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Get Up! Save the homelands
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A delegation of Indigenous leaders from homeland communities are meeting with key politicians on Tuesday - at stake is the future of over 600 vibrant communities.
More information on Homelands:
The combined Indigenous population living in homeland communities has been estimated at 10,000 of a total remote Indigenous population of 40,000 across the Northern Territory.
The Federal Government has had responsibility for homeland service provision since the early 1970s however in September 2007 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the NT and the former Federal Government outlining that the NT Government would take over responsibility for the delivery of essential services to homelands.
Instead of revisiting this damaging policy the the NT Government announced it will invest in 20 larger ‘Territory Growth Towns’ to provide basic services with just $20 million a year for the next 3 years allocated by the Federal Government to be divided between over 600 remote homeland communities, locking in continued chronic underfunding of homelands.
Residents from homeland communities will be expected to travel long distances to access health, education and welfare services from these ‘Growth Towns’. During the wet season many homeland communities are cut off and will be unable to access these towns.
The preservation of homelands plays a crucial role in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health in Australia. There is now overwhelming evidence that residents living on homelands are both healthier and happier than those living in more centralised communities.
Participation in ‘Caring for Country’ programs encourages physical activity and better nutrition, leading to significant reductions rates of obesity, diabetes, renal disease, cardiovascular disease as well as creating substantial environmental benefits for the land.
Homelands play a key role in self-determination and preservation of Indigenous culture. These areas are important for Aboriginal people and the broader Australian community as a whole, as they create valuable benefits for the environment, Indigenous health, culture, and education.
Find out more at http://www.getup.org.au/
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Rather than pushing these people out of their homeland, culture and way of living maybe we should be looking at how we might mirror their lifestyle. Rather than believing that our modernized, compact, expanding life is the advanced way of living we should be focusing on the indigenous way of life and how they live with, not on, the earth. For coming so far in the race of humanity we are very behind in the game of life and living. Focus should be on how we can learn to live on this planet with little impact. We should value not the dollar but the beauty of the people and land we have around us. I hope that the government will work with these people finding ways that we can incorporate their lifestly into our way of living, not forcing them into a life of modernization. Let’s foster this importance of community, culture, bioethics, and love. “No one ever died wishing they would have worked more”.