Dear friends across Australia,
The government wants to shut down 150 remote communities and is cutting frontline services for Aboriginal people. Some of the most vulnerable people in Australia could be left without water and electricity, without a safety net and without basic services — unless we act now.
The government has been forced to back track on its most controversial policy ideas, like the medicare co-payment, due to sustained public pressure. Prime Minister Abbott has thrust this issue in the spotlight with his insensitive comment saying living in remote communities is a lifestyle choice! Let’s use this moment to scrap the cuts.
Sign the petition now to stop the cuts to Aboriginal communities. When we reach 50,000 signatures, Avaaz will deliver the campaign to parliament together with indigenous elders from affected communities to bring the true stories of these cuts direct to decision makers:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_shut_down_loc/?bhPqncb&v=55116
Dear friends across Australia,
The government wants to shut down 150 remote communities and is cutting frontline services for Aboriginal people. Some of the most vulnerable people in Australia could be left without water and electricity, without a safety net and without basic services — unless we act now.
The government has been forced to back track on its most controversial policy ideas, like the medicare co-payment, due to sustained public pressure. Prime Minister Abbott has thrust this issue in the spotlight with his insensitive comment saying living in remote communities is a lifestyle choice! Let’s use this moment to scrap the cuts.
Sign the petition now to stop the cuts to Aboriginal communities. When we reach 50,000 signatures, Avaaz will deliver the campaign to parliament together with indigenous elders from affected communities to bring the true stories of these cuts direct to decision makers:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_shut_down_loc/?bhPqncb&v=55116
Already, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service has announced that it will have to shut its doors in June due to losing it’s funding. It is a story echoed in services for Aboriginal people all over the country as the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS), which promised not to cut to frontline services, released it’s list of grant recipients and reneged on that promise.
Prime Minister Abbott has fanned the flames by saying that living on ancestral lands, which are inherently connected to Aboriginal people’s culture is simply a “lifestyle choice.” The WA Premier Colin Barnett has admitted that taking away essential services will “cause great distress to the Aboriginal people who will move”.
Already, women’s refuges and legal aid organisations are announcing that they will have to sack staff or close their doors due to funding cuts, even though the domestic violence rate is 23 times higher for indigenous women. We must take action, sign and share the petition now!
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_shut_down_loc/?bhPqncb&v=55116
