Sovereign Union

The Fortescue Metals Group owned by Andrew Forrest have come under fire from a Federal Court Judge for their involvement in supporting certain community members to break away from Traditional protocol in an attempt to free up access to land they wish to mine on. CEO of the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation in Western Australia Michael Woodley told Donna Campbell, CAAMA Radio that within Aborigin...

2014 Audio Report: Over the last three years the support for homeless people with drug and alcohol issues in South Australia has been cut significantly. ICHAG, the Independent Community-Wide Homelessness Administrators Group has released a report describing this crisis and calling for the government to take immediate action. Backing this report is Shelter SA, and their executive director, Dr Alice...

A group of women in a remote Aboriginal community in South Australia's APY Lands have formed the state's first indigenous female fire-fighting team. For cultural reasons women in Mimili can't work with the men in the Country Fire Service brigade in the town. However with the men often out of community on cultural business and other help so far away the women decided to get trained up so they could...

Researchers are calling for the dog fence to be moved as an experiment that looks at ways to protect threatened native species and increase biodiversity. The aim is to let dingoes breed up in Sturt National Park, near Cameron Corner, in far north-west New South Wales, so researchers can study the role the canines play in arid lands. University of Sydney researcher Dr Thomas Newsome said the apex p...

New South Wales Police have named the rise of white supremacist groups as one of the main threats to social cohesion in Australia.   Police Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas said a number of organisations fitting that description are moving out of the shadows.   "Racist groups who have in the past worked under the radar, coming out, spreading hatred, particularly on the far-right," he said.   Mr Kal...

The Official Opening of the Kukenarup memorial on the site of WA SE Report and image by Tara De Landgrafft - ABC Rural Kokenarup massacre: In 1880, a family group of approximately 30 First Nations people were massacred about 15 kilometres from the Ravensthorpe in Western Australia's south west region. One account states that John Dunn, a farm worker, attacked and raped a young Nyoongar girl and in...

The Official Opening of the Kukenarup memorial on the site of WA SE Image: Noongar elders and sisters Carol Petterson and Roni Grey Forrest at the Kukenarup memorial Kokenarup massacre: In 1880, a family group of approximately 30 First Nations people were massacred about 15 kilometres from the Ravensthorpe in Western Australia's south west region. One account states that John Dunn, a farm worker,...

Radio National - Big Ideas 11 July 2013 The killing times. Cairns-based historian Timothy Bottoms has drawn a new map of Queensland, that places many more sites of massacres of Aboriginal people into the story than have ever been acknowledged before. And while he argues that this is a story of deep silences, what he demonstrates is how public and discussed these killings were in the nineteenth cen...

'How would you like to be me?’ was a forum held in Adelaide in May 2015, aiming to shed a light on the everyday experiences of First Nation peoples around Australia. Here we have Caper, Aboriginal rap artist, Michael Ghillar Anderson, Sovereign Union founder and Jeff McMullen, journalist and activist Other speakers at the forum were included Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Alison Anderson, Tauto Sansbury an...

Part one in a two-part series marking 40 years of the Racial Discrimination Act. Mr Koowarta's case could have been the end of our first human rights law.

Kintore community elder Irene Nangala says Tony Abbott doesn't understand the lifestyles of Aboriginal people living remotely - Ms Nangala said she moved to the remote Aboriginal community of Kintore in the 1980s. Kintore is 500 kilometres west of Alice Springs and around 50 kilometres from the Western Australian border.

Audio file: Ninah Kopel 'The Wire' The Burrup peninsula is home to the world’s largest and oldest collection of rock art. It was once considered sacred by the Western Australian Government. Now only select areas are considered sacred. There are more than 2,400 registered Aboriginal sites on the Burrup Peninsula, but with ancient art covering the whole region, deregistered areas mean sights of cult...

A group of Aboriginal elders is concerned that moves to shut some remote communities in Western Australia will set a precedent for other parts of the country. After months of speculation the WA Premier Colin Barnett yesterday outlined major reforms to the ways communities are funded. He says Indigenous people will be consulted, but less viable settlements will eventually close. As Natalie Whiting...

A group who've dubbed themselves the 'Alice Springs Volunteer Force' have threatened violence against Aboriginal youth on social media. Aiming to recruit volunteers with firearm experience, the group proposes to crack down on the town's young offenders through vigilante-style action. Blair McFarland from the Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service says the group is deluded and only represents a m...

Felicity Meakins, a senior researcher says awareness about Australian Indigenous languages is very low, and that most Australians have little idea about the extent of linguistic diversity across the country. Felicity is a research fellow at the University of Queensland - More about this story here: https://theconversation.com/some-australian-indigenous-languages-you-should-know-40155 From Radio Na...

Author of the book ‘Dark Emu – Black Seeds : Agriculture or Accident?” The book argues the idea that the first Australians were hunter gatherers has been invented to undermine Aboriginal people. "My message to my own people," he says, "is the rest of the country's not going to change if we don't stick up for our culture; and our culture was one where we had an agricultural economy." "If we stick u...

The Victorian Aborigines Advancement League is the oldest Aboriginal organisation in Australia. Now, the remarkable history of its activism has now come to light. Historian Richard Broome has gathered stories from former and current members and compiled them in a book called 'Fighting Hard'. He joins Patricia Karvelas in The Drawing Room along with actor and director Rachel Maza, who has a persona...

From CAAMA Radio - Western Australia’s Kimberley region continues to see rising levels of homelessness with a new report claiming seven per cent of the region’s predominately Aboriginal population is currently homeless. Gerry Georgatos a long time human rights campaigner and suicide prevention researcher based in Western Australia says the current extent of homelessness in the Kimberley demonstrat...

The Nyoongar Refugee Camp on Matagarup (Heirisson Island) Perth, Western Australia. in Western Australia again faces forced removal. Over the last few months talks of closures of remote communities in Western Australia has forced many Aboriginal people from across the state and the Country to join together in Perth to show their support to the people that will be homeless if the closures continue....

A respected Central Australian Aboriginal Elder has rejected the suggestion that Aboriginal women exposing their bodies during ceremony is offensive. Rosalie Kunoth-Monks a Arrernte and Alyawarra woman told CAAMA Radio that Aboriginal women’s breasts are not considered to be as sexual objects in Aboriginal culture and that they carry and posses power and ancient Law.

Mark Colvin ABC - Natalie Whiting reporting. - Indigenous leaders in South Australia are calling for a guarantee that remote communities in the state won't close as a result of funding cuts. Crisis meetings were held in the state over the weekend, and leaders are calling for an urgent meeting with the State Government. The West Australian Government has suggested closing some communities as a resu...

USA MEDIA - This Audio is especially edited by Sovereign Union just to address Abbott and First Nations Peoples issues, especially The Homelands and the Carmichael Mine. KPFK, Pacifica in Southern California discusses these First Nations issues in Australia with guest Dr. Kampmark, who teaches within the Bachelor of Social Science (Legal and Dispute Studies) program at RMIT University in Melbourne...

Originally from Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, David Lans moved to Kintore, 520 kilometres west of Alice Springs, in a bid to gain employment in nearby mines and start his own earthmoving business. He is keen to help the people of Kintore become self-sufficient. "I'm looking to do some community work as well, in parks and gardens, building a community centre and a r...

ABC RADIO (PM) -TRANSCRIPT DAVID MARK: Thousands of people have turned out at rallies and marches across Australia to mark Close the Gap Day. The national event aims to highlight the discrepancy between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians in life expectancy, employment and education. This year the focus has been on the idea flagged by the Western Australian Government and echoed by the Prime...

Warren Mundine wants answers on Indigenous Advancement Strategy funding decisions Lindy Kerin reported this story on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 12:15:00 Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes) | MP3 DOWNLOAD ELEANOR HALL: When the Prime Minister's chief adviser on Indigenous affairs meets Tony Abbott this afternoon, he says he'll have a few things to get off his chest. Warren Mundine says he wants a...