Uniting Church in Australia
Northern Synod

Intervention/Stronger Futures

The Stronger Futures debate in Parliament will resume 18th June. This gives a few more weeks to seek changes to the legislation.

The Stronger Futures legislation is a series of Bills that will determine what programs the Government implements for Indigenous communities for the next 10 years. The Bills are an extension of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Act 2007 (the Intervention), and will extend the discriminatory measures by up to a decade.

 If passed, some of the discriminatory measures that would be introduced through the Stronger Futures legislation include:

•   suspension of social security payments for parents whose children do not attend school regularly; 
•   up to six months imprisonment for breaching alcohol bans in communities; 
•   a continued ban on the use of Indigenous customary law in bail and sentencing decisions; and 
•   income management programs to be extended to five new regions.

You can download the Call to Action Kit at http://www.unitingjustice.org.au/justice-for-indigenous-australians/information-and-action-resources/item/851-stronger-futures-call-to-action

 The kit includes background material on the Stronger Futures legislation; advocacy strategies; information postcards to distribute; and a form letter to complete and send to politicians.