organisations, and local and international tourists.
Agreed Position on the NTER
COGSO's position on the Northern Territory Emergency Response legislation, as noted at its submission to the May 2008 Senate Inquiry, is reiterated in this submission to the NTER Review Board and is supported by Biliru.
That position is:
That the Northern Territory Emergency Response Legislation enacted in relation to 73 remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory in June 2007:
- was a politically driven exercise, resulting in further inequity for a sector of the Australian community already suffering from poverty, dispossession, and an unimaginable level of despair stemming from almost a century of marginalisation - the root causes of dysfunction
- was and is in the main, a superficial raft of measures, counter productive to long term, sustainable outcomes for Indigenous community health and wellbeing
- is racially discriminatory
- is based on a foundation of economic rationalist solutions to the dysfunction of communities by driving people into regional centres to minimise the cost of service delivery and the provision of adequate infrastructure
Further to the above, we believe that:
- use of the Australian military to implement social policy on a marginalised, silent and largely 'hidden' section of the Australian population, is an abhorrent and shameful act, undertaken by a country which on the international stage espouses to be a champion of human rights, and should be unilaterally condemned
- the previous Commonwealth Government's opportunistic use of the NT Government's report 'The Little Children are Sacred' (2007), and the subsequent discounting of that report's recommendations regarding the most appropriate methods to address the causes of dysfunction in remote NT Indigenous communities is tantamount to the deliberate destruction of Aboriginal communities and culture in remote locations of the Northern Territory
- the bureaucracy building exercise arising from the Emergency Response which resulted in an estimated $400 million being spent (2007 - 2008) on the administration of that legislation to implement a program based on discriminatory, exclusive practices is negligent and criminal misappropriation of public funding
Limitations of Response
As small Darwin based organisations we are unable to specifically address all Terms of Reference for this review, due to lack of personnel and resources.
We note however that in regard to the questions designed to discuss alternative measures for consideration, and other ways of working that would better address the circumstances facing remote communities and town camps, that the report commissioned by the NT Government and released in April 2007 - The Little Children are Sacred, clearly outlines the correct action to redress inequities in those town camps and communities.
We are seriously concerned, that this report, with a suite of perfectly balanced recommendations for the support and development of healthy sustainable communities has been hijacked by a Southern political agenda which has no relevance to the realities of the culture they are purporting to support and 'fix'.
Therefore, we submit that:
- We unequivocally support the recommendations of The Little Children are Sacred.
- We strongly advocate that all future action taken to redress inequities in Aboriginal communities located in remote areas of the Northern Territory, be based on the locally responsive, consultative and respectful recommendations of The Little Children are Sacred.
- That the abuse of human rights in those 73 nominated NTER communities cease and that the legislation supporting that abuse be reversed.
COGSO
PO Box 40520
Casuarina NT 0811
1st Floor
Ludmilla Primary School
Bagot Rd Ludmilla NT
Phone: (08) 8999 3255
Fax: (08) 8999 3254
E-mail: enquiries@ntcogso.org.au
www.ntcogso.org.au
Biliru Tours and Cultural Experiences
PO Box 514
Parap NT 0804
Mobile: 0420300512
biliru.larrakia@gmail.com