Sign in a Supermarket in Alice Springs:
"Spend $60 in the liquor store and get 20cents off a litre of petrol"
It is getting close to election time in Australia and Prime Minister John Howard has just discovered that the indigenous Aboriginal people are in trouble. Mr Howard, it should be added, is a slow learner. Most thinking Australians have been telling him that for decades.
The report that moved the Prime Minister to action was called Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle which translates into – “Little Children are Sacred". It details the sad and often appalling stories of child sex abuse on the reservations of Northern Territory. This is not news. When I was in Australia speaking at an international conference eight years ago I was approached by two Aboriginal elders from Western Australia who sought help in trying to prevent the sexual abuse of their children. They recognised that some of this was caused by the actions of their own people but they were equally concerned at the abuse of children by white Australians some of whom were officials and others who regularly visited the reservations to find children. They had approached the police and social agencies but had received no support from any quarter.
Whatever support they wanted, I am sure it was not the kind of thing the Prime Minister is proposing. Using his power to make political decisions in the Northern Territory (It is not a State and therefore under federal control), the Howard solution will be to send in the troops and enforce the locals to give up the booze and live a better life. They will also be forced to learn English.
It is Iraq thinking and will not succeed. The desperate plight of the Aboriginals is the consequence of years of neglect and external abuse. Historically they often been treated like children and sometimes like animals and not as responsible humans. It is only in recent years that they received the right to vote.
Yes it is time the government acted but not in a way which further strips the Aboriginal people of their dignity.
"Spend $60 in the liquor store and get 20cents off a litre of petrol"
It is getting close to election time in Australia and Prime Minister John Howard has just discovered that the indigenous Aboriginal people are in trouble. Mr Howard, it should be added, is a slow learner. Most thinking Australians have been telling him that for decades.
The report that moved the Prime Minister to action was called Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle which translates into – “Little Children are Sacred". It details the sad and often appalling stories of child sex abuse on the reservations of Northern Territory. This is not news. When I was in Australia speaking at an international conference eight years ago I was approached by two Aboriginal elders from Western Australia who sought help in trying to prevent the sexual abuse of their children. They recognised that some of this was caused by the actions of their own people but they were equally concerned at the abuse of children by white Australians some of whom were officials and others who regularly visited the reservations to find children. They had approached the police and social agencies but had received no support from any quarter.
Whatever support they wanted, I am sure it was not the kind of thing the Prime Minister is proposing. Using his power to make political decisions in the Northern Territory (It is not a State and therefore under federal control), the Howard solution will be to send in the troops and enforce the locals to give up the booze and live a better life. They will also be forced to learn English.
It is Iraq thinking and will not succeed. The desperate plight of the Aboriginals is the consequence of years of neglect and external abuse. Historically they often been treated like children and sometimes like animals and not as responsible humans. It is only in recent years that they received the right to vote.
Yes it is time the government acted but not in a way which further strips the Aboriginal people of their dignity.
No comments:
Post a Comment