Land Sea & Water

Former PM, John Howard

With the passage of time it is now painfully obvious that former Prime Minister, John Howard, fully realised that Aboriginal peoples maintain a very powerful position in Australia, so much so, that by amending the Native Title Act in 1998 he demonstrated the inherent power of Aboriginal peoples, which stems from our continuing sovereignty.

Having now reviewed his Ten Point Plan it is important for us, as First Nations Peoples, to revisit John Howard’s amendments and what they meant.

Howard’s Ten Point Plan promised ‘bucket loads’ of extinguishment of Native Title after the Wik decision, in which the High Court found that Native Title continued to exist on pastoral leases in Queensland. This sent the Howard government into a fervent need to create ‘certainty’ for the non-Aboriginal landholders, driven by the fear in existing landholders of our continuing connection to Country.

 Sovereign Union Media Release - Howard recognised continuing Aboriginal sovereignty pdf

Ghillar, Michael Anderson, reporting that the Sovereign Union Gathering of Nations held at the Yarramundi Cultural Centre, Canberra, from 23 to 25 November 2018 successfully dealt with key issues facing First Nations.

Those attending came from across the continent and welcomed the opportunity to raise the problems they face and to understand ways of dealing with them, while joining the dots to understand the bigger picture of forced assimilation through fraud and deceit. [node:read-more:link]

THE NOONGAR DEAL: $1.3billion (cash and in kind) is made up nearly $600 million in financial payments over 12 years, 320,000 hectares of land and an Indigenous housing project (120 houses near Perth), is to sell Noongar Country once and for all, and end any right to claims by any Noongars over Perth and the State's south west, whether they signed the deal or not.

"We draw the line today. We declare our right to our land. There is no surrender. There is no land use agreement. We are the people from that land. We’re the rightful Traditional Owners of Wangan and Jagalingou country, and we are in court to prove that others are usurping our rights”. said Adrian Burragubba. “Our people are the last line of legal defence against this mine and its corrosive impact on our rights, and the destruction of country that would occur. Senator Brandis has been disingenuous in prosecuting his argument for these changes to native title laws, while the hands of native title bureaucrats and the mining lobby are all over the outcome. [node:read-more:link]

The 'youlk' looks similar to a kipfler potato and grows in poor sandy soil, which is unsuitable for grain growing or grazing and is now being farmed by an Aboriginal growing group in south west WA as a pilot for more groups. The growing group project is expected to run like other mainstream grower groups. But it is a customised group for Aboriginal farmers as many Indigenous-owned farming properties had different management logistics to other modern-day farms. In some cases, there are 20 members and in some cases 120 members so it is a whole different dynamic to the colonial farming protocol. [node:read-more:link]