at last! the 'tampa' has come over the horizon.

People person, good post.

“Hed [Mal Brough] be one of the few Ministers in parliment that was driven by good will and doing his job.”

Yes indeed.

“Anybody who is not behind this - such as The Dems Leader ought not be into politics.”

Absolutely.

For sure - action needs top be taken to protect aboriginal, and any other, abused children. But it would be good to see some positive moves too - like better mental health & rehab care.

Of course it's an election stunt! And - how timely - just in case we noticed that the Howard government is setting up traditional aboriginal lands for nuclear waste dumps. Sure takes our minds off that!

And as well, reinforces any negative views we might have - especially as aboriginal traditional owners are travelling around speaking out against the nuclear waste dumping.
Christina Macpherson www.antinuclearaustralia.com

Here we go, John Howard's Tampa has arrived, and this time he has the full support of the opposition. Whilst I agree wholeheartedly that there is an epidemic, Paternalism will not win the day.

Governments in the past have given the Aborigine people the right to shut themselves off in small communities where living standards and behaviour have been hidden from the general population. All Government bodies have known for many years the living conditions under which these communities live - but chose to stay quite.

The general community are usually only interested in the fact that Aboriginal people receive welfare.

Can some one please advise me as to why the Police should be given the social work job in these commuunities. What the Aboriginal people need is education, education, and more education, then they need to work for their living. We need to get some kind of work into these communities so they will not suffer from bordeom which leads to drinking. Aboriginal people do not need bludgeoning.

And please do not tell me that paedophilia/incest does not happen in white society. Why do male caucasians vist Asian countries? What about child pornography over the internet. Its an epidemic over all socities around the world - all our women and children need to be protected

this is not a national emergency. it's a national disgrace, of long standing. the only emergency here is the lib's sinking ship. and sure enough, "let's all get behind the pm" is heard throughout the land.

instead of saying "let's fix this, and punish the pollies who have presided over this disgrace'" it's "good oh! johnny's our man!"

poor kevvie has to stand there and say me too: "throwing children overboard is disgraceful, there is bipartisan revulsion." poor lad couldn't take the lead on this issue, can someone tell me why?

this is early times, but i see real potential here for a new standard of 'howard coup', relegating the tampa to a mere warm-up exercise.

The alcohol ban should be introduced across the nation. Aboriginals aren't the only group to suffer from alcohol abuse and abuse caused by alcohol. This is a half baked knee jerk reaction by a government bereft of real answers for a real nation-wide problem.