Category: News

Aboriginal people and their supporters will be demanding that the British Crown return all the land on the Australian continent that they hold illegally when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Sydney and Brisbane this week.

Kooma man and member of the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy, Wayne Wharton, said “In 1992 the Mabo High Court case found that the Crown’s claim of ownership and sovereignty of this continent via Terra Nullius was illegal.  The court upheld that there was a system of governance by the original tribes and that our sovereignty has never been ceded.

“It is only through the Royal Family’s false and illegal claim of sovereignty over this continent that Federal, State and Territory governments derive their authority to pass laws and enforce them.

“By not answering the big question posed by the Mabo decision the Queen, her representatives and the Australian Government have effectively been lying to everyone who calls this continent home since 1992.

“All people who call this continent home need to start maturely and seriously engaging with the issue of Aboriginal sovereignty because the Queen and the Government have proven incapable of doing this.”

“We carefully managed this land for tens of thousands of years, then the British Crown illegally occupies it and in a blink of an eye much of the land is damaged.  Our sovereignty is NOT about deporting people or taking peoples homes, it is about our birthright and responsibility to protect this land and ALL the people (old and new) who live on it.

“That’s why we will be telling the Royal visitors, ‘Give back what you stole! Our Sovereignty has never been ceded!’”

Helen Abrahams hosted a meeting of West End residents at South’s Leagues Club on Saturday to go through the South Brisbane Riverside Neighbourhood Plan and its implications in detail.

Under consideration are the development sites south of Davies Park along Montague Rd which represent thousands of new apartments and residents. Westender recently reported Councillor Abraham’s challenge to the Brisbane City Council to explain the discrepancies between the revised draft City Plan and the approved Neighbourhood Plan. At the time she specifically focused on the changes to designated parkland along Montague Rd at what was the Distance Education Building. Instead, parkland appears on the plan where residents of Raven and Rogers St currently live.

Lord Mayor Quirk has formally replied to Helen, claiming that he has never said there would be parkland along Montague Rd and that Council has never said it would resume houses and has no intention of resuming houses to create parkland any where in West End or elsewhere Brisbane.

Councillor Abrahams presented a number of versions of the plan and pointed out to residents in attendance that various recent statements by council had referred to many different versions of neighbourhood plans including an old Wollongabba plan that was superceded more than eight years ago. “We can only presume their intention is to confuse the issue,” she said, advising residents it is up to them to review the documents, avail themselves of the facts and ask council directly for answers to their questions.

“I will help you as much as I can, but many of these matters are more effective when there are lots of questions coming directly from concerned ratepayers,” she said.

President of West End Community Association, Dr Erin Evans, advised residents that WECA has a strong vision for the area, based on input from a wide range of residents and developed over many years and she looks forward to working with residents to see that vision become a reality.

The residents have organised working groups to facilitate responsea to council including opposition to the revised City Plan itself. More information is available through Helen Abrahams office and WECA.

The Westender published a story on its online edition on Monday 7^th April regarding the purchase of the ABSOE property in Boundary Street by Sydney developers Payce Consolidated.

Part of the story may have given readers the impression that the owner of Payce Consolidated, Mr Brian Boyd, was in some way involved with criminal activity.

The Westender withdraws that statement unreservedly, and apologises for any damage to Mr Boyd’s reputation it may have caused.

The Publishers

Lord Mayor Quirk yesterday announced the details of the latest Guide to Hotel Investment for Queensland.

The figures reveal that Brisbane loses around $114 in potential business each year as a result of its shortage of high-end hotel accommodation. Asa result, Lord Mayor Qurik said, the hotel market is rich with opportunity:

• Due to a shortage in internationally-recognised, full-service hotel room supply, Brisbane is forgoing about 121,000 visitors a year.
• The shortage is causing the market to defer an estimated 278,000 room nights every year – about 14 per cent of current demand.
• The deferred economic benefit is largely contributed to the lack of hotel supply which in turn is hampering Brisbane’s ability to attract major events and conferences. This lost visitor expenditure equates to about 1100 jobs and $114 million in economic activity.

THe lor Mayor appeard with Qld Minister for Small Business Jann Stuckey.

Thirty years ago, Sonia Caton ran a free legal telephone advice line from her own flat, and her commitment to helping those who cannot afford a lawyer has not changed ever since.  Today, the solicitor and migration agent advises refugees on their legal rights. She will talk about this challenging yet inspiring work at the 2014 WILPF Peacewomen Awards in South Brisbane on 2 May.

Held at COTAH restaurant / Southbank TAFE, the Peacewomen Awards acknowledge the work of four outstanding Queensland women who are committed to peace, social justice, and human rights.

This year’s theme is freedom, and guest speaker Sonia Caton said that her work relates to this concept in many ways. “Freedom can mean so many things – freedom from fear; freedom to get an education, to work; to move; to play music; to sing; to be an artist; to be an activist; freedom of expression; to chose your life partner; to practice your religion; to plan your family; to access to medical care and to have access to justice.”

“My work with asylum seekers and refugees has involved all of these lived meanings of the word ‘freedom’.”

Ms Caton has worked with the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service on and off for over 20 years, including as its Director/Principal Solicitor.

She  is also a board member of the Refugee Council of Australia, a consultant to a number of organisations working with asylum seekers and a member of several other Boards and Government advisory committees. She has worked in detention centres on Christmas Island and elsewhere.

Ms Caton said that her most rewarding work has been assisting vulnerable women who have legitimate claims for protection. “My case load was consistently comprised of at least 80% female clients.  I found my previous work as a criminal lawyer relevant as many had suffered terrible violence in their countries of origin.”

Asylum seekers are often criminalised in the public debate, Ms Caton said. “There has been a complete conflation of asylum seeking with criminality and being ‘at war’.”

Many politicians tend to simplify this complex matter, she said:  “The issue of asylum seeking is global and it is ‘wicked’ – in that it is a very difficult one to solve.”

A multi-lateral, long term approach was necessary to address the problem, she said, but not popular with most politicians: “A highly aggressive partisan rather than a bi-partisan approach has won elections before so I think it is now hard for some politicians not to inflame the issue for political purposes.”

To hear Sonia Caton speak at the WILPF Peacewomen Awards, please register by 22 April. More information on the registrations is available on http://www.wilpf.org.au/qld-peace-women-awards. Alternatively,  please contact Norma Forrest on  3207 7929 or  0407 768 873, email: normarod@bigpond.com.

Australian adults now average more time in front of a screen than they do sleeping, but do not fully understand the associated health risks, or how to change their behaviour.

A new community survey commissioned by Medibank also reveals that a majority of parents are very concerned about the time their children spend on screens and the effect it is having on their health.

The Medibank Health Check – Is it time to unplug? is the first in a series of community surveys which will examine Australians’ views on emerging health issues.

The first independent survey asked 1,505 Australians their views about the amount of time they spend in front of screens (computer, TV, smartphone, tablet).

Respondents estimated they spend about nine hours a day looking at a screen – six hours for leisure and three hours for work or study – which is more than the eight hour recommended average adult daily sleep-time.

National Medical Director at Medibank, Dr Ian Boyd, said some of the key results were concerning.

“It is worrying that adults are spending more time in front of screens than sleeping, and while they want to change their behaviour they don’t seem to know what to do about it,” Dr Boyd said.

“While 62 per cent of respondents know that reduced physical activity is a consequence of too much screen time, almost half of those surveyed also failed to recognise the likelihood of the known health risks of screen time which include obesity, attention difficulty, low self-esteem and depression.”

Dr Boyd said that concerns adults held for themselves were in contrast to those they had for their children, with a majority particularly worried about the impact of too much screen time on their children’s health and development.

“More than 60 per cent of respondents with children agreed that screen time affects their family time, and their family’s health, and 57 per cent of these want to cut back on screen time,” Dr Boyd said.

“And one in five say that if they weren’t in front of a screen they would be involved in a physical activity instead such as going for a walk or riding a bike.”

Dr Boyd said that enough concern had been raised about screen-time to warrant further research and education to improve community health outcomes.

“There needs to be much greater community education around what are safe levels of screen time and more programs are needed to encourage people to unplug and get involved in other recreational activities,” he said.

“The benefits of unplugging and spending more time being active are clear for both adults and children, and we need to be encouraging this before people accept our over-use of screens as the norm.”

A copy of Medibank Health Check – Is it time to unplug? is available at  www.bemagazine.com.au/images/medibank-health-check-screen-time.pdf