Saturday 11 February 2012

2012:Constitution, Culture, Language, Survival

Congress Mob at the 40th anniversary of the Tent Embassy in Canberra: Masepah Banu, Rod Little, Les Malezer, Dennis Eggington, Brian Butler.

Congress hit the ground running in January promoting the Expert Panel's final report into Constitutional change, holding our first Peoples Forum and Survival Day celebrations right around the country where hundreds of new members joined the Congress Mob.

January also saw major submissions on

• the National Cultural Policy
• the Inquiry into Language Learning in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities
• new legislation to continue the Northern Territory intervention.

Territory laws must comply with human rights obligations

Congress’s submission to the Stronger Futures Bills Senate Inquiry says the bills must be withdrawn and reintroduced so they will be subject to the same human rights scrutiny as other bills. The bills were originally tabled before the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act passed late last year and must be debated subject to those conditions.

Read the media release here and Congress's submission here.

Congress Meets Federal Opposition

Oppsosition leader Tony Abbott, Congress Co-Chairs, Senator Nigel Scullion, WA MP Ken Wyatt

Congress strongly advocated priority issues this week in Canberra including Constitutional recognition and NT legislation through meetings and briefings including with the Opposition Leader Mr Abbott.

Co-Chairs Les Malezer and Jody Broun said the Congress National Board used its first meeting of 2012 to influence Parliamentarians on the imminent debate of Stronger Futures legislation and achieve a bipartisan response to Constitutional change.

The Board welcomed the opportunity to have positive, frank discussions with politicians and especially Mr Abbott.

Read the full statement here

Stronger Protection for our Languages

Congress called for stronger commitments to protect Australian heritage by preserving and maintaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. In our recent detailed submissions to the Government on cultural policy and to a Parliamentary Committee on languages we highlighted the dire state of protection and maintenance of our languages.

Click here to read the Congress media statement and our submission to the Inquiry Into Language Learning In Indigenous Communities. See media coverage here.

Congress Mob @ Brisbane and Perth

Congress Mob: Venessa Curnow, Elise Wall, Jody Broun, Tammy Solonec and Members old and new.

Jan 26th: Sovereignty on the Agenda

The first Congress Peoples Forum on sovereignty and self-determination was held in the lead up to the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Thanks to all our speakers, if you missed them you can see the webcast here.

Read our statement on the Tent Embassy events and media coverage here.

Congress Mob @ Sydney

New Members at Yabun Festival on Survival Day.

Congress says No to Lateral Violence

The Congress Board has committed to making a statement on lateral violence and will update Members soon.

Congress also welcomes that this issue has been highlighted by the Social Justice Commissioner.

Read the six-page summary of the reports here. The full versions of the 2011 Social Justice and Native Title reports are here.