Two dead, one injured in 'large community disturbance' on Groote Eylandt: NT Police

Two men are dead and another has been flown to Darwin for
treatment after a large community disturbance on
Groote Eylandt, east of Darwin.

About 3:00pm on Friday, NT Police said they were
responding to a "large community disturbance" at the
township of Angurugu, which has a population of about 1,300.

A team of specially trained NT Police Tactical Response
Group officers were despatched to the island, accompanied
by a number of detectives and a police dog unit.

Two dead, one injured in 'large community disturbance' on Groote Eylandt: NT Police



There's trouble in paradise , and IMHO it's
because of money ....
or rather 'missing money'.

A matter of trust: What happened to $34 million
from Aboriginal fund on Groote Eylandt?
By the National Reporting Team's Alison McClymont and
Kate Wild
Updated Fri at 8:55am

Groote Eylandt Aboriginal Trust official Rosalie Lalara
is awaiting sentencing. (ABC News: Alison McClymont)

It was millions of dollars in mining royalties that was
meant to be spent for the benefit of the Groote Eylandt
community.

Instead, tens of millions were spent on 156 cars and boats,
fridges, a barge, gambling at the casino and charter flights.

www.abc.net.au...


Gold fever is taking it's toll , and my guess is the unrest is
directly linked to the wider community being ripped off
by the trustees of their mining royalties .

Some of the scam purchases are described in the link.
That money could have lifted the entire community
into the 21st century ; but greed and corruption
have spoiled that chance .... for now !

Thanks to Gerard Lazarus for the brilliant photos at Naked Pools




IMPORTANT: Using Content From Other Websites on ATS
MOD NOTE: Posting work written by others

a reply to: radarloveguy

It is rather sad to see a people who are so connected to their land and nature killing each other over money .

a reply to: radarloveguy

What I find crazy is how only $400,000 are left of $34 million. I understand the nature of greed and skimming a little off the top. But you don't take the whole thing! Even leaving half of that could have made a difference. I guess greed knows no bounds...

Unrelated to the fraud. There is a decades old feud that spans generations. The latest spearings are just another part of the ongoing issue.

The fraud investigation with GEAT has been going on for a couple of years. I worked with a company for dealt directly with them and the misappropriation of funds was crazy. You'd head out to Umbakumba and there's be new boats and motors lined up on the beach as afar at the eye could see, brand new v8 commodores and falcons (this is way before the road to Anlyangula was sealed), you get the point. Not once was the funds used to improve facilities or the quality of life for their people.

The other issue of GEAT, and something that affects most every community, is that 1 family rang the trust. So there was favouritism with the handing out of funds, some families who had long standing feuds with the controling family got nothing while others got thousands.

The violence in Angurugu in nothing more than long standing family feuds that flare up on occasion, add to the mix the massive alcohol issues on the island and you have a recipe for these outbreaks

a reply to: radarloveguy

There's trouble in paradise

I suppose you could call it paradise if you like living in a sauna ....

Money and greed a recipe for hell on earth