Around 250 demonstrators marched today from Redfern,
inner-Sydney’s Aboriginal heart, to the city’s town hall to protest against the
federal government’s intervention in Northern
Territory indigenous communities.
The marchers met at The Block in Redfern at 10.30am (AEST)
before making their way to Sydney’s
CBD where they were addressed by Aboriginal leaders.
The protesters were angry about the federal government’s
compulsory acquisition of remote indigenous communities and the abolition of
the permit system, which they consider a land grab.
The demonstrators waved banners bearing the message,
“Justice, where the bloody hell are ya?” and bellowed chants about land
rights as they held up traffic on the 30-minute march into the city.
Pat Turner, a member of the Combined Aboriginal
Organisations (CAO) and chief executive of the new National Indigenous
Television (NITV) service, told the crowd that a six-month emergency
intervention to tackle child abuse would be acceptable.
But it had to be done in partnership with local Aborigines
and be followed up with a fully-funded long-term strategy to provide services.
“We’ll show you how to do it properly,” she said.
“Leave the police at home, leave the soldiers at
home, and let the real workers come in.”
Ms Turner said Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory
had endured a long, hard struggle to win land rights in 1975 and were not about
to give them up.
“We will not say yes to removing the permit system
and we will never agree to the removal of inalienable freehold title,” she
said.
She called on Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd to
differentiate himself from the government’s position or risk losing the black
vote.
The Sydney protest is part
of a national day of action against the intervention being held in every
capital, as well as Alice Springs.
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