Article item posted on Friday, June 26th 2009 at 7:27 pm

Reconciliation Victoria will be forced to close its office at the end of June unless the Victorian Government reverses its decision to discontinue funding. The Australian Democrats are urging members, Supporters and the public to write, phone and email the Premier calling for his personal intervention.

Reconciliation Victoria rejected an offer made by Aboriginal Affairs Victoria to temporarily fund the organisation for an interim period of 12 months because it was conditional on Reconciliation Victoria ‘merging’ with Stolen Generations Victoria.

This offer was inadequate and inappropriate and lacked consultation. To use money allocated for Aboriginal services to do the work of reconciliation would undermine the relationships Reconciliation Victoria has with the Victorian Aboriginal community.

The funding has amounted to just $200,000 per year and the Government’s decision fly’s in the face of its public commitment to ‘closing the gap’ in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage and health outcomes. If we don’t close the gap in our relationships we will never close the gap in health outcomes.

Reconciliation Victoria works to promote an inclusive Australia, which encourages and educates non-Indigenous Australians to value the rich and vibrant living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The government’s decision sets Victoria apart as the most regressive state on the east coast: New South Wales and Queensland have announced funding boosts to their peak reconciliation bodies.

You need to act NOW, as time is literally running out on this issue, to steer the Brumby state government’s reckless abandonment of our First Victorians.

What you can do:

Visit the Victorian Division website at: http://www.vic.democrats.org.au/vic-articles-170609-save-reconciliation-victoria.html for more information and campaign resources or use the links below to write, phone and email Premier Brumby.

Download and add your personal touch to this letter: http://www.vic.democrats.org.au/RVcampaignletter.doc

You can also download a text file here with full details (email addresses are removed from this post for protection against spammers, but our download contains full documentation): Download By Clicking Here.

Premier, John Brumby
Level 1, 1 Treasury Pl, Melbourne 3002
03 9651 5000
Fax: 03  9651 5054

Send copies to:

Deputy Premier and Attorney General, Rob Hulls
Level 3, 1 Treasury Pl, East Melbourne, 3002
03 9651 1222
Fax: 03 9651 1188:

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Richard Wynne
Level 22, 50 Lonsdale St, Melbourne, 3000
03 9096 7722
Fax: 03 9096 9225

Minister for Community Development, Peter Batchelor
Level 20, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne, 3000
03 9658 4660
Fax: 03 9658 4631

Contact your local MP
Find your local member of parliament here:
http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/mlas1.html

Write a Letter to the Editor
The Age:
Editor Email Address Removed Please see download above.
Herald Sun
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/editorial/letter/
Write to your local newspaper.

Contact Talk-back radio
3AW (693) with Neil Mitchell 8.30am – 12noon
03 9690 0693
774 ABC with Jon Faine 8.30am – 12noon
1300 222 774

Background Information
* What Reconciliation Victoria does
http://www.vic.democrats.org.au/RVbrief.doc
* Government arguments for not funding
http://www.vic.democrats.org.au/RVgovtarguments.doc
* Richard J. Frankland letter of appeal
http://www.vic.democrats.org.au/RVfranklandletter.pdf
* Campaign information and FAQ
http://www.vic.democrats.org.au/RVcampaign.pdf

More information
* Reconciliation Victoria:
http://www.reconciliationvic.org.au/
* Antar (Australians for Native Title & Reconciliation)
http://www.antarvictoria.org.au/saverecvic.html

Letter to copy and paste.
To avoid copying unwanted code, paste first into a text editor such as Notepad, then into your email message.

—————————————————————————————–
The Hon. John Brumby
Premier of Victoria
Level 1, 1 Treasury Place
Melbourne VIC 3002

Dear Premier Brumby,

I am dismayed to learn that the funding status of our only state-wide reconciliation organisation, Reconciliation Victoria, remains unclear.

On 14 May, Reconciliation Victoria were informed that funding was to cease on 30 June, 2009. Yet only four days later the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee that funding for the next two years would be provided through the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, but reduced and eventually “merged” with Stolen Generations Victoria.

This ’solution’ is unacceptable. Neither Reconciliation Victoria nor Stolen Generations Victoria were consulted about this proposed ‘merger’ and funding should not be diverted from monies set aside for services and programs to the Aboriginal community.

To take money from the Aboriginal Affairs budget would imply that Reconciliation is “blackfella business,” for Aboriginal people only. Reconciliation concerns all Victorians, and must be funded outside the Aboriginal Affairs area. Money should not be siphoned away from Aboriginal programs and services, such as Stolen Generations Victoria, which desperately need government support.

Support for Reconciliation as a matter for the whole of State Government has long been Victorian ALP policy. In a 2000 statement, the Bracks Government wrote that it viewed: “reconciliation as an ongoing responsibility of Government that needs leadership and support to ensure that the process of reconciliation and its key themes of respect, understanding and addressing the past are embraced by the whole Victorian community.”

And on 19 August, last year you signed a Statement of Intent to “Close the Gap” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancy. You committed to “working collectively to systematically address the social determinants that impact on achieving health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.

These social determinants include racism, stereotyping and cultural misunderstanding, factors which Reconciliation Victoria is uniquely positioned to address.

What has changed to make your Government now desire to close the doors on the State’s peak reconciliation body? Successive Federal and State Government reports have called for state-based reconciliation groups, and the imperative for greater understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is greater than ever.

For the past eight years, Reconciliation Victoria’s staff, council and countless volunteers have worked tirelessly for reconciliation in this state. Through organising events, as well as its referral service, school visits, education conferences, public awareness campaigns and its acknowledged role as a key player in negotiations between key stakeholders, Reconciliation Victoria plays an integral role in bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians together.

I strongly urge you to intervene to return Reconciliation Victoria’s funding to its previous three-year period. Also, the funding level must be consistent with the volume and variety of work Reconciliation Victoria undertakes.

Your personal intervention to ensure funding through the Department of Premier and Cabinet would send the clear message that you and your government are sincere about reconciliation in Victoria.

Yours sincerely,

—————————————————————————————–

Thanks for making a difference,
Australian Democrats Victoria

Tags: aboriginal affairs victoria, aboriginal and torres, aboriginal and torres strait, aboriginal and torres strait islander, aboriginal community, aboriginal services, australia, australians, brumby, business, campaign resources, closing the gap, democrat, democratic, democrats, health outcomes, indigenous, money, new south wales, personal intervention, public commitment, reconciliation, torres strait islander, torres strait islander peoples, victorian division, victorian government, victorians

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