Thousands march against proposed closures of remote communities

Thousands of people have marched around Australia in protest of the proposed closures of remote West Australian Indigenous communities.

Hundreds defied the rain in Sydney on Friday, gathering to listen to speeches showing solidarity for communities under the threat of closure.

Supporters were also out in force in Perth, where a passionate crowd of more than 1000 made its way through the CBD.

Perth organiser and SOS Black representative Della Rae Morrison helped push the campaign in WA, which she said had even garnered support from overseas.

"Overwhelmed, overwhelmed with support,” she said.



More protesters gathered in centres such as Alice Springs, Darwin, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne, while action was also planned across the globe in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Germany and England. 

Noongar Elder Ben Taylor said the threatened closure would be a disaster for communities.

Mr Taylor urged authorities to negotiate with community elders.

“The closing down of communities is a terrible thing,” he said.
Plans to close remote communities were prompted by the federal government’s decision to discontinue Commonwealth funding for basic services such as water, electricity and waste services.

The move, made in September, would see responsibility for services handed to the states and the Northern Territory. 

Different compensation arrangements for the transfer of service responsibilities have been made with state and territory governments, but Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett said the state would not fund up to 150 of the 274 remote communities.




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By Robert Burton-Bradley

Source: SBS


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