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  • 7 hours ago
Frustration is mounting in Batchelor at the accommodation centre where flood evacuees from Daly River and Palumpa say they’re being ‘treated like prisoners’ by security guards. Meanwhile, Aboriginal controlled organisations are accusing the government of locking them out of site and the emergency response.

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00:02After six weeks in evacuation accommodation, residents from NAUU have had enough.
00:07Every time you go out to go to do your own things, you'll probably just go to the store to
00:12go and get a bit of feed, sign out, sign back in.
00:17Your car gets searched, everybody gets told to get out of the car and they go through the car and
00:23your bag and your private stuff, which is not right.
00:26Fed up with rigorous security checks, James Parry says it amounts to racial profiling.
00:32If you walk into the store, you come back, the first thing they ever ask you, how many bees you
00:37had today?
00:38And you try and tell them, I've never been at the pub.
00:42And that's where the conflict gets flipped, this is where the argument starts.
00:46They're treating us like prisoners and it's terrible.
00:51And he's not the only one.
00:52That's invading our privacy and, you know, like, we're not doing anything wrong, not everyone drinks.
01:02While residents are searched and questioned at the gate before being let in, Aboriginal controlled organisations can't seem to get
01:09in at all.
01:09Three weeks ago, Aboriginal peak organisations sent this letter to the chief minister offering free assistance at the centre.
01:17It went unanswered.
01:18Since then, the government has arranged for university social work students to spend their practical placements there.
01:24Why get university students where they'll have problems, you know, understanding my people?
01:30You need to work with A-Point Group and us, the land councils.
01:34Instead, the Northern Land Council says it has repeatedly been denied entry to the site, despite pre-arranging visits.
01:41A claim backed by other Aboriginal organisations.
01:44I was asked if I was from the NLC and I said, no, I'm not.
01:47And I was allowed to go in and talk to the head coordinator today, Bridget.
01:51But apparently if you're the NLC, you need to give 24 hours notice before you can come down here.
01:58What's going on?
01:59Desperate for answers, for those desperate to go home.
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