SA teachers to strike today

Half-day strike in SA schools over pay.

Some South Australian public schools will be closed this morning as teachers rally for a pay increase from the State Government.

Teachers unanimously knocked back the Government's pay offer of a 12.5 per cent rise over three years, and are still demanding 21 per cent.

More than 400 schools and preschools will close until a 12.15pm, while nearly 360 will operate as normal.

Anne Crawford from the Education Union says teachers are insulted by the Government's offer.

"The wage rise they have offered is fundamentally less than the cost of living, less than the CPI and the Government has completely forgotten about school leaders, preschool directors, TAFE employees and non-teaching staff," she said.

The Union's state president, Correna Haythorpe, says teachers voted unanimously to strike for a bigger rise.

"We know that over 80 per cent of our members have voted in favour for the stop-work action and parents are advised to make contact with their local schools," she said.

Jan Andrews from the Education Department says parents should already know if their children will be affected by today's strike.

She says year 12 students will not be disadvantaged.

"Schools are prioritising the needs of those students and I'm told that the AEU has had some regard to that as well," she said.

"But the programs in schools that have been affected have been tailored around the year 12s so that their work won't be interrupted even if those children are working at home."

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.

It says the letter outlines breaches by both federal and state governments of the Convention for the Rights of Indigenous People.

ALRM executive Frank Lampard says funding for Aboriginal legal aid has been static for more than a decade, meaning it has fallen by about 40 per cent in real terms.

Mr Lampard says that is discrimination because mainstream legal aid has increased by 120 per cent in the same time.

Related:

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.

Black Australia's doing fine, says G-G
The Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson said the head of state's remarks were superficial and suggested that all that was needed was to "force these [remote] people out of their communal ways …

Forced to live in hunger
SUGAR, flour, milk powder and bread account for half the calories consumed by people in remote Aboriginal communities, a groundbreaking study reveals.

Indigenous incarceration under scrutiny
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make up almost 25 per cent of Australia's prison population, on the most recent figures. This is nearly double the rate identified as a concern by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody more than two decades ago.

Indigenous population hits 500,000
Population mark: An ANU expert says the Indigenous population is back to 1788 levels. New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics say Australia's Indigenous population has reached 500,000, or 2.5 per cent of the total population.

NT election turnout lowest in 20 yrs
The raw final figures from the Northern Territory election have revealed the lowest level of voter turnout in at least the past two decades.

Greens to amend Stolen Gen comp bill
The Australian Greens' spokeswoman for Indigenous issues says the party will be amending and re-introducing a Stolen Generations compensation bill to the Senate before the end of the year.

Aboriginal coalition gives Govt health petition
A coalition of human rights, health and Aboriginal groups has presented the Government with a set of targets it says are necessary to improve the life expectancy of Indigenous Australians.

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

Constitutional recognition for Arnhem Land
An Indigenous leader has asked Mr Rudd to recognise the rights of the people of Arnhem Land and has also called for full control of the land and waters.

Govt moves to take native title claims out of the courts
Lengthy court battles over native title claims could be done away with if the Commonwealth, state and territory governments have their way.

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.

NAIDOC week to focus on Indigenous inequalities
A series of events to mark the contribution of Australia's Indigenous people will be held across the country this week.

Income management extended for NT
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has announced income management will be extended for up to a year in four Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

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.

Stolen generation compensation ruled out
A FEDERAL parliamentary committee has recommended a "healing" fund be set up to help members of the stolen generations, but knocked back the suggestion of compensation payments.

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.

Racism to blame' for Aboriginal health problems
The Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR) group says racism is directly to blame for many health problems in the Aboriginal community.

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.

2020 Indigenous youth delegate calls for national body
An Indigenous youth representative at this weekend's 2020 summit says a new national Aboriginal body should be created to avoid some of the add-hoc policies surrounding the federal intervention.

Call for new indigenous body
Former ATSIC Commissioner Klynton Wanganeen says he will raise the idea of a new national body to represent indigenous communities at the 2020 Summit.

Roxon signs off on Indigenous health pledges
Indigenous Australians will have access to the same health services as the rest of the population by 2018, under a Federal Government plan.

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.

Union urges PM to act on Stolen Generations promise
The Australian Education Union (AEU) wants the Federal Government to follow Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations with a significant funding boost for Indigenous education in the Northern Territory.

Union calls for $2.9b to fund education shortfall
The Education Union is calling on the Federal Government to provide an extra $2.9 billion in funding for public schools

Govt, union defend remote community schooling
The Centre for Independent Studies says Aboriginal students in the Northern Territory are finishing school with the numeracy and literacy skills of five-year-olds.

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.

Union urges PM to act on Stolen Generations promise
The Australian Education Union (AEU) wants the Federal Government to follow Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations with a significant funding boost for Indigenous education in the Northern Territory.

Aboriginal inmates '22pc and rising' of prison population
The Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health says new research is urgently needed to address the worsening rate of Indigenous incarceration.

Dog patrol tensions at Ceduna

Related Story: Town enlists security dogs to tackle violence, drunkenness
The use of dog security patrols at Ceduna on South Australia's far west coast has been likened to gestapo tactics by the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM).

The council has introduced patrols to counter anti-social behaviour.

Mayor Allan Suter says it is not aimed at any racial group in particular.

ALRM chief executive Neil Gillespie will meet the council about his concerns.

"I think that it's targeted at Aboriginal people - to bring in the gestapo-type guard dogs again I repeat it's a racist action," he said.

Mr Suter says he wants an apology over the unfair comparison.

"I'd also like to point out dogs are used in city areas for similar purposes but people just like to sensationalise and try to make a racist issue out of it," he said.

"Well it isn't racist, it isn't targeting any particular group of people, it is targeting people who are committing offences."

Lawyer critical of media APY permit changes

An Indigenous lawyer criticises a plan to widen the permit system for the APY Lands

An Indigenous lawyer says a South Australian Government plan to give the media unhindered access to Aboriginal lands shows contempt for local people.

SA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jay Weatherill is proposing legislation to exempt journalists from a permit system on the APY Lands of SA's far north-west.

He says the Government was forced to cancel a trip to the Lands in recent days partly because media permits were not processed in time.

Neil Gillespie from the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement says local people should retain the right to decide who can visit their land.

"To me it smacks of contempt for Anangu and their wishes and it displays a huge amount of lack of respect for the owners of the land," he said.

"It displays the arrogance that this Government has exhibited over a long time against Aboriginal people.

"It's Aboriginal land. It's the same as you having your house, you invite who you want into your house and onto your land.

"What's the difference? It's just that it's a bigger piece of land. There are very large landholders throughout the country that restrict people's access to the land. Why is there a difference?"

SA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jay Weatherill says there will be proper security measures to protect the land and its people.

"The permit system has been abused and has been caught up in a political game playing between various factions of the APY Lands and we simply cannot defend a system that's abused in that fashion so the changes that we're seeking to make bring it in line with Federal Labor policy," he said.

Extra police, child protection stem from abuse inquiry

A report from an inquiry led by former judge Ted Mullighan on child sexual abuse in remote Aboriginal communities has produced disturbing findings.

It has been tabled in the South Australian Parliament, with the Government promising to act immediately on several of the 46 recommendations.

Following on from an earlier child abuse investigation involving former state wards, the latest inquiry spent 10 months investigating communities in the far north-west of SA.

It found child sexual abuse on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunyjtjatjara (APY) Lands to be widespread.

SA Premier Mike Rann has told Parliament that the Government will act immediately on recommendations including the posting of eight extra police officers and two extra child protection officers to the APY Lands.

The Government will also look at ways to restrict pornography in the Lands.

Mr Rann says the findings are deeply disturbing, with sickening details of the abuse of young Aboriginal children.

He says extra houses will also be built for police on the APY Lands.

"The injection of extra police recognises the need to keep the community safe both the Anangu and for the workers," he said.

"It will also ensure that we crack down on the trafficking of drugs and alcohol."

Related:

Compensation for SA sex abuse victims
The South Australian Government says it will focus on compensation for victims, now that the inquiry into the sexual abuse of children in state care is complete.

Apology pledge for SA child sex victims
The South Australian Government says it will make a formal apology to victims of child sexual abuse, as a result of the wide-reaching Mullighan inquiry.

Call for new indigenous body
Former ATSIC Commissioner Klynton Wanganeen says he will raise the idea of a new national body to represent indigenous communities at the 2020 Summit.

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