Yanner forced to stand down
By Bill Mason
Aboriginal leader Murrandoo Yanner has been forced to stand down from his position as coordinator of the Carpentaria Land Council because of a politically motivated 18-month suspended jail sentence for assault. The CLC is based at Burketown, north of Mt Isa, in far north Queensland.
The government successfully appealed against an original sentence of a fine and community service order.
Because of the suspended sentence, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission wrote to the CLC warning that if Yanner continued as a member of its governing body, future funding would be threatened.
Yanner has appealed against the court decision to impose a suspended jail term. That decision has also prevented him from taking up his position as an elected ATSIC commissioner.
ATSIC has the legislative ability to waive the conditions of its grant to the CLC and Yanner is expected to make an application for that to occur.