Our History
The Intervention Rollback Action Group (IRAG) grew out of meetings between the National Aboriginal Alliance and non-government organisations in Alice Springs in late 2007. The group started regular meetings to discuss and record the impacts of the NTER (Intervention) and to support and advocate for people living in ‘prescribed areas’.
Actions and events since that time have included:
February 2008: Convergence on Canberra for the opening of the new parliament. A rally of over 3,000 people was the largest in a decade. The gathering was highly successful with meetings at the Tent Embassy, with politicians at Parliament House and with supporters from around Australia.
March 2008: National Day of Action against Welfare Quarantining.
May 2008: Presentations at ‘Unite & Fight Conference’ Sydney.
May 2008: Founding member of IRAG and the Prescribed Area People’s Alliance, Barbara Shaw, attended UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, New York (sponsored by FAIRA and Oxfam.)
June 2008: Rally Courthouse Lawns Alice Springs to mark 1 year of the Northern Territory Intervention.
September 2008: Convergence on the Centre Prescribed Area People’s Alliance Meeting Rally and March Alice Springs.
November 2008: Prescribed Area People’s Alliance Meeting Alice Springs.
December 2008: Human Rights Day Rally and Cultural Celebration.
January 2009: Forum “Living with a Racist Policy” Albert Hall Canberra
February 2009: Convergence on Canberra for opening of Parliament Workshops at the Tent Embassy. Meetings with politicians. Launch of the Complaint by Prescribed Area People from the Northern Territory to the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
April 2009: Barbara Shaw attended at Durban Review on Racism and Xenophobia.
June 2009: Visit to Central Australia of unionists from Unions NSW.
August 2009: Visit of James Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, hosted in Central Australia by Barbara Shaw and IRAG.
September 2009: Prescribed Area People’s Alliance Meeting Alice Springs.
October 2009: Community Forum: “Assimilation and the Intervention”.
December 2009: Human Rights Day: “Embrace Diversity, End Discrimination”
February 2010: Prescribed Area People’s Alliance Meeting Alice Springs. Rally Uniting Church Lawns to mark 2 years of Intervention.
Opening of Alyawarr Protest House, Honeymoon Bore, NT.
March 2010: Lunchtime Forum Batchelor College: “Standing Up To Racism”
June 2010: Community Forum: “3 Years of Intervention: Discrimination is widening the gap”.
July 2010: ‘Defending Indigenous Rights’ Conference, Alice Springs.
August 2010: Support for Aboriginal candidates in the federal election.
September 2010: World Council of Churches “Living Letters” team visit to Central Australia, hosted in Alice Springs by Barbara Shaw.
October 2010: ‘Jobs with Justice’ Rally Court House Lawns Alice Springs.
February 2011: Delegation to Darwin ACTU National Indigenous Workers’ Conference.
April 2011: Barbara Shaw attended UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, New York as an Emerging Leader; supported by the Australian Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International and IRAG. Delegates from around the NT met with Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Darwin NT.
June 2011: Prescribed Area People’s Alliance Meeting in Darwin. Rally and march to Parliament House on 21st June to mark 4 years of the Intervention and present the 11-point plan “Rebuilding from the Ground Up: An Alternative to the Intervention” to Marion Scrymgour, Deputy Chief Minister.
July 2011: Attending and recording the government’s “Stronger Futures in the NT” ‘consultations’ in various locations.
August 2011: Attended celebrations to mark Gurindji Freedom Day.
September 2011: Barbara Shaw attended the Frontline Defenders Platform, Dublin
October 2011: Support for Moratorium on Income Management, Bankstown NSW – Barbara Shaw traveled to Sydney
October 2011: Forum on Income Management, Alice Springs
October 2011: Barb Shaw attended NT Leaders’ meeting in Melbourne
November 2011: Barb Shaw attended First Nations Pathways Conference in Townsville.
January 2012: Barb Shaw attended National Congress of First Nations People’s Forum, Canberra. Also attended 40th Anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent
Embassy, Canberra.
Other Work
Community visits to collect information and stories, show films and give newsand information. Communities visited include Mutitjulu, Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Kalkaringi, Beswick, Barunga, Ti Tree, Ali Curung, Stirling, Elliott, Barrow Creek, Amoonguna, Hermannsburg; towns of Tennant Creek and Katherine; town camps in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, and to Muckaty to support traditional owners fighting against a nuclear waste dump being built on their land.
Human Rights work: Giving information on people’s rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Submissions:
2008 – NTER Review
2009 – Council for Territory Co-operation
2009 – Social Security and other legislation amendment (welfare reform and reinstatement of Racial Discrimination Act) Bill
2011 – Preparation of “Rebuilding from the ground up – an alternative to the NT Intervention”
2012 – Submission to Senate Inquiry into “Stronger Futures in the NT”
Ongoing Work
Community visits – interviewing and filming, gathering information.
Human rights work, giving out information; advocating.
Fundraising to enable the work to continue.
To see more of what we’ve been involved in check out our photos, videos, and upcoming anthology or have look at some of our blog posts or statements.
Our history to 2012 is contained in this PDF.