Gross Abuse

June 2016 marked 35 years since the death of Eddie Murray in police custody. Eddie’s passing still causes reverberations today – it was in part the efforts of his father, Arthur Murray, which led to the establishment of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. EMMA PURDY* reports.

Five men from Alice Springs have used bankruptcy declarations to evade a court order to pay $180,000 compensation to a grieving indigenous mother of Trainee Ranger Kwementyaye Ryder over the death of her son when young white males went on a drinking binge. Brian Martin, the Commissioner of the Royal Commission in The NT Detention. Previously the Commissioner of the Royal Commission in The NT Detention of children in 2016, Brian Martin, was the Supreme Court Chief Justice of the Northern Territory and the judge in this case where he called a savage murder of an Aboriginal man, 'Manslaughter by negligence' when sentencing 5 white boys. [node:read-more:link]

Clean water can help to break the link between poor hygiene and eye diseases such as trachoma.
(Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association [CAAMA])

Nina Lansbury Hall, Cindy Shannon, Paul Jagals 11 July 2016 [node:read-more:link]

The Aboriginal Pilbara Strike.

At the meeting of tribal leaders Winyirin Bin Bin was nominated, in his absence, to work with a non-Aboriginal social reformer, Don McLeod, as a representative of the inland’s Aborigines.

'Dooley' and his kinsman Clancy McKenna sought a minimum wage of thirty shillings per week for Aboriginal station-hands and planned a mass withdrawal of labour if the request were refused. [node:read-more:link]

Chain gangs and slave labour in Australia" width="690" height="300" border="0">
Notice the tin mug placed in strategic places on the tin wall behind the prisoners - if one wanted a drink or go to the toilet the whole gang would have to go with them. In some cases, people were chained next to a member of a tribal group that is culturally inappropriate to even to speak to, never-loan the different customs and language barriers. It's no wonder they had difficulty fitting into their own family group when they were 'lucky' enough to return to their home. [node:read-more:link]

We all know there are huge problems with alcohol and drugs within some communities, those issues are Australia wide and in all races not just First Nation peoples. Governments cuts is already putting the squeeze on services, especially everyone trapped in the welfare system ... So let's look at the effect on someone on 'Abstudy' Payments. For a student living at home under the age of 18 claiming base rate 'Abstudy', their cash payment portion would only be $47.40, then 18-21 cash would be $57.22 and over, would be $104.60 per fortnight in cash payments. The rest must be stuck on the card .... [node:read-more:link]