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<DIV><B>From:</B> <A title=Fran.Baum@flinders.edu.au
href="mailto:Fran.Baum@flinders.edu.au">Fran Baum</A> </DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3>Something dangerous is about to happen to the very heartland
of Aboriginal Australia - and neither the traditional owners, nor you, have been
warned. <BR><BR>Under the guise of promoting economic development for indigenous
Australians, the Federal Government wants to ram through new legislation this
<B>Tuesday</B> that actually jeopardises future generations of Aboriginal
livelihoods. It's quite possibly the most important law you've never heard
of.<BR><BR>The law will amend the iconic Land Rights Act, stripping away power
from one of the only true representative bodies, the Land Councils, while
pressuring Aboriginal communities to hand over control of their lands for 99
years. With profound disrespect, many of those who this new law affects most
have not even been told.<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/StoptheLandGrab"
eudora="autourl"><BR></A>While the government claims the 99-year leases are
voluntary, traditional owners are being cajoled into signing away their rights
to their land just to secure basic services that we all deserve, like houses and
schools. <BR><BR><A
href="http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/StoptheLandGrab">www.getup.org.au/campaign/StoptheLandGrab</A><BR><BR>Land
is the best asset that Aboriginal people have for economic development. Not one
Australian economist has argued that taking land or leadership away will deliver
positive economic results.<BR><BR><B>The economic case has not been made. The
social consequences are untested. And traditional owners have been excluded from
this decision that wi ll deeply affect them for generations.
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