Mission protest arrests

Press, 11 April 1978, Page 8

Mission protest arrests

NZPA Brisbane; Three clergymen who spent the night in a Brisbane police cell after being arrested at a civil rights demonstration on Sunday have pleaded not guilty to a charge of having disobeyed* a police direction. They were arrested with 10 others at a demonstration against state interference at the Aurukun Aboriginal mission, a matter which has brought the Queensland Premier (Mr Joh Bjelke-Peter-sen) into conflict with the federal Government. During a march from a rally they had held earlier, the protesters were stopped by the police who ordered them at first to stop .singing and then to stop humming and finally to stop whistling. Before starting the march they were ordered to roll up placards protesting against state interference at the mission. Later the police said the protesters could play football in a park they had gone to but could not ■sing gospel songs. Some moved out on to the footpath but others sat down with the clergymen and were carried or dragged from the park.

The charges will be heard; at a later court hearing. In Canberra the Prime Minister (Mr Malcolm Fraser) has agreed to talks in Canberra today with the Queensland Premier on the future of the state’s aboriginal reserves. • • A row blew up when the Queensland Government tried to take control of the Aurukun and Mornington Island missions, both rich in j bauxite, from the Uniting Church, which runs them. The Federal Opposition leader (Mr Bill Hayden) has urged the Federal Government to acquire the land on which the reserves stand. “The Prime Minister must i realise that n dealing with the Queensland administration of Premier Bjelke-Pe-tersen he is dealing with a group of people dominated by an unscrupulous ‘get-rich-quick’ mentality,” he said. Meanwhile Mr Bjelke-Pe-tersen, at the week-end accused the Uniting Church of seeking profits from bauxite exploration on the missions, • which are former reserves. | “The Federal Government, ; the militant Aboriginies, I the Uniting Church, and the Australian Labour Party

are trying to put our Queensland aboriginies back on reserves,” Mr Bjelke-Pe-tersen told a National Party central council meeting in Brisbane. “Their ultimate aim is to grab our two reserves at Mornington and Aurukun and grant land rights and mineral rights to the Church.” The Church has denied the accusation.