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The Forum > Article Comments > Dealing in hypocrisy - The 'art' of doing violence whilst preaching against it > Comments

Dealing in hypocrisy - The 'art' of doing violence whilst preaching against it : Comments

By Jocelynne Scutt, published 26/6/2007

John Howard's plan for Aboriginal Australia can't work, so why is he doing it?

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Just another conspicuous compassion junky with absolutely no answer to the problem. Jocelynne's big idea is to embrace some stupid idealogical claptrap of the UN; the world's greatest body of do-nothing bureaucratic totalitarians. In other words, Jocelynne is happy with nothing being done, despite all the rhetoric at the beginning of her article. She starts off agreeing that what's happening in Aboriginal communities is terrible but then her true colours shine through illuminating her emptiness. The aim is not to prevent abuse in Aboriginal communities, but to prevent a new "Tampa" for the Howard government.
Jocelynne should try putting substance ahead of ideology for once, and stop getting in the way of real human beings who actually care for people in the real sense of the word.
Posted by bozzie, Tuesday, 26 June 2007 10:41:20 AM
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I have just finished reading the report, It appears to me the Howard and Brough are ignoring nearly all of the reports recommendations.

Of course something needs to be done and quickly, that something should be to implement these recommendations.

"We have a 20-year history of six-month programs"
Gunbalunya resident. (from the report)

I hope this isn't another six month program but alas it seems like it is Mal Brough has already said so.

Unfortunately John Howard has a track record on politically motivated actions close to elections, I sure hope I'm wrong but this appears to be another one.
Posted by ruawake, Tuesday, 26 June 2007 10:58:48 AM
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Connections – When heavy handedness or force is unsustainable for civic life?

We, Australia, entered the Vietnam War following America with ideas of modernisation through Eugene Rostows ‘three stages development’ to economic growth. This was a lethal Top Down approach. It was Ho Chi Minh (who out smarted us) – demonstrating the value of true “civic engagement” (as he set-up hospitals in under ground tunnels), emancipating the cohesiveness, and empowering the capacity of villagers, through Community Health.

Australia went into the Iraq War without a DEVELOPMENT PLAN. The focus was to force a “clean up” inside Iraq, using the military. We made it worse for Iraq’s children, women and their families at ground level. We displaced good community leaders as our suspicion of them, divided their communities, creating additional cultural uncertainty and mayhem.

Unlike Iraq, we know more about our own social, economic and historically-political problems in Australian society, yet where is the evidence?

After 25 years or more of collecting data on Indigenous cultural development, a number of Royal Commissions and the Reconciliation strategy…. Ad Hoc infrastructure delivery…who believes we can rely on the police and a cultural approach from the military.

GET A GRIP!

Cape York has 25-28% unemployment. This is deprivation.

This statistic alone impacts WHOLE families and WHOLE communities at ALL individual levels.

TAFE, New Skills Micro-Enterprise Development. Full Time employment,
Roads – Connecting Communities
Long-term – Community Housing
Health (Alma Ata) is urgently required by all rural communities
Infrastructure – building trust (social and human capital) by building capacity and local cohesiveness at ALL ground levels.

No one can do anything without the a proper resource infrastructure.

We need to look comparatively at what is working, where and recognise WHY it is working…and build on it...

Australia needs to 'get real' - acknowledge a “cross-cultural” approach through SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

The is not the first time we have heard this urgent call for HELP and CHANGE in Australia. Why aint we doing better?

In the 1978 UN Children’s Declaration it was recognised that to HELP Children we must also SUPPORT their MOTHERS.

http://www.miacat.com/
Posted by miacat, Tuesday, 26 June 2007 10:59:24 AM
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I suspect that some of Howard's enthusiasm for taking drastic control over aboriginal territories is to open these up for easy exploration by his mining buddies. Current world reserves of high grade uranium (that which can be used at an energy profit by current nuclear technology) amount to less than 30 years supply at CURRENT USE RATES. That means that there will be nothing to fuel the world's imagined expanded nuclear industry unless more is found. This explains why uranium prices are currently going through the roof. I am sure that Howard sees this as a win-win situation and so has jumped in boots-and-all without considering the true costs or effectiveness of what he has proposed to solve this humanitarian crisis.
Posted by michael_in_adelaide, Tuesday, 26 June 2007 11:10:56 AM
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I'm extremely happy that action rather than talk is finally taking place. Like pretty much everyone else I know it's primarily an election ploy. Reports like the "Little children are sacred" report have been popping up for a long time now. This is not new info. So in light of that, I don't think it's time for the states to play politics with this. The issue is too serious.

I agree with much of Jocelyn’s article. She’s right to be cynical. And I only hope the Australian people follow her lead come election time. But I think for now we all need to put our cynicism aside and start talking about practical and real measures for addressing Australia’s ‘third world’. And Howard’s election ploy may just kick start some robust debate and some real action.
Posted by StabInTheDark, Tuesday, 26 June 2007 12:01:27 PM
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I found the wording of "put an end to the abusive practice of sexual exploitation of Indigenous children by non-Indigenous Australians - particularly men from mining communities in the Northern Territory, along with the Indigenous men who are implicated in this reprehensible conduct."

That's the first time that I'd seen the suggestion that the majority of the problem of child sexual abuse in indigenous communities was perpetrated by men from mining communities. If so then why are the parents of the kids so afraid to speak out about it. Why are others suggesting that the kids are most at risk in overcrowded living conditions - are some miners bunking down in already overcrowded indiginous homes?

Looks like spin to me. My understanding is that the problems are the result of some fairly serious social conditions within some indiginous communities including overcrowding, boredom, alcoholism etc. Trying to blame miners will hardly help find a fix to the issues.

The real question is about the usefullness of Howards measures in fixing the causes of abuse.

R0bert
Posted by R0bert, Tuesday, 26 June 2007 12:07:53 PM
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