Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freire: on the front foot.

The 10am news on the ABC here in Melbourne has just reported that Archbishop Philip Freire, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, has questioned why the Federal Government has linked its intervention in Aboriginal communities to the resumption of land. One assumes this was part of the Archbishop's address last night at the University of Wollongong when he delivered the Inaugural Richard Johnson College Lecture. The Lecture was titled Public Policy and Indigenous Affairs – 40 Years on.

The Archbishop certainly displayed a magnificent, nay Providential, sense of timing. Mal Brough is reported to-day as being most dismissive of the Catholic Bishops. Apparently the Catholic Bishops don't have close and sufficient knowledge. Don't know what Brough's religious allegiance is, if any, but it is clear that he knows nothing of the Catholic bishops and how they know exactly what is going on. Brough wouldn't want to be so dismissive of Freier whose credentials include a stint as Bishop of the Northern Territory immediately prior coming to Melbourne just at the end of last year. Now, what credentials does Brough think he has....? These are his credentials on the parliamenary website. Mmmm....!

Does Howard want the children or Uluru and Kakadu?

Why us? Why now? the people of Mutitjulu are asking.

The answer is not difficult and it comes in four parts:

1. Mutitjulu is accessible. It is close to an international airport.
2. Mutitjulu is visible. Visibile to tourists - particularly international visitors.
3. The people at Mutitjulu have the land on which Uluru is situated and a say in its management.
4. It is happening now because Howard has an excuse put in his hands.

Just as the Iraq War was planned by the neo-cons before George W Bush ever came to power but could be implemented with the excuse of 9/11, so Aboriginal control of land and, above all, Aboriginal control of Uluru and Katajuta, has been a sore point with conservative forces in this nation.

The former CLP Government in the Northern Territory resented Aboriginal ownership and control greatly. And it is not only Uluru/Katajuta that is at stake. Kakadu is as well. Whitefellas want to open Jabiluka. The Mirrar people fight against it - successfully, to date. The people at Mutitjula stop planes flying over Uluru. If they thought it possible without too much angst, they would stop people walking on it. At the moment, they just make do with advisory notices which large numbers of ignorant and arrogant whitefellas ignore.

If the Federal Government can regain control of Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory - and it can wedge its way in by taking hold of community land without compensation - it can take back control of Kakadu and Uluru/Katajuta National Parks. All in the name of child abuse. Then - after the nuclear waste dump issue is settled - the land councils will be razed. Whitefellas rule, OK!