Assimilation & Oppression

Communities are urged to look out for each other over the festive season after seven people are believed to have suicided in WA's Kimberley region in the last seven weeks. Researchers have identified Christmas as a high-risk time for Aboriginal people considering self-harm. The most recent suicide occurred just two days before Christmas. Indigenous mental health commissioner Pat Dudgeon said the extra pressures around special foods, decorations, and gifts which are beyond the budget of many Aboriginal people. [node:read-more:link]

This Media Release from the Freedom Summit includes statements from Tauto Sansbury, Rosalie Kunoth-Monks and Paul Spearim jr.

The Media Release: The Original Peoples Freedom Movement are diametrically opposed to the punitive and exploitative work; five days a week, 12 months a year, dole scheme proposed by the Abbott Government that racially discriminates against the Original Peoples of Australia ... [node:read-more:link]

A Western Australian Aboriginal researcher Juli Coffin's quest has led to 'Solid Kids', an award-winning program used to counter bullying and the organisation is now currently seeking funding for a scientific trial on alternative forms of therapy. An Aboriginal-led steering committee interviewed more than 260 Aboriginal children, elders and teachers. They found bullying, often intra-racial bullying, was serious. Meanwhile, families burying their children want answers to why and what can be done. [node:read-more:link]

After more than a century the final resting place of about 70 Aboriginal people have been located on Fraser Island. - In July, a team of scientists from the University of the Sunshine Coast used ground penetrating radar to search the site of the old Bogimbah Mission on the western side of Fraser Island. Local Aboriginal rangers trained in how to locate and record historical sites had earlier identified the possible location of the graves, never recorded and thought lost to history. [node:read-more:link]

Aboriginal leaders and advocates are warning the "chaos and dysfunction" caused by closing down remote Indigenous communities will cost the West Australian Government far more than addressing existing issues. Amnesty International's indigenous peoples' rights manager Tammy Solonec said there was no plan to help people when Ooombulgurri community was closed down and people were required to integrate into Wyndham or other towns, leaving them "highly traumatised". [node:read-more:link]

The planned closure of more than 100 of WA's remote communities will have severe consequences, the Premier Colin Barnett said, but added his hands were tied. Barnett said this after a backlash was sparked in some of the First Nations communities, with elders leading a protest outside state parliament over the plans. His talk of high rates of suicide, poor education, poor health, no jobs are references to the economic, social and health issues that he will use as a tool to dump people on the streets. [node:read-more:link]

Nigel Scullion acknowledges there may be no future for some remote indigenous communities in WA as Premier Colin Barnett yesterday revealed he plans to close up to 150 of the state's 274 tiny settlements. Fred Chaney has sent an open letter to Mr Barnett, Senator Scullion and Tony Abbott warning that if governments simply "let things rip" by withdrawing services and driving people out of remote communities without careful preparation, the outcomes for indigenous Australians "will be shameful". [node:read-more:link]

Remote Australia is in the grip of a suicide epidemic that is taking the lives of children as young as eight years old, with Aboriginal towns in the Kimberley now suffering the highest rates of suicide in the world.As the West Australian port city of Geraldton buried 11-year-old Peter Little, who was found hanging from a tree in nearby bush by another child, indigenous leaders called for urgent action to address a growing crisis that will see as many as one in 12 Aboriginal deaths caused by suicide. [node:read-more:link]