Australia: shutting down Aboriginal Tent Embassy

Tent Embassy neat

ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey today criticised Territories' Minister Jim Lloyd for setting up an advisory group to negotiate the shut down of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in front of the Old Parliament House.

"The Minister wants to replace the Embassy with a memorial, and - as reported in the paper today - he has selected a group to help him do just that. However, the real work of advocating for Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander people is just as important now as it was when the Embassy was first set up 30 year ago" Dr Foskey said today.

"There is no shortage of memorials for Indigenous people around this country, but it is actually their living cultures that we need to support."

"And to those people who argue that the Tent Embassy is an embarrassment - as reported in the Canberra Times today - I would say that the health of Aboriginal people is an embarrassment to Australia but the Tent Embassy, which is very neat and welcoming campsite, is something we can be very proud of" Dr Foskey said.

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