I agree entirely with Dr Scott. There has to be a hidden agenda with the Howard decision.
I think that this jack boot style will not help but will do untold damage to Aboriginal mental health and self esteem. It is questionable if any relationship between "white" Australia and "black" Australia will recover.
Alcoholism is an addiction, what is going to happen when addicts cannot get their fix of alcohol? Where is the social and medical backup.
Before sending in the "troops", why didn't somebody think to send in the many extra needed Social/ Education/ Health workers to work with the Elders, and then, back-up from the police to enforce child protection.
Education and health, proper housing and sanitation should be the number 1 priority.
For their self esteem aboriginal males should be made to work for their government payments.
I truely believe that there are many things the Government could/ should have done before they rode rough shod over our Aborigines.
I am not questioning the fact that there needs to be loads of work done to help the Aborigines but without their input and their efforts to help themselves it is a waste of time. White paternalism is a waste of time.

Dr Scutt provides a fresh breath of air. I particularly agree with Dr Scutt's comment: 'Women around Australia have fought for training of medical practitioners to ensure their sensitivity to the consequences of sexual abuse and the needs of women raped, exploited and abused. When minority age and race are added into the mix, the need for training and sensitivity is multiplied.'

I worked as Deputy Shire Clerk in an aboriginal community council for 3 years. I quickly realised that the key to successful health and community developmemt outcomes is achieved through consultation and respect.

Women Aboriginal health workers played an instrumental role in the sensitive and prompt treatment of health care in the community - from infant care to care for seniors. They had status and their participation was integral to impressive solutions to the prevailing crisis. Aboriginal Police, similarly had an important role in dealing with or liasing with Health Workers and Police over domestic violence.

The role of training Aboriginal health care workers and police was never mentioned by Howard or Abbott. Their Hurrican Katrina exercise with battle ready troops and police stands next to no chance of detecting the hidden scars of abuse from scared and close knit communities terrified of the consequences of resistance and co-operation.

Imposing drastic measures will make good TV footage for Howard's re-election campaign, but little else. The funds for this fiasco could have been far better spent on empowering and stregthening local communities to improve living community standards against agreed performance benchmarks.

Winning hearts and minds is more effectively achieved through education and consultation than force. Community solutions evolve through discussions at school, community meetings, sporting sponsorships and in music, dance and drama. This way, everyone can feel part of the solution. Unfortunately, that's not Howard's way

The sexual molestation of children is awful, however it is just one sub-set of the much broader and damaging child neglect that is endemic in some families and communities, black and white.

Typically, feminists want to concentrate on sex because they can then drop into the familiar groove of women good and men bad. In so doing they are just as responsible as cynical politicians and bureaucrats for the continuation of the epidemic of child neglect that is Australia's shame.

There are many diverse interests who would like to hamper and preferably de-rail action on child neglect, from advertisers of junk food through to the men and women who 'train' children for their own gratification.

If we are not to lose our direction on this and our insistence for sustained change we must never forget that the real target is child neglect. Rubbery terms like molestation only serve to hijack informed debate and mislead the public. There are already legal definitions of child neglect and of 'children in need of care' that the author and respondents could draw from to keep the debate on course.

I fervently hope that John Howard's interest in child neglect is real, which I think it is, though of course there will always be spin in politics. On the other hand prior to Howard's announcement there was no action from the opposition to take the initiative on child neglect, yet they were as aware of the problems as the government.

The danger as I see it is that the opponents of change will again succeed in frustrating change by playing the old racism and discrimination cards.

Quick Response - by all means engage in education and consultation (it doesn't seem to have worked over the past 30 years, but it does sound all touchy-feely and no doubt makes you feel all compassionate and progressive), in the meantime let people who actually care about the plight of Aboriginal children do something meaningful to save them.

bozzie:

With all due respect, without education and consultation you can apply as many bandaids as you like but the wounds will never heal. So perhaps you should take a less sarcastic and dismissive tone in your posts. I agree that action needs to be taken now, but education and consultation need to be a part of ANYTHING that's done, and for you to apply a mocking tone is unhelpful and childish. Also to imply people who don't agree with you don't care about the plight of Aboriginals just goes further to show your intellectual immaturity. Or was your last post just an excuse to get stuck into those damned 'bleeding heart liberal lefties'?

Spot on article Dr Scutt,
Your contribution serves to illustrate the bigotry and ignorance of many opinions to this welcome critique of John Howards hypocritical response to the 'Children are sacred' report.

Even the most one-eyed anti-Aboriginal observer who watches the video footage of TV coverage must surely register third world conditions of unacceptable poverty, overcrowded accomodation and overall deprivation of Indigenous Australians when compared to urban dwellers.

I have lived in the Northern Territory for over 50 years during which time I have visited most Aboriginal Settlements, made many good friends amongst the Aboriginal people and am proud to have a Tribal connection. I have also battled white bureaucracy and fought for Aboriginal rights including Land Rights.

Sure, it's time something was done after so many reports but lets not cloud the issue by an emotional focus on Child Sexual Abuse and alcoholism while ignoring all the other recommendations in the report and critically examining the negligence of Howard's regime in respect to the quality of life of Aboriginal remote area residents.

Of course this is another of Howards dishonest manipulation of an emotional event in his desperation to hold onto power.

For me it represents a rallying cry to get rid his corrupt regime which has ignored previous recommendations during his eleven years in office when his lack of action has contributed to Aboriginal infant mortality, inadequate health and education for Indigenous Australians and living conditions which have given rise to the present crisis

I only regret that he will not have to answer in a court of law for his crimes against humanity. He shares responsibility with G.W. Bush and Tony Blair for over 700000 deaths in Iraq...They hanged Saddam Hussein and sentenced others of his regime to hang for less.