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What census?

Was there a census last week? If there was, us mob at Ngukurr know nothing about it.

I know thismob here already get a pretty raw deal but no census? I thought they had a referendum about that in 1967 making it illegal to leave Aboriginal people out of the census.

John Howard, your government is shit.

Comments

bulanjdjan said…
And omigod how exciting is it that the latest immigration bill was defeated?!?! And now he's having to concede a conscience vote on stem cell research. All this *even though* he's got *control* of both houses of parliament!

I haven't felt this sense of political flexibility in this country for a VERY long time. And it's still pretty minor *flexibility*. Before I get too carried away with expecting the revolution, we should prepare ourselves for the inevitable and probably very effective retaliation to regain TOTAL CONTROL from Mr. I'm-such-a-pro-at-being-a-politician-that-I've-got-George-W-as-a-mentee Howard.
10:21 am
Anonymous said…
Turns out Ngukurr's not the only mob who missed out! Check out the Palm Island mob's complaints:
http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,20076649,00.html

It is good news about the dropping of the migration legistlation - but note the way the changes to the NT Land Rights Act are going almost unnoticed.
11:24 am
bulanjdjan said…
Good point, Jane.

As I was writing my comment I thought 'Hmm, I wonder what the latest is on the NT Land Rights Act' and went off to see what I could see.

Here's what I found, unfortunately...
1:16 pm
Greg Dickson said…
Actually Mami, I don't think it's that exciting the immigration bill didn't get through. If we had a government that was even remotely compassionate , a bill like that wouldn't even be put up for legislation. It's kinda sad that we're celebrating the small rays of decency that manage to peek through the storm clouds.

Crikey, I'm getting all left wing and political now... thanks Kris! :-)
3:51 pm
Anonymous said…
More on the Census - coming to you in a few weeks maybe?
5:08 pm
Greg Dickson said…
An update on our census. I found out that the forms are all sitting in boxes at the office but no one has been told what to do with them,
8:49 am
Sophie said…
I miss you wamut and everyone. I m in New Mexico and it is new and strange and I miss everyone and wish they were here with me !
hugs
Mami
4:31 am
Anonymous said…
Having worked collecting information from homeless/itinerants/longgrasses (pick your favourite) around Katherine I can tell you that the ABS is making a big effort to get all indigenous people included in the census, including a special indigenous unit (run by an energetic young indigenous bloke from Darwin) that has spent a good deal of time to make sure this happens appropriately. Resourcing issues (and a desire to get the job done right) mean that communities are being done in a staggered succession. Some were done before the main census night, some will be done after. The methodology isn't perfect (and WA decided to do all communities on the same day as everyone else, so that will be a useful comparison tool), but the ABS seems to be putting a lot of effort and resources into collecting information from everyone.
Rob
9:45 pm
Anonymous said…
Update on census on ABC news
"The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says it is confident most remote Indigenous communities in the Territory will be counted in this year's census.

Some reports have suggested a significant number of communities are being missed because of a shortage of collectors.

The ABS was forced to recruit more people to help with the census in some outlying Darwin and Top End regions which were late to receive their forms."
8:06 pm
Greg Dickson said…
Hey I just got back to Ngukurr after being in Katherine and Darwin for various things and apparently the census people were here! Someone told me they came last thursday.. but I wasn't here so I've been missed!!
5:59 pm
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