Community Update No. 7 of 2009/2010 - 22 February 2010

The government will support Anangu ownership of housing and train and pay Anangu Commissioners in communities to manage problems in school attendance and child

Leaders and Leaders Meeeting

The first APY Leaders and Leaders meeting took place in Adelaide on 11 February 2010 in Minister Holloway’s office.
 
South Australian State Ministers present were: Jay Weatherill (Aboriginal Affairs), Paul Holloway (Minerals Resources and Planning), Jennifer Rankine (Housing Families and Communities) and John Hill (Health and Arts). APY was represented by myself, Jamie Nyaningu, Anton Baker, Leonard Burton and Rex Tjami. John Singer also attended at my request representing NHC.
 
The meeting was preceded by a very successful workshop the previous day with PIRSA and the mining companies operating on the Lands, all of which gave a commitment to work with, and help Anangu get the most out of the opportunities presented by mining and oil exploration on the Lands.
 
The most important things to come out of the Leaders and Leaders meeting was strong commitment by government to support Anangu leadership in making a better life on the Lands.
 

The government will support Anangu ownership of housing and train and pay Anangu Commissioners in communities to manage problems in school attendance and child neglect. By taking ownership of things like this, Anangu can build pride and self-respect while building a future for our children.
 
The Health Minister gave a commitment to fund renal dialysis on the Lands and the suggestion has been made that this be located in the substance abuse centre at Amata. APY will seek advice from NHC about this. It was good to have Leonard Burton with us who was able to talk first hand about how hard it is for Anangu having to relocate to Adelaide for dialysis.
 
On Friday morning, we went to the Reconciliation breakfast to mark the two year anniversary of the Prime Minister’s apology to Aboriginal people. We watched while stolen generation people came up onto the stage and told some of their stories. We felt sorry for those people, many of who have lost their connection with country and culture. We need to learn from this and keep our law and culture strong. To do this we must keep our land and governance under Anangu control, help our children and people by building a better life not reliant on waiting for money to come from the Government.
 
Government has an important role to play in laying the foundations for us to use our land to build real income and wealth and to provide for things like law and justice and health care. Government is not just for paying money into a key card.
 
Anangu need to be united and speak with one voice to get the best for our people and children.
 
We have achieved a lot over the past five years. Now, it is time to work together to build a great future.
 
Bernard Singer, APY Chairperson