Two years ago, these moving words…

[Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister]:
“I am sorry. On behalf of the Government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Parliament of Australia, I am sorry.”

…brought emotional praise. It was a historic apology for suffering that white colonization caused to native people. But today, it seems that activists in Sydney are still fighting for their rights.

[Ray Minniecon, Pastor]:
“We don’t see or feel or experience the sweet nectar of true democracy.”

[Mal Tulloch, Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union]:
“We felt that having said sorry to the Aboriginal people that there would have been some sort of progress by the Rudd government into a more social justice policy approach.”

They say the ruling Labor government’s done little to address the Northern Territory Intervention, a policy introduced by the former Liberal government to suspend the region’s Racial Discrimination Act, and manage Aboriginal communities in the Australian Outback.

[Jeff McMullen, Former 60 Minutes Reporter]:
“When they have been herded off their lands and rounded up in so-called growth towns, as the government calls them, their malnutrition sets in.”

Since the Australian government suspended the Racial Discrimination Act, domestic violence has risen by 61 percent, substance abuse is up 77 percent, and 13 percent more children are hospitalized for malnutrition.

The Australian Government last week softened the intervention’s income management rules, extending them to include white communities. However, Pastor Ray Minniecon now wants to see a government treaty with Aboriginals.

[Ray Minniecon, Pastor]:
“Canada and the U.S. have recognized the first nations’ people of their country - we haven’t had that privilege.”

Neither the Australian Indigenous Affairs Minister nor her department was available for comment. But former 60 Minutes reporter Jeff McMullan is convinced that an Aboriginal treaty is the answer, given the results he saw whilst working in the U.S...

[Jeff McMullen, Former 60 Minutes Reporter]:
“Through allowing Aboriginal people to have culture at the centre of their community in their first nation, we - in fact - in America saw this astonishing rate of change.”

Richard Szabo, NTD News, Sydney.