Firstly I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land we are on – the Biripi and Worimi people I acknowledge that this land was stolen, and that Indigenous sovereignty was never ceded.
For those of us currently studying for the HSC, these exams are coming at us like a Mack truck full of Areas of Study, Modules, Cores, option topics, and practical examinations.
But I’m finding myself facing questions that are much broader than those I’m likely to face in the HSC examinations in about 100 days. Our planet is undergoing rapid levels of dangerous climate adjustment; glacier retreat, ice shelf disruption, sea level rise, changes in rainfall patterns, increased intensity and frequency of hurricanes and extreme weather events. Scientists across the world are saying we need cuts to greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%, and we need them by yesterday at the latest. Now the questions we all must ask ourselves are these: Do I care? And what am I willing to do?
I do care. And I’m trying to do something. But as a great man once said: “Do or do not, there is no try.”
It is up to us to inform ourselves about the causes of climate change, the science, the impacts and the solutions. I don’t believe I can rely on my political leaders for answers, they are too distracted by gaining political and economic advantages. So it will be up to us, the future leaders, to bring about change
Change of course is difficult, but it is happening, in one form or another. No-one asked you whether you wanted to perpetuate climate change. But we as Australians are the world’s highest emitters of greenhouse gas pollution. No-one asked you whether you wanted to be part of the generation facing the climate crisis. Those decisions appear to have been made for you. But one very important decision hasn’t been made for you: what are you going to do about it?
I believe that our we are entirely capable of being part of a big, informed, creative global public movement that is mobilising against the causes of climate change.
Two hours south of here in sunny Newcastle, is the world’s largest coal export port. The State government is seeking to expand it to more than double it’s current size. Last year a number of concerned community members entered the port to halt the machinery there and to send a strong message to our business and government leaders about the urgent need to stop new coal and move to renewable energy. These people have made the decision that they will not pretend that nothing is happening; they have not disengaged from their future. They can and will make a difference.
Every single one of us has to decide what we are going to do with our skill and energy. We are young we have many decisions ahead. I believe the decision that we need to make is about how we are going to choose to live our lives after we finished school.
"The time has come, well and truly come ... for all Australians, those who are indigenous and those who are not to come together, truly reconcile and together build a truly great nation."
This quote is taken from Kevin Rudd’s speech given as part of the national apology. The apology was great. It was all the more poignant because it was not too long after the introduction of the erroneous war started by the previous Australian government, right here on Australian soil. Few may understand just how perverse the Northern Territory Intervention really was. Indeed, many appear to have forgotten it is even still taking place.
When the Howard government announced that it would send in the police and the army as a result of the “Little Children are sacred report” to ‘protect’ the children from abuse, co author of the report Pat Anderson said that there was no relationship between the recommendations she had made in the report and the Federal government’s response.
The parliamentary acts that protected these people have been removed. The Aboriginal land rights act and the discrimination act have been suspended in these areas. The government has enforced compulsory land acquisition and put business managers, reminiscent of the mission managers, into some of the more strategic communities.
The legislation, which is supposed to address child abuse, hardly mentions children. The only policy relating to children who have been abused was the policy of compulsory health checks, which they had to drop because it was classified as abuse.
Pornography, alcohol, and gambling, have all been banned in many aboriginal communities. In some communities with people of different nationalities, only the houses of aboriginal people are affected by these laws.
Thousands of NT Aboriginals have had their welfare quarantined, and given out in vouchers (similar to being paid in tea and sugar for working on the missions).
With no public transport, covering the vast distances can cost $440 in taxi fares to get to town and join the queues; often hundreds of people long. Sometimes Centrelink runs out of vouchers, leaving families without food for their children; the ones the intervention is supposed to protect.
I’d like to now tell a story about Julie. Julie is from Galiwin'ku, Elcho Island in the Northern Territory. Julie has been helping whities in the community to intergrate. She’s been helping them learn the language and traditions of the Yolgnu people. Julie saw attendance falling at her local school, and decided to get a job there in order to encourage her grandchildren to attend. With a job at the school she could take them to school and be with them all day. Last year Julie suffered a stroke and was unable to continue working. She began to receive the Centrelink invalid pension.
In April income management was forced on all people receiving Centrelink payments and living on Aboriginal land, including Julie.
She was rightfully outraged that half her pension was isolated without her permission, and at being treated like a child. She was under the belief that all Australians, black and white on Centrelink payments were being income managed. Centrelink had given her a food card to swipe at the local store, but for weeks and weeks she struggled and limped into the store to swipe the card, and for weeks and weeks there was no money in the food card. Upset, and with her pride and dignity severely hurt she threw the card away.
After discovering what income management really meant Julie asked a white friend of hers, John, to assist her gain an exemption from Income Management. He became a nominee to enquire on her behalf, and not long after, was visiting Galiwin'ku and called in to the Centrelink office. He asked the officers the reasons why Julie’s pension was being income docked. One officer replied, 'it's a response to the Little Children are Sacred Report'. John responded, 'You must think she is a child abuser. I want Julie exempted from income management.' The officer asked, 'What are the reasons she should not be income managed?'
John thought, then asked, 'First you tell me the reasons she's on it.' At first the officer couldn't answer, then eventually he replied, 'because she lives on Aboriginal land.'
John went on to explain that Julie had never touched alcohol, which is not surprising given that all the Aboriginal townships in north-east Arnhemland are dry and always have been, she has never smoked, never gambled, has never abused children or any of the other things that the Federal government has labelled Aboriginal people as having done in the Northern Territory. The officer then said so far there have been no exemptions to IM. As John later found out, the only valid reason is 'not to live on Aboriginal land. The effect of this blanket targeting in the case of Julie and her familiy is debilitating and dehumanising. It is becoming clear that income management is having a severe and negative impact on the spirit and the psyche of Aboriginal people.
A quote now that was passed on to me from John: “an elderly matriarch rang a couple of days ago and said this:
'the tide is in, we are drowning. Why don't they just come and shoot us?'
Many people have made a stand. It’s hopeless for the victims of this campaign to try and protest against a military invasion, but we, in the comfort of our homes, can write the letters, make the phone calls, sign the online petitions, and donate to those organisations who are fighting for what is right.
If we want our future to be one in which all people enjoy human rights and basic services, and one free of the current climate burden, then it is up to us to campaign against these things, to join together to demand a better future for all people in Australia.
We all have the opportunity to be leaders for change; we just need to make the decision to make a difference. I don’t want to lead a life where I don’t have hope for our future. I want to know I tried to make a difference for a better world. How about you?
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