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Queen urges Australia to do more for Aborigines

14 March 2005 - (Reuters UK) - The Queen praised Australia for its international leadership on Tuesday, but urged the country to do more at home to alleviate poverty and to help disadvantaged Aborigines.

At a state dinner at Australia's Parliament House, the Queen said Australia had stepped forward as an international source of strength and leadership in the fight for democracy and against global terror.

The Queen, on her 15th visit to Australia to open the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on Wednesday, used her speech to touch on Australia's economic prosperity and the need to combat racism.

"By virtue of hard work and a competitive spirit, Australia is enjoying an era of unprecedented prosperity. Yet the need to ensure that this prosperity touches the lives of all Australians is as powerful as ever," she said.

Australia had thrived on diversity, she said, adding that Australia recognised the need for communities to transcend race, religion and culture, although more was need to help Aborigines.

"For many indigenous Australians, there remains much to be done. But I believe the unique contribution of indigenous Australia to the nation is better understood now than ever before," she said.

A report by charity group Oxfam, released on Sunday, said Australia lagged comparable developed nations such as Canada and New Zealand with the health of its indigenous people.

It found aborigines were likely to die 20 years younger than non-aboriginal Australians, with one in three indigenous men expected to die before the age of 55.

Australia's 458,500 Aborigines account for about 2.3 percent of the 20 million population. Many live in remote communities with little access to jobs, good housing, health and education services.

About 200 Aborigines have taken advantage of the Commonwealth Games to highlight their plight, erecting a big "Stolenwealth Games" sign at a protest camp in central Melbourne.

The camp is about 600 metres from Government House, where the Queen will stay after opening the Games on Wednesday night.

Camp organisers say the queen must tackle the issue of compensation for aboriginal people.

Source: Reuters (UK)

Aborigines threaten Queen Elizabeth with writ

15 March 2005 - Daily Express (Malaysia) MELBOURNE: Australian Aborigines have threatened to serve a writ on Queen Elizabeth II accusing her of genocide if the monarch fails to launch treaty negotiations while in Melbourne to open the Commonwealth Games.

Indigenous protestors have set up a campsite in a central Melbourne park just a few hundred metres (yards) away from Government House, where the Queen will be lodging w'hile in Australia's second city to open the sporting extravaganza. They want the Queen to sign a treaty acknowledging the injustices perpetrated on Aborigines since Britain's "invasion" of Australia in 1788.

Aboriginal elder Robbie Thorpe said the group of about 100 protesters had kindled a sacred flame in their site, dubbed "Camp Sovereignty", around which the treaty negotiations would take place.

Thorpe said if the Queen did not accept the invitation then the group, which is staging a mock event called the "Stolenwealth Games" would attempt to serve a writ accusing her of involvement in genocide and launching legal action under international law.

"The attempted and actual genocide of Aboriginal people in Australia has not extinguished our sovereign rights in our own country," Thorpe told AFP.

"We've had a lot of injustices perpetrated on us but we're a forgiving people and we want to settle this through negotiation, not legal action-we've got no desire to see the Queen in the international courts alongside Saddam Hussein.

"The way to settle this is around that," he said, pointing to the sacred fire. "We want to invite the Queen around for a sit down, a talk and a cup of tea-this is a time for healing and we want to start the process."

Australia's 400,000 Aborigines account for two percent of the country's 20 million-strong population, with indigenous populations facing high unemployment, low education levels and a life expectancy about 20 years lower than those of mainstream Australians. - AFP

A study released by Oxfam Australia this week found the health of Aboriginal Australians was well behind that of indigenous people in other developed Commonwealth nations. The report said Aborigines' living standards were closer those experienced in poor nations such as Bangladesh and Zambia, than those recorded in comparable populations such as New Zealand's Maori and Canada's indigenes.

"While most Australians are living longer than ever before, one in every three indigenous Australian males can expect to die before they reach the age of 55," it found. Camp Sovereignty spokeswoman Rayna Fahey said the Commonwealth Games were a useful way to highlight the plight of Aborigines.

"The response from the public has been terrific," she told AFP. "Everyone's been very supportive and we've had a lot of international interest-people find it hard to believe that the situation in Australia is still this bad."

Authorities in Victoria state have passed special legislation banning camping in the city centre for the duration of the Games in a move activists say is aimed at stopping the Aboriginal protest.

However, police have so far taken no action against the camp, with Fahey saying officers participated in an indigenous welcoming ceremony on Sunday and they were expected to maintain their low-key attitude.

The protest group plans to hold a march through central Melbourne on Wednesday, the day the Queen opens the Games at a lavish ceremony in the renovated Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). - AFP

Source: Daily Express (Malaysia)

related links:

• Without Cathy Freeman, Aborigines aren't in the race
  14 March 2006 -MELBOURNE this week hosts the largest sporting event held in Australia since the 2000 Olympics. The country will be on show again and Aboriginal people again will be visible: some are competing, others are involved in associated arts and business events, many are taking to the street in protest.
• Tradition wrapped up in cloaks of possum
  13 March 2006 - The skill of making possum-skin cloaks disappeared from Victoria about 150 years ago, leaving behind only a few specimens in museums around the world. That all changed seven years ago when three women on a printmaking course were shown the Aboriginal collection at the Melbourne Museum, which has two cloaks from the 19th century.
• Queen won't acknowledge Melbourne's traditional owners
  13 March 2006 - Buckingham Palace says the Queen will not be officially acknowledging the traditional owners of Melbourne when she opens the Commonwealth Games later this week.
• Flames of anger at 'Stolenwealth Games'
  14 March 2006 - New Zealand Herald (NZ) - Smoke from the sacred fire where the Rainbow Serpent lives drifts across Melbourne's Kings Domain as fire-keeper Robert Corowa welcomes visitors to Camp Sovereignty, the centre for two weeks of protest against the "Stolenwealth Games".
• Camp Site Established
  13 March 2006 - The Stolenwealth Games Convergence in support of the Black GST established camp today in Kings Domain, Melbourne.
• Aboriginal protesters converge for Games
  12 March 2006 - Hundreds of Aborigines are converging on Melbourne in a bid to embarrass the federal and Victorian governments over their indigenous policies as the international spotlight focuses on the Commonwealth Games.
• Oxfam says indigenous Australian health a scandal
  12 March 2006 Australia is lagging behind comparable developed Commonwealth nations such as Canada and New Zealand in the health of its indigenous people, a report by charity group Oxfam said on Sunday
• Australian's for Native Title and Reconciliation (Victoria)
• Stolenwealth Games
• Black GST

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