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YOUR SAY: Tasmania's discrimination
ISSUE 190 - 12 Nov 2009
ISSUE 190, November 12, 2009: When the Europeans arrived in Tasmania their main aim was to wipe out the entire Aboriginal race using lethal force.
By the 1950's assimilation policies were introduced by the Tasmanian Government, a less barbaric form of attempted genocide. The white Government refused Aboriginal people the right to control their own lives as they felt they knew more about what was best for Aboriginal people, than Aboriginal people themselves.
Sixty years on and these type of policies are as evident today as they were back then.
Michael Polley's recent refusal to let Aboriginal people decide whether or not their flag belongs in the Parliamentary chamber is just one example of the domination the whites continue to have over the blacks in this state.
Nala Mansell-McKenna
State Secretary, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre
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