From: d10652@tanus.oz.au (Paul Parker)
Subject: What Rights
Organization: Pro-Net Australia
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 21:36:09 GMT

                                               J.R.N.Parker
                                              8 Alwood St
                                              Coraki N.S.W. 2471
                                              Ph:066-832 734


Dear Mr Duffy,

My family and I have been forced by the Central Land Council to
close down our family business and leave our home at Kintore.

We had to leave because we did not have enough money to fight the
Central Land Council.



We have been denied Legal Assistance by the Central Australian
Aboriginal Legal Aid Service.



We have since been told that we should write to you and ask for
legal assistance directly from yourself.




We want our right to run a business in our homelands to be
upheld in court of law.

We need this so that we can go back to our homeland country. We
do not have enough money to do this.  We have lost our home, and
our business.



We need this so that all other Aboriginal people will know that
they can work hard to make things better for themselves and not
get punished for doing this, like has happened to my family.


My family and I have been hunted from our home at Kintore by the
Central Land Council and a small number of people. Is this how
that Land Council is supposed to help people ?

Is Land Council just for helping people who want get money from
everyone else ?

Those people at Kintore who gave my family this trouble, they know we
do not have to give them money, or anything. But they go to Land
Council and then land Council comes out and only helps them.

Land Council said if we did not make an agreement, under their terms
they would take us to court, or we had to go.

We do not need to enter into an agreement with the Central Land
Council by the Land Rights Act (NT).



              From the Land Rights Act NT:


          "traditional Aboriginal owners" in relation to land, means
           a local descent group of Aboriginals who-


          (a) have common spiritual affiliations to a site on the
          land, being affiliations that place the group under a
          primary spiritual responsibility for that site and for
          the land; and


          (b) are entitled by Aboriginal tradition to forage as of
          right over that land;

That is country for my grandfathers, for my fathers family, for my
mothers family, for my uncles family, for my aunties family, it is
country for my brothers and sisters, that is country for me and my
family; All of us allowed to live on that land and be happy.

We have the right to be on that country, to live on that country. Not
get chased off and made sad by the Land Council.


        Traditional Rights to use or occupation of Aboriginal land
        71
        71. (1) Subject to this section, an Aboriginal or a group of
            Aboriginals is entitled to enter upon Aboriginal land and
            use or occupy that land to the extent that that entry,
            occupation or use is in accordance with Aboriginal
            tradition governing the rights of that Aboriginal or
            group of Aboriginals with respect to that land, whether
            or not those rights are qualified as to place,time,
            circumstances, purpose, permission or any other factor.

Olden times families would trade things with each other. Today people
use money to trade things. Money is easy to carry and is wanted by
everyone.

We are allowed to make a shop, and work hard in that shop on our
country. We don't make our shop on sacred site, so sacred site talk is
nothing to do with our home and shop.

We needed no agreement with the Central Land Council to do this, run a
shop on our country -away from sacred sites.

We were prepared to enter into a reasonable agreement -as a sign of
good faith, provided the agreement acknowledged our rights, if that
would please the Land Council.

We told Land Council something like the rates system used in the rest
of Australia is clear and fair; Not just an each time see how much
money you can take before someone goes broke system.


But Land Council does not like that idea, they just want to go get as
much money as they can out of other people.


Now you get punished if you work hard.

We set up Kintore out there in 1980; We moved 300km from Papunya so
that our family could live on our own traditional country.

We lived on the ground, just with windbreak, then in little garden
sheds. Even when we left we were still only in tiny house.


That country there is part of my and our childrens' traditional
country.

My husband, our children, and myself we all have the right to live on
that land; Under the Land Rights Act and traditional Aboriginal law
and custom. We don't have to go around asking other people.

At places like our community at Kintore there are not many jobs, most
people on Social Security. Land Council does not want to help people
do anything by themself. They just want to be kings of all the land
and everyone that Land Council;  Same with just couple of people in
my country at Kintore.


Our store was our family business, we building it up for our whole
family, especially to make a future for our children; It was on no
sacred sites. They are away from there.

Land Council does this thing saying they are protecting the rights of
Aboriginal people. That late Mr Paroultja at Hermansburg, his troubles
with Land Council only got sorted out when he went to the High Court
in Canberra. But we don't have enough money to do that.

The Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service refused our
requests for legal aid. They said they would not help us because we
were arguing with the Land Council.

Lots of people from our community signed letters asking for help,
still they did not want to help us.

We did not have enough money to argue our case without legal aid.
Australian law is not right when it is only for the rich people.

It is not right that just a couple of people can stop us other people
from trying to make things better for ourselves by working hard and
trying.

The Central Land Council has taken sides in this, they just ignored
me, my family, just helping couple of people. They did not want to
hear what we were telling them.

CLC comes out to have meeting the only time I have to go away from
Kintore; I am away because I was trying to do Remote Area Teacher
Education course which would make me a proper teacher.

We only saw notice about that meeting on the door of the Walungurru
Community Council (Aboriginal Corporation)-Store door on the Friday;
I was flying away on the Saturday morning for my RATE course.

Land Council they would not wait three days for me to get back for
their meeting. They have their meeting in the middle of the week,
when I am away with other people who are also trying to get better
education.


CLC did not let people have secret votes about things, so that all
people can say what they really think without getting frightened.
They make it out open so some people can get fighting for you not
voting what they want.

That CLC they don't understand that we all know those troublemakers,
and they always will make fight, make argument with you when you say
different to what they want.  They went bully to people who had
signed our letter to have that meeting later, making them rub their
names out.

Our relations and friends -who remain at Kintore and neighbouring
communities, they told us not to go from our country; They said just
don't listen to them, ignore that Central Land Council and those
"troublemakers" at Kintore who caused all this.

We could not do that, cause they were going to make us go full broke.
Then they would tell us to do whatever they wanted, we would be
slaves for them, and make them happy. We not rich to pay and fight
this trouble in court.

Every day we were loosing money, we could not get our transport to
come out.

Threats were made to have any transport company we employed to carry
our things get their trucks confiscated then tied up in court by the
CLC for going on homeland -our homeland, without permission from the
CLC; To send them broke too.

My husband and I talked on the evening of May 6th; We had no answer
from the CLC to show any interest in solving this trouble, or that
the CAALAS would help us. I said we must leave while we still had the
money to move.

We did not have enough money to be able to defend ourselves against
the resources of the Central Land Council. They would just send us
broke. They are winners because we could not keep paying lawyers to
fight them.

We were giving our children a mainstream education in Alice Springs,
not in the school at Kintore; We did this for them to have the same
chances as other Australians. Other families at Kintore they were
talking to me about why our children already learned so much, when the
children at Kintore they only learning slowly.

We could all see how well my children were doing in school, I
understand why my husband always tried so hard to make sure they get
good schooling. I agreed that we would have to leave Kintore because
we were not able to pay for lawyers and keep our children learning so
good.


We were very sad to leave our home, and our families.

We are very angry at that CLC, and I am writing this story so that
you all know these things; And to ask that you fix these things up.


We heard that since we left Kintore that Walungurru Community Council
Store has given free motor cars to the people who made our trouble.

Many Aboriginal people leave home communities; Not many skilled
Aboriginal people ask to work on communities, and there a lots
Aboriginal people with skills needed on communities.

Often Aboriginal people with skills needed on their home communities
will not go back and work on them. The denial of opportunity to
improve your and your families future, is one big reason. Why stay
and work when the system the government set up will punish you, and
not give you chance ?


If we people like us in the homelands are stopped from trying to earn
money to support our families then is the whole idea of unemployment
benefits in the homelands wrong ?

If the Tax exemption status for organisations and the Land Councils
is so that some people can get all these presents like cars, while
still on unemployment benefit, and not have it count as income, then
should their tax exemption be stopped ?


We are now receiving the job search unemployment benefit, is that
what the government really wants for Aboriginal people ?


In that 1967 Referendum the Australian people said that everyone
should be given equal chance, not less, not better, just an even
chance; Where is our even chance ?



We ask that you provide us with Legal Assistance so that we can
have this wrong corrected.




         Yours Sincerely,

                                 Jilau Nangala Parker

  Mr M.Duffy M.P.
  Attorney General
  Parliament House
  Canberra ACT 2600
  INET: d10652@tanus.cec.edu.au
Newsgroups: soc.culture.australian