If you are treating this action by the Howard Govt as anything but a political wank for election points, then you are naieve at best.
Any fool can see that the military are being used as tv news hype as it's good footage to see camo wearing giggle hatted cannon fodder walking around trying to look as if they care.. about people left on our scrap heap.
Can you imagine for one minute the need for soldiers to perform medical examinations on children with the aim to find signs of sexual abuse.
Yes it's all a big joke and the joke is once again using the poor the forgotten the wretched. I'm afraid I have a very poor opinion of the australian public, as I didn't hear a national belly laugh rumbling through the land when Howard came out with this joke.
Indigenous australians need... three things. Sovereignty, Power of Veto, and massive compensation.
then and only then will things be better for this country and it's people.
Cheers have a nice day full belly etc. Neil

Neil, touché! I reckon the army should physically examine John Howard (and now Mal Brough) for signs of interference from Hugh Morgan and the mining lobby. They are certain to find that they have been fiddled with many times over and over and with obliging consent.
They've had their beedy little eyes on Aboriginal land for decades.

Rollo, this passage from your piece was enlightening

"While the police, army, doctors and nurses are rushing around the NT “restoring law and order” it is to be hoped that Dr Peter Shergold and his senior bureaucrats back in Canberra are looking at how they too are part of the problem"

It reminded me of this short but profound story;

• On a dark night a man was walking down a street. He came across another man who was on his hands and knees searching the ground. ‘Can I help you?’ says the first man. ‘Indeed yes, comes the reply. I have lost my keys’. At which the second man also gets down on his hands and knees and searches for the keys. After about five minutes they still have not found anything.

• ‘Where do you think you dropped them?’ asks the second man. ‘Over there’ says the first man, pointing to a spot about four metres away.

• ‘Then why are you looking here?’ asks the first man. ‘Because’ says the second man, ‘this is where the light is’.

Shergold et al have been monitoring and evaluating themselves and thus have a preoccupation that focuses only on where they think ‘their light is’.

They are not about to put their own lights out, but this is fundamental to any developing any improvements in the lives of Aboriginal, be they remote, urban or rural.

Having read reports of the Australian Auditor General I cannot agree that 'red tape' is a major contributor to the wastage and misappropriation of much of the billions of dollars allocated for indigenous services over the past 20-30 years.

However there is a good chance that some at least of that 'red tape' was a response to poor governance by those charged with the responsibity to expend the moneys for the purposes for which they were approved.

Over several decades, the Auditor General's auditors have made many recommendations for improvement, including the setting up of simple, robust systems to support decision-makers and to provide the audit trails which were usually missing; and for the training of responsible people in management and simple bookkeeping.

If the author is willing to concede that the agencies set up and largely staffed by indigenous people (and people found to be 'sensitive' to indigenous issues), such as ATSIC were poorly managed and squandered both resources and opportunities to improve indigenbous matters, then there are many auditors reports that would agree with him. Let us not forget (and this is not referring to the author), that many consultants, contractors, advocates and other experts have done very well out of indigenous funding and still do, but for what result?

Of course public service managers can always improve their efficiency, however it is unfair to blame the public service generally for acts and omissions of the agencies and functions that were deliberately set up to exist outside of the normal APS controls and scrutiny, or through their operation were allowed to avoid the scrutiny and accountabilities of 'mainstream' departments.

Another quasi-autonomous bureaucracy to act as a middleman is not required. Rather than more 'show me the money' what about taking up the auditors recommendations to improve governance? Such recommendations were based on fact and have been before parliament.

The fact is that it was never 'politically correct' to request funds accountability and many indigenous leaders and activists alike were always most resistent to any 'outside' scrutiny, however diplomatic and limited. See any parallels in this with child abuse?

Cornflower, which reports have read? Please cite them! Which years were they published, who were the authors? what research did these reports rely on? Who responded to these reports and what did they say?
I know it must give you some sense of personal importance to say you've read this and that just to pump up your own insecurities but you fool me for a minute, and i dare say others here too!

Cornflower, which reports have read? Please cite them! Which years were they published, who were the authors? what research did these reports rely on? Who responded to these reports and what did they say?
I know it must give you some sense of personal importance to say you've read this and that just to pump up your own insecurities but you don't fool me for a minute, and i dare say others here too!
Get a real life mate!