AUSTRALIA 
Calls to invest $1 billion in Aboriginal communities
Saturday, 21 June, 2008
Aboriginal leaders in Queensland say $1 billion is needed to help fix problems in Australian Indigenous communities. (AAP)
Indigenous leaders in Queensland have called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to invest $1 billion to help fix problems in Australian Aboriginal communities.
The call was made at a protest rally in Brisbane marking one year since former Prime Minister John Howard enacted the NorthernTerritory Aboriginal intervention.
Members and supporters of Queensland's Aboriginal Community met outside parliament house before starting a protest march through the city calling for an end to the intervention, which aims to stamp out child abuse and improve living standards.
Murri leader and Aboriginal Rights Coalition spokesman Sam Watson said the intervention did little more than erode the rights of Aboriginals.
He has called on the federal government to inject more funding into Aboriginal communities.
"Mr Rudd should put $1 billion on the table and work with Aboriginal political leaders and lay down strategies and programs which will alleviate problems," Mr Watson told AAP.
Mr Watson said Mr Rudd needed to do more than say "sorry" to the stolen generations to win the trust of Australia's indigenous communities.
"It was empty symbolism which may have meant something to members of the stolen generations but has delivered nothing real or tangible to the victims of centuries of neglect," he said.
"He (Rudd) has shrouded himself with a small number of hand-picked advisers and is not talking to the broader Aboriginal community."
Mr Watson has also called for the re-establishment of an elected Aboriginal body to work with the government similar to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), which was disbanded in 2004 after a series of controversies.
"There needs to be an elected representative Aboriginal body to work with the government and deliver real outcomes for Aboriginal communities," he said.
Source: AAP/SBS
The call was made at a protest rally in Brisbane marking one year since former Prime Minister John Howard enacted the NorthernTerritory Aboriginal intervention.
Members and supporters of Queensland's Aboriginal Community met outside parliament house before starting a protest march through the city calling for an end to the intervention, which aims to stamp out child abuse and improve living standards.
Murri leader and Aboriginal Rights Coalition spokesman Sam Watson said the intervention did little more than erode the rights of Aboriginals.
He has called on the federal government to inject more funding into Aboriginal communities.
"Mr Rudd should put $1 billion on the table and work with Aboriginal political leaders and lay down strategies and programs which will alleviate problems," Mr Watson told AAP.
Mr Watson said Mr Rudd needed to do more than say "sorry" to the stolen generations to win the trust of Australia's indigenous communities.
"It was empty symbolism which may have meant something to members of the stolen generations but has delivered nothing real or tangible to the victims of centuries of neglect," he said.
"He (Rudd) has shrouded himself with a small number of hand-picked advisers and is not talking to the broader Aboriginal community."
Mr Watson has also called for the re-establishment of an elected Aboriginal body to work with the government similar to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), which was disbanded in 2004 after a series of controversies.
"There needs to be an elected representative Aboriginal body to work with the government and deliver real outcomes for Aboriginal communities," he said.
Source: AAP/SBS
