Tuesday 9 December 2008

Fed welfare plan discrimitary: NT council


Going in with the big stick approach rather than actually actively trying to engage parents in the whole adventure of schooling: NT council of gov schools

The Federal Government plan to link school attendance to welfare payments is discriminatory, according to a peak Northern Territory education group.

Legislation passed by Federal Parliament will see some parents lose Centrelink payments for 13 weeks, if their children miss too much school.

The plan will be trialed in eight regions next year, including six Aboriginal communities in the Territory.

Michael Duffy from the N-T Council of Government Schools has said punishing parents isn't the way to go.

"They haven't discussed it with anybody, they haven't gone out and talked about how do you come to grips with this attendance business, what's school about?

"We have to set in place a process of education and we've actually got to be patient.

"The fundamental difficulty is that it's going in with the big stick approach rather than actually actively trying to engage parents in the whole adventure of schooling."

Related:

Pat Dodson delivers peace prize lecture
Patrick Dodson...Important for indigenous people to play a role in determining solutions for their problems "and be resourced to do so".

Lawyer prepares UN case against intervention
An Indigenous leader from central Australia has asked a human rights lawyer to take a case against the federal intervention to the United Nations.

Aboriginal welfare quarantine 'like apartheid'
An Aboriginal health lobby group is asking the Federal Government to reconsider its decision to keep compulsory income management as a part of the Northern Territory intervention, against the advice of an independent review panel.

Damning report on Aboriginal scheme
THE radical intervention into remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory has "fractured" the relationship between governments and indigenous people and led to an even greater sense of betrayal and misery among many people, an independent panel has found.

NT intervention blamed for man's suicide
The family of a Northern Territory man who killed himself two months ago has blamed the federal intervention for his death.

Indigenous rights complaint lodged with UN
The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM) has now sent a formal complaint to the United Nations about treatment of Indigenous people.

NT intervention failing to curb abuse
The head of one of Australia's peak Aboriginal child protection agencies says the federal intervention has failed to achieve one of its key goals.

NT intervention increasing murders
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) is blaming the federal intervention for an increase in the number of murder cases it is defending in the Northern Territory.

Aborigines want end to NT intervention
Thousands of Aborigines are petitioning to have the Northern Territory intervention abandoned.

New NT laws: 'more Aboriginal people jailed'
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties says more Aboriginal people will go to jail under proposed mandatory sentencing laws in the Northern Territory.

Intervention delivering 'empty shipping containers, no houses'
A member of the Maningrida community in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land says he cannot see any infrastructure changes as a result of the emergency intervention, and wants to know where the money has been spent.

Abandon NT intervention: Commissioner
The Northern Territory's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald says the Federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities should be abandoned and the legislation underpinning it should be repealed.

Budget to roll out new welfare card
Welfare plan: The new card will be initially rolled out in NT Indigenous communities. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Rudd Government's proposed welfare debit card is not the best way to help struggling families.

Police cannot cope with backlash
Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, has warned the Federal Government that many indigenous people displaced by the emergency intervention are creating unrest and straining police capacity.

Discrimination Act should apply to intervention: Calma
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner wants the Racial Discrimination Act immediately reinstated in the Northern Territory's Indigenous communities.

Porn ban in Indigenous communities 'racist'
The Australian National Adult Retail Association (Eros) says the Federal Government's ban on X-rated pornography in Aboriginal communities is pointless, racist and should be revoked.

Retailers' warning on welfare card shop spies
EMPLOYEES across the country will be at risk of entrapment by government "spies", retailers have warned, under a Federal Government proposal to control fraudulent use of a new welfare debit card.

Aboriginal delegation heads to UN
The National Aboriginal Alliance is taking its concerns about the Northern Territory intervention to the United Nations

Indigenous welfare quarantine scheme gets go ahead
Parents in four Cape York Indigenous communities could soon have their welfare payments quarantined if they do not take care of their children and homes and do not stay out of trouble with the law.

No comments: