Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights

The shocking abuse suffered by children in Darwin’s Don Dale detention centre revealed by the ABC’s 4 Corners on July 25 has angered wide layers and prompted the nation-wide demand to take immediate action against the perpetrators and ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again in the juvenile detention system.

The myth of the egalitarianism of Australia is cracking up after 50 years of Liberal-National and Australian Labour Party governments helping the super rich get even richer at the expense of the rest.

Regardless of which major party, or coalition of parties, forms government after the July 2 election one thing we can be certain of is that the struggle for a people's movement will still be as necessary as ever, writes Ken Canning.

"A strike for the freedom of any oppressed peoples is a strike for freedom for all people. The road to equity and justice for my people requires smashing the stranglehold the Liberal National coalition and Labor have on political decision making in Australia."

Suicide by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was a rare occurrence in pre-colonial times. Now, Aboriginal children are eight times more likely to commit suicide than non-Aboriginal children.

To win our struggle we have to build a broad, strong and powerful people's movement. We have to join together and fight for all our freedom.

Sam Watson: "There are challenges facing the Aboriginal rights movement in 2016. We are under concerted attack, just like the trade union movement. We urgently need to come together and unite in solidarity with each other."

Real self-determination will require radical changes in current approaches that largely fail the First Peoples: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities themselves should be at the forefront of driving these changes.