IMAGINE that the government instructs your employer to withhold four-fifths of your pay, over and above the normal tax deducted, ordering the money be forwarded to a government-administered account.

You query this but are told what the government is doing is lawful and that your money is to be spent in ways that will further your welfare.

Where you live, schools are run down and the public health and housing services are low-grade and deteriorating.

But despite all the money you and others are handing over, no improvements are made to your services and infrastructure.

It transpires the money is being spent on projects, some public infrastructure, some not, thousands of kilometres away.

Years pass before the government suddenly stops taking your money. It says it got things wrong. It says sorry.

However, it refuses to pay back to you what was taken or even give you back your portion of what's left in the so-called welfare fund.

Instead today's Government offers you a tiny amount in 'reparation'
and announces the leftover money is to go into an education scholarship
fund that, if your child is one of the lucky few, may assist you to
send your child hundreds of kilometres away to school.

You try to take legal action to recover your money, but the Government says, whoops, its records are incomplete, missing, washed away in floods, burned or eaten by the cat and so you can't prove that it really did take your money, or as much as you say it took. So, how would you feel if all this happened to you? It's a reasonable question, because this is no hypothetical.

It happened to indigenous people in this state and it's an ongoing scandal.

Ongoing because just this week the old Aborigines Welfare Fund worth $10.8 million was absorbed into a new Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education foundation, which the Government says will supply about 100 scholarships a year worth $20,000 each to young Aboriginal people.

The old fund was established in 1943 and was operational until 1993 when the Goss government froze it. Into it, over the years, went withheld wages belonging to Aborigines and the fruits of additional special levies imposed on them. In fact, Aborigines' wages, Commonwealth entitlements such as child endowment and savings were controlled from 1897 to 1984.

Historian Dr Ros Kidd estimates between $200 million and $500 million was stolen.

Kidd has said her research of Cabinet documents revealed a history of misuse of the money, including fraud prosecutions of government representatives who administered it.

Native Affairs Department budgets were frequently topped up with money from the fund and, during the Depression, the government took more than $5 million to cover consolidated revenue deficits.

By the time the welfare fund was frozen, all that remained was about $5 million. Since then it has accumulated another $5.8 million in interest.

Calls for an inquiry and audit have been ignored by successive governments.

Also to be absorbed into the foundation will be about $15 million left over from the $55.4 million stolen wages reparations fund set up by the Beattie government in 2002.

Under this scheme, people could apply for $2000 or $4000 capped payments, depending on their age – payments that were a far cry from the thousands taken from individuals.

It was estimated that up to 20,000 people whose wages were controlled could apply.

But before last March, only about 5500 people had received payments, leaving more than $20 million left over.

The Stolen Wages Working Group – which consulted with claimants around the state – told the Bligh Government the majority wanted the balance of the money paid out in top-up payments.

This was also ignored, the Government ruling in March it would offer
top-up payments of $1500 and $3000, with the balance along with the
welfare fund moneys, to go into the scholarship foundation.

Premier Anna Bligh justified this by saying it struck the correct balance between righting past wrongs and providing for future generations.

She is mistaken. In no way can she claim that the wrongs of the past
have been righted by giving people a maximum of $7000 compensation for
up to a lifetime's labour. The 'wrong' stolen wages policies condemned
Aboriginal workers and their families to lives of poverty.

Bligh also said: 'I want this fund to create a long and lasting legacy out of some very painful things in the past, to create a bright future for those children who currently have a very bleak future in front of them.'

Several things need to be said about this. If the children in remote
indigenous communities face a bleak educational future, then this is
attributable in large part to the failure of successive governments –
most recently Bligh's – to provide quality schooling and services
equivalent to a standard enjoyed by the rest of the population. It is
incumbent on the Government to properly fund a decent public education
system for indigenous children – an equitable system that will benefit
all indigenous youngsters, not just the cherry-picked few.

Margaret Wenham is a senior Courier-Mail journalist.

At the moment the government's Expenditure Review Committee, which
is made up of seven MPs, is planning the federal 2009-10 budget.

We rarely hear anything about this Committee, who's on it, or what
they're doing and yet their role is so important. So we've called them
the Secret 7.

The Secret 7 must prioritise Aboriginal health in next year's
budget. The government has committed to closing the appalling 17 year
life expectancy gap, and the only way of doing that is by allocating
$150 million of new funding for Aboriginal health care in the 2009-2010
budget.

The Secret 7 are making their decisions right now. YOU can influence them: find out how!

Tomorrow please buy a book (yes, any book!).

Wednesday is Indigenous Literacy Day and a percentage of all profits taken at most bookstores will be donated to the Indigenous Literacy Project, which purchases and supplies books to remote Indigenous communities.

* Here's a list of participating bookstores across Australia

* Find out more


Hat tip: Anita Heiss (http://www.myspace.com/tokenkoori)

Last week was Blog Against Racism week. If you didn't know, didn't have time, or didn't think of something to say, it's not too late. Every day is a good day to blog against racism. You never know ... one person who reads your post may change their assumptions.

I promised to give you some posts of MySpace bloggers who have blogged against racism. So here's the best:

* Allie wrote a poem

* Shaun wrote the lyrics to a song

* Alex wrote a post called "Shame on racism"

We also had another friend tell us about an article he helped write recently, "The Resilience of Indigenous Australians to Climate Change"

And I also wrote a blog post on my personal blog

Blogging Against Racism is an international day. Have a read of some of the inspiring posts that have been bookmarked from around the world.

KEEP BLOGGING AGAINST RACISM!

Did you know it's Blog Against Racism week?

Let your friends know that RACISM IS NOT OK by writing a MySpace blog post this week. Here's some ideas:

* A few months ago ANTaR launched our "Racism Makes Me Sick" campaign, which included tips on speaking up against racism: http://www.antar.org.au/content/blogcategory/112/327/. Write a post about your experience in speaking up against racism (has the ANTaR resource helped?).

* Anita Heiss recently wrote a blog post about her attendance at NAIDOC in NY: http://www.antar.org.au/blog/naidoc-in-new-york/. How did you spend NAIDOC week?

* ActNow member, Kaitlin, reflects on her experience in the Tiwi Islands: http://www.actnow.com.au/Opinion/The_road_to_understanding.aspx. If you have a personal experience, share them on your blog! Personal stories have a huge impact on people.

* It will be the International Day of the World's Indigenous people on 9 August (Saturday): http://www.un.org/events/indigenous/2007/keyfacts.shtml. Unfortunately there's not much information around about this (even the UN website has information that's almost a year out of date).


LET US KNOW if you write a blog post for Blog Against Racism week and we'll link to you :)


Background info on Blog Against Racism week: http://community.livejournal.com/ibarw/3988.html

by Gary Highland, ANTaR's National Director

In April I was surprised (and very humbled) to be one of 1000 Australians selected to participate in the Prime Minister's 2020 Summit. In the lead up to the Summit we were all asked to come up with an idea that would help tackle the long term challenges facing the nation.

One of my ideas was an Aboriginal Healing Foundation that would help overcome the intergenerational trauma caused by forced child removal.

Fortunately, a number of other people had the same idea and the Healing Foundation survived the various editing processes of the Summit to remain in the final report.

With a Senate Committee also recently urging its introduction, the Healing Foundation now appears to be firmly on the government agenda.

However, while many people now seem to be calling for a Healing Foundation, there is less agreement on precisely what this will do. Some have even suggested fund dental and primary health care services. For an example, see the extract from a recent ABC Radio PM program below:

SENATOR TRISH CROSSIN: The National Indigenous Healing Fund would concentrate solely on the needs of members of the Stolen Generations, and it doesn't necessarily mean monetary compensation.

In fact, it could mean quite a range of other services that are provide to the Stolen Generation that will assist and support them as they get older and progress through years when they most need reliance on services governments can provide.

BARBARA MILLER: The Committee suggests family and housing services, medical, dental and funeral costs could be covered by the fund.

When I spoke in favour of a Healing Foundation at the 2020 Summit, I wasn't suggesting that this provide the kinds of services that citizens should already be entitled to receive from government. Instead, the Healing Foundation should concentrate on programs to overcome the intergenerational trauma caused by forced child removal. These programs would encompass both therapeutic change and cultural renewal. They would be targeted to Stolen Generations survivors as well as other Aboriginal people negatively affected by the practice like children and other family members of survivors.

In public policy terms, what is needed is:

Treatment: Culturally appropriate, preferably Indigenous led therapeutic change programs; ongoing group and individual counseling; targeted programs in prisons aimed at psychological healing and reducing recidivism; programs to facilitate cultural renewal and strengthen cultural identity.

Training and capacity building: Training specialist Aboriginal psychological trauma and healing professionals; Training health workers, teachers social workers and others in how to recognize intergenerational trauma and treat it in a culturally appropriate way; Mental health "first aid" for community members in areas like suicide prevention and how to support people seeking to overcome addictions; alcohol and substance abuse rehabilitation for Aboriginal mental health workers in need of it; debriefing and support for workers dealing with traumatized communities.

Research and public education: To identify, promote and evaluate best practice in Indigenous trauma and healing; to foster a greater understanding in the broader community of the issues confronting the Stolen Generations.

Redefining Social Norms: Support for communities and families seeking to discuss and reintroduce culturally appropriate social norms; Assistance for leaders to reassert appropriate social norms.

Much of this material comes from the work of Gregory Phillips, who summarises what healing should mean in this context:

"… at its heart healing is about restoring balance where wrong has been done – a spiritual process that includes therapeutic change and cultural renewal. It is about protection and care for the victims of violence and abuse, as well as the development of correctional services for perpetrators that are based on healing and change, not stigmatization and shame."

From Greg's comments, it's clear that healing in this context is essential, not just for the Stolen Generations (whose needs are in many respects the greatest), but also for many other Aboriginal communities who suffer from trauma, violence and abuse. (For more info Greg's chapter in the book Coercive Reconciliation, Arena 2007 is really useful).

There are no guarantees that the Government will proceed with the Healing Foundation, or that it would remain in the form that was proposed at the 2020 Summit. But there are few initiatives that could make more of a real, positive and lasting difference to the lives of Aboriginal people.

Gary Highland is the National Director at ANTaR. Gary is a non-Indigenous contributor who posts information about ANTaR's activities and opinion. Photo credit: James Robertson.

Indigenous rights organisation, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), is one of three winners of the $10,000 MySpace Impact award.

Users on the social networking website MySpace voted for the winners from among the top ten nominees.

ANTaR's Online Campaign Coordinator, Priscilla Brice-Weller, puts ANTaR's success down to the relationships they have been building with people on online social networking websites.

"If it hadn't been for the relationships that we have been building over the past year and a half on MySpace, we would not have received as many votes. People voted for ANTaR because they have been in contact with us on MySpace for quite a while. They know who ANTaR is and what we're about," Ms Brice-Weller said.

"Our MySpace friends are real people and we talk to them like real people instead of just giving them organisational propaganda."

Ms Brice-Weller said that MySpace helped achieve ANTaR's unique objectives.

"We're different to many social change organisations in that we're an activist movement committed to reconciliation. This means that while we're critical where we need to be, we also reflect on different points of view and try to bring opposing people together," she said.

"MySpace allows for this activism and diversity of opinion. As long as you're committed to Indigenous rights and opposed to racism you're welcome as our MySpace friend."

ANTaR started its MySpace page, myspace.com/ant4r, to make contact with people who were interested in Indigenous rights but didn't know what they could do to help.

"ANTaR wanted to reach out to people who were interested in the rights of Australia's Indigenous people but had not previously been involved in working to help solve the problems. We've given MySpace users a way to get more involved."

"We've used timely status updates, bulletins and blogposts to give people relevant things they can do to make a difference. For example, in the lead up to the apology we encouraged all Australian MySpace users to change their status to 'is sorry' as a way of demonstrating their support for the Stolen Generations," Ms Brice-Weller said.

The MySpace Impact awards seek to acknowledge organisations and individuals who use MySpace effectively to make a positive impact on the world. The three awards of $10,000 each were provided by Microsoft. The Oaktree Foundation and Australian Teens Against Animal Cruelty were the other two winners.

For information about the awards, visit myspace.com/impactawardsau.

Media contact: Gary Highland on 0418 476 940.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7g6Cqp2UiLQ

Great video by Reconciliation Australia of the day Kevin Rudd apologised to the Stolen Generations.

The recommendations of the Senate Inquiry report into compensation for the Stolen Generations tabled yesterday, fall short of what is needed to deliver justice to Australia's most disadvantaged people.

The Committee's decision not to recommend compensation to the Stolen Generations flew in the face of evidence presented to the inquiry by the National Sorry Day Committee, Stolen Generations Alliance, ANTaR, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and leading QC, Julian Burnside.

Across a range of social indicators, Aboriginal people forcibly removed from their parents remain the most disadvantaged Australians. Stolen Generations members are more likely to have a disability or long term health problems, less likely to have completed year 10 and have a greater chance of being a victim of violence than other Aboriginal people.

The lack of a compensation scheme will only add to the suffering of these people by forcing them to pursue lengthy and traumatic court proceedings to seek justice.

However, we support other recommendations of the Committee including the establishment of an Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the provision of additional close the gap measures to meet the specific needs of the Stolen Generations. The Healing Foundation should be established in addition to, rather than instead of, compensation for the Stolen Generations.

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's decision to pull out of the bipartisan commission to improve housing in Aboriginal communities flies in the face of undertakings he gave in parliament during his apology to the Stolen Generations.

During his apology speech in Parliament on the 13th of February, Dr Nelson gave his "unconditional" support for the Prime Minister's proposal.

Dr Nelson said, "I ... offer on behalf of the opposition my unconditional support to participate in the commission for policy which he proposes. This is far, far more important than any of the things that would normally divide us as a nation in philosophy and politics."

ANTaR National Director, Gary Highland said he felt "gutted" that Dr Nelson has gone back on his commitment to the Parliament and Aboriginal people only three months after making it.

"In order for it to work, membership of the commission has to be acceptable to both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition. Dr Nelson is playing politics by now seeking to place unreasonable conditions over one individual's involvement in the commission," Mr Highland said.

Mr Highland said there were sound reasons why former Minister, Mal Brough should not serve on the commission.

"There's no doubt that Mr Brough maintains a genuine commitment to overcoming Aboriginal disadvantage, boosting economic development in Aboriginal communities and overcoming violence and abuse. He has potentially much to contribute in these areas."

"However, during his time as Minister, Mal Brough failed to act in a bipartisan way and alienated many Aboriginal people by his heavy handed tactics. He's therefore unsuitable for a bipartisan commission of this kind," Mr Highland said.

Mr Highland urged Dr Nelson to stand by his original commitment to the Parliament.

"The desperate need for housing in Aboriginal Australia is far more important than any individual - Dr Nelson, Mr Brough - or for that matter even the Prime Minister."

"We desperately need to establish a long-term, bipartisan commitment to solve one of this nation's greatest challenges – ensuring first world standards of housing for the first Australians."

"It is extremely disappointing that this is now threatened by Dr Nelson's inability to stand by the commitment he made in the Parliament to the Australian people," Mr Highland said.

Media contact: Gary Highland on 0418 476 940