Land for Housing
We are just being blackmailed. If we don’t hand over our land we can’t get houses maintained, or any new houses built.
We have never given away any Warlpiri land and we are not going to start now. They have taken land off us, but we have never agreed.
We got some land back under the NT Land Rights Act. Now they want to take the land our houses are on, so they can control us. They are talking about 60 or 80 year leases, but we know that we won’t ever get it back.
We have cultural ties to our land. Our land is not for sale. Without the land we are nothing. Our spirit is in the land where we belong. If we give up our land we are betraying our ancestors. Every bit of our land is precious.
Also they are trying to break up our community by bribing some families, offering them $1 million dollars to sign away Yuendumu land. Jenny Macklin wants to break up Yuendumu land into sub-leases so that “Aboriginal families can own land”. We already own it!
She is just trying to split us up and make us weak.
Warlpiri don’t have boundaries for land. We have Dreaming tracks and song lines. Many Dreamings go through Yuendumu land: Honey-Ant, Possum, Snake etc. It just won’t work to try and change us into white people’s ways of living and owning land.
Propaganda and Lies
This Intervention has just told lots of lies about us. They keep on lying. They make the rest of Australia think we are useless, don’t want to work, can’t make our own decisions, can’t run our own lives, and that we are violent and neglect our children.
NOT TRUE!
We love and care for our children and families very well. They should come and see our children: beautiful, happy and healthy. They have been well cared for since long before this Intervention.
Many Warlpiri people are working in our organisations (shops, school, hospital, police, childcare, aged care, garage, youth program, art centre media association, mining companies etc.)
There have been hardly any new jobs since the Intervention.
The Commonwealth appointed GBM (Government Business Manager) who works two weeks on and gets flown home to Perth every third week, doesn’t talk to us. He just does his own silly projects- a big expensive fence around the rubbish dump, a terrible little cage for men which has never been used, and his own compound with its high barbed wire fence.
He is the highest paid person in Yuendumu.
More Lies
Pornography – we have never had much pornography in our community. Most people didn’t even know what it is, before this Intervention.
‘Rivers of Grog’ – We already had Women’s and Men’s Night Patrols dealing with grog.
We already had strict penalties – people lose their cars and face court for grog offences.–
Yuendumu was already much quieter with much less violence and drinking before the Intervention.
Poor nutrition – we already had two locally owned shops selling fresh fruit and vegetables and lots of good food before this Intervention.
When our local shops refused to cooperate with compulsory income management, the Intervention shop was set up, which is much dearer.
Aborigines on Communities get free Housing – NOT TRUE, we pay rent, only some white
people don’t pay rent. We are the same as any people in Housing Commission houses.
The Government provides houses for people to rent.
Suspension of the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act (1975) and the NT Anti-Discrimination Act
We are no longer full citizens of Australia.
We are treated differently. Every time there are different conditions for white and Indigenous people, we Aborigines get the worst deal.
We have different conditions for housing and employment in our communities.
White people get well-maintained houses, many rent-free. We can hardly ever get anything fixed.
White people get big salaries. Very few Aborigines get full salaries. Most are on the lowest rates of pay or are unemployed.
Now with this Intervention we have compulsory income management and increased police powers to enter our homes without a warrant.
Because of all the bad stories and lies they told about us, when we go to places like Alice Springs, more white people than before look down on us and treat us with disrespect.
Income Management (‘Quarantining’)
We had our own income management before this Intervention.
Pensioners and any one could leave their money at our Social Club shop and get money for food every day. But this was by choice, not forcing, and didn’t cost anything.
Now people have no choice, even pensioners with no children, non-drinkers, and other responsible people who care very well for their families, all have to have income management.
People in Yuendumu are forced to go to the Intervention shop or go to Alice Springs. Many do go to Alice Springs to spend their income managed money, and many stay there and some go drinking.
Shopping with the ‘basics card’ is awkward and shameful. In town they look at us as if we are bad parents or hopeless people. In Yuendumu, the Intervention shop has a sign saying: “You must know the balance in your basics card before shopping”. It is hard to find this out by ringing Centrelink or by waiting in line at the Centrelink office.
NT Government Attacks
At the same time as this Intervention the Northern Territory Government is also attacking our community and culture.
We no longer have a local Yuendumu Council. All decisions are made outside the community. There is almost no communication between us Warlpiri people and the Government.
The NT Minister for Education has ruled that the first four hours of schooling has to be in English. We have ‘two-way’ bilingual programs in our Warlpiri schools. This is the end of these programs.
Now our children are forced to learn in English right through primary school. Our little children don’t understand English.
Consultation
Every time Government officials come to Yuendumu to ‘consult’ with us, they don’t listen to us. They just tell us what their plans are. When any of us speak up about our concerns, it’s as if they have deaf ears. They just go on with their plans as if we had said nothing.
There is no communication. They treat us like kids.
We are proud Warlpiri people. It is a great insult to be treated like this.
Recommendations:
The Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act (1975) and the NT Anti-Discrimination Act should be restored straight away.
Don’t ignore the recommendations of the Report of Peter Yu’s NTER Review Board.
Put the Intervention money now being wasted to good use. Fund our local organisations to employ more people on full wages.
Re-establish local leadership and decision making power. Restore Yuendumu Council.
Apologise for all the hurt and the lies and insults that have made us look so bad in the eyes of the rest of Australia.
That Australia adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
This declaration includes the right of people “providing education in their own languages”.
Above all give us back our respect and dignity and support us in running our own lives.
Don’t talk down to us and listen.