Calls for an historic national convergence of Aboriginal peoples and supporters
This July will see the third anniversary of the Northern territory intervention. But three years on, what has changed for aboriginal people in the territory? Not much – according to many indigenous leaders. They are calling upon aboriginal groups and their supporters from across Australia to converge on Alice Springs in July, to talk not only about the failings of the intervention, but to develop their own “way forward” – a document they will then present to the Rudd government in the lead up to the federal election in November. Alyawarr spokesman RICHARD DOWNS and his people walked-off their community of Ampilatwatja, north-east of Alice Springs, in protest at the intervention and the continued suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, which he says is an abuse of human rights.