[csaa-forum] Fw: Send the Senate an urgent message today

[Marguerite Nolan]

Hi everyone,
here's something people might want to sign their names up to - the 
legislation goes to the Senate tomorrow.
cheers,
maggie


Dr Marguerite Nolan
Lecturer in Australian Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
Brisbane Campus
Australian Catholic University
PO Box 456
Virginia  Q  4014

Ph: (07) 3623 7182
Fax: (07) 3623 7245
Email: M.Nolan at mcauley.acu.edu.au

Australian Catholic University Limited
ABN 15 050 192 660

----- Forwarded by Marguerite Nolan/mcauley on 08/13/07 09:04 AM -----

"GetUp" <info at getup.org.au> 
08/11/07 09:16 PM
Please respond to
<info at getup.org.au>


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Subject
Send the Senate an urgent message today






Dear friends,
 
When the Prime Minister announced his radical 'emergency' plan for 
Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, people welcomed the 
commitment to tackle the incidence of child abuse, but the jury was out on 
the actual worth of the plan. Well, now the jury's back in -- and the 
verdict? It stinks.
 
The Senate will vote on these laws on Tuesday -- and we want a true debate 
on our hands. Send them a message now that we expect them to stand up for 
the rights of Indigenous Australians, and respect the integrity of their 
parliamentary chamber.
 
www.getup.org.au/campaign/NoRubberStamp
 
500 pages of controversial legislation, a paltry one-day Senate hearing, 
and merely two days of debate for laws that dramatically affects land 
tenure, community s ecurity and the rights of Aboriginal communities in 
the NT - done with practically no consultation with the Indigenous people 
affected. Everybody wants to stop abuse, but not with flawed laws like 
these which experts argued in Friday's Senate hearing actually risk making 
children less safe.
 
We expect more from our Senate, designed to rigourously scrutinise and 
vigourously debate the laws passed by the lower House - that's how the 
brakes are put on bad legislation. But since the Government took control 
of both Houses of Parliament two years ago, the Senate has become no more 
than a rubber stamp for the Prime Minister's whims.
 
Send the Senate a message today. We'll deliver them directly, and we'll 
even throw in a rubber stamp and a speed-reading guide for each Senator -- 
 they'll need one or the other!
 
www.getup.org.au/campaign/NoRubberStamp
 
GetUp has already written to each Senator demanding they properly 
interrogate the bills, travelled to Canberra to lobby politicians from 
around the chamber, met with Indigenous leaders from Central Australia (
read their potent blog here), published articles criticising the plan and 
put people in the Committee room for Friday's hearing. We've done all we 
can behind the scenes -- now we need your help.
 
Send a message to our Senators today, so at Tuesday's final vote they'll 
have the urgent appeals of thousands of Australians ringing in their ears. 

 
Thanks for being a part of the solution,
 
The GetUp Team
 
PS - If you live in Canberra, emai l actsenate at getup.org.au to join us in 
the Senate Public Gallery when the bills are debated and voted on next 
Monday and Tuesday. It will be harder to make a mockery of our 
parliamentary traditions with the eyes of the public looking on.
 
PPS - Read the real story in our blog from various Indigenous leaders 
including Valda Shannon, Gina Smith, Harry Nelson and Walter Shaw. 
------------------ 

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