2009 was yet another big year for those working on the Rights, Justice and Reconciliation agenda in Australia.

For your interest we have collated a Year in Review via the Headlines and it reminds us of the ongoing battle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for basic equality, understanding and respect in this country, 365 days a year. It also highlights some of the wins including the Awards, the Activism, the Myth Busting and the International Lobbying.

We wish you all a wonderful silly season and look forward to working together again in 2010!

Warm regards

The ANTaR Qld Management Committee, Office and Working Groups

THE YEAR IN REVIEW VIA THE HEADLINES

January

Aborigines 'denied money for food' | By Tara Ravens | January 19, 2009 | Article from: | Australian Associated Press | ABORIGINES in Alice Springs were unable to buy food or drinks for two days because of a "glitch'' in the income management (IM) system, a local activist says. | Angry residents are calling on federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin to take responsibility for the bungle.

Dodson urges rethink on 'offensive' date of our national day SARAH SMILES, CANBERRA January 26, 2009 Mick Dodson with his award outside Parliament House. Mick Dodson with his award outside Parliament House. Photo: Glen McCurtayne MOMENTS after accepting his award as Australian of the Year, Mick Dodson said the date of Australia Day was offensive to many indigenous people and should be changed.

February

Crikey | Friday, 6 February 2009 | An intervention intervention: Rudd dobbed into the UN | | Chris Graham, Editor of The National Indigenous Times, writes: | It took almost three years for the Howard government to get a "please explain" from the United Nations on its treatment of Aboriginal people. Kevin Rudd's administration looks like achieving it less than two. | Earlier this week, a group of human rights lawyers lodged a complaint against the Northern Territory intervention with the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Itching for action one year on from historic apology | Thursday, 12 February 2009 | | Addressing the healing needs of members of the Stolen Generations will go a long way towards healing the nation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said today on the eve of the first anniversary of the National Apology. | "This time last year we were all overcome by emotion and filled with hope as we watched the Prime Minister make the long overdue National Apology to the Stolen Generations," Commissioner Calma said. | "One year on, and we are still feeling hope, but also itching for action to follow those fine words.

A preview at Yarralumla before the New York premiere at the UN | 24 February 2009 | A preview at Yarralumla before the New York premiere at the UN | 'Yajilarra', a film about a group of Aboriginal women from the small Western Australian town of Fitzroy Crossing and their determination to save the town from the scourge of alcohol abuse, domestic violence and foetal alcohol syndrome, will be previewed tonight at Government House, Yarralumla, at a reception hosted by the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, and Mr Michael Bryce AM, AE. | "Yajilarra is a powerful, inspiring documentary about the courage and resilience of Aboriginal women in the remote Kimberley region of outback Australia, and how they have achieved meaningful change, with the support of many men, for their community," said Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick.

The Australian | Intervention a failure on the ground | George Newhouse | February 17, 2009 | | BARACK Obama's inauguration speech reminds us how far the US has come from the stain of segregation and racial discrimination. How insulting, more than 40 years after racist laws were repealed in the US, that the Northern Territory intervention laws have had the effect of forcing Aboriginal Australians into segregated queues in Centrelink and in some supermarkets and shops in the NT. | Recent complaints by indigenous Australians about breaches of human rights have been dismissed by our leaders, but there are good reasons why Barbara Shaw's protest to the UN and Peter Yu's critical review of the racist NT intervention laws should sound a warning to our leaders that the intervention has passed its use-by date. | On the anniversary of the apology critics of its symbolic power suggested that it had not achieved anything. I disagree. The apology gave the federal Government the opportunity to build bridges and reconcile with indigenous Australians, but anyone living in the NT knows that after 18 months the intervention has run for too long and achieved too little for the enormous costs involved.

The Australian | Noel Pearson slams Kevin Rudd over indigenous schools | Mike Steketee and Patricia Karvelas | February 26, 2009 | INDIGENOUS leader Noel Pearson yesterday launched a scathing attack on the Rudd Government for refusing to take up the challenge of low school attendance and its "miserable" targets for reducing indigenous disadvantage. | Mr Pearson told The Australian that ensuring children went to school could open the way to tackling many more difficult issues in indigenous affairs. | But despite a strong public response to the proposal, which he backed, from fellow indigenous leader and Australian of the Year Mick Dodson that every indigenous child be enrolled in school by January 26 next year, there had been "not a word" from the Government, he said.

ABC News Online 26 February 2009 | Rudd defends progress on closing the gap | | Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says there has been progress in closing the living standards gap between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the population in the past year. | Mr Rudd said last year's apology to the Stolen Generations raised expectations of a speedy solution, but it will take time to deliver major gains in Indigenous education, employment and life expectancy.

March

UN 'concerned' over suspension of Racial Discrimination Act | Paul Maley | March 19, 2009 Article from: | The Australian | THE UN has written to the Rudd Government expressing "concern" over the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, a move taken as part of the intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

THE AGE | A better future starts with indigenous history | Date: March 17 2009 | Tim Goodwin | | A treaty is vital to improving the lives of the first Australians. | YOU know the story. Don't pretend you don't. Indigenous Australians are behind on virtually all socio-economic indicators compared with non-indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australians have a life expectancy 17 years lower than that for the total Australian population. Indigenous people are three times as likely to have diabetes. Indigenous students are half as likely to complete year 12. Indigenous babies are more than twice as likely to have low birth weight, similar to many African countries experiencing extreme poverty.

Crikey Qld police & Aboriginal rights activists March 27, 2009 – 11:07 am, by Andrew Bartlett While many Queenslanders last Saturday night were focusing on what the election result might be, a benefit show for jailed Palm Island man Lex Wotton was being held in the inner-Brisbane suburb of West End (which coincidentally is in the electorate of both the Premier and the Prime Minister). West End is also home to a number of Aboriginal people and a gathering point for many others.

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) 19 March 2009 | | "Government must act swiftly on petrol sniffing recommendations" | | Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) today urged the Australian Government to swiftly implement the recommendations of the Senate Community Affairs Committee's Petrol Sniffing Inquiry report to ensure there is not a resurgence of sniffing in communities in Central Australia.

United we stand - Support for United Nations Indigenous Rights Declaration a watershed moment for Australia | This morning’s formal support from the Australian Government for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is likely to go down in history as a watershed moment in Australia’s relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said today.

April

The Sydney Morning Herald Date: April 09 2009 | Native title to be presumed in proposed law reforms | Joel Gibson Indigenous Affairs Reporter | | GOVERNMENTS and industry would have to disprove native title exists when a claim is made and claimants and governments would be able to disregard the "bucket loads of extinguishment" created by the Native Title Act under reforms suggested by the Chief Justice of the High Court, Robert French.

Climate change: risks and opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people | Thursday, 30 April 2009 | Climate change poses a major threat to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands, waters and resources in Australia but also provides new opportunities in emerging carbon markets, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma, has said in the Native Title Report 2008 which was tabled today. | The Native Title Report 2008, produced annually by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner to analyse major changes and challenges in the Native Title system over the previous year, explores the issues of climate change and water resources and what the government’s policies mean for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

May

EDUCATION FAILS ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT STUDENTS Monday, 11 May, 2009 By Tanya Chilcott The Courier Mail | QUEENSLAND has failed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, as many in remote areas are unable to read at rudimentary levels. Former Queenslander of the Year and Indigenous Education Leadership Institute executive director Chris Sarra said the recent Masters report, which detailed how far indigenous children have fallen behind at school, showed the state had failed those pupils.

Final stage of consultations for a national Indigenous representative body | Thursday, 14 May 2009 | Key questions to be resolved for finalising the model for a new national Indigenous representative body will be distributed to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples this week as the final consultation stage on the model gets underway.

Look at the benefits of Homelands living before moving to shut them down | Thursday, 21 May | The Working Future policy announced by the Northern Territory Government yesterday appears aimed at reducing support to Homelands and driving these residents to move to the 20 proposed Hub Communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said today. | “Homelands are places where we Aboriginal people can exercise our fundamental right to live on our country of affiliation and maintain language, custom and cultural practices. This has enabled us to be the oldest continuous surviving culture in the world,” Commissioner Calma said.

INVITATION TO ATTEND HEALING FOUNDATION WORKSHOPS | A Development Team will work with the Government between May and December 2009 to consult with key organisations and individuals as well as conduct community workshops across Australiato listen to community ideas for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation.

Australian film Samson and Delilah wins Camera d'Or at Cannes Warwick Thornton poses after winning the Camera d'Or prize The Cannes jury has watched countless romance movies over the decades, but this year it was a small-budget Australian film about two troubled Aboriginal teenagers in the Outback which won the hearts of the judges at the world’s most prestigious film festival.

ALICE SPRINGS CAMPS GO THEIR OWN WAY ON $125M OFFER Tuesday, 26 May, 2009 By Paul Toohey The Australian | DEFIANCE, relief and uncertainty were in evidence in the town camps of Alice Springs yesterday as the implications of the Rudd Government's plan to compulsorily acquire the camps began to sink in. | | Residents of one of the camps, Ilpeye Ilpeye, which has broken away from the Tangentyere Council, said the council's refusal to agree to a greatly increased $125 million package offered by the commonwealth was foolish.

AUSSIES KNOW NOTHING ABOUT | INDIGENOUS CULTURE | Tuesday, 26 May, 2009 Australian Associated Press | TV New Zealand | | Most Australians believe contact with Aboriginal culture is necessary for reconciliation, but they admit knowing little or nothing about it. | | Galaxy research also found 94 per cent of parents with children still living at home wanted them to have an appreciation of indigenous people and their history.

POLICE MOVE-ON POWERS ATTACKED | Friday, 29 May, 2009 | By Alison Sandy and Bruce McMahan | The Courier Mail | | MOVE-on powers are under fire for forcing homeless people out of areas close to vital services. | | Since the laws were introduced three years ago, the homeless haven referred to as "Tent City" on the banks of the Brisbane River in West End, has been demolished, prompting homeless advocates to claim that the powers are being abused.

Town camp turnaround will be tough: Rudd | May 29, 2009 - 1:04PM Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has conceded it will be "tough" to turn around the town | camps of Alice Springs but says he's determined to see it through. | Labor looks set to seize control of the camps next month, after Tangentyere Council | rejected a $125 million offer to improve housing and health services. In exchange, the commonwealth wanted the council to sign a 40-year lease.

Change housing, car rules, says Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest Patricia Karvelas, Political correspondent | May 30, 2009 | Article from: | The Australian MINING magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest has called on the Government to | transform rules so that housing entitlements for Aborigines are transportable to | where jobs are, and car licences are awarded under different rules for indigenous | people who cannot read or write.

June

The West Australian | Family seeks millions compo for elder’s death | 15th June 2009, 6:00 WST The family of an Aboriginal elder who died from heat stroke in the back of a prison | van last year has called for “millions and millions” of dollars in compensation for their | loss. Mr Ward, 46, suffered a fatal heatstroke on January 27 last year while he was | transported from Laverton to Kalgoorlie over a traffic offence.

Over-policing to blame' for Indigenous prison rates By News Online's Amy Simmons Posted Thu Jun 25, 2009 7:04pm AEST | Updated Thu Jun 25, 2009 7:12pm AEST A new report linking drugs and alcohol to high Indigenous prison rates fails to address the full picture and perpetuates negative stereotypes, an Aboriginal professor says.

July

SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT MACKLIN'S CONSULTATIONS: GREENS Monday, 06 July, 2009 Media release: Sen. Rachel Siewert | | Greens - Serious concerns about Macklin's consultations Monday 6th July 2009 | | The Australian Greens are calling on the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin to explain her actions, as more worrying information about consultations with Aboriginal communities comes to light. | | "I am extremely concerned by recent reports that the Minister appears to be ignoring legal advice that reflects the concerns I raised in the Senate last sitting about compulsory acquisition of Alice Springs town camps," said Senator Rachel Siewert today.

Report on indigenous disadvantage is devastating, says Rudd Christian Kerr | July 02, 2009 | Article from: | The Australian KEVIN Rudd has described as "devastating" a new report that shows how little has | been achieved in closing the disadvantage gap between indigenous and non- | indigenous Australians. The Prime Minister said the findings of the fourth Overcoming Indigenous | Disadvantage report, released on today, were “unacceptable and it requires decisive | action”.

WA Today | Mr Ward's family holding onto hope for justice | Joseph Sapienza | July 2, 2009 The Director of Public Prosecutions has begun his inquiries into the death of an | Aboriginal elder in the back of a prison van, giving his family and supporters hope | that charges could be laid.

THE AGE | Pedophile ring claims unfounded Date: July 05 2009 Nick McKenzie AN INVESTIGATION by Australia's main crime-fighting agency has found no | evidence of organised pedophilia in Northern Territory indigenous communities. The finding by the Australian Crime Commission demolishes one of the central | claims used by the Howard government to support its controversial NT intervention.

Crikey | Thursday, 23 July 2009 / 10 comments | Ian Thorpe: Australia’s dirty little secret | by Ian Thorpe | In a speech given at the “Beyond Sport Summit” in London on | Thursday July 9, 2009, Australian Olympic legend Ian Thorpe dove head | first into Australia’s failure to address the problems in its | indigenous communities.

The secret police Tony Koch | July 25, 2009 | Article from: | The Australian QUEENSLAND will not be free of police impropriety until Anna Bligh takes a stand. ASTOUNDING revelations this week by Queensland's Crime and Misconduct | Commission that 25 police officers were involved in illegal and improper conduct | with prisoners who had conned them into believing they could help with | investigations lay bare the assertion that police can effectively investigate complaints | against their own.

Agreement on Alice Springs Transformation Plan | In a major breakthrough, the Alice Springs town camp housing associations and the Tangentyere Council have signed up to a 40 year sub-lease agreement with the Australian Government, opening the way for a $138 million investment to transform | the Alice Springs town camps and provide improved services in Alice Springs. | Sixteen Alice Springs town camps have taken up the Australian Government’s offer which will see the construction of new houses and major rebuilds of existing houses. | Native title granted over NT township | By Gina Marich | | The Federal Court has granted native title to about 80 per cent of the land in the Northern Territory township of Elliott today. | Almost 300 people attended as the court sat on a sporting ground in Elliott and granted 140 hectares to the Gurungu Kulmintinti Group.

August

Crikey, 6 August 2009 | Why are 60% of NSW juvenile inmates aboriginal? Anyone? | Sydney freelance reporter Robert Burton-Bradley writes: | | While the Northern Territory intervention continues to dominate reporting of aboriginal affairs, the shocking number of young Aborigines in NSW Prisons is all but ignored.

INDIGENOUS CHILD REMOVAL RATE | 'SHOWS SYSTEM FAILURES' Wednesday, 12 August, 2009 By Nikole Jacobi ABC News | | A group of Aboriginal women say the number of Queensland Indigenous children removed from their homes shows there are major problems with the child safety system. | | State Government figures show there were 2,587 Indigenous children placed in home-based care and other facilities as of March this year. | | The number of Indigenous children living away from their homes has more than doubled since June 2005. | | ABC News Online 12 August 2009 | NT intervention 'creating misery': Yunupingu | | The Indigenous leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu says the Federal Government's intervention in the Northern Territory has failed to improve the lives of Aboriginal people. | Mr Yunupingu is among a group of senior traditional owners from 36 clans who have formed a new federation called the Dilak Provincial Authority.

UN Official to Report on Aboriginal Human Rights | 17 August 2009 | Prof. James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Human Rights is visiting various centres in Australia over the next two weeks. His task will be to report back to the UN.

Unions pursue indigenous stolen wages | AAP, August 19, 2009 - 8:50AM | | BRISBANE, Aug 19 AAP - Legal action will begin in Queensland's District Court today to recover unpaid wages on behalf of indigenous workers who were underpaid for decades. | The court action on behalf of Yarrabah man Uncle Conrad Yeatman has the support of the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU).

The Sydney Morning Herald | End culture of racism, says UN inspector | Date: August 28 2009 | Yuko Narushima Indigenous Affairs Correspondent | | COMPULSORY land takeovers, welfare quarantining and forced alcohol and pornography bans must cease if Australia's ''broad-sweep'' intervention is to comply with international law, the United Nations says. | The UN special rapporteur on indigenous human rights, James Anaya, yesterday gave a damning assessment of entrenched racism that persisted in Australia, specifying measures in the Northern Territory intervention.

September

Torres Strait deaths 'totally avoidable' Tony Koch | September 25, 2009 | Article from: | The Australian CRUCIAL evidence on the 2005 sinking of the immigration vessel Malu Sara in the | Torres Strait, with the loss of all five on board, has forced the Australian Transport | Safety Bureau to acknowledge a failure by rescue authorities to take action that | could have averted the tragedy.

Damning verdict on ocular health Lauren Wilson | September 29, 2009 | Article from: | The Australian ABORIGINAL children start off with better eyesight than the non-indigenous but by | the time they reach adulthood, they are six times more likely to be blind. The first comprehensive survey of indigenous eye health in 30 years, published | yesterday, reveals a distressing tale of neglect, with just 35 per cent of the 2883 | people surveyed across 30 indigenous communities having ever received an eye | test.

October

Attorney-General talks on Cape York rivers dispute Tony Koch | October 23, 2009 | Article from: | The Australian THE Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, has bought into Cape York's bitter wild | rivers dispute, calling on the parties to it to negotiate a native title-style settlement.

Federal Government losing the way on Closing the Gap The Federal Government is losing the way on closing the gap on Aboriginal disadvantage says Dr Mick Adams, chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), the peak body for Aboriginal medical services. | “After almost two years in office, the government is still only applying bandaid remedies and not genuinely engaging Aboriginal peoples in developing long term solutions to close the gap” Dr Adams said. | “Just this week we have again seen highlighted two examples of the appalling conditions affecting Aboriginal Peoples.

November

Brisbane Times | Queensland children behind bars up 50 per cent | DANIEL HURST | November 4, 2009 - 5:06AM | The number of young people held in Queensland detention centres has surged more than 50 per cent in four years, a new report reveals. | The report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare also shows the state's indigenous children are 20 times as likely as their non-indigenous counterparts to be serving time or awaiting sentence in a detention facility.

Breaking the great Australian silence 5 Nov 2009 In a speech at the Sydney Opera House to mark his award of Australia's human rights prize, the Sydney Peace Prize, John Pilger describes the "unique features" of a political silence in Australia: how it affects the national life of his homeland and the way Australians see the world and are manipulated by great power "which speaks through an invisible government of propaganda that subdues and limits our political imagination and ensures we are always at war - against our own first people and those seeking refuge, or in someone else's country".

The Canberra Times | Intervention a '$1b disgrace' | BY DAVID CURRY | 8/11/2009 9:49:00 AM ASSAULTS have increased, substance abuse has soared and school attendance | rates are unchanged in the NT indigenous communities targeted by the Federal | Government's intervention. Those are the findings of a government report, released quietly at the end of | October, on the performance of what is now called the Northern Territory | Emergency Response.

40-YEAR LEASES EQUATE TO RANSOM BARGAINING | Seventh Queensland Indigenous Mayors Caucus | 18 November, 2009 - Cairns | | A round-table of Indigenous mayors from Queensland's Indigenous Shire Councils has called on both the State and Federal Governments to consult with them over the proposed 40-year lease offering by the Queensland Government in exchange for better housing.

Reinstating the RDA in the Northern Territory welcomed | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 | | The Australian Human Rights Commission has welcomed today’s announcement by the Australian Government that it will reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) in the Northern Territory in 2010. | Race Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, said the proposal to progressively lift the suspension of the RDA and anti-discrimination laws in the Northern Territory and Queensland was essential for Australia to be able to comply with its human rights obligations and ensure that people were protected from discrimination on the basis of their race. | The Sydney Morning Herald | Welfare measure attacked

Date: November 26 2009 Yuko Narushima INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT EXPANDING income management across the country will demonise more people | on flawed evidence that it benefits disadvantaged communities, social service, | charity and church groups say. The controversial measure, introduced in 2007 as part of the Federal Government's | intervention into the Northern Territory, was yesterday extended to low socio- | economic groups across the country.

Alice Springs town camp residents have lost their case against a Federal Government plan to impose new lease agreements on their land. | About 3000 people live in town camps on the outskirts of Alice Springs. | The Government said it would compulsorily acquire the town camp land if residents did not sign new 40-year leases in exchange for the promise of housing upgrades. | Lawyers for the residents argued the land is owned by Aboriginal people and the Government should not be able to alienate their interest in the land. | Blow-out in Aboriginal imprisonment numbers rises to 83pc

Amanda O'Brien* From: The Australian* November 27, 2009 12:00AM GOVERNMENTS across Australia are "failing miserably" to tackle Aboriginal imprisonment, resulting in a blow-out in prisoner numbers not seen for decades, according to Western Australia's Chief Justice Wayne Martin. Releasing figures showing an 83 per cent rise in the number of sentenced Aboriginal | prisoners in Western Australia in 18 months -- which was double the rise for non- | indigenous prisoners -- Chief Justice Martin said a "dramatic worsening" was under | way.

December

The Sydney Morning Herald | Native Americans win $3.7b settlement Date: December 10 2009 Nicholas Riccardi DENVER: The Obama Administration has announced it will pay American Indians | $US3.4 billion ($3.7 billion) to settle a class action that argued that US | federal governments cheated tribes for more than a century out of royalties | for oil, mineral and other leases.

SMH UN says Aboriginal health conditions worse than Third World | ARI SHARP AND TOM ARUP December 5, 2009 ANOTHER United Nations official has deplored the quality of life of indigenous Australians, saying Aboriginal health compares badly with indigenous communities in other developed countries and was even worse than in some Third World countries. | The claim came as an important report card on services in remote indigenous communities found big gaps in health and community programs continued, despite significant investment.