- Repeal all 'NT intervention' legislation
 - Restore the Racial Discrimination Act
 - Fund infrastructure and community controlled services
 - Sign and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
 - Aboriginal Control of Aboriginal Affairs

June 21 will mark one year since the Howard Government announced the NT intervention. Far from improving child welfare, the intervention has created a new wave of dispossession and is compounding social problems.

The universal quarantining of welfare payments, the closure of many Community Employment Development Projects (CDEP) and the compulsory acquisition of Aboriginal property has forced thousands of people from their communities into urban centres.

The Aboriginal population of Darwin for example, has increased 30% since the Intervention and research shows that numbers continue to rise. People are facing extreme hardship without jobs, services or stable accommodation.

The Rudd Government has made some important symbolic gestures in Indigenous affairs - from the apology through to commitments to 'Close the Gap' in health outcomes.

But on the ground, the new government is actively campaigning for retention and expansion of the explicitly racist intervention laws. They refuse to acknowledge the social break down taking place. They continue to deny protection under the Racial Discrimination Act.

Aboriginal people are experiencing shame and humiliation as they participate in segregated service delivery in Centrelink, in supermarkets and in schools. The practice of traditional culture is becoming impossible for many, unable to travel due to welfare restrictions.

As Lyle Cooper, Acting President of Bagot Community has said

'I thank you Prime Minister Rudd for your apology (but) it's an invasion all over again. We are being told where to shop, what to eat, how to act and how to live'.

Communities continue to stand up against the intervention. Scores of representatives from 'prescribed areas' travelled to join the 2000 strong Canberra Convergence on February 12 (endorsements listed below). Many more will come from communities around the Northern Territory to protest in Alice Springs and Darwin on June 21.

One of the strongest examples is Yuendumu, where a strategy of non-cooperation has held off repeated attempts by the government to take over local programs and implement 'income management'. Jeannie Nungarrayi Egan from the community council has said, 'No body likes it, we have to control our own community, we're going to push out the quarantine'.

Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma recently released a report which demonstrates how NT intervention legislation contravenes numerous UN charters to which Australia is signatory, including International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

In July Jenny Macklin, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs will begin a review of the Intervention. We need to bring thousands of people out onto the streets around the country to ensure grass-roots voices are no longer ignored. The new Government must break with the assimilationist policies of the Howard era. They must act on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A massive injection of funds and resources into communities is badly needed, but can not come at the expense of basic human rights. Only an approach which respects self-determination will lead to improvements in community life.

Stop the intervention - Human Rights for all!

Darwin Aboriginal Rights Coalition (DARC), a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members, are organising a public meeting at Raintree Park , 10am on June 21.

We seek the endorsement and support of all Top End communities, organisations and unions.

We also encourage anyone who would like to share their story or the story of their community to speak on the day. We hope to have many speakers and musicians.

We are trying to organise funding for buses to transport people from communities to and from the event. If your community/organisation has access to or is able to provide a bus please let us know.

SATURDAY 21st JUNE, 10am, RAINTREE PARK!