(cont)

As far as solutions go, I despair because of the refusal of so many public figures to accept that the basis of all this violence is cultural. Yes alcohol and drugs makes it worse.,yes colonisation has made it worse. But culturally it is normal and as long as we keep people living in isolated communities with little Influence from the the larger society it is going to continue.
Last night I was watching a video of the Paul Murray Show, about violence in communities. He had a panel of 4 people, I don't know who they were,but one man had all his statistics on precolonisation violence ready. The percentage of female skulls examined with one skull fracture, the number with two or more fractures. Listing of first hand documentation of the violence witnessed by the first white arrivals. He made a good case.
Then jumped in a female panelist with the usual..... But, but, but what about all the alcohol, and drugs and loss of culture, and stolen generation etx etc. we can't say violence is cultural because we can't compare then and now.
Sorry, but we can. If it's culturally acceptable to beat th crap out of your women, regardless of what kids get injured in the meantime, then yes, that is relevant today.
And Joe, I know what you mean about kids being used in fights. When I first went to work in the children's ward at Derby hospital I was stunned by the number of babies who came in with depressed skull fractures. Three and a half years at the Adelaide Children's Hospital and never saw one that wasn't from a car accident, in first 10 months in Derby I saw 6. The women used to hold them up as shields.
And then there are incidents like the woman who threw her 10 month old baby hard onto the concrete at a bus exchange in Darwin because her husband wouldn't give her money to get on the bus with him.There used to be a cctv video of it but it has recently been removed.

There is a lot of research on which people are more likely to be victims of DV. While we can infer that people from the same groups are also more likely to commit domestic violence, there does not seem to be much actual research on the topic. We can't truly understand DV without a clear idea of who is being violent.
It seems that Aboriginal Territorians are more violent, but we don't know if all Aboriginal groups are equally violent and whether they are more violent than non-indigenous people with the same social problems.

Hi Benk,
I don't think there are any groups that have comparable social conditions to Aborigines in either remote communities or living in the long grass around Darwin and other towns.

Those are qualitatively different conditions to those in urban concentrations of poverty within our cities.

If you look far back enough you will find violence and abuse reduces as a society evolves and the rule of law is applied more evenly.

DV appears to be the last outpost where violence is tolerated, but as even this tolerance evaporates, sad and sorry thugs of men who as children saw their fathers beat their mothers with impunity, find that they cannot, and end up with criminal records and scorned by society.

In remote aboriginal communities where law enforcement is infrequent and hobbled by politics the results are entirely expected and dramatic.

And it doesn't get any better: this, from a dear friend in relation to Elder care:

"Another aspect of this tragic mess is elder abuse, in many families and communities. 2 elderly people were given places at Old Timers in Alice Springs; their families took them back out because they did not want to part with the oldie's keycards, basic cards and access to income management.

"Old people received powercards which is 2 lots per year each 6 months worth $570 of cards so $1140 per year. As most of the old people are pushed outside their homes under a tree they get no benefit from them.

" Family members receive carer's pensions to care for a nominated family elder. Unfortunately Centrelink do not offer guidance on the requirements of the carer, so they live elsewhere and do not give one minute of care to the person. It is just another form of disposable income they receive.

"All the oldies were made by Centrelink to get keycards, many of the old people have never seen their cards, nor would they know their pin numbers as the families have them, use them and the oldies get nothing.

"They will steal clothing, food bedding from the elderly. Recently the clinic bought a bed for one of the oldies in less than 24 hrs a young bloke had taken the bed and was using it."

So, whose shame ? WHO should be ashamed ?

Joe