On the same day that Victoria announced a separate-but-equal Koori County Court, the South Australian government released the Mullighan Report on Aboriginal welfare in the northern part of the State.
The Report is deemed so shocking that it comes with a warning label “WARNING: This report deals with allegations of abuse of children while in state care and in places contains graphic details which may be distressing.”
Sadly, there are no surprises, just a continuation of the horror that we have already seen in the Northern Territory and Queensland. The abuse is largely of Aboriginal children by Aboriginal adults or adolescents. It is widespread. Outside the family groups but within the community, there are sections on S-x for petrol, S-x for food or marijuana and S-x for money for gambling. There were cases of abuse within families.
We have now had similar reports or situations in SA, WA, QLD and NT.
This s-xual abuse of Aboriginal children has to be stopped now. Period. If cultural factors are the reason then the culture is wrong and must be changed. More likely is the total breakdown of family and community values. This is not a Third World problem, it is much worse.
Let me spell it out clearly. There is now overwhelming evidence that Australian Aboriginals living in remote communities s-xually abuse Aboriginal children, sometimes their own. This is not the White Man abusing them, this is their own people.
The only solution on the table is the Federal intervention launched by the Howard Government and apparently supported by Rudd. It must be extended to all Aborigines in all parts of Australia. The Australian Constitution gives the Federal Government power to make laws for Aborigines under section 51(xxvi). The power is there, it must be exercised now.
Let me make two footnote comments.
First, when Jenny Macklin was in opposition I particularly disliked her as the typical extreme-Left trendy politician. I was pleased that she lost the Deputy’s job to Julia Gillard. Well, I was wrong. As Minister of Indigenous Affairs she has been strong and magnificent. She is Labor’s Brough.
Second, we should put aside the signing of Treaties, more saying Sorry, 2020 Summits and other futile symbolic gestures. Let us develop a 12-year plan of action to save the Aboriginal children. In 2020 we can then all celebrate our success together. If we cannot start today, the Aboriginal race will be destroyed by 2020 and there will be no need for symbolism, just mourning.
Support completely Jenny Macklin assessment.
I must say this is a very good article, straight to the point and born out of genuine desire to stop this terrible business. By contrast, the comments by Prue and Sean reflect the Left’s total inability to come to grips with what is happening and why. Their tired old preoccupation with”white Christians” and the “them vs us ” paradigm is not only irrelevant, its dangerous. Please, no more Commissions of Enquiry. Just act!
Further to Sean’s comments, an ABC news story on 12 February 2008 contained the following statement:
“Child Wise has collated research showing one in four girls and one in seven boys experience some form of sexual abuse.”
Now, if you do the maths (assuming an approximately equal proportion of boys and girls in the population), that equates to around 20% of children in Australia experiencing some form of sexual abuse.
If this is true, surely we cannot single out the NPY lands as “shocking” with rates of around 14% discovered by the Mullighan report. While 14% is undeniably not acceptable, it is significantly lower than the rates in general society if the Childwise figures are to be believed.
Are the figures dodgy or is there a double standard operating here?
Any remedial action taken against paedophilia that is not applied equally to all sections of our community will only serve to perpetuate racism and the ongoing marginalisation of Aboriginal Australians. There is also overwhelming evidence that white Christian religious officials engage in the same abuses. It is easy to stigmatise those percieved to be the “other”. It is apparently more difficult to apply the same standards to “respectable” religious institutions. It is incumbent on our Federal Government to appoint an inquiry that will generally address paedophilia and the associated practices of child pornography rampant in Australia, if we really want to address the issue in a considered way that avoids racist moral panics in the process. My bet is that the incidence of these crimes stretches up and down the demographics and back in time to the original white invasion.
There’s a dodgy double standard operating here!