National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission (NATSIEC) chief, Graeme Mundine, has called for the Rudd Government to "rollback and rethink" the Northern Territory intervention.
Mr Mundine told the Federal Government "the honeymoon is now over" and demanded action in two key policy areas affecting indigenous rights, The Catholic Leader reports.
He also called on the Federal Government to "unequivocally declare its support for the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People."
The NATSIEC head's comments followed the September 30 gathering of several hundred people in Alice Springs to demand the rollback of the Northern Territory intervention.
The Alice Springs meeting was held to coincide with the deadline set for the final report from the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) Review Board to the Federal Government.
The board was set up in June to evaluate the impact of the intervention on individuals and communities.
Mr Mundine said it was "heartbreaking to hear people say at the gathering that they have been discarded by Government yet again and that gains won through many hard fought battles over the years have been undermined or removed."
Mr Mundine said speakers described the intervention's many detrimental effects on daily life.
Chief among these was the "humiliation to indigenous people caused by the income management system."
Mr Mundine also questioned the Rudd Government's delay in "unequivocally declaring its support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People."
The UN declaration was passed in the United Nations General Assembly on September 13 last year with an overwhelming majority of 143 votes in favour.
Australia, under the then Howard Government, cast one of only four negative votes against the declaration (along with Canada, New Zealand and the United States). There were 11 abstentions.
SOURCE
NATSIEC urges rethink on NT intervention (Catholic Leader, 12/10/08)
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