Forwarded from Christine Howes: MEDIA RELEASE MEDIA RELEASE ATSIC outrage at National Party MP arrogance! NSW ATSIC Western Zone commissioner Steve Gordon and Regional Councils are outraged at the continuing negative comments made by National Party MP Russell Turner, on relocating Aboriginal communities and that Aboriginal people are not Australian. "Not only are Turner's continued attacks offensive and irresponsible they are incorrect and discriminatory. What is he trying to say, telling Aboriginal people to 'become Australian' 'to become part of this country' and 'contribute to this country?'. Who defines what an Australian is and weren't Aboriginal people the first Australians? Commissioner Gordon said. "Aboriginal people are the only people to work for the dole and have been doing so for over twenty years. Who is he to question our contribution to this country? Turner seems to be unwilling to accept the fact that this country was built on the backs of Aboriginal and Islander unpaid labour and without our contribution this country would never have been founded. "Then he has furthered the assault by trying to claim at that Aboriginal leaders are out of touch with their communities. This is truly astounding. The fact is, Turner is the 'so called' leader who is obviously out of touch and has no idea what's going on in his own electorate let alone those electorates from which he has no mandate but want's to relocate people! "The ATSIC Murdi Paaki Regional Council has developed and implemented a strategy of Community Working Parties (CWP). These CWP's are planning and delivering housing and infrastructure projects with aligned training and employment. The development and implementation of this strategy has been the key reason that the Murdi Paaki Region has recently received an allocation of $11 million from the DAA's Aboriginal Communities Development Program. At Wilcannia the CWP has also been contracted by the State Government to plan and implement the redevelopment of the Wilcannia Hospital. During this project and other housing and infrastructure projects some 18 local Indigenous people will receive formal training in the fields of carpentry and bricklaying. There is also a Coordinated Health Care Project scheme operating that will improve the delivery of health services to all the Wilcannia community. These are just three examples of what's going in his and other communities" said Commissioner Gordon. "Turner's claim that there are too many Aboriginal leaders on $100,000 is again untrue. There are only three ATSIC elected representatives in NSW that receive any where near $100,000 and they certainly don't get super entitlements of he and his colleagues. Turner shouldn't throw stones at glass houses. "Even his own Party leaders have this afternoon totally repudiated his statements, Turner should publicly apologise for these outrageous and malicious attacks said Commissioner Steve Gordon. -- ********************************* Make the Hunger Site your homepage! http://www.thehungersite.com/index.html ********************************* ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
