Invasion Day Brisbane 2008

Hamish Chitts, Brisbane

26 January 2008

Photo by Owain Lewis Jones

January 26 1788 is a day of infamy, a day when representatives of the British Government and Monarchy claiming the entire continent of Australia as their own, stole the land from the hundreds of nations who already lived there. Around 300 Murris and their supporters rallied and marched through Brisbane’s streets today to observe Invasion Day, to remember warriors who have passed on and to protest against the systemic racist oppression imposed by Federal, State and Territory governments.

In front of Queensland’s State Parliament leading Murri activist Sam Watson chaired the rally. He highlighted recent Aboriginal deaths in custody in Brisbane and Darwin and called for a minute silence to remember the many Aboriginal people who have died in police custody. After this was observed Watson introduced the first speaker, Dennis Walker of the Noonuccal people.

“The incarceration rates are up, the deaths in custody rates are up I don’t like it, I don’t know who does, except those who may profit from it I guess.” said Walker. Walker explained that Australia was claimed under false pretences and that by their own laws the British crown, parliament and subsequent Australian parliaments’ occupation of the land is illegal. He said that the only way to end this illegal occupation and to stop the genocide that is still being brought upon Aboriginal people is through a treaty. Walker spoke of his efforts to discuss a treaty with the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh and her hypocrisy refusing to talk now when she has claimed to support a treaty in the past (when she wasn’t Premier). He finished by calling on people to converge on Canberra on 11 and 12 February (the first days of Federal parliament) - joining people from around Australia to demand justice for Aboriginal people. “If Rudd won’t deal we should go overseas and ask for the overseas community to treaty with us so we can get rid of the oppressor.”

A full transcript of Walker’s speech can be read here.

Sam Watson reiterated the point that by their own laws the British and subsequent occupations of Aboriginal lands are illegal. In 1770 despite meeting many senior Aboriginal tribal leaders as he charted the East coast of Australia Captain Cook claimed the entire continent for King George III on the basis that it was "terra nullius" (uninhabited land). This legal lie remained in force until the 3rd of June 1992 when the Mabo Decision ruled that Cook had no basis to extinguish existing Aboriginal ownership of the land.

Wayne Wharton, of the Kooma people told the crowd how his children educate their school teachers about whose land this really is. He warned that the Rudd Government is no different from the previous one and that they’ll hand pick who they decide represents Aboriginal people and that they will pick them on the basis that these representatives will be willing to sell out their own people. Wharton urged the Brisbane community to became the ‘Brisbane Blacks’ of the 1970’s and 80’s, a strong cohesive militant community which set the example and took the lead in the struggle for Aboriginal rights. He highlighted the importance of Lex Wotton’s trial in April and the importance of people turning out in numbers to support him.

A full transcript of Wharton’s speech can be read here.

The crowd then marched from parliament through the city to Musgrave Park. The march stopped at several places along the way the hear speeches. In front of the Executive building of the state government there were speeches about the failure of the Queensland government to repay tens of millions of dollars it stole from Aboriginal workers under the so called protection laws. Outside the building that used to house the Department of Aboriginal and Islander Affairs Sam Watson remembered the many protests and confrontations with police that had happened there.

Photo: Dennis Walker falls as he runs across car roofs from police outside the old Department of Aboriginal and Islander Affairs, George Street, Brisbane, 23 November 1971. (the car drove off)



After crossing the river the protest marched to the edge of a government sponsored Australia Day festival at Southbank. Here Lionel Fogarty and Wayne Wharton educated festival goers with speeches on the true nature of Invasion Day. The protest chanted “thief, thief, thief!” before marching on to Musgrave Park where a festival of Aboriginal music and culture was held at Jagera Hall.

No more invasions - Justice NOW!
INVASION DAY - RALLY AND MARCH
10am, Saturday January 26th
Rally at State parliament (George St), march to Musgrave Park

Turn back Howard and Brough's racist legacy!
- Reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act
- Indigenous empowerment not military intervention in NT and Qld
- End welfare quarantines and compulsory land acquisition
- End black deaths in custody
- Real compensation for stolen wages and stolen generations
- Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs

ALL WELCOME. For further information:
Phone Sam Watson 0401 227 443

Australia’s Indigenous health shame

Hamish Chitts

On April 2 the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and Oxfam Australia published Close the Gap, a report highlighting the shameful state of Indigenous health in Australia. The report ranked Australia as the worst at improving the health of indigenous people compared with other wealthy nations.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders die nearly 20 years younger than other Australians. This is in stark contrast to the US, Canada and New Zealand, where the life expectancy for indigenous people is approximately seven years less than the non-indigenous population. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infant mortality is three times the rate of other Australians.

Nearly three times as many Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children die before the age of five than indigenous children in Canada. Infant mortality rates for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are more than 50% higher than for indigenous children in the US and New Zealand. These figures reinforce the findings of the 2003 United Nations Human Development Report, which found the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians expected to live to the age of 65 is lower than for Third World nations like Bangladesh and Nigeria.

While spending on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health has increased, it hasn’t done so any faster than for the rest of the population, so the expenditure gap hasn’t narrowed. The federal government spends approximately $0.70 per capita on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health for every $1 spent on the rest of the population. Executive director of Oxfam Australia Andrew Hewett said: “At what point do we stand up and start shouting? It’s scandalous that in a country as wealthy as Australia we cannot solve a health crisis affecting less than 3% of the population.”

The report argues that the poor levels of health in Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population can be reversed. Most of the diseases leading to premature death, hospitalisation and chronic disability are preventable if diagnosed early and treated with affordable medicines. Many of the poor health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are related to social and economic factors: diseases triggered by poverty; overcrowded housing; poor sanitation; lack of access to education; poor access to medical care for accurate diagnosis and treatment; and poor nutrition.

The report calls for government action, including:

•Improving access for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders to culturally appropriate primary health care, and to a level commensurate with need;

•Increasing the number of health practitioners working within Aboriginal health settings, and further development and training of the Indigenous health work force;

•Improving the responsiveness of mainstream health services and programs to Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander health needs;

•Greater targeting of maternal and child health and greater support for Indigenous-specific population programs for chronic and communicable disease;

•Increased funding and support for the building blocks of good health such as awareness and availability of nutrition, physical activity, fresh food, healthy lifestyles, and adequate housing;

•Setting national targets and benchmarks towards achieving healthy equality, by which progress can be closely monitored.

Aboriginal rights and prison reform campaigner Alex Gater told Green Left Weekly, “We have the worst health in Australia. My elders died of old age; now as an Anglican priest I’m burying too many Aboriginal people that are too young.” She added, “Governments have been promising to fix Aboriginal poverty and health for too long. Oppression and racism have kept us on the bottom rung unable to access decent health, education and legal services. We want action and we want it now.”

The report provides several examples of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health successes like the Nganampa Health Council. Operating on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in the far north-west of South Australia, this health service has a sustained national reputation for best practice clinical services, leading edge collaborative program research and development and for the collection of outcome data as a basis for ongoing evaluation.

It is controlled, owned and managed by the Anangu people, who are responsible for all key policy, resource allocation and staff appointment decisions. The director and clinic managers are Anangu and together they ensure that all 120 staff are accountable to the Anangu people and that Anangu determine the development and delivery of services.

Oxfam is running a campaign to lobby the state, territory and federal governments to address the shameful state of Indigenous health. The full Close the Gap report and campaign information can be viewed online at http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/indigenous/health.php.

Modern day Dreamtime fable

Hamish Chitts

The Mack
Written by Sam Watson
Directed by Ian Brown
Judith Wright Centre for the Performing Arts, Brisbane
Until March 31
For tickets & information phone (07) 3872 9000

An angry, resentful Murri man in a wheelchair, a hate filled policeman dedicated to destroying the Macks, a woman unhinged and a powerful, deadly sorcerer who comes hunting — The Mack is a play like no other.

Set in inner-city Brisbane, this powerful play, written by leading Murri activist and Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Sam Watson, tells the story of Peacey, who is confined to a wheelchair after a car accident in which his older brother was killed. His father, Bullocky, must place his hand upon the shoulder of the man in the family who will succeed him as the Mack. That man, unquestioned and unchallenged, will be the leader of the family and his community.

Now Bullocky is waiting for Peacey to step up to the mark and claim that mantle that is rightfully his. Time is pressing, he and Nanna must return to the tribal country and “walk the line” to safeguard the sacred sites. But before he can go, Bullocky knows that he must ensure the succession and stabilise his family network.

Peacey, who doubts his ability to lead because of his confinement to a wheelchair, is also feeling tension from the spirit world. The car accident happened after he visited a sacred site with his brother and his brother’s girlfriend Birdie and now a spirit man hunts both Peacey and Birdie. Birdie, who can’t accept her boyfriend’s death and is haunted by the spirit man, has been placed in an institution and it’s up to Peacey to look after her son Corowa. All the while Sergeant Davis is determined to bring the Mack family down and has his hateful gaze fixed firmly on young Corowa. Birdie must come out of the hospital, Corowa must be saved from prison and Peacey must become the man that they all knew he could be.

The Mack’s director Ian Brown believes, “Regardless of the reason you take your seat at this performance, you are engaging in a political act. Watson’s writing is rich with conflict; between traditions and contemporary urban existence; between Indigenous law and a subjugating European law; between tolerance and respect.” Watson says, “The Mack is written as a Murri Dreamtime fable set in the modern day — among bitumen and concrete, rather than red-soil country.”