Rallies against Howard's 10-point plan
By Nikki Ulasowski and Nick Fredman
In Canberra on October 21, more than 750 people from around Australia gathered at 7am to form a human chain around Parliament House, aimed at opposing the federal government's 10-point plan to extinguish native title.
The rally was organised by Defenders of Native Title (DONT) in Victoria and Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) in Victoria. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate were sitting, which forced parliamentarians to walk through the chain in order to enter parliament.
Later that day, more than 150 people marched from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at old Parliament House to new Parliament House protesting against the government's cuts to Abstudy. People spoke from the National Union of Students, National Tertiary Education and Industry Union, Deakin University and Council of Australian Post Graduate Associations. A spokesperson for the shadow minister for Aboriginal Affairs also spoke.
A Deakin University student summed up the government's attitude towards Aboriginal people when she said its attitude is, "You can have this committee but we'll take this land".
Due to a lack to organisation, the police were not informed about the rally. This meant that activists were able to gather right in front of the doors of Parliament House, sending security guards into a panic with memories from last year's August 19 rally.
In Lismore on October 18, 3000 people crammed into the Beach Hotel at Byron Bay to attend a rally against the 10-point plan. The rally, organised by Northern Rivers Australians for Native Title, was welcomed by elders of the local Arakwal people to their country.
Speakers included former journalist and local identity Mungo MacCallum, who denounced the plan as racist and a denial of the rights of indigenous people.
Noel Pearson, of the National Indigenous Working Group, described Howard's 1996 election campaign as "cynical wedge-driving rhetoric" that produced a backlash against the least powerful in society, long before Pauline Hanson became well-known.
Olga Havern, also from the National Indigenous Working Group, and Mick Martin, lecturer at Southern Cross University's Gungil Jindabah Centre, also denounced the government's racist attacks. The rally was also entertained by Tiddas and local group RockOnciliation.