Citizen,

I do believe you are serious, well, in that instance I apologise, I have spent too much time arguing with neo-fascists to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, obviously a serious indictment of my cynicism.

I will therefore approach the issue on that basis.

If governmental aides, policy adviser's & senior public servant's would step back and take a serious look at the effects of current (and prior) policy on the situation they would be forced to acknowledge their failure.

The difficulty is, that being educated, the governmental adviser's prefer to deal with other educated (or semi-educated) person's, who normally do not come from the remote communities on which they are found. THese semi-professional agents, generally with no historical, social or familial ties to the communities, are preferred to those from the area, when it comes to administrating the councils etc.

Being educated they are aware (at a basic level) of how policy & politics work, and use the system to their own benefit. Much of the problems inherent upon the majority of communities in the NT derive from pre-existing mismanagement, missapropriation and fraud, by these parties or their families, which prevents them acting in any way to allow a true picture to become evident (ie. they spend their entire time covering up past mistakes).

I have suggested numerous times that a complete audit of all remote & regional communities is needed, with criminal charges, and jail sentences (preventing re-employment in prescribed positions) for persons found to have committed crimes. Unfortunately, the political muscle of the persons with vested interests (or the most to fear) in the electorates of our current politicians (NT) appears to prevent any serious attempt to fix the problems.

Until a complete accounting is made of the past mistakes, and the nepotism and corruption is addressed, I see no way out of the present situation.

Inshallah

2 bob

Hi Citizen,

I repeat, I do not hear anyone, especially Aboriginal commentators, deny the sort of brutality that you describe. Aboriginal women in particular, but men too, have been speaking out about the issues and demanding realistic responses including relevent police involvement but their pleas have landed on deaf ears, more importantly their strategies for crisis support and long term healing have been ignored.

Australia is now in a whipped up state of hysteria about the issue because it was journalists who responded to the people's pleas instead of politicians and funding authorities. Unfortunately media producers have recognised the sensational media value of the situation and run with it. Similarly the federal government has used the hysteria to develop a profile on indigenous issues. But what solutions are arising from all this concern? Where is this hysteria going?

Per capita, fewer Aboriginal people drink than the mainstream yet the public perception is that most Aboriginal people are Alcoholics. This is for 2 reasons, 1/the media hysteria focusing on drunken Aborigines and 2/ Aborigines who drink often do so in public spaces so the public, most of whom have never had a serious conversation with an Aboriginal person, build their perceptions of what they see in public.
As to the cells of violence that exist in many Aboriginal communities such as some Alice springs town camps, this is a similar centralisation of the issue (like public space) that has now, through the media become public. These places are dumping grounds. In terms of town planning and community infrastructure they have been designed as dog pounds. They are refugee camps because the people have had their economic base, family inheritence and their home taken from them. Those who drink themselves to stupor to avoid their life realities live together as there is nowhere else to go.
Not all Aboriginal society is like this and people living like that are often just going through a "phase" and sooner or later many who survive "wake up".
Stereotyping does not improve Aboriginal living conditions nor does it facilitate the "waking up" and healing.

MEDIA ALERT

Calls for a Fair Trial on the Back of Survey Results Branding
Townsville as
Racist

Friday 14th July 2006

Aborigines can no longer receive a fair trial in Townsville according
to survey results to be released today that show a majority of residents
would be unable to expel racist attitudes in court.

In the survey, commissioned by Sydney-based law firm, Levitt Robinson,
over half of Townsville residents claimed they could not disregard negative
beliefs held about Aborigines, even if instructed by a judge in a courtroom
setting.

This social insight brings to light a segregated city rife with racist
views with only one in ten Townsville residents having a positive attitude
towards Aboriginal people in the community.

The survey was conducted during June and July 2006 to demonstrate the
need for the Lex Wotton Palm Island Riots case to be moved from a schedule
hearing in Townsville to Brisbane to ensure a fair and just trial.

“These results prove that the public attitudes towards Aborigines in
North Queensland are hostile and prejudiced. How can an Aboriginal person be
tried fairly by a Townsville jury?” said Stewart Levitt, leading Sydney
lawyer and human rights advocate.

Levitt believes the catalyst for the Palm Island Riots is not acknowledged
by the wider Townsville community with only one in four surveyed correctly
attributing the cause of events to a death in custody.

“Social issues abound within the North Queensland Aboriginal community
and only by building confidence in the legal system can Aborigines have
faith that justice will be done,” said Levitt.

MORE STATISTICS:
* Nine in ten Townsville residents knew of the Palm Island Riots, but
only 5% hold a positive attitude towards Aborigines from Palm Island

* Close to 40% of those surveyed had been affected by anti-social
behaviour with three quarters of those incidents involving an Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander
:
* The survey, commissioned by Levitt Robinson Solicitors, was conducted
by the AEC Group and interviewed 400 Townsville residents during June and July
2006

I think the basis of the problem concerning aboriginal people has most to do with the corrupt aboriginal leaders who showed themselves to be just as self-serving as anyone else with power to abuse, and that exhausted the compassion that most other Australians had. On top of that the aboriginal 'leaders' were protected from prosecution because they had become part of the lawyer/poitician class that always protects itself. The other side was the 'enlightened left' who did not have the courage the face facts when those facts didn't fit in with their moral high ground position. If you can't be honest your high moral ground becomes a swamp.
One good example of how skewed the entire 'idigenous' thing has been is that ATSIC included aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders despite the fact they were completely different groups of people, their only commonality being a very good tan. Humans categorised based on their skin colour! My personal view is that the rate of miscegenation, which is much higher compared to Afro-americans in the USA, is the way toward liberation from the mis-guided glorification of primitive practices that have no relevance in the modern world beyond entertaining tourists. Aborigines trapped in aborigine-only communities bring each other down. If a person tries to get ahead they are called "coconuts", black on the outside but white on the inside. People being treated for how they behave rather than the colour of their skin is maybe not a dream.

Lex Wooten's case arising from the Palm Island riot was moved from Townsville to Brisbane yesterday because the Townsville court agreed that he could not get a fair jury in Townsville.

It is a sad reflexion of the ignorance of Tony Abbott of Tribal Aboriginal people in Central Australia that he has come out with the comment that it would be advantagous to limit the time they spend mourning bereavements and attending ancient and traditional CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS ceremonies . They would interfere with the government's employment programs.
I suggest if Abbott's plans are implimented he could well find himself in a fair bit of trouble for these reasons :
1. There are Australian and International laws preventing RACIAL discrimination.
2. There are Australian and International laws against RELIGIOUS discrimination .
3. Over a period of time this would have GENOCIDAL IMPACTS , as Aboriginal people have their culture based on Oral Tradition which is passed on by the PHYSICAL re-enactment of their history and culture.
ANY move by the Howard Government to limit or make difficult the passing on of their culture would be akin to Hitler burning the books of the Jews during the Second World War.