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Attached is the position paper of the Central Australian Aboriginal Alliance, which Walter Shaw from Mt Nancy Town Camp delivered to Senators and MPs in Parliament House on 13 Feb 2008. This position is supported by the National Aboriginal Alliance.

Northern Territory Intervention Workshop (held at Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Canberra)
11/12 Feb 2008

Summary:

Based on the discussions by the people of the Central Australian Aboriginal Alliance, who are directly affected by the NT intervention, the workshop concluded that the intervention was unjustified, serves no real purpose and is apartheid in nature and design. It was also concluded that the intervention is racially discriminatory and in contravention of human rights charters and is contrary to the most recent UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The intervention is viewed as the second invasion through what is equivalent to martial law.

The Central Australian Aboriginal Alliance against the intervention condemns the Federal Government's approach, particularly when social welfare reforms and child protection are attached to compulsory land acquisition, an unprecedented power never witnessed before in Australia. The Central Australian Aboriginal Alliance concludes the following points:

Negatives:

* It establishes a racist and apartheid regime in the NT;

* It provides unjust and extreme police powers that are analogous to a dictatorial police state;

* It has created immense fear amongst the people, particularly with the arrival of the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Federal Police;

* It affects and hurts people in 72 remote communities;

* It is a weapon to put down the cultural maintenance and makes it extremely difficult for us to maintain our cultural practices. If permitted to continue in its present form it will destroy our cultural religious ties and practices;

* It opens our lands to unwanted intruders, who can and will have free access to our sacred lands and sites. Moreover, if we are trying to achieve alcohol bans and to provide for greater safety of our women and children, then opening the borders will place them at a greater risk;

* It provides for the establishment of a Federal Police task force, set up to place the communities under surveillance and provide intelligence on people's activities;

* It has caused immense uncertainty and confusion, which is widespread throughout the communities;

* It denies equality before the law;

* It is a lie for the government to argue that without compulsory land acquisition, social welfare reforms and child protection cannot be achieved.

* In compulsorily acquiring our lands, it provides for the freedom of the appointed administrators to approve mining exploration and mining of our mineral wealth without free prior and informed consent.

Positives:

* It has brought together Aboriginal minds to renew our fight as Aboriginal Peoples, who are now more determined to fight for the rights that are ours.

* It highlights and identifies the neglect and poor and inadequate services within our communities with respect to education, health, housing and lack of, and in some cases non-existence, of essential infrastructure.

The Central Australian Aboriginal Alliance, in conjunction with the National Aboriginal Alliance, refuses to accept any racial discrimination by the government of Australia and the Northern Territory administration against Aboriginal Peoples.

In rejecting racial discrimination in any form, we demand, immediately and unreservedly:

* the restoration of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 in its entirety and without prejudice, so that it can apply to all acts within the Commonwealth of Australia;

* Racial discrimination in Australian legislation will not be tolerated. In saying this, the Federal government of Australia must provide a guarantee for future protections against racial discrimination, including the means by which remedies can be found;

* The immediate end to the Northern Territory intervention/invasion and we call upon the Federal government and NT administration to enter into transparent negotiation with the Aboriginal nations to develop and implement appropriate infrastructure, equal to that of all other citizens of Australia, and development programs that will give rise to the well-being of the Peoples and provide for the safety of our families and secure our communities.