Barb Shaw, a well-known Aboriginal activist from Alice Springs鈥 town camps who has campaigned tirelessly against the Northern Territory intervention, doubled the Greens鈥 vote in the huge NT seat of Lingiari. The result damages the government鈥檚 claim that Aboriginal people support the intervention.
The intervention imposes a series of discriminatory measures against Aboriginal people in remote communities. It was launched by the Howard Coalition government in August 2007 and has been extended under Labor.
Peter Robson
On August 13, nine leading British medical experts wrote an open letter to the Times calling for an inquiry into the alleged suicide of whistleblower Dr David Kelly in July 2003.
The 59-year-old scientist, the world鈥檚 leading expert in biological and chemical weapons, died shortly after being exposed as the source of a leak to the BBC suggesting that the British government had deliberately 鈥渟exed up鈥 military intelligence about Iraq鈥檚 alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Amnesty International has launched a campaign to revoke the Northern Territory intervention that discriminates against Indigenous communities, as the Australian government tries to justify its continuation to the United Nations (UN).
On August 5, Amnesty said: 鈥淥ver three years, the Northern Territory Emergency Response has taken away many rights from Aboriginal communities.鈥
It urged people to email the leaders of Australia鈥檚 major political parties to 鈥渄emand that, regardless of the election outcome, the Australian Government must respect the rights of Indigenous people鈥.
More 150 people turned out in Darwin on August 3 for the launch of the Australian Greens Northern Territory Senate campaign.
The Greens are running two Aboriginal candidates: country music performer and Arrente man Warren H. Williams and Aboriginal rights activist Barbara Shaw
A big part of their campaign is opposition to the NT intervention, launched in 2007 in response to allegations of child abuse and neglect in remote Aboriginal communities.
On July 22, Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Soubhi Iskander condemned the Australia First Party's leaflets attacking immigrants from Africa. The leaflets were letterboxed in the western Sydney suburb of Seven Hills.
Iskander is a refugee from Sudan and lives in Seven Hills.
鈥淭his is a call to incite racist violence against communities of colour", Iskander said.
鈥淏laming Africans for the social problems in Sydney's west that are the result of a lack of employment, affordable housing and public transportation is wrong.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard鈥檚 high-handed attempts to impose a 鈥渞egional asylum seeker processing centre鈥 on East Timor have angered Timorese politicians and activists.
Despite Gillard鈥檚 talk about finding a regional solution to a regional problem, the 鈥減roblem鈥 of 鈥渦nauthorised boat arrivals鈥 in Australia is one of perception.
The Liberal-National opposition and the Murdoch tabloids have devoted considerable energy to creating anxiety in 91自拍论坛 of the Australian community about the country being swamped by 鈥渂oat people鈥.
The Northern Territory intervention has reached its third year and, despite several government commissioned reports and outside expert analysis claiming that it has failed to achieve its aims, aspects of it look likely to be extended to other parts of the country.
On June 21, the Senate voted to extend one of the aspects of the intervention, welfare quarantining, to more people in the NT and allow the government the option to extend it to other parts of Australia after a year.
The Canterbury Bankstown Peace Group, with the Justice for Aafia Coalition, is calling for the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. The Pakistani doctor was found guilty on February 3 of shooting US soldiers in July 2008, while in Afghan police custody.
Siddiqui was accused of being an Al Qaeda agent and has allegedly spent time in secret prisons in Pakistan and in the US prison in Guantanamo Bay. Despite this, she has not been charged with any terrorist offences but only with firearms offences allegedly committed during her capture.
Hundreds of Aboriginal workers in the Northern Territory are demanding real wages for construction work that they are compelled to do under 鈥淲ork for the dole鈥 schemes.
Eighty rallied on June 2 outside state parliament house in Darwin to demand jobs with justice.
Elders from Kalkaringi community say people in their community are being forced to work for up to 30 hours a week on construction sites or they will have their Centrelink payments cut.
More than 200 people rallied to call for an end to the Northern Territory intervention at Sydney Town Hall on May 28. Monica Morgan, from Amnesty International, told the crowd the intervention was forcing Aboriginal people off their lands and taking away their culture.
Morgan said this was the outcome of an ongoing process of assimilation that began in Sydney in 1788 and spread across the country. She said ongoing solidarity was necessary for Aboriginal people to survive as a culture.
On May 18, the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) announced it would take over primary responsibility for investigating all deaths in police custody in the state.
This followed the recommendation made by deputy chief magistrate Brian Hine when he delivered his findings on May 14 to the third coronial inquest into the 2004 death of Aboriginal man Mulrunji Doomadgee in the Palm Island watch house.
On November 19, 2004, Mulrunji was walking home when sergeant Chris Hurley, driving by in his police vehicle, arrested him on a drunk and disorderly charge.
Indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin has dismissed the findings of a Menzies School of Health Research report that found 鈥渋ncome management鈥 has failed to improve the health and wellbeing of the people it targets.
Income management was implemented by the then Coalition government in August 2007 on 73 targeted remote Aboriginal communities as part of the Northern Territory intervention.
Under the scheme, 50% of welfare recipients鈥 income is replaced with a Basics Card, which can be used to only buy food, clothing and medical supplies, and only in certain stores.
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