BY ANDREW HALL
CANBERRA — The 30-year-old symbol of the fight for Indigenous justice, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns in front of Old Parliament House, is facing serious threats of removal.
This follows hard on the heels of the July 22 opening of "Reconciliation Place", a monument that, according to government media, "recognises the importance of understanding the shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and reaffirms our commitment to the cause of reconciliation as an important national priority". In reality, it is a memorial to Aboriginal activism intended to replace actual activism.
The assault is led by federal territories minister Wilson Tuckey, who ordered electricity and portable toilets to be removed on August 14. He called the site "an eyesore", populated by "itinerants" under conditions that would not be permitted for anyone else.
"But these sort of conditions are allowed to go on in dozens of Aboriginal communities across Australia", embassy spokesperson Darren Bloomfield told activists, including members of Resistance, the Democratic Socialist Party and the Nuclear Disarmament Party, who gathered to support the embassy on August 14 in case it was to be forcibly removed.
"There was no point having a big shitfight just over the removal of toilets, when many other issues had still to be properly addressed. We have been doing it hard for 214 years. We will make do, we always have and always will", said Bloomfield.
ACT Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker told the August 14 Canberra Times: "Tuckey is talking through his hat when speaking of health and safety at the embassy compared to the federal government's lack of action on the woeful state of Aboriginal health in Australia. It may be uncomfortable for people like Wilson Tuckey to have the tent embassy there, but it represents a really important voice of dissent and we are a long way short of not needing a tent embassy in this country."
A rally to defend the embassy is likely in the next few weeks. For more information, phone (02) 6247 2424 or visit the embassy site.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, August 21, 2002.
Visit the