It's easy to forget how much has happened in a year. Even more so in Indigenous affairs.Somehow, the years seem to melt into each other as we wait for change. 2009 was no exception, even under a Labor government. So to end the year, AMY McQUIRE and MADELAINE SEALEY bring you our annual list of the craziest, dumbest, nastiest, racist and downright stupid events, claims and statements of 2009.
1. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd kicked off the year by breaking a promise few Australians knew the ALP had even made. When asked whether the government would change the date of Australia Day to one that was more inclusive, Rudd said it was a "respectful but straightforward no".
2. Ironically, one of Australia's most prominent Aboriginal leaders - Mick Dodson - won Australian of the Year. MITIGATING FACTOR: Mr Dodson used his platform to call for a national conversation on whether the date should be changed, raising heated debate in the process.
3. Mr Rudd failed to deliver his promised report card on the government's progress in Indigenous affairs on the first sitting day of parliament. Rudd then announced he would deliver the report closer to the anniversary of the national apology - on February 12th.
4. But, that never happened either. Rudd didn't make the February 12th deadline, blaming the Victorian bushfires, which erupted on February 7th.
5. When Rudd finally delivered the report card in late February, it contained no new information and instead re-hashed old election promises such as the commitment to close the 17-year life expectancy gap within a generation.
6. Rudd denied the report wasn't ready to go by the first sitting day of parliament, however inquiries by NIT subsequently revealed the report wasn't actually printed until a day before it was finally tabled in parliament.
7. The UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) called on the Rudd government to report back on its progress in reinstating the Racial Discrimination Act, noting "with concern" the continuation of the controversial aspects of the intervention.
8. Indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin announced the continuation of the NT intervention - a policy proven to be racially discriminatory - on the first anniversary of the Stolen Generations apology.
9. Prominent Arnhem Land leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu did another about-face by once again changing his position on the NT intervention. In 2008, it was a "new era of empowerment" for Aboriginal people. By 2009, the intervention dragged people down to "create more misery".
10. After being embarrassed by a series of promises in its National Platform (such as committing to change Australia Day), the ALP took out the red pen. The party chopped out a large number of its commitments to Aboriginal Australia - namely its promise to implement the recommendations of the 2000 Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. Another big one was the watering down of the long-standing ALP promise of a treaty.
11. Former One Nation leader and legendary xenophobe Pauline Hanson tried to resurrect her political career through a bid for the Queensland elections. But her campaign made more headlines for the fake nude photos The Sunday Telegraph published of her than her actual views.
12. Police reported Malcolm John Naden, the Aboriginal man wanted in relation to the murder of his cousin Kristy Scholes and the disappearance of Lateesha Nolan, was still on the loose in New South Wales.
13. After several delays, the Rudd government finally endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Unfortunately, it failed to fulfil the second half of its 2007 election promise, namely 'to be guided by its goals and principles'.
14. A damaging leak to NIT revealed Jenny Macklin followed in the footsteps of her predecessor - Mal Brough - by instructing all state and territory housing ministers not to hand over federal housing to remote Aboriginal communities until they first secured a minimum 40-year lease over the land.
15. The Australian newspaper reported that the draft report of the federal government's NTER review had been rewritten to take out much of the condemnation and anti-intervention vitriol. According to the paper, the draft did not support the intervention continuing.
16. The final review recommended that the intervention should continue, but with some reform. It claimed that the Racial Discrimination Act should be reinstated, but income management should be made voluntary. It said that alcohol bans should stay in place and that there had been gains in fields such as more police stations and improvements in housing and community health.
17. Jenny Macklin decided to reject the findings of the government's own review by retaining the compulsory nature of income management, using as evidence anecdotal accounts by a few Aboriginal women in the NT.
18. The NT government unveiled its Working Futures policy, which outlined plans to make 20 growth towns into economic hubs and freezing funding to the outstations.
19. NT Labor admitted that it had paid half a million dollars to two Indigenous corporations - one run by the powerful Yunupingu family and the other to an organisation in Wadeye - in order to smooth the roll out of the homelands policy.
20. Jenny Macklin continued her transformation into Mal Brough, offering $138 million to the Tangentyere Council for housing and infrastructure upgrades to the Alice Springs town camps. But there was a catch - they had to sign over the land on 40-year leases. In July, 16 of the 18 housing organisations agreed to the deal, but in their words, with a "gun to their heads".
21. But the Rudd government's takeover of the camps was derailed temporarily after Mt Nancy town camp resident Barbara Shaw took it to court, winning a temporary injunction against the compulsory acquisition and the execution of the deal between Tangentyere Council and the Commonwealth.
22. It was revealed in an explosive leaked document obtained by NIT that Jenny Macklin had been warned by her own department against formally consulting with NT Aboriginal communities over the compulsory acquisition of the land. According to the advice, which was signed and agreed to by the Minister, properly consulting with Aboriginal people would not lead to the outcome the government wanted, would be too expensive and would tie up too many resources. It was also not likely to help a government legal case if a court challenge were to arise over compulsory acquisition once the Racial Discrimination Act was reinstated.
23. The leaks are included in an updated complaint to UN's CERD by a group of Aboriginal people under the intervention, stating that it "illustrated a lack of commitment to genuine consultation" on behalf of the federal government.
24. Concerns began to arise over the NT consultations, with one prominent filmmaker Vincent Lamberti accusing the federal government of employing standover tactics to try and intimidate media during the meetings. AGGRAVATING FACTOR: Indigenous community radio station, CAAMA was escorted from the same meeting by police.
25. In November, the Federal Court handed down its decision on the Alice Springs town camps ruling in favour of the government. Ms Shaw lamented that the 40-year land leases are still not in the interests of the Aboriginal residents and that the wishes of Aboriginal people are still being ignored.
26. The Rudd government continued to make claims it is building houses in the Northern Territory under the NT intervention, which is true, although they aren't houses for Aboriginal people. After two years of the $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP), there has not been one house built for an Indigenous Territorian.
27. As pressure started building, it was revealed in a memo leaked to NIT that Jenny Macklin had been warned of the potential failure of SIHIP about a year before in a private memo between Senator Ursula Stephens and the minister. In the memo, Senator Stephens warned Jenny Macklin that the program would likely not result in any houses before 2011, its Aboriginal employment goals were "aspirational" and would likely not be reached, and the alliance contracting method the program was based on could lead to corruption.
28. The NT Opposition's Indigenous affairs spokesperson Adam Giles claimed in NT Parliament that up to $100 million in SIHIP funds was being wasted in administrative and bureaucratic costs.
29. Political turmoil erupted in the NT after then Minister for Aboriginal Policy Alison Anderson resigned from the Labor party in outrage over SIHIP's failures. Ms Anderson had been told by NT officials that the SIHIP program would probably only end up building 300 homes, about 400 homes shy of its target, and that about 70 percent of the money would be wasted on administration.
30. Although Ms Anderson held the reigns of power, with the opportunity to topple the Henderson government, it was short-lived. Conservative Independent MLA Gerry Wood sided with Labor in a no confidence vote in the government. Labor survived narrowly, with the help of Indigenous MLA Marion Scrymgour, who rejoined Labor after quitting over its homelands policy.
31. One of Mr Wood's requests was that a cross-party Council of Territory Co-operation be formed in the NT. But at the first meeting, Ms Anderson, who was appointed co-chair, failed to show up, criticising the committee and telling the ABC "this silly little committee shouldn't be funded by the Territory taxpayer". She said she was in Sydney, working on real solutions to solve the Indigenous housing problem.
32. In the midst of a Indigenous housing crisis and an asylum seeker "crisis", the federal government decided to shift demountable housing (originally from the defunct Woomera detention centre) set aside for temporary accommodation for Aboriginal Territorians, to the Christmas Island detention centre.
33. The person who exposed the federal government's plans to relocate the housing - the only Aboriginal MLA in the NT Opposition, Adam Giles - went one step further by labelling the asylum seekers "scum" during a speech in NT Parliament. MITIGATING FACTOR: Giles later apologised for his comments, stating the word was meant for the people smugglers, not asylum seekers.
34. What started as speeches by anti-intervention protestors in a Centrelink branch just around the corner from Jenny Macklin's electorate office in Heidelberg, quickly erupted into a violent clash with police. In one instance, a disabled man was pulled from his wheelchair and dragged along the ground by officers.
35. The federal government received a belting from the United Nations after Special Rapporteur James Anaya concluded a visit to Australia by slamming the NT intervention as "overtly discriminatory".
36. The coroner's report into the death of Mr Ward, an Aboriginal elder who died after receiving fourth degree burns in the back of a Western Australian prison van on Australia Day last year, was handed down. It revealed troubling practices such as the fact the fateful journey could have been avoided if "police and the JP... had complied with relevant legislation" over bail hearings.
37. Or, if the G4S (formerly GSL) guards watching over Mr Ward had checked on him as they were supposed to during the four-hour trip. MITIGATING FACTOR: The two guards were sacked and one expressed deep remorse.
38. Or, if the Labor government had acted after being told of the prison van fleet's "parlous" state in 2007, when WA Custodial Services Inspector Richard Harding wrote to GSL with six concerns. MITIGATING FACTORS: The WA Labor Party, who were in power at the time of the death, offered their apologies and leader Eric Ripper said Mr Ward's death would forever be state Labor's "eternal shame". Former Corrective Services Minister Margaret Quirk accepted some responsibility on behalf of her government. The current Liberal government has accepted the Coroner's recommendations.
39. But, to date, no one has been charged over the death in custody of Mr Ward.
40. In fact, G4S (formerly GSL), the company that had the prison van contract in WA, won another multi-million dollar five-year contract in Victoria.
41. Still in WA, in April a four-wheel drive police vehicle ran over an Aboriginal teenager in the regional town of Albany, causing such injuries that he was faced with the possibility of losing a leg.
42. Later in the year, a 12-year old Aboriginal boy was charged with allegedly receiving a stolen Freddo Frog in Western Australia. MITIGATING FACTOR: After a public outcry, the charges were dropped. AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The police still said that it was the right course of action for them, claiming the boy had come to their notice in the past without being charged.
43. It was revealed that Aboriginal men in WA are being locked up at rates 8 times higher than black men in South Africa under apartheid.
44. It was revealed that nationally the rate was five times greater than Apartheid South Africa.
45. This year's Sydney Peace Prize winner, renowned journalist John Pilger, used his acceptance speech to blast Australia on its stance on Indigenous rights as well as Australian citizens for standing in silence.
46. In the same month, another former Sydney Peace Prize winner - Amnesty International head Irene Khan - slammed the government on the NT intervention after undertaking a tour of Aboriginal communities in Central Australia.
47. A London Court heard that Britain had deliberately deceived Australia about the effects of nuclear testing in Maralinga in the 50s, which had poisoned hundreds of servicemen along with the traditional lands of Tjarutja people (who were also exposed to the radiation). MITIGATING FACTOR: The formal handover of the land back to traditional owners is expected to go ahead in mid-December, more than 50 years after the tests.
48. The federal government continued to break its own promise to boost funding to Aboriginal legal aid services.
49. The Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation (QATSIF) began handing out education scholarships, all-up worth more than half a million dollars, to Indigenous students throughout the state. The money was taken from leftover funds from the state's 2002 reparations deal.
50. The Queensland Council of Unions lodged a legal writ in the state district court on behalf of Conrad Yeatman of Yarrabah, who is fighting to recover his decades of lost wages. AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The Queensland government lodged a defence based on the fact it has been too long and that records had been lost.
51. The findings of the coronial inquest into the Malu Sara, which sank in the Torres Strait in 2005, were handed down. Coroner Michael Barnes found that the tragedy occurred because "several people dismally failed to do their duty over several months".
52. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) analysed the coronial investigation into the sinking of the Malu Sara, which killed all five passengers on board, and found that the disaster was entirely avoidable.
53. The claim for compensation for John Saub, the father of one of the Malu Sara victims who is caring for his daughter's children, ran into a road block with the Queensland government claiming that he couldn't apply because he had lodged the claim outside the three year time limit. MITIGATING FACTOR: The Queensland government later reversed its decision.
54. No-one has ever been charged or held responsible for the Malu Sara sinking.
55. This year's Productivity Commission report into Aboriginal disadvantage failed to uncover anything new, including any real progress. Despite hearing the same level of inequality every two years, all sectors of politics respond with alarm and claim that they will do something.
56. The mother of the "Lake Angel" - Aboriginal toddler Dean Shillingsworth who was found floating in a suitcase in a duck pond in Ambarvale, NSW - was found guilty of murdering him. She was due to be sentenced at the time of press.
57. Professor Ross Garnaut uses this year's Eddie Koiki Mabo lecture to raise some troubling consequences of climate change on the Torres Strait. He says that hundreds may have to be relocated from their island homes, stating that projections of a rise in sea levels of 26 cm to 79 cm are possible, making island life vulnerable to king tides and storm surges.
58. A sign stating Australia Day celebrates invasion, murder, rape and theft, is burnt down in Launceston, Tasmania. It had previously been vandalised on several occasions.
59. Former Prime Minister John Howard, who was an adamant opponent of "symbolism" and the Stolen Generations apology, said he had no regrets on his stance in an interview with Macquarie Radio.
60. In the same interview, he also stated that it was necessary to have what "people would call paternalistic measures", when speaking of the controversial NT intervention.
61. Despite the apology, the Rudd government continued to refuse offering full reparations after a Senate inquiry and the establishment of the Healing Foundation.
62. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre released its final report on a reparations tribunal, a device to provide full reparations to the Stolen Generations. The tribunal is also a feature in a private member's bill sponsored by the Australian Greens in Parliament. But despite another apology, this time to the Forgotten Generations, the Rudd government still refuses to endorse all recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report.
63. Failing to "provide a comprehensive response to the Bringing Them Home report", is another broken ALP election promise.
64. In yet another broken election promise, the ALP still hasn't reinstated the full publication of statistics on deaths in custody.
65. The people of Palm Island are still waiting for justice for Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died on the island's watch house floor in 2004. A Crime and Misconduct Commission report into the police investigation is due to be delivered next year.
66. Mr Doomadgee's death is now the subject of a second coronial inquiry after the Queensland Court of Appeal ruled that the 2006 findings of Queensland Acting State Coroner Christine Clements be put aside.
67. Residents of Ampilatwatja walked off their land in protest at living conditions and the NT intervention. They have to date received little feedback from government. AGGRAVATING FACTOR: Despite a serious crisis, Ampilatwatja was not slated to receive any new houses under SIHIP. EXTRA AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The residents are now going to set up a permanent camp at their protest site, seeking donations to build a bore, toilets and showers.
68. The Rudd government misses its self-imposed deadline of October to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA). It is unlikely that draft laws will pass before next year, meaning the RDA is suspended in the NT until at least 2010.
69. The federal government's NT consultations report is handed down. It finds that there was general support for income management, five-year township leases, community stores and porn restrictions and mixed results on alcohol bans. But the findings were in direct contrast to another independent report released that found a lack of interpreters, a lack of explanation of complex legal terms as well as general concern about income management and leases. It found the meetings were not culturally appropriate and didn't give room for comment. It found that it could not be used as evidence to indicate consent of Aboriginal people for the government's special measures under the RDA.
70. The Rudd government finally introduces draft laws to reinstate the RDA into Parliament, in what was supposed to be the last sitting week (Parliament continued debating the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation in the midst of a Liberal leadership spill).
71. In order to make the welfare quarantines non-discriminatory, the Rudd government proposed rolling out compulsory income management across Australia, starting with the Northern Territory.
72. Under the laws, alcohol and porn bans, five-year leases, community store licensing, business management areas powers and law enforcement would still remain as special measures under the RDA.
73. Former Shadow Indigenous affairs spokesperson Tony Abbott, who stated that he would have preferred to be "closer to the main action" when first receiving the role, takes over from Malcolm Turnbull as Liberal leader. MITIGATING FACTOR: He is no longer in the shadow Indigenous affairs portfolio.
74. Abbott is infamous for his past quotes on Aboriginal people - such as calling for a "new paternalism" to address Indigenous disadvantage and calling on Aboriginal people in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in South Australia to forgo mourning if they wanted to develop a "working culture". While Turnbull was a supporter of the apology, until the eve of its delivery, Abbott was not.
75. In a move that even the NT Chief Minister Paul Henderson described as "wacky" the Alice Springs Town Council proposed new by-laws to hit people begging on the streets of Alice Springs with $130 fines.
76. The proposals also included the power for council rangers to dispose of things like blankets that they believe are abandoned. The only problem is, that this included the blankets of the homeless, a large majority of whom are Aboriginal people. The proposals also tried to stop people camping on the dry Todd River, where a lot of Aboriginal people sleep. AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The proposals - slightly altered - eventually passed seven votes to two.
77. A man in the remote Western Australian community of Warburton burst into flames after police officers fired a Taser gun at him. He was carrying a container of petrol and a cigarette lighter at the time. AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The man was charged with assault to prevent arrest and possession of a sniffing substance. The police defended their use of the taser.
78. The NT government began investigating claims that children from Palumpa in the NT were forced to walk through a crocodile infested billabong just to get to school. The claims were raised in a call to ABC radio.
79. A four-year old Aboriginal girl from the Cape York community of Doomadgee died after allegedly being repeatedly turned away from the local hospital. She later tested negative to swine flu after concerns she may have contracted the virus. The family were reportedly preparing to take legal action against the hospital and Queensland health.
80. The first person in Australia to die with swine flu was an Aboriginal man from the remote Aboriginal community of Kiwirrkurra in WA earlier this year.
81. The NT government continued with its plans to scrap bilingual education, a policy rolled out by then NT education minister and Aboriginal MLA Marion Scrymgour. Despite leaving government in protest at the controversial homelands policy, Ms Scrymgour said she had no regrets over her decision on bi-lingual education.
82. After years of trampling over a sacred site, and defecating on top of it, it looked as if Australia was finally waking up to the call to ban climbing Uluru. The proposal put forward in a draft management plan for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park raised another debate over whether Australia should respect Aboriginal sacred beliefs at the expense of a "tourist experience".
83. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was not a supporter of the climbing ban saying it would "be sad" if our international visitors did not get to "enjoy that experience".
84. In December, about 50 Tasmanian Aboriginal protestors were arrested and charged with trespassing in a rally against a Brighton Road bypass, which the protestors say will destroy ancient Aboriginal artefacts.
85. The NT police service let one of its officers off with counselling after he videotaped an intoxicated Aboriginal man being dragged to his feet and told to sing and dance for entertainment.
86. A white Australian who found Youtube fame by doing prank calls using a fake Aboriginal accent and racist stereotypes under the name "Crazy Noonga" continued to upload videos and maintain a dominant web presence. MITIGATING FACTOR: Crazy Noonga's website was shut down and WA police said they were investigating. AGGRAVATING FACTOR: His videos are still readily available.
87. The NSW Ombudsman began investigating after asbestos was found at the Wallaga Lake Koori Village. It was later found that there was asbestos buried in the grounds of the Little Yuin preschool. MITIGATING FACTOR: The clean up began in October this year.
88. The model for a new Indigenous representative body was released after a series of community consultations around the country. The new body will be called the National Congress of Australia's First People but has already drawn criticism, with a former director of the Central Land Council calling it a waste of time.
89. NT Magistrate Alasdair McGregor claimed that Aboriginal women who were the victims of domestic violence had faces "like a squashed tomato" in comments while sentencing an Aboriginal man who kicked his partner in the face.
90. The debate concerning the Queensland government's controversial Wild Rivers legislation carried on into 2009, with some Cape York residents accusing the government of hindering economic growth for Aboriginal people in the region.
91. Five white youths are facing charges of murder after allegedly bashing Aboriginal man - Kwementyaye Ryder, 33 - who died on the morning of July 25. His body was found on Schwartze Crescent, close to Todd River in the Central Australian town.
92. Shortly after Mr Ryder's death, it was revealed that an Alice Springs resident was selling "white power" t-shirts and caps from his car, just outside the Alice Springs Town Council offices. AGGRAVATING FACTOR: At first, residents who raised their concerns over the products were ignored by local police. MITIGATING FACTOR: After NIT broke the story, the man was charged for offensive behaviour.
93. One of the most talented players in the NRL, Aboriginal star Greg Inglis went to court after allegedly assaulting his former girlfriend. The matter has been adjourned until April 12 next year, and Inglis is reported to plead not guilty.
94. Some Queensland Aboriginal leaders protested as the federal government prepared to scrap the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) in their respective communities.
95. The federal government's trial linking school attendance to welfare payments is rolled out in six remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. The scheme was also trialled in sites in Western Australia and the Brisbane suburb of Logan. There is also a similar scheme in Cape York communities under the Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC).
96. The High Court dismisses an appeal by the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people of the Pilbara region in Western Australia against Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), which is run by Andrew Forrest. It regarded a mining tenement proposal over 4,320 hectares of land, which the National Native Title Tribunal last year found had not been negotiated with traditional owners in good faith. FMG had won an appeal against this decision in the Federal Court in April.
97. Machado Joseph Disease (MJD) continues to affect Aboriginal communities on Groote Eylandt at the world's highest rate. In September, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to help combat the disease, which causes the nerve cells to die prematurely in the brain.
98. A parliamentary inquiry into remote community stores found that food is often 20 percent more expensive in remote Indigenous communities, and is often of poor quality.
99. A report released by the Larrakia National Aboriginal Corporation found that an increasing number of Aboriginal itinerants were turning to prostitution.
100. In the Central Australian Aboriginal community of Arlparra, up to 60 Aboriginal people are living in humpies and residents say they are paying up to $50 a week for the "accommodation".
101. It is revealed in last year's Commonwealth Grants Commission report that the NT government had underspent almost 50 percent of its budget allocated to service to Indigenous communities. The Australian newspaper later revealed that the Territory Labor government had diverted almost $2 billion earmarked for Indigenous disadvantage to other services catering mainly to marginal Darwin seats.
*Amy McQuire and Madelaine Sealey are journalists at the National Indigenous Times.
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