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Media releases
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
If they're misinformed - tell them!
Member for Lingiari and Shadow Parliamentary
Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs Warren Snowdon
said today the Federal Government had failed to include Aboriginal people
in its plans for running remote Territory communities.
Mr Snowdon said that it could now no longer avoid telling them what it was
proposing to do.
‘Regardless of the merits or otherwise of the government’s proposals, the
people affected by them have a basic and fundamental right to know,’ he
said.
‘People from across the Territory are saying that they need to know what’s
happening and they need a real sense of ownership in dealing with the
problems of abuse.
‘But they’re fearful because they don’t know what this means for them and
no-one’s telling them anything.
‘It’s not surprising that there’s even talk of people leaving their
communities before the Government moves in.
‘I urge the Federal Government to drop the heavy-handed top-down approach
and start negotiating their way through this with the people.
‘Having decided on this course of action, the Government now has an
absolute obligation to make certain that the people it’s supposed to be
happening for are fully informed and understand what’s going on.
‘It’s clear the Government hasn’t thought through the details on this and
it’s equally clear that people in remote communities are now operating in
a vacuum, in which they’re very concerned about potential impacts on
themselves and their families.
‘As Mick Dodson and Tom Calma have already pointed out, there’s no
sustainable solution without involving the people of the communities.
‘If the Minister thinks people in these remote communities are
misinformed, then it’s his job to make sure they know exactly what’s going
on,’ Mr Snowdon said.
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