A cry from the heart......

From the Koori Mail online:

Ms Macklin, we deserve better

AS D-Day steadily approaches for the Indigenous community of Yarrabah, a large number of our people are facing uncertain times. The hope for the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme to be extended past 1 July has been lost, with Federal Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin rejecting the local leaders' plea, and putting what she thinks will work in place. She has rejected another proposal by the local leaders to extend CDEP, once again acting bull-headed towards our people and Indigenous Affairs. These brash and foolish decisions which have been made by government ministers over the last decade who have handled Indigenous Affairs did not help us move forward one bit. Minister Macklin's latest decision is also going to backfire and fail miserably unless she becomes more proactive towards the community in Yarrabah, instead of bureaucrats dictating from their flashy offices in Brisbane. They're still sending their feedback drones or mules into the community meetings to do their dirty work. Shame on the ministers and the Government. Five hundred people will lose their jobs and their families will be left to live off the dole. So much for our 'highly skilled' labourers and qualified tradesmen who have also proved themselves working in the mainstream. It is a shame we have been given this to live and abide by in our beautiful home in a year where Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would start closing the 18-year life-expectancy gap between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians. This neglect has been with us Yarrabah folks since the old missionary days of 1892. Our people are totally sick of it. We wonder why we still die younger than expected. These new changes have no respect for our cultural identity, making us into dole-bludgers and draining our confidence instead of giving our residents hope of being employed in their home town. Ms Macklin, if you really care about Indigenous Affairs and your fellow Australians in far north Queensland, I urge you to visit us in Yarrabah to meet the residents to find a better outcome, because the one you settled on is not good enough. We are not all useless. We are Australians too, the real Australians. We deserve much better. ... BRAD HIGGINS Yarrabah, North Queensland