'Three Mobs One River Learning Kit' won the promoting indigenous recognition category at the National Awards for Local Government

Clarence Valley Council CVC News media release*:

18 June 2014

Aboriginal Education project wins national award

A learning kit that was designed, produced and implemented entirely by the Aboriginal community in the Clarence Valley has taken out a major national local government award.

The ‘Three Mobs One River Learning Kit’ won the promoting indigenous recognition category at the National Awards for Local Government at the Great Hall in Parliament House, Canberra, last night.

Clarence Valley Mayor, Richie Williamson, who attended the ceremony with two of the driving forces behind the project – Beris Duroux and Joanne Randall – said it was fitting recognition for an inventive, inspiring and inclusive project.

“Projects like this help develop understanding between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities,” he said.

The Three Mobs One River Learning Kit started with the aim of engaging Aboriginal students and helping them extend their schooling to Year 12, but according to Ms Duroux, there have been many other spin-off benefits.

The program was developed by the three Aboriginal nations of the Clarence region – the Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr and Yaegl nations – and involves verbal in-school presentations by Elders and community members, multi-media presentations and reflections, written materials such as poems and articles and a living library of film and audio recordings.

The initial target was to engage 280 people, including Aboriginal parents, carers, agencies and community members. That target was surpassed in three months and after 12 months more than 2700 community members had made a connection with the learning kit.

More than 100 story themes have been offered by Aboriginal people and have been tracked to key student learning areas. Fifty five community members and 14 Aboriginal organisations have made a commitment to in-school verbal presentations.

Twenty seven PowerPoint and verbal presentations have been developed by parents, and four film pieces, four sound records, and a set of donated documentation has been compiled.

Department of Education and Communities Aboriginal communities liaison officer, Beris Duroux, said the project would not have been possible without the support of the three Aboriginal nations of the Clarence and the wider community.

“Without the stories of the Aboriginal people, we wouldn’t have a project,” she said.

“This is all about our future and helping develop future leaders in our community.

“But it also helps other members of the community understand our stories and our history.”

The program is running at Maclean High School and Grafton and South Grafton high schools and McAuley Catholic College are expected to have it running soon.

Release ends.

* Since David Bancroft, former editor of The Daily Examiner, began to write these media releases the level of reliable information they contain and general quality has improved - well done, David.

When online advertising goes horribly wrong.....

7:04 PM - 17 Jun 2014

Ginger's howler

Today's Daily Examiner has provided its readers with another opportunity to test their spelling.

Credit: Digital edition of DEX, 21/6/2014

Australian High Court slaps down Abbott Government yet again

It would appear that the Australian Constitution and the High Court have become the only effective brakes on the policy excesses of the Abbott Government.

Yesterday, it handed down two more judgments that came hard on the heels of its 19 June ruling that the school chaplaincy program funding was unlawful.

Plaintiff S297/2013 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor (PDF 14K) and Plaintiff M150/2013 by his Litigation Guardian Sister Brigid Marie Arthur v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor (PDF 14K).

20 June 2014

PLAINTIFF S297/2013 v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION & ANOR

[2014] HCA 24

Today the High Court unanimously held that the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection ("the Minister") did not have the power under s 85 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ("the Act") to limit the number of protection visas that may be granted in a specified financial year.

The judgment in this matter should be read with the judgment handed down today in the concurrently heard matter Plaintiff M150 of 2013 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2014] HCA 25. 

The plaintiff is a Pakistani national who entered Australia by sea at Christmas Island in 2012.  He did not have a visa and was, therefore, an unlawful non-citizen within the meaning of the Act.  He made a valid application for a protection visa.  The Refugee Review Tribunal determined that he was a refugee within the meaning of the Refugees Convention, satisfying the criterion for a protection visa under s 36(2)(a) of the Act.  However, he has been neither granted nor refused a protection visa because of an instrument signed by the Minister on 4 March 2014, which purported to determine under s 85 of the Act the maximum number of protection visas that may be granted in the financial year ending 30 June 2014.  That maximum number having been reached, the grant of a protection visa to the plaintiff in this financial year would exceed that limit.

Section 85 of the Act provides that the Minister may, by notice in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, determine the maximum number of visas of a specified class that may be granted in a specified financial year.  Protection visas are a class of visa provided for by s 36.  Under s 65, the Minister has a duty, after considering a valid application for a visa, to grant the visa if satisfied that certain conditions are met and to refuse to grant the visa if not so satisfied.  Section 65A imposes a duty on the Minister to make a decision on protection visa applications within 90 days.

In proceedings initiated in the High Court, the plaintiff claimed that the instrument limiting the number of protection visas which may be granted was invalid and that the Minister was bound to consider and determine his application and grant him a protection visa.  A special case stated questions of law for determination by the Full Court.

The High Court held that the instrument was invalid.  In light of the time limit imposed by s 65A on the determination of protection visa applications, s 85 did not empower the Minister to determine the maximum number of protection visas that may be granted in a financial year.  The Court ordered that the Minister consider and determine the plaintiff's application for a protection visa according to law.

• This statement is not intended to be a substitute for the reasons of the High Court or to be used in any later consideration of the Court’s reasons.

Meme of the Week

From leslienassar.com

Quote of the Week

His [Tony Abbott’s] image as a bumbling, misogynistic, homophobic, environmental vandal is now so entrenched that every time something – anything - happens his lengthy list of past stuff ups, terrible policies and wrecking ball politics comes back to haunt him. In short, everything Abbott touches now appears to turn to custard, and that’s not going to end anytime soon given the length and breadth of Abbott’s indiscretions. [New Matilda, 15 June 2014]

NSW North Coast Federal National Party MPs Kevin Hogan, Luke Hartsuyker, Barnaby Joyce and David Gillespie are supporting replacement of 61 not-for-profit Medicare Locals with commercial insurance companies?

The Abbott Government’s intention to freeze low-income earners out of access to quality medical care is foreshadowed in this article in The Sydney Morning Herald on  17 June 2014:

Lucrative contracts could be on offer to the country's two largest health insurers with the government considering outsourcing the Primary Health Networks program that will replace Labor's Medicare Local.

Medibank Private and Bupa, which collectively control about 60 per cent of the health insurance market, have both said they would consider tendering for the work.

A spokesman for Health Minister Peter Dutton confirmed the running of PHNs could be outsourced to the private sector "subject to an open tender process to identify the most suitable entities" but would not comment further. "We are not preempting that process," the spokesman said.

Labor set up 61 Medicare Locals - government funded non-profit organisations - to plan and co-ordinate services between general practitioners, allied health and hospitals around the country. The initiative was set to cost $1.8 billion over five years and employs 3000 people. The Coalition proposed a smaller number of PHNs aligned with state-run local hospital networks, which will perform a similar function. The cost of the initiative will be met from existing resources, the government said in the May budget…..