From GetUp.org.au
When the Prime Minister announced his radical ‘emergency’ plan for Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, people welcomed the commitment to tackle the incidence of child abuse, but the jury was out on the actual worth of the plan. Well, now the jury’s back in — and the verdict? It stinks.
The Senate will vote on these laws on Tuesday — and we want a true debate on our hands. Send them a message now that we expect them to stand up for the rights of Indigenous Australians, and respect the integrity of their parliamentary chamber.
www.getup.org.au/campaign
500 pages of controversial legislation, a paltry one-day Senate hearing, and merely two days of debate for laws that dramatically affects land tenure, community security and the rights of Aboriginal communities in the NT – done with practically no consultation with the Indigenous people affected. Everybody wants to stop abuse but not with flawed laws like these which experts argued in Friday’s Senate hearing actually risk making children less safe.
We expect more from our Senate, designed to rigourously scrutinise and vigourously debate the laws passed by the lower House – that’s how the brakes are put on bad legislation. But since the Government took control of both Houses of Parliament two years ago, the Senate has become no more than a rubber stamp for the Prime Minister’s whims.
Send the Senate a message today. We’ll deliver them directly, and we’ll even throw in a rubber stamp and a speed-reading guide for each Senator – they’ll need one or the other!
www.getup.org.au/campaign
GetUp has already written to each Senator demanding they properly interrogate the bills, travelled to Canberra to lobby politicians from around the chamber, met with Indigenous leaders from Central Australia (read their potent blog here), published articles criticising the plan and put people in the Committee room for Friday’s hearing. We’ve done all we can behind the scenes — now we need your help.
Send a message to our Senators today, so at Tuesday’s final vote they’ll have the urgent appeals of thousands of Australians ringing in their ears.
Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The GetUp Team
Here’s my message:
The rhetoric, of “emergency” and “no time to waste” has lead to bad policy and bad legislation. The best solutions are those that are formed in consultation with local indigenous Australians who understand the nature of the problem.
The government’s legislation doesn’t mention the word “child” once and yet includes highly dubious land deals and native title suspensions.
Take the time to do it right.
Read what indigenous leaders say.
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