It’s possible, I think, that Federal Ministers will rue the day they orchestrated such a heightened state of interest in their state of emergency. Although media coverage has, for most of the last few days, bordered on the supine, it was heartening to see Kerry O’Brien put Mal Brough under real pressure not just to justify the Federal Government’s blame game of “inaction on the part of the territory” but also to explain what the measures actually involve. Brough appeared barely able to explain what actions would actually be taken, and his retreat into partisan talking points was embarrassing. It’s becoming much more evident that a real attempt to prevent further child abuse (Brough’s stated aim) will involve serious commitment of funds and resources and Howard has promised whatever it takes. It’s also becoming more evident that the claims that there are no successful programs countering child abuse are false, and indeed that’s now being admitted sotte voce by some Ministers. If media attention continues to focus on the on the ground implementation of the plan, and if the pressure for a real not a cosmetic fix is kept up, then perhaps there will be a positive outcome for Indigenous Australians. If Howard has boxed himself into a commitment to working towards ending child sexual abuse, which I think everyone agrees is urgent and desirable, perhaps media and parliamentary scrutiny will successfully hold him to account. In particular, I’d like to see serious questions asked if Parliament is recalled about the alleged necessity of abrogating property rights and compulsory leases. We’ll see. But I suspect that they just won’t get away, now that we’ve moved from debate to scrutiny of the implementation, with a PR strategy sketched out on the back of an envelope.
Howard is supposed to be meeting the Chief Minister of the NT and Queensland Premier tomorrow in Brisbane tomorrow and it is about time he came clean about what his intentions are and the detailed costing of his plan. One thing we haven’t heard this week is what great economic managers they are and producing the costing of this plan.
We have also been bombarded with rhetoric about no alternatives being available and this is evidently not true. Pearson’s report claimed he needed further research into how the welfare money handed over to others was going to work. It’s time Howard and Brough explained these details.
Meanwhile another Aboriginal breaks ranks:
“”People will start howling. I’m nervous about saying it. It is sad for me to be saying it given the history with our people,” Mr Mundine said. “Children need to be removed. Kids have to be in a safe environment. The kid comes first,” he said.”
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/dont-penalise-good-parents-warns-pearson/2007/06/26/1182623909100.html?page=2
We know he is right because stories like this are so commonplace:
“Three teenagers accused of repeatedly raping a 12-year-old boy over five months at a remote Aboriginal community have been committed to stand trial.
They will join three adults in the Northern Territory Supreme Court in August over allegations the group sexually assaulted the boy more than 20 times at Maningrida, about 500 kilometres east of Darwin. The boy says he was bound, drugged, forced to watch porn and raped with a stick from April last year by a gang of 10 locals, the oldest of whom was 39 and the youngest 13.”
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/three-teenagers-face-trial-over-child-rape-charges/2007/06/26/1182623913752.html
I’d have thought the law and order argument implied sexual abusers should be removed (to custody, arrest and trial) not children. Just sayin…
I’d also suggest that you take a look at Professor Judy Atkinson’s arguments about appropriate responses to traumatised children:
http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/comment_results.chtml?filename_num=154957
And then contempate whether just “removing” them (given that the offenders should be charged and themselves removed) would be such an appropriate response.
I’d agree with that. The fallout of this last week’s extraordinary media attention to the issue is that real expectations have now been set. In voterland, where once the issue was seen as part of the natural order, with all sides in the debate now at least agreeing on the necessity and possibility of solutions, this issue may even start registering in the pollsters charts. Hopefully governments of all stripes - like with climate change - will be asked to deliver outcomes.
The reality of placing children into care under normal circumstances gives pause for thought, even regardless of the other implications.
Yep. It was intriguing to hear on the 7 30 Report that the community at Mutitjulu had agreed to have media present at the meeting held today, but the federal government officer had argued against a media presence.
Mark/Kim
Y’all are quick to jump all over Howard’s inaction. Don’t you think that’s a bit rich, given that most for most of Howard’s office, ATSIC was in charge?
I don’t think it’s the sort of issue that will of itself turn up as a vote-switcher, but I do think, on balance, it’s a good thing to shine a torch on government responses to Indigenous disadvantage in an election year.
The Federal Government, on more than one issue, has had a tendency to make policy on the run. Peter Beattie asked earlier in the year whether the Feds could be trusted to run anything efficiently. Since the whole Howardian trend is for direct involvement of the Commonwealth in service provision (and indeed now law and order) the proof of the pudding really will be in the eating.
I was also disgusted at the comment about the Military officer telling the community that “They will be helping the Police by Kicking Down athe doors”, which makes a mockery of the statements that the Militaryu are only being used for Communications and Logistic Support.
A long time before ATSIC was abolished, John, many of its functions were removed from it by the Howard government under the “mainstreaming” agenda. In any case, ATSIC was always subject to direction by the Minister. Note that Brough is now saying his role is more to lay out the political direction, but it’s for the bureaucrats and professionals to implement the policy. There was nothing stopping John Herron, or Phillip Ruddock, from giving directions, or from stripping responsibility from ATSIC if they judged it necessary. It’s not an alibi for the fact that they’ve only recently taken an interest in this issue. In many instances, grass roots programs which have existed to address it have had funding cut.
Actually, Frank, I think the quote was that the military wouldn’t be helping kick doors down. Still waiting for the transcript to go up.
Mark
Sorry, maybe I was asleep when Ginger Clarke and the boys were begging for help with the problems that many of us have known about for years, but only Nannette Rogers had the guts to broadcast nationally.
Links would help.
And the “exclusive” footage shown on Seven News of the Police Escort into Mutitjulu reminded me of this back in 1980:
(see Multinational Monitor, July 1980).
Yes, Frank got that one wrong.
Kerry O’Brien’s questioning of Mal Brough on the 7.30 Report induced the suspicion that the Government had only just learned that it is hard to determine sexual abuse from physical examination, and that it should only be done by forensically trained pediatricians, not by GP Jack or Army Doctor Jill. The ACT’s Human Rights Commissioner has added the point that unless there is benefit (as in follow-up medical treatment) it will violate domestic discrimination laws:
(I guess that is because they’re not proposing to examine the white children on the Aboriginal communities).
John, I’ve provided a link in the post to Judy Atkinson’s piece.
Here’s Jackie Huggins in 2002:
http://www.reconciliation.org.au/downloads/156/Huggins_Violence_Forum.doc
Mick Dodson in 2003:
http://www.law.anu.edu.au/anuiia/dodson.pdf
I can find a lot more with a little googling, but if you have a serious interest, I imagine you’re capable of doing your own research.
It didn’t give a lot of confidence about how well all this has been thought through, did it, Jane?
That’s where I suspect there is an opening for some effective stuff to happen - the yawning gaps in the government’s knowledge and planning.
Since the estimates related to housing alone run into the billions, it will also be instructive to see if the government are prepared to spend “whatever it takes” or not, and how popular this will actually be with their core constituency.
You may well be right, but we’ll see when the transcript does go up which one of us heard correctly, but Kerry did mention that the officer’s choice of words, even if they were just using the vernacular didn’t inspire confidence in the community.
Be more interesting to see whether an ALP government will stay the course with that one. And they, hopefully (fingers crossed) will be the ones put to the test. An ironic legacy for Howard to bequeath to be sure.
Oh, I think they’d have little option, wbb. This could be a very big instance of the “actions have unintended consequences” principle. Of course, Howard et al may try to squib it (I note that Minchin has been insisting it won’t be expensive) but they’ve given a lot of hostages to budgetary fortune in their public statements, and if you call something an emergency, it’s pretty hard to sweep it back under the rug if it doesn’t pan out politically as you might have desired.
Transcript just went up:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s1964020.htm
It is very difficult to establish child abuse through physical examination. There may be no or inconclusive physical signs. The best indicators are behavioral changes - these might only be observable to someone resident in community , one who had established ongoing connections with the people. Brough dodged Kerry’s question about why the government had failed to provide a doctor (who, along with his staff would be in a good position to observe children’s wellbeing) for the last year.
Thanks for pasting that - Even though it wasn’t said to the Coimmunity itself, it is still a disturbing comment as it’s well known that Police are not known for their tact and Judgement when dealing with certain situations and/or groups.
Unsurprisingly, su, since the reason has been a Federal Court action over his previous ill thought out move to take control of the Council. His point about the police station also ignores the fact that he’d previously given a commitment to providing funding to the NT police and squibbed on that. He’s not very adept at avoiding these questions.
I think Howard has wedged himself.
It was pretty obvious the Emergency was more Iraq2 than Tampa2, but now that the details & the enormity of problems are going to be played out on the front pages, at least for the next few months - I am hoping that the Federal Govt. will finally have to put their mitts deep into their precious surpluses and fund long-term programs left, right and centre, once the shock & awe has fizzled out. Hopefully, they wont cut & run!
It will be a great outcome if the Commonwealth, has to finally cough up for decent health, education & housing in remote communities, irrespective of Howard’s intent, or his paternalistic and mostly inexpert approach. Though as you point out Mark, they are pretty good on squibbing, when it comes to writing cheques.
Not having had a really popular opposition for yonks - we’d forgotten what a populist PM like Howard would toss out in the hope of re-election. We’ve had so many backflips & policies on the run since Rudd turned up, it’s positively enlightening.
I’m certainly coming around to that view, Jo.
I think it really does depend on the media, opposition parties, civil society and us humble bloggers to make sure the scrutiny continues though.
jo
No. You people have already wasted in billions of taxpayers money on your cruel Designer Tribalism. Allow me to assure you the overwhelming majority of Australians will demand not one more cent be wasted on these prisons of misery.They will demand to have them closed down.
Open Letter to Mal Brough from the 50 Indiginous & Social Justice Groups.
The Age is leading with an article full of experts that think Howard’s plan hasn’t been properly thought through. One of those experts is none other than Rex Wild (one of the authors of the report that kicked off this whole escapade).
It’s nice to see some reporters finally attempting to evaluate the worthiness of the government plan by actually talking to some experts. [link]
By the way, hasn’t The Oz reached their quota of strawleftie attacks for the week? Sheridan is in on it today. I’m not going to do his article the dignity of a link. It’s just beginning to sound hysterical now. They aren’t even actually quoting anyone to make their attacks anymore, it’s all about TeH Evils of the Australian left or something.
Kim’s already linked to it in the post where she asks if Saint Noel has been Canonised
The only people they quote are Saint Noel & Sue Gordon.
BTW, ABC Local Radio overnights are playing requests of Indiginous Artists - Currently Trevor Chappell is playing Archie Roach’s “Took The Children Away”
Speaking of the ABC, the same program as in my previous post will be talking to Dr Bill Glasson former head of the AMA, and a member of Howard’s Panel after 4.AM EST.
They will also be having Talkback.
Doh! By the way, they are now quoting Warren Mundine. Well, as far as I can tell they are mis-quoting him to support their argument argument about lefties being dumb and stupid and genenerally all that is wrong with Australia.
Mundine said,
which was quoted in an article about division between Aboriginal leaders. [link]
That’s a long way from supporting Howard’s plan and “savaging” those who think Howard is driven by political motives as claimed in this article.
Yep, dissent on this issue is tantamount to treason or child abuse, according to the many and various articles in today’s Oz. Silence is the key.
It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it?
If it happens to be your door that is being kicked down, then the kicker is unlikely to be perceived as the “good guy”.
However, your typical Telegraph-reading, Alan Jones-listening punter might experience quite a frisson of pleasure while watching that footage.
And politically, who is more important?
Reporting troop movements. Tsk.
Actually, Katz, one of the interesting little tidbits in the unauthorised bio of Rudd was mention of some Labor research which found that Daily Terror readers largely discounted the paper’s political commentary because it’s so over the top…
I’m not suggesting all Telegraph readers would react in the same way.
In swing electorates you only need 3 or 4 in a hundred to be positively impressed by an Aborigine’s door being splintered by an army boot to make all the difference politically.
Moreover, “discounting” editorial commentary is a very different thing from being alienated or outraged by it.
This is a roundabout way of suggesting that a splintered door in Wadeye is a net political gain for Howard nationwide.
Oh it may well be, Katz. I was just sayin…
Another rabbit, another hat
“In swing electorates you only need 3 or 4 in a hundred to be positively impressed by an Aborigine’s door being splintered by an army boot to make all the difference politically.”
True Katz.
High dog whistle screech and symbolic, I reckon.
I believe their will be a lot thrilled that, at last, they will be able to finally take the 4 wheel drive into those prohibited lands. Opening things up for mining prospectors, is one thing, but ‘free range whitey tourism’, will gladden the heart of many a frustrated bush basher.
Votes in that, but I hope the army doesn’t make a fool of themselves by forgetting to bring their own doors.
i hope the community of australia wedges howard on the aboriginal issue , we need to hold him to the task , keep him honest to his pledges .
Legislation ready in 3 weeks.
Unwelcome news
Can I take it that ‘practical reconciliation’ has failed?
It’s all alturistic, allegedly
Hey Steve your post of 12.39 links to an article about funding increases for carers of disabled people( which I personally am very happy to hear but I’m sure it wasn’t your intended target).
Su, you are right but there still is the loose association of Brough and Howard bypassing the states, not being able to come up with long term workable solutions, and making themselves not quite the economic managers we were led to believe was possible. It all becomes a part of a familiar pattern.
I just hope Mundine has some actual proof of the following, if not I hope he has a good lawyer.
Mr Mundine made the claim as he slammed critics of the Commonwealth’s plan to curb child abuse in the Northern Territory.
Mr Mundine says strong intervention is needed and he is not concerned about an apparent lack of consultation with Aboriginal leaders.
He says some Indigenous leaders speaking out against the plan are protecting their own interests.
“How do you think these people got away with it for years and years and years?” he asked.
“It’s because some of these people in the leadership and some of these people in these communities are the perpetrators.
“So they’ve been protecting their arses for so long now … we’ve got to be very mindful of that as well.”
Oh Dear, Brough has been caught out telling Porkies
“The Kalumburu multifunction police facility was opened in October last year and is one of nine this Government is rolling out to help deal with community safety and policing in remote areas throughout the State,� Mr Kobelke said.
“I was staggered to hear Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough claim the Federal Government paid for the station.
“He said on ABC Radio this morning: ‘You know, we actually helped pay for that police station’.
“But I know that is not true - WA taxpayers put in every dollar of the $3.6million it cost to build the station.
“WA taxpayers are also paying the ongoing cost of providing the officers that work there.�
Health checks not compulsary now says Abbott as policy on the run continues.
Yep, as Dr Bill Glasson said so on ABC radio Overnights - he basically told Brough & Co forced examinations were not the way to go.
Me thinks the SS Titanic , currently sailing in the Henley on Todd, is slowly heading towards that big Iceberg.
Well in Brisbane it is either the calm before the storm or the issue has lost oxygen and died. The Beattie meeting finished at 5.00pm and the Martin meeting with Howard was before that and so far the journalists can find nothing to write about.
Looks like the pronouncments last Friday may have been a bit hasty. There is more concern in the local media about Brough’s latest disability ripoff than the ‘National Emergency’ in the NT.
Do you have another link for that Steve? Nothings coming up on my news alert. So have any of the state ministers responsible said something about the Feds not funding ongoing service provision? I’ve seen the stuff from Disability advocacy groups.
su, its here
Abbott says health check wont be compulsory..ABC
Perhaps I spoke too soon with this post:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/pm-considers-longterm-solutions-to-abuse/2007/06/28/1182624074275.html
On the health checks, from Crikey today:
Re last post; we get an inkling of just why Kerry O ‘Brien couldn’t get a straight answer out of Bruff last night.
Funny, I was musing about what the coalition women were making of it all, just before I came online. But it seems Abbott is the one who may have learned from past mistakes and thought things out a bit carefully, instead.
Leadership beckons?
Have have a laugh at the “embedded” journalism from the “Zone” last couple of nights tho- so indicative of the whole clumsy and ill thought out antic.
Maybe Mundine, Devine jnr and a raft of others will be quietly rethinking things a bit tonight.
Not a chance.
Btw - i hear Prince WIlliam harbours a desire to be our GG.
(as above)
Here’s some background on Mutijulu from August last year.
It’s interesting that Judy Atkinson has been training the very type of people that will be needed.
If you are interested in some background on Judy herslf go here. From the transcript:
Relatedness, relationships, uniting hearts and establishing order. It can be done.
Shamaham is still singing from the Rodent’s Manual
Sterve, here is Martins written response tonight (cross posted on the Grog thread before i read your post.)
It seems that the stakes have just been raised in the Howard Brough poker game with the Fed’s Pearson being raised another Pearson by the Queensland Government yesterday.
Brough has decided that not only is the medical testing announced last week sunk, but also the whatever it takes financially promise was noncore.
So an attack on NT Housing costs and whether they are part of the plan to stop sexual abuse and whether the plan should be short or long term anyway is the best he can do at the moment.
ABC latest on the Pearson trial in the cape.
Pearson’s approach has two essential differences from what Brough seems to be contemplating.
First, Pearson wants to take payments from only those who are not acting responsibly. Secondly he is setting up an institutional structure where Aborigines themselves will decide.
Brough seems to be saying he’ll do it to designated communities as a whole, but the criteria for deciding which is far from clear.
BTW I heard an interview with Aidan Ridgeway yesterday. He made it very clear that Pearson was not speaking for all Aborigines. He indicated that by Pearson’s criticism of anyone, black or white, who queried Howard’s approach, Pearson was in effect assuming such a role.
The good news is that if the ADF are heavily engaged in playing kick-to-kick with kiddies in Mutitjulu, then they cannot possibly be expected to fill the hole left by Gordon Brown withdrawing British trops from Basra.
That seems preety right Brian. His institute’s website is here.
I suspect that they just won’t get away … with a PR strategy sketched out on the back of an envelope.
How naive, Mark. Of course they will - well at least until after the election.
If I was Howard I’d be pursuing a strategy of repeated ‘mini-Tampas’ like this. In fact I think that is exactly what he’ll do, especially as Rudd’s advisers don’t seem to know how to respond (Keating was dead right on them, BTW) and most of the press can be depended upon to be supportive (to put it mildly).
I don’t think it’ll be enough to get Howard back into government because people are just sick of him, and many will start to see through the tactics. But it’s his best chance.
Land Grab?
I don’t think it is too hard to work out where this whole exercise is heading.
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/29/1965919.htm
WRT Aboriginal land title, it looks like Ratty has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
How embarassment!
And it seems Noel Pearson has been taken along for the ride as well.
It was never about the Abused Kiddies at all, it was all to appease Howard’s Uranium Push and giving Niners access to that land cause the Blackfellas would’ve blocked them from digging that Yellowcake out.
No extra funding either, must be the cheapest Landgrab in history. Makes a blanket and a couple of beads look extravagant.
Yep, sure looks like I was giving them far too much of the benefit of the doubt. Oh well, back to grubby politics as usual, it seems.
What I want to know is how come the Friday Morgan Poll hasn’t been posted yet? It has been out between noon and 6.00pm for months now.
Yeah, I’m hanging out for it as well - I wonder if the footage of the troops playing Footy with the kids will affect how people respond to Newspoll ?
A lease in law is a contract between a landowner or lawful occupier of land, and a second party who, for consideration paid to the landowner or occupier, is allowed the use of the land subject to the terms and conditions of the contract.
For a contract of lease to exist there must be agreement between both parties.
Pardon me, but if the indigenous owners of the communities agreed to any lease of their land I am yet to hear of it.
What I did hear was a unilateral declaration by Mr Howard that the Liberal Federal Government would take over possession of the communities and usurp the indigenous proprietors’ rights over the land.
Excuse me, Mr. Howard but you, as a suburban lawyer in another life, are being too cute by half,
What you are imposing is compulsory sequestration and acquisition, without compensation, for an unspecified and undifined period, which you anticipate to be five years, but which is subject to extension, such extension perhaps being subject to some nebulous , vague and unformulated discretionary compensation, if in your absolute opinion, it is warranted.
That is the distilled essence of your pronouncements on this issue, pure and simple.
Your proposal is contrary to International Law and various UN Charters and International Treaties to which Australia is a signatory.
I should not be surprised, adherence to International law and universal principals of human rights has never been your strong suit.
You Sir, are a disgrace to the Commonweath of Australia, to you profession, and to the Australian Community.
I think I’ll close off comments on this thread, as there’s now a new one:
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2007/06/29/indigenous-state-of-emergency-one-week-on/