AI
Saturday, November 24, 2012 2:14:05 AM
Edit: Noel Pearson's hometown of Hopevale divided over grog bans
~~~~~~~~~~
Edit: Insert: Noel Pearson (Australian lawyer)
Noel Pearson in February 2010
Noel Pearson (born 25 June 1965) is an Aboriginal Australian lawyer, academic, land rights activist and founder of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership, an organisation promoting the economic and social development of Cape York.
Pearson came to prominence as an advocate for Indigenous peoples' rights to land - a position he maintains.[1] Since the end of the 1990s his focus has encompassed a range of additional issues: he has strongly argued that Indigenous policy needs to change direction, notably in relation to welfare, substance abuse, child protection, and economic development. Pearson criticises approaches to these problems which, while claiming to be "progressive," in his opinion merely keep Indigenous people dependent on welfare and out of the "real economy." He outlined this position in 2000 in his speech, The light on the hill .. http://www.australianpolitics.com/news/2000/00-08-12a.shtml .
more links and more on a great Australian Aboriginal ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Pearson_%28Australian_lawyer%29
~~~~~~~~~~
by: Jamie Walker and Sarah Elks
From: The Australian
October 05, 2012 12:00AM
Hopevale mayor Greg McLean says the indigenous alcohol management plan had not solved
the grog abuse problem in his town. Picture: Brian Cassey Source: The Australian
NOEL Pearson's home town of Hopevale is set to split over statutory alcohol limits, as indigenous communities across Queensland get their say on the future of a program credited with curbing violence and putting more children into school.
Hopevale Mayor Greg McLean insists that a majority of the 850 residents favour easing the restrictions that allow drinkers a single carton of mid-strength beer or one 750ml bottle of table wine at a time, while banning spirits and fortified wine.
Elsewhere in Queensland, alcohol management plans ban alcohol outright in Aboriginal communities, backed by state law.
Mr McLean is on a collision course with Mr Pearson, the internationally recognised indigenous activist who was instrumental in setting up AMPs a decade ago. His spokesman confirmed yesterday that Mr Pearson would strongly oppose any move to pump more alcohol into the Cape York town.
Traditional elder Tim McGreen, a member of the Hopevale congress of clans, said he felt let down by the Queensland government's move to review the system when he had gone to the trouble to campaign for Premier Campbell Newman in the lead-up to the state election last March.
Today, he will attend the funeral of a young man, related to Mr McLean, who was struggling with an alcohol problem at the time he took his life. It was the second such tragedy in six months in Hopevale.
Disputing Mr McLean's claim of majority support for relaxing the community's AMP, Mr McGreen said: "It's only a handful who want it . . . the people who sit down and drink and smoke with him."
He hopes that Mr Newman can be persuaded to leave the AMPs as they stand in 19 largely remote indigenous settlements. "It's going to make it hard for me as a non-drinker, non-smoker if this goes ahead," said Mr McGreen, 49. "It won't make the community happier; it will make people sadder."
The mayors of two notionally dry peninsula communities, Pormpuraaw and Kowanyama, say they will apply to lift their zero alcohol limits.
Former ALP national president and GenerationOne social advocacy group boss Warren Mundine stepped up his criticism of the AMP review, announced on Wednesday, calling on Aboriginal leaders to speak with a "unified voice" against it.
But the architect of the Howard government's 2007 intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, Mal Brough, said blanket bans on grog were always going to be temporary.
Mr McLean said the "one carton" limit should stay in Hopevale, but people should be free to have full-strength beer or the equivalent in cans of pre-mixed spirit drinks. A car would not be allowed to carry more than two cartons of drink at a time, provided there were at least two adults in it.
"I don't think there's a person who will disagree with what we've put forward in Hopevale because it gives them back partly their human rights," Mr McLean said.
"And it gives dignity back to the individuals."
Pormpuraaw mayor Richard Tarpencha said AMPs constituted a form of racial discrimination and had caused marijuana abuse to spike on the peninsula.
He wants Pormpuraaw residents to be allowed to bring one carton of beer per car into the community.
"Non-indigenous Australians after work can get a carton and go back home and drink it, with their families, but the indigenous people can't do that," Mr Tarpencha complained.
Kowanyama mayor Rob Holness said AMPs had led to some positive changes. However, there should be a privately run, family-friendly licensed restaurant in the community.
"We're all Australians, we're all Queenslanders and we should be treated like everyone else," Mr Holness said.
"We don't want to go back to the old days when it's open slather, but we want to be able to make our own rules, have the AMP lifted and let each council run their community the way they want to."
Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Minister Glen Elmes has stressed indigenous community councils would need to demonstrate there would be no backsliding on violence or school attendance rates before alcohol restrictions were eased. He is in accord with federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin that the rules cannot be changed at the expense of protecting women, children and the elderly. Mr Elmes said he wanted to strengthen penalties for sly grog running as part of the review into the AMP system.
A bottle of rum that retailed for $50 in Cairns would fetch up to $250 when smuggled into Aurukun, the 1200-strong community near the tip of the cape that had indicated that it would retain the existing prohibition.
On Mornington Island, also notionally dry, a home brew based on Vegemite had a potentially lethal 11 per cent alcohol content. Mr Elmes said an unintended consequence of AMPs had been to "open up" communities to contraband and dangerous home-made grog.
Mr McLean said Hopevale's AMP was not worth persevering with in its current form.
"The AMP worked for statistics, it's worked for the bureaucrats, it's worked for those who wanted to get funding for the problem, but it has not worked as a solution," he said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/noel-pearsons-hometown-of-hopevale-divided-over-grog-bans/story-fn9hm1pm-1226488539971
========
7News : Palmer predicts Premier's demise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkWLzeBaxn0
========
Clive Palmer quits LNP within hours of being reinstated by party
Sarah Vogler
The Courier-Mail
November 23, 2012 1:54PM
HAPPIER TIMES: Clive Palmer addresses Queensland's LNP conference. Picture:
Annette Dew Source: The Courier-Mail
CLIVE Palmer has lashed out at Premier Campbell Newman in a press release explaining his resignation from the party.
Mr Palmer has likened the Premier to Caesar and accused him of implementing policies for which he did not have a mandate.
"He has therefore made the LNP as an organization redundant and arrogantly turned his back on thousands of LNP members throughout the State," Mr Palmer said.
He said he had done his best to ensure the party and its members were respected.
"I can't support the Newman Government that has no accountability to the people that elected it," he said.
Earlier, Clive Palmer quit the LNP on Thursday night after a dramatic few hours in which the outspoken life member, who had been suspended from the party, was reinstated.
The Courier-Mail understands lawyers for the LNP and for Mr Palmer exchanged letters tonight, ending the billionaire's tumultuous relationship with the party he has been associated with for more than 40 years.
In two surprise moves, the party reinstated Mr Palmer who then resigned.
``I'm very sad to see Professor Palmer go from the LNP but I'm sure that he will support our side of politics in the future,'' LNP state president Bruce McIver said.
``When Professor Palmer is through his business-interest issues, it would be nice to see him come back into the party he's belonged to and served so faithfully for many years.''
Mr Palmer's public battle with the LNP parliamentary wing has taken a toll on the party, which is also fending off criticism on a separate front as some ministers continue to be embroiled in controversy.
Mr Palmer was suspended by the LNP on November 9 after he publicly attacked the LNP Government's leadership and demanded Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney and Treasurer Tim Nicholls be removed.
``These books have been cooked by the biggest crooks that have ever occupied office in the state of Queensland," Mr Palmer told a press conference before his suspension.
The party was due to decide on his membership at a state executive meeting today.
Mr Palmer had previously labelled his suspension undemocratic and vowed to fight.
But the resignation is unlikely to silence Mr Palmer as he continues his crusade against the leadership of the parliamentary wing, including railing against the rejection of his Waratah Coal project as a preferred tenderer for a multi-billion-dollar development.
The mining magnate is also unhappy with Mr Seeney's decision to order an audit of his mining operations, likening it to ``stormtrooper tactics''.
Mr Palmer had previously been one of Premier Campbell Newman's biggest supporters and one of the party's biggest donors, helping it capitalise on its resurgence in Queensland.
But the relationship quickly soured once the LNP took office following its landslide win at the March election.
In August, Mr Palmer donated to a union fund to help sacked public servants, appearing at a press conference with Together secretary Alex Scott.
He earned an instant rebuke from Mr Seeney.
``Hell hath no fury like a billionaire scorned,'' the Deputy Premier said at the time.
Mr Newman accused Mr Palmer of trying to bully his Government over his plans for a $2.5 billion tourism development on the Sunshine Coast.
``Well, Mr Palmer has sought to use his contacts in the LNP to lobby myself, the Deputy Premier, members of the Cabinet, over some of his proposals which frankly are inappropriate,'' he said.
http://www.news.com.au/national/clive-palmer-quits-lnp-within-hours-of-being-reinstated-by-party/story-fndo4ckr-1226522355647
~~~~~~~~~~
Edit: Insert: Noel Pearson (Australian lawyer)
Noel Pearson in February 2010
Noel Pearson (born 25 June 1965) is an Aboriginal Australian lawyer, academic, land rights activist and founder of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership, an organisation promoting the economic and social development of Cape York.
Pearson came to prominence as an advocate for Indigenous peoples' rights to land - a position he maintains.[1] Since the end of the 1990s his focus has encompassed a range of additional issues: he has strongly argued that Indigenous policy needs to change direction, notably in relation to welfare, substance abuse, child protection, and economic development. Pearson criticises approaches to these problems which, while claiming to be "progressive," in his opinion merely keep Indigenous people dependent on welfare and out of the "real economy." He outlined this position in 2000 in his speech, The light on the hill .. http://www.australianpolitics.com/news/2000/00-08-12a.shtml .
more links and more on a great Australian Aboriginal ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Pearson_%28Australian_lawyer%29
~~~~~~~~~~
by: Jamie Walker and Sarah Elks
From: The Australian
October 05, 2012 12:00AM
Hopevale mayor Greg McLean says the indigenous alcohol management plan had not solved
the grog abuse problem in his town. Picture: Brian Cassey Source: The Australian
NOEL Pearson's home town of Hopevale is set to split over statutory alcohol limits, as indigenous communities across Queensland get their say on the future of a program credited with curbing violence and putting more children into school.
Hopevale Mayor Greg McLean insists that a majority of the 850 residents favour easing the restrictions that allow drinkers a single carton of mid-strength beer or one 750ml bottle of table wine at a time, while banning spirits and fortified wine.
Elsewhere in Queensland, alcohol management plans ban alcohol outright in Aboriginal communities, backed by state law.
Mr McLean is on a collision course with Mr Pearson, the internationally recognised indigenous activist who was instrumental in setting up AMPs a decade ago. His spokesman confirmed yesterday that Mr Pearson would strongly oppose any move to pump more alcohol into the Cape York town.
Traditional elder Tim McGreen, a member of the Hopevale congress of clans, said he felt let down by the Queensland government's move to review the system when he had gone to the trouble to campaign for Premier Campbell Newman in the lead-up to the state election last March.
Today, he will attend the funeral of a young man, related to Mr McLean, who was struggling with an alcohol problem at the time he took his life. It was the second such tragedy in six months in Hopevale.
Disputing Mr McLean's claim of majority support for relaxing the community's AMP, Mr McGreen said: "It's only a handful who want it . . . the people who sit down and drink and smoke with him."
He hopes that Mr Newman can be persuaded to leave the AMPs as they stand in 19 largely remote indigenous settlements. "It's going to make it hard for me as a non-drinker, non-smoker if this goes ahead," said Mr McGreen, 49. "It won't make the community happier; it will make people sadder."
The mayors of two notionally dry peninsula communities, Pormpuraaw and Kowanyama, say they will apply to lift their zero alcohol limits.
Former ALP national president and GenerationOne social advocacy group boss Warren Mundine stepped up his criticism of the AMP review, announced on Wednesday, calling on Aboriginal leaders to speak with a "unified voice" against it.
But the architect of the Howard government's 2007 intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, Mal Brough, said blanket bans on grog were always going to be temporary.
Mr McLean said the "one carton" limit should stay in Hopevale, but people should be free to have full-strength beer or the equivalent in cans of pre-mixed spirit drinks. A car would not be allowed to carry more than two cartons of drink at a time, provided there were at least two adults in it.
"I don't think there's a person who will disagree with what we've put forward in Hopevale because it gives them back partly their human rights," Mr McLean said.
"And it gives dignity back to the individuals."
Pormpuraaw mayor Richard Tarpencha said AMPs constituted a form of racial discrimination and had caused marijuana abuse to spike on the peninsula.
He wants Pormpuraaw residents to be allowed to bring one carton of beer per car into the community.
"Non-indigenous Australians after work can get a carton and go back home and drink it, with their families, but the indigenous people can't do that," Mr Tarpencha complained.
Kowanyama mayor Rob Holness said AMPs had led to some positive changes. However, there should be a privately run, family-friendly licensed restaurant in the community.
"We're all Australians, we're all Queenslanders and we should be treated like everyone else," Mr Holness said.
"We don't want to go back to the old days when it's open slather, but we want to be able to make our own rules, have the AMP lifted and let each council run their community the way they want to."
Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Minister Glen Elmes has stressed indigenous community councils would need to demonstrate there would be no backsliding on violence or school attendance rates before alcohol restrictions were eased. He is in accord with federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin that the rules cannot be changed at the expense of protecting women, children and the elderly. Mr Elmes said he wanted to strengthen penalties for sly grog running as part of the review into the AMP system.
A bottle of rum that retailed for $50 in Cairns would fetch up to $250 when smuggled into Aurukun, the 1200-strong community near the tip of the cape that had indicated that it would retain the existing prohibition.
On Mornington Island, also notionally dry, a home brew based on Vegemite had a potentially lethal 11 per cent alcohol content. Mr Elmes said an unintended consequence of AMPs had been to "open up" communities to contraband and dangerous home-made grog.
Mr McLean said Hopevale's AMP was not worth persevering with in its current form.
"The AMP worked for statistics, it's worked for the bureaucrats, it's worked for those who wanted to get funding for the problem, but it has not worked as a solution," he said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/noel-pearsons-hometown-of-hopevale-divided-over-grog-bans/story-fn9hm1pm-1226488539971
========
7News : Palmer predicts Premier's demise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkWLzeBaxn0
========
Clive Palmer quits LNP within hours of being reinstated by party
Sarah Vogler
The Courier-Mail
November 23, 2012 1:54PM
HAPPIER TIMES: Clive Palmer addresses Queensland's LNP conference. Picture:
Annette Dew Source: The Courier-Mail
CLIVE Palmer has lashed out at Premier Campbell Newman in a press release explaining his resignation from the party.
Mr Palmer has likened the Premier to Caesar and accused him of implementing policies for which he did not have a mandate.
"He has therefore made the LNP as an organization redundant and arrogantly turned his back on thousands of LNP members throughout the State," Mr Palmer said.
He said he had done his best to ensure the party and its members were respected.
"I can't support the Newman Government that has no accountability to the people that elected it," he said.
Earlier, Clive Palmer quit the LNP on Thursday night after a dramatic few hours in which the outspoken life member, who had been suspended from the party, was reinstated.
The Courier-Mail understands lawyers for the LNP and for Mr Palmer exchanged letters tonight, ending the billionaire's tumultuous relationship with the party he has been associated with for more than 40 years.
In two surprise moves, the party reinstated Mr Palmer who then resigned.
``I'm very sad to see Professor Palmer go from the LNP but I'm sure that he will support our side of politics in the future,'' LNP state president Bruce McIver said.
``When Professor Palmer is through his business-interest issues, it would be nice to see him come back into the party he's belonged to and served so faithfully for many years.''
Mr Palmer's public battle with the LNP parliamentary wing has taken a toll on the party, which is also fending off criticism on a separate front as some ministers continue to be embroiled in controversy.
Mr Palmer was suspended by the LNP on November 9 after he publicly attacked the LNP Government's leadership and demanded Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney and Treasurer Tim Nicholls be removed.
``These books have been cooked by the biggest crooks that have ever occupied office in the state of Queensland," Mr Palmer told a press conference before his suspension.
The party was due to decide on his membership at a state executive meeting today.
Mr Palmer had previously labelled his suspension undemocratic and vowed to fight.
But the resignation is unlikely to silence Mr Palmer as he continues his crusade against the leadership of the parliamentary wing, including railing against the rejection of his Waratah Coal project as a preferred tenderer for a multi-billion-dollar development.
The mining magnate is also unhappy with Mr Seeney's decision to order an audit of his mining operations, likening it to ``stormtrooper tactics''.
Mr Palmer had previously been one of Premier Campbell Newman's biggest supporters and one of the party's biggest donors, helping it capitalise on its resurgence in Queensland.
But the relationship quickly soured once the LNP took office following its landslide win at the March election.
In August, Mr Palmer donated to a union fund to help sacked public servants, appearing at a press conference with Together secretary Alex Scott.
He earned an instant rebuke from Mr Seeney.
``Hell hath no fury like a billionaire scorned,'' the Deputy Premier said at the time.
Mr Newman accused Mr Palmer of trying to bully his Government over his plans for a $2.5 billion tourism development on the Sunshine Coast.
``Well, Mr Palmer has sought to use his contacts in the LNP to lobby myself, the Deputy Premier, members of the Cabinet, over some of his proposals which frankly are inappropriate,'' he said.
http://www.news.com.au/national/clive-palmer-quits-lnp-within-hours-of-being-reinstated-by-party/story-fndo4ckr-1226522355647
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