Aboriginal diggers fighting for recognition of their service

Our nation have fallen short on all accounts when it comes to our treatment of our Indigenous servicemen and women. Pastor Denis Atkinson

In our previous posts about an Indigenous perspective of ANZAC Day, we wrote about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women being discriminated against.

Here is a link to Uncle John Lovett who is seeking to have his father's, grandfather's and uncles service recognised and a recognition by the state that those men were not given the same recognition as other service men and women on their return from military duty.



What must be remembered in talking about compensation claims for previous wrongs, and I think it's something that is rarely thought about when determining the amount of compensation to award, is that when you do not allow people to take advantage of a wage or benefit you not only discriminate against that person at the point in time, but you also impact on the economic and social condition of the next generations.

Benefits (like privilege) advantage the present, AND the future.
Likewise denying benefits to a whole generation disadvantages present and future generations.

Deadly Ways - Democracy & Politics

Here is the first of the Deadly Ways presentations. It currently sits at 5 Deadly Ways to Explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives of democracy, politics and civics in your classroom, but will definitely grow in the coming months.

I did want to note that Annabel Crabb, political commentator and journalist, made an important point on the 1st day of the opening of the 43rd Parliament. On the Drum on the ABC, her and Chris Uhlman were discussing the recent changes to the opening procedures where from now on a Welcome to Country would happen and also changes to the Standing Orders which now instruct the speaker at the start of every sitting of Parliament an Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners must happen. Annabel Crabb while noting that this was a significant step forward, it was still a 'step' that was 'given' by the Parliament (and one that could be taken away).

Letters Patent: A legal studies case study to keep watch

The ABC reported today that 

The Ngarrindjeri people have been asked by the South Australian Government for a clearer idea of what they see as the legal consequences for SA from what is known as the Letters Patent of 1836.

Founding Docs stated that 

The Letters Patent used the enabling provisions of the South Australia Act 1834 to establish the Province of South Australia and precisely define its boundaries. They also went beyond the strict provision of the Act by including a significant guarantee of the rights of 'any Aboriginal Natives' or their descendants to lands they 'now actually occupied or enjoyed'.

ANTAR SA provides a number of links to this issue.

What does it mean? The consequences of this. Let's keep watching.

Let's go back to the classics again!

Everything old is new again! What goes around comes around! You need to understand the past to deal with the future!

These are just some cliches/truisms that perhaps we can keep in our mind when thinking about Aboriginal policy.
I was at a business breakfast this morning, where Dr Dawn Casey was a keynote speaker. She urged us to re-visit the Royal Commission of the 1980s, as there is much that we can learn and understand. Perhaps we don't need new reports, let's just go back to the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody and the Bringing Them Home Report. Both reports' recommendations were not fully implemented.
These two reports really do give us a lot of understanding.  Why not check them out for yourselves -

• Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody (RCIADIC) 1991
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Report into the Forced Separation of Aboriginal Children from their families (1997)

Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 10/30/2010)