from Our Foreign Desk

THOUSANDS of Australians converged on Melbourne’s business district yesterday to protest against government plans to forcibly close remote Aboriginal communities. 

It was the largest of dozens of rallies held across Australia and globally yesterday.

The Western Australia state government announced in November that it planned to shut up to 150 remote Aboriginal outback communities, saying it could no longer service their needs properly.

The announcement drew the fury of Aboriginal and human-rights advocates, who insist that the government should be strengthening communities, not closing them.

Right-wing Prime Minister Tony Abbott further inflamed tensions in March when he outrageously claimed that it was a “lifestyle choice” for Aboriginal people to live in remote communities and that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for these “choices.”

Yesterday up to 10,000 people marched through Melbourne chanting “shame, Abbott, shame,” “no pride in genocide” and “always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”

Organising group Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance said: “We reject any government attempt to … ‘do what is best for us.’

“We want full and genuine recognition of our unceded sovereignty and will not rest until this is achieved.”

About 1,000 people protested in Perth, including Amnesty International indigenous rights manager Tammy Solonec.

“For far too long the remote indigenous communities have been underfunded and treated different to regular gazetted towns and cities,” she said.

“That has to stop. These remote communities want and deserve the services other towns get like schools and roads and hospitals.”