 Referendum ignites a debate on reforms
An Aboriginal referendum should be held to decide what changes are needed in the Australian constitution.
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 Communities call for open consultation
Aboriginal communities across Cape York have called on the Queensland Government to open consultations on a controversial new plan aimed at breaking what is known as the welfare cycle on communities.
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 The Plan
Pearson wants Indigenous people to become educated, to "enter the real economy", to defeat the evil of alcoholism and be free of the shackles of welfare dependency.
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 Yanner win a legal landmark
In a landmark decision on October 8, the High Court found Queensland's conservation laws do not extinguish the native title rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to carry out traditional hunting on their lands. LRQ looks at the background to the case and some of the ramifications of the ruling.
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 Rangers caring for country
Trainees working through the Indigenous Cultural Heritage and Biodiversity Agency at FAIRA Aboriginal Corporation who are undertaking a Certificate II course in Land Conservation and Restoration compiled this brief report on one of their projects.
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Government responds to wage claims
The Queensland Government will soon begin payments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were denied award wages in the 1970s and 1980s.
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| Herron extends rep bodies transition period
Native title representative bodies have been given an extension to the recognition "transition period" from October 30 this year to June 30 next year.
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| Anti-genocide Bill gets go-ahead
A parliamentary inquiry into genocide issues in Australia has been launched. "Genocide should be punishable by any nation state, but in order to do so, we must first ensure that genocide is formally recognised in Australian law," Democrat law and justice spokesperson, Senator Brian Greig, said.
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| Mirrar people call a five-year halt
The Mirrar people, who are the traditional owners of the Jabiluka uranium mine site in the Northern Territory, have withdrawn an application for the protection of a sacred site and have declined to discuss use of the Ranger site for five years.
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| Authenticity symbol
Under a new symbol of authenticity system, Indigenous artists will be able to apply for patented labels produced by the National Indigenous Arts Advocacy Association (NIAAA).
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| Cartoon
By Kevin Lindeberg
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| One Murri's View
Chris King's views on the Pearson plan for Aboriginal community development.
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| Murrandoo Yanner, his crocodiles, the High Court, and the native title implications
Extracts from a report by Associate Professor Bryan Horrigan and Mr Simon Young of the Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology.
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| Agency streamlines resource allocation
Governments often hear complaints that their work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy is hampered by gaps and overlaps. Sometimes these complaints are justified. I have no doubt that some government agencies have been guilty of reinventing the wheel, exploring options that have already been tried - and failed - or unconsciously duplicating ventures being undertaken by other departments.
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| Book for schools defies UN ruling
United Nations rulings that Australia has breached its human rights obligations have been defied in a federal government booklet that claims to 'rebut the myths' about Aborigines.
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| Aboriginal people and conservationists cooperate on Boggy Creek rehabilitation project
Since European invasion of the Brisbane area in the 1820s the lower reaches of the Brisbane River have been degraded by vegetation clearance, dredging, grazing, increased nutrients and industrial pollutants. Boggy Creek in particular, which flows from the north into the mouth of the river, has been affected by inappropriate development. Now, Aboriginal people and conservationists are working together to reverse the degradation and rehabilitate the floodplain and mangrove communities of Boggy Creek.
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| Long journey back to the Yumba
This month a group of Indigenous people will travel from around Queensland to the place where they lived as fringe-dwellers in a shanty-town in south-west Queensland called the Yumba.
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| NTRBs oppose State native title laws
A war is threatening to erupt between the Queensland government and Native Title Representative Bodies over the State's legislation for Native Title.
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| Flexing economic muscle
When Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson called on his people this year to abandon "welfare mentality", it caused a furore. It seemed to those who had not read the full text of his comments that he was admitting to the Pauline Hanson-inspired caricature of Aborigines as "welfare bludgers".
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| Amnesty for all Aboriginal prisoners in year 2000
Les Malezer, General Manager of the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA), has issued the following statement for significant prisoner reforms.
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| Australia's race laws again under UN scrutiny
The UN Secretary General has tabled the report of the Special Rapporteur on Racism at the 54th session of the General Assembly in New York.
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| Why Shelburne Bay needs protection
Lyndon Schneiders looks at the issues behind the tropical shoreline thrust into the public spotlight in the past few weeks.
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| Council gets $50,000 for evidence on logging
The Noongar Land Council has received $50,000 from ATSIC to implement a strategy that will prevent CALM (Conservation and Land Management) from destroying evidence of native title in the State's old growth forests.
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| Cultural heritage and native title
In this article John Sheehan, develops themes he raised in the February 1999 edition of LRQ. This is the eighth in a continuing series dealing with valuation and native title.
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| ANTaR News...
Many of you will be saddened to learn that Mervyn Riley, a linchpin of the Brisbane Murri community, has died.
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| Cybertracker Capers
I am very concerned about our level of competency with regard to computers. I constantly hear about this young lad or that young person who is "really, really good with computers". Closer investigation finds the expert can play games on a computer system, set up the latest graphics card, and reconfigure the sound card. The use of a wordprocessor, database or spreadsheet is never considered. And when the conversation turns to highend multimedia applications the faces are very blank.
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| Bookmarks
Links to interesting places on the internet.
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| Book Reviews
Book reviews on Is that you Ruthie?, Native Title Services Guide to Compiling a Connection Report and 1996 Census of Popularion and Housing.
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| In Brief - A new credit union for Indigenous Australians, First Nations, was launched in NSW last month.
- The Queensland Government has threatened to sidestep native title laws in a bid to reverse what it calls the worst downturn in mining exploration in 15 years.
- ATSIC and the Federal Government have launched a three-year $11 million project to support Indigenous Australians who want to get into business.
- Five leaders had a historic meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace last month to air their hopes for constitutional reform and to discuss "unfinished business" with Britain.
- Authenticity, copyright, intellectual property, cultural integrity and inadequate payments to artists in the $200 million-a-year Indigenous art market were on the agenda at the 1999 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Visual Arts and Crafts Conference in Cairns in early November.
- More than 50 young Indigenous women from across Queensland met last month at a "young and powerful" conference.
- The battle to stop the Hindmarsh Island bridge will be taken to the High Court after the Full Court of the South Australian Supreme Court dismissed an application for an injunction to stop the construction of the bridge from going ahead.
- The traditional owners of Innesvale station, about 150km south west of Katherine, have finally won back their land.
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| What They Said
The words from the people who made the headlines this month.
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| Ron Castan AM, QC
Indigenous leaders across Australia have expressed deep sorrow at the passing away of Ron Castan AM, QC.
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| I am me, an Aborigine
A poem by Coralie Cassady.
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| Workshops on native title corporations
The National Native Title Tribunal has invited native title applicants and their representatives to attend free workshops in Cairns and Brisbane next month on native title corporations.
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| Local government training workshops
The Local Government Association of Queensland and the Australian Local Government Association will be conducting training workshops on native title and agreements processes during November.
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| Seminars on new tax
Aborginal and Torres Strait Islander business people have been urged to register for one of the 1071 free seminars on the new tax system being conducted by the Tax Office.
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| The new FAIRA board
A picture of the new FAIRA board at a meeting in November.
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