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The 100 desperate people Australia forgot

Tory Shepherd

by Tory Shepherd

23 Sep 06:00am

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Filed under: Aboriginal Australia, Indigenous Australia, Poverty, Racism, Society, Violence

80 comments

Three weeks ago, in a small town on the NSW coast, a man and his mate were both stabbed during a brawl.

Photo: Anoek de Groot, AFP

The man died.

That brutal act sparked a family feud. The small, tight-knit community, sodden with anger and grief, was then faced with the violent fallout. Chaos reigned. Up to 50 people took to the streets, wielding weapons and venting their fury on cars, houses, people. For two days they raged.

The police struggled to contain the riot. They locked down the town.

People hid in their homes, toilets, relatives’ houses, anywhere they could find. Children hid in their schools. It was smaller, but lasted longer than Cronulla.

More than a dozen people were arrested and the police tried to make the town safe. But families living in the area did not feel safe. They decided to go.

They fled to Sydney, more than a hundred of them including about 25 kids, babies, toddlers, teenagers. They fled with nothing. They still didn’t feel safe in the city. So they, with the help of a small
community organisation, fled to Melbourne.

Melbourne wasn’t expecting them. Melbourne had hardly heard of the fatal stabbing, the riots, the lockdown. It was a world away. So, in a haphazard sort of way, these people tried to crowd into the already crowded houses of their relatives or friends while the authorities frantically tried to come up with other options.

And yet, it was barely reported outside the local media and the ABC until Melbourne freaked out, not knowing what to do with these sudden refugees.

What a scandal. Parents with small children fleeing horrific violence still struggling to find a safe place, sitting around outside for hours in grim surrounds while people flounder around trying to work out what to do with them. The sun setting while an entire state cannot work out what to do with 100 desperate people. No process, not even the flawed one that deals with boat people.

Of course, this is just a trite rhetorical device to point out how differently Aboriginal issues are handled.

Because the riot was in a remote community, not a tree-changer paradise up the coast. The refugees of this riot fled to Alice, then Adelaide, and all along no one was quite sure what was going to happen, and these people ended up sitting on unkempt lawn in suburban Elizabeth while the State Government vented its frustration that they hadn’t known these people were going to rock into town.

Then they stopped the media speaking to the people, although it’s not clear whether that was on behalf of the community members themselves or not.

If it had happened elsewhere, somewhere less remote, richer – if it had happened in a place that more Australians could relate to – this would have been the story of the week, maybe bigger than the collapsing house of cards that is the Commonwealth Games. If it had happened to other people, they would have found hotel rooms or spare rooms with en suites or better help, somehow. And they wouldn’t have had a phalanx of condescending officials telling them not to tell their stories.

In Australia, we accept now as a matter of fact that there is this gap. We know about the health gap, the life expectancy gap, but this is different, a reality gap. A different set of rules, of engagement. So everyone is extra polite, extra careful, and probably extra patronising.

The question is whether this is a good thing – whether cultural differences justify the gap, whether highlighting the horrific situations that occur in remote communities is prejudicial, whether the gently-on-eggshells approach is just being sensitive, or whether this is a discrimination that doesn’t help. At all.

It’s a question of whether we are so inured to things being so shit out there that we use an entirely different set of rules to measure how bad they are, allowing us to most conveniently ignore the problem most of the time, until it lands on our doorstep.

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Most commented

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80 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Doug Rhodes says:

      06:59am | 23/09/10

      This is no doubt a disturbing story,but to say Australia has forgotten to help within 48 hours of the tragedy isn,t exactly true. People from Government agencies will be mobilized to aid and assist to the best of their abilities.Jenny Macklin announced a hefty 5 billion to be spent on indigenous issues,so the issues are not been swept under the carpet. Sure its a massive problem but it,s,better to offer solutions rather than critiques. I think an Alice Springs University , and an Indigenous A.I.S. could be a positive starting point,it should have happened in the 1970,s but now is the time to sow seeds of a positive persuasion.

      Reply

    • Wayne Fehlhaber says:

      09:28am | 23/09/10

      Doug , this frightening situation our own indigenous people are in and the economic difficulties involved in re-housing these displaced people is where our efforts should be concentrated . Instead , we are directing ,
      not millions , but billions of taxpayers funds to people illegally pouring in through the back door.
      The plight of our own people has been largely ignored while the spotlight rests on illegal people smuggling.
      If you really believe the ” hefty $5 billion ” will solve the problems throughout the N.T.  W.A. Qld S.A. and N.S.W. you are wrong.
      You can be sure that a “hefty % of the $5 billion ” will be eaten away by administration and when the remnants are divided among the states , there will not be enough to make the slightest bit of differrence .

    • mareeS says:

      01:10pm | 23/09/10

      Doug, that’s wishful thinking. What happened to the $750m that was supposed to provide remote area housing in the NT? Eaten away by the NT bureaucracy, a couple of new houses and some repairs were the only result of all that money.

      Until Australia gets over the “noble savage” myth and apartheid mindset, and in future applies the same standards and expectations to all citizens, we will continue to have this iniquitous divide between the mainstream and indigenous/ethnic minorities.

    • mickijo says:

      12:07pm | 25/09/10

      Isn’t five billion the amount Kevin Rudd is giving to aid in foreign countries?

    • Harry Who says:

      07:30am | 23/09/10

      Well, you started to shed some light on a hitherto uknown situation - and did nothing towards that aim. Like most journos these days, instead of “reporting” you are trying to win a Pullitzer every time you you put finger to keyboard…who are these people? where do they come from? what may be their fate?....give us a clue please!

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      11:04am | 23/09/10

      It’s not Harry the Dill is it? for if you really wanted to know the ABC was mentioned Harry and yes it was reported online at least, a place called Yuendumu out in the mulga where it’s surprising there is a sizable community out along the Tanami Track way.
      http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/22/3018693.htm

    • Tory Shepherd says:

      12:50pm | 23/09/10

      Harry, that’s because my day job is to report - and you can find out all about the Yuendumu situation from The Advertiser, the ABC or The Australian - while my moonlighting job here is to dash off a few thoughts about an issue. No delusions of Pulitzers here wink

    • Victor says:

      07:32am | 23/09/10

      I wont pretend that I understand why this case has turned out the way it did but to point the fingers at the relevent authorities each time an aboriginal incident arises is really asking too much from fellow Australians.Just one look at the photo above gives one an impression on the way some communities live their lives.And it is no usehere trying to lay blame on the government each time an aboriginal issue arises.The aboriginals themselves should wake up to the fact that this 2010 and not 1010.Time has moved on and so should they, but for some they are still stuck in the past ages.

      Reply

    • Haley says:

      02:47pm | 23/09/10

      How are they suppose to “wake up”.  We have left them behind. In health, education, housing almost every aspect of life and you expect them to just snap out of it and “be normal”.  It is through education and government assistance we can help these aboriginal people. Victor you need to WAKE up we put them in this situation and now we don’t want to have anything to do with it because its all gone pear shaped.

    • PeterF57 says:

      07:33pm | 23/09/10

      No Haley, ‘we’ have not left them behind.  They leave themselves behind by not doing it for themselves, always whining and moaning about their lot in life, when it is mostly their fault.  They have left themselves behind, just lying there with their hands out.  Bloody grow up.
      Please don’t tell me that us taxpayers haven’t forked over countless billions on this, because we have, and all that has happened is they want more and more.
      Once the government truly becomes non-discriminatory in not giving out monies just because you are black, we might see a change.  Ready money will always allow this lot to not work, just like it does the white trash in Australia, the ones on generational welfare.
      There is lots of work in Australia, if you are prepared to do some hard yakka, and yes, it may not be what you went to school for, but it’s a job, instils pride, and allows you to be doing something tangible while waiting for the job you want.  But why work when you don’t have to is their motto, and sadly too many ferals don’t.
      No more aboriginal welfare, no more welfare for those who aren’t prepared to work.  We are all Australians, no blackfella welfare, and let’s hope Centrelink gets its finger out and starts going after these welfare cheats, especially those who have been on it for years and know how to rort the system.
      Haley, people like you are the problem, always blaming those who aren’t at fault, our poor blacks have never had a chance, boobloodyhoo.
      They have had more chances than probably anybody else, with all those billions pouring in, but their so-called leaders just want them kept down in their filth and squalor, so the money keeps pouring into these disgusting leaders’ coffers.
      Bloody wake up to yourself, all you bloody do-gooder do nothings.
      And as you’ll see by my location, I am in the Philippines, living off my pension, which is but a pittance, but a pittance that everybody could have received, unlike other welfare that I can’t get because I am a whitey.

    • Lyn says:

      11:43pm | 23/09/10

      PeterF57 you must be joking. Would YOU like to be Aboriginal Australian? Do you honestly think you would be better off?
      The govt funding is the cause of the problem. To prevent Aboriginals from living traditionally and assimilate them into western society the govt threw money at them. They gave them money to stop them living traditionally, and they succeeded at that. The governments have created a displaced people in their own land - they no longer know how to live traditionally and they never learn’t how to live in modern society (Fringe Dwellers). That may be simple to someone born into it. But imagine if someone else took over Australia and you tried to maintain your own ‘Aussie’ values and they prevented you from doing so but never really let you into their way either as they viewed you as inferior.
      Plenty of aboriginals have jobs and don’t rely on welfare. So YOU stop whining about what you should and shouldn’t get out of the system.
      I normally care about pensioners and their plight but not when they are so self righteous, uncaring and un-empathetic for anyone but themselves.
      And, just in case you don’t know there are plenty of ‘whiteys’ sponging off the system.
      There are many fantastic things being done within aboriginal communities a lot of it could use more govt funding, if the govt was genuinely interested in the plight of aboriginals they could do more. More to fix the problem - and embrace aboriginal culture - the culture they tried to eradicate, and help aboriginal people to stop feeling ashamed of their culture and feel apart of the general community.
      The story in this case seems to be the people who had nothing to do with the riotous behaviour, but no-one was there to protect them. We have that in the form of police on our streets. Why were there no police to look out for the innocent among them? If this happened in any white suburb and other whites were rioting they wouldn’t just say “hey its their own people, not our problem” would they?

    • Solomon says:

      07:41am | 23/09/10

      Yes, let’s throw more money at the problem, or we could blame whitey for being such racist bastards (a good guilt trip always plays well in the media).  Could always blame John Howard or Kevin Rudd and try to get some political milage out of it.  How about someone take it to the UN as a human rights abuse (international guilt trip).
      Then again we could acknowledge that violence has always been part of aboriginal culture and will remain so until this community decides to change.

      Reply

    • Charles Kelly says:

      08:38am | 23/09/10

      SPOT ON Solomon!

      The namby-pamby do-gooder snivel libertarion types have fostered a culture in our society where people simply refuse to help themselves, and nobody accepts responsibility for their own actions. Only once the majority of these people personally accept the responsibility for change THEMSELVES, will change actually happen.

    • Clare says:

      09:35am | 23/09/10

      Do you actually know ANYTHING about Aboriginal culture Solomon? Anything? Traditional culture was strict, but not any more violent than any other culture…there were punishments if laws were breached, but Australian Aboriginal culture was not a warrior culture like Maori or other cultures, or brutal like the British culture for instance. Their culture now is unfortunately a damaged culture….go and spend some time on a remote community like Yuendumu and find out for yourself.
      You are trying to come up with a catchy, sound-bite, oh-so-clever ‘solution’ to what is a very complex problem. If the things that have happened to these people had happened to YOUR family, you would be talking on the other side of your face….or maybe you would engage your obvious intellect a bit more effectively.

    • DougB says:

      11:16am | 23/09/10

      @Clare, you are wrong with your statement “Australian Aboriginal culture was not a warrior culture like Maori or other cultures”. I have been fortunate enough to do some special cross-cultutral training with the Wagiman people of Kybrook Farm in the NT.
      The elders talk of a time, when they would go to one of the boundaries of their clan territory and attack the other clans there in order to steal their women.
      This helped them to prevent in-breeding.
      Aboriginal battles are related throughout early colonial history if you read.

    • AdamC says:

      11:34am | 23/09/10

      Clare, it is true that many early observers of indigenous culture noted the level of violence (particularly against women). However, just as other cultures have changed, Australian indigenous culture also changes, and should be expected to do so. There is little to be gained from modish, romantic portrayals of indigenous culture.

      I agree with the sentiment that a lack of apparent ‘self help’ is evident in these communities. Like many, I worry that we have conditioned indigenous people to be reliant on the state. Notorious practices like ‘humbugging’ and ‘sit-down money’ are symptomatic of a toxic culture of dependency. In a sense, responses like the intervention entrench that culture.

    • rick says:

      01:34pm | 23/09/10

      sorry Clare, but the outcome of ALMOST ANY other culture has been way different - blacks were opressed far more than indigenous australians, and see where are they now - President of the USA. There must be something more than just a series of misfortunate events IOW don’t blame it just on oppression.

    • iansand says:

      01:49pm | 23/09/10

      As far as I know there has not been a Native American Prexy.  Or a First Nations Prime Minister.

    • Matt says:

      05:32pm | 23/09/10

      The situation that aborigines are in is much the same as that of an individual suffering from depression.

      Judging their character doesn’t help.

      Ignoring them doesn’t help.

      Blaming them doesn’t help.

      Forcing help on them doesn’t help.

      Accepting them and providing opportunities for change is about all you can do.

      The worst thing about the situation is that we’re all powerless. This is why people get angry at them and blame them, or angry at the government and blame them. We want someone to blame, but it simply doesn’t help. The aboriginal people, like a depressed person, have issues that will take time to resolve. They need to find a new place in our society that they can be proud of, and those of us who are empowered need to continue to give the opportunity for change to those of them that have the will.

      Suggesting they are more violent than any other people is a little naive smile Try reading some history books Solomon!

    • John GW says:

      07:53am | 23/09/10

      Thank you for this.  I actually heard it on Radio National for the first time this morning.  Government staff were still not talking to the media (less information means more speculation, though).  Just throwing money is not the answer.  The Howard government started spending millions (maybe hamfistedly) and Jenny Macklin has tried to progress the work, but news reports seem to indicate that nothing concrete (forgive the pun) has materialised or else resulted in a few unused buildings.  Just where in this bureaucracy of funding, expensive studies by consultants (apologies, I call myself a consultant), and the busyness of social workers is the blockage?  I believe most Australians want something to be done, and many are willing to do something themselves, but what?

      Reply

    • Davo says:

      07:54am | 23/09/10

      The thing is it wouldn’t have happened in a small town on the NSW coast. Small towns on the NSW coast have things like, shops, factories, employers and employees. People live there because they choose to, but they also take responsibility for their own welfare by getting jobs, sending their kids to school etc.
      Remote Aboriginal communities, by and large exist at the pleasure or the Australian tax payer. Feel free to rail against this statement all you like. Argue about the rights and wrongs of it as this will essentially be a social policy discussion about whether the tax payer should subsidise Aboriginal existence in remote areas where they are unable to look after themselves. But if you want to contest it, please provide an insight into how these communities might function without welfare payments.
      The fact that few if any of the community members are required to take responsibility for themselves and their families sows the seed for the type of situation described above.
      The only way to end Aboriginal dysfunction is to encourage active participation in life, including requiring people to take responsibility for their own welfare and the welfare of their family. Mind you, the exact same prescription can be offered for ending all poverty related dysfunction.

      Reply

    • Matt says:

      10:56am | 23/09/10

      Spot on. It is basic economics that if you subsidise something, you will get more of it. The government subsidises living in these remote dysfunctional communities through the liberal use of “sit down” money and the residents respond to the incentives provided.

      Let basic economics have its way and either people will up and leave to go where opportunities are, or opportunities will arise in that community. Continue to subsidise dysfunction and dysfunction will flourish. This is not an argument based on race, it applies just as strongly for places like Macquarie Fields as it does in Yuendumu.

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      11:28am | 23/09/10

      So that must be why the Liberal Party heavily subsidizes Private Education and Private Health Insurance. I, too, would prefer to have basic economics or the free market have their way in these areas…...Actually that’s a great idea- requiring people to take responsibility for their own welfare and the welfare of their family- No more middle class welfare. I love it.

    • Davo says:

      12:14pm | 23/09/10

      Not sure what the whole “Liberal Party heavily subsidizes Private Education and Private Health Insurance” thing has to do with Aboriginal dysfunction, but now that you mention it, my thoughts are as follows:
      -All government contribution to education should be on a $ per head of student population, regardless of the school being public or private.
      -There should be no rebate on Private Health insurance either, but if I choose to have it, I should only have to pay a Medicare levy based on emergency treatment and subsidised trips to the doc, not elective surgery.
      -Anyone who ran on a platform of ending middle class welfare completely and then reducing income tax would get my vote every time. Welfare enervates society wherever it is distributed.

    • Duff says:

      02:17pm | 23/09/10

      Davo, by “active participation in life” you actually mean OUR life.  Not theirs.  I think this is the point, isn’t it.  We are trying to keep their culture alive by subsidising it.  If the answer to dysfuntion is assimilation, the price is they lose their culture.  IN other words, we exterminate aboriginal culture.  That’s what you’re talking about.  Surely there must be a better way than that.

    • DougB says:

      02:38pm | 23/09/10

      @Duff- Their culture is already mostly lost. Like so much of our own. They need to assimilate and treasure their past, in the same way most other cultures do.
      Dot painting is not traditional.  Red loincloths were introduced my missionaries, who saw the nudity as unacceptable.
      Look at early footage and read descriptions of corroborees, they are much different to what you see today.
      They need to move on and store their heritage.

    • eye4aneye says:

      05:37pm | 23/09/10

      Davo for PM - I agree 100% with everything you said.

    • Steve says:

      08:02am | 23/09/10

      Quiet day from where I am from…

      We have people living in third world conditions, right in our own country and no one cares.

      Reply

    • thatmosis says:

      08:15am | 23/09/10

      Dont care, these people fled because the rule of law was forgotten or worse still thrown aside as they reverted to the old ways of dealing with their problems. They are now an extra burden on the Tax payer because they decided to take the law into their own hands instead of allowing the authorities to do their job. They will get no sympahthy from me. Mob law is usually fostered by all concerned and has no place in Australian society.

      Reply

    • Lindi Lindi says:

      08:19am | 23/09/10

      The ‘incident’ happened three weeks ago…... three weeks to work it out…. All this money spent on Aboriginal Health, Education & Welfare ‘Close the Gap’ programs is mostly in mainstream programs .... paying mostly Non Aboriginal organisations and workers to ‘assist’ communities…..funding ends…..program ends….. what then…. Yes it IS a massive problem .... we DO speak up…we KEEP suggesting solutions….. but no one listens…. we have no or very little more than a tokenistic voice in the consultation process…. and are portrayed as ungrateful and intractable when these programs fail and allllllll that money is wasted…. If mainstream Australians were able to expand their minds and realise that Aboriginal Australia is not an ‘optional extra’.....we are here all the time and so are the issues that exist for us…. not just in remote communities but in everyday suburban Oz ....  we might be able to START talking and finding REAL solutions

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      08:29am | 23/09/10

      I’ve been to this community (Yuendumu ) and others along the Tanami track.

      I remember Yuendumu very well. I had never been to a community where there were signs put up that asked passers through to please not take photos. Close to the one store in the community was a large cyclone fence that surrounded a non-descript building.  I asked the woman inside the store why there was a fence around that building and was told that that was were the woman and children went at night for protection from the drunken men.

      In my travels along the NSW coast, I have never seen anything remotely resembling Yuendumu.

      Reply

    • BK says:

      08:37am | 23/09/10

      Which remote community? Who were the groups? What was the conflict about? What is the history of the conflict? What attempts have been made to fix the problem? People who want to fix these problems need to ask all these questions and more. People who like sitting on the sideline and whinging don’t care.

      Reply

    • Shaun says:

      08:52am | 23/09/10

      Like the way Cronulla was brought into it.  Can’t see the connection considering this is black on black violence.  Maybe the 50 people who took place in the riot should be brought to justice and placed in jail then you can write an article regarding the disproportionate number of aborigines in jail.  I’ve had to flee my own home with my family for fear of violence and I didn’t see the media nor government giving a rats, maybe my skin colour isn’t news worthy.

      Reply

    • Jim says:

      08:55am | 23/09/10

      And yet, when the Howard government started their ‘intervention’, a whole bunch of loonie left art students and socialist journos had a collective pause in their morning latte sip-a-thon and bleated out terms like ‘racism’. They pointed the finger at everyone who couldn’t see the injustice and violations of human rights and said “you are racist”. Much like this article - never mind the fact it was the MEDIA who didn’t see fit to report it…the Australian public are rednecks for not rallying around them!
      How about some of you bleeding hearts get off your arses and quietly slip into a place like West Dubbo, Brewarrina, Walgett, Doomadgee, or Palm Island. No fanfare, no organised visit - just quietly cruise on in and see first hand what happens in these communities. Then go to places like Normanton and Mornington Island, where they take responsibility for themselves and don’t turn to the booze every hour after blaming white man for everything thats wrong in their lives. West Dubbo is a good example - entire new estates purpose built, have been destroyed and look like the slum in the picture above.
      If the police had have called in for back-up to settle the brawl quicker then the media would have been all over that and the cops accused of using excessive force….it’s always a lose-lose situation when emotive reporting is used to grab a headline.

      Reply

    • Max Vaunted says:

      05:16pm | 23/09/10

      Jim, well said indeed. Most of the pontificating is done by sickeningly smug inner city types who’ve never bothered to get up and take a look for themselves. What’s worse, they’re quick to point fingers and call others racist while supporting and perpetuating what is in effect a policy of apartheid. Meanwhile our erstwhile (failed) PM grandstands in the UN, handing over billions of our money to support disadvantaged people in other countries, as if we have no problems of our own

    • Richard says:

      11:46pm | 23/09/10

      Normanton isn’t a purely aboriginal community.  It’s a town that has suffered to some extent as those hell bent on alcohol consumption move there to escape the alcohol restrictions from Doomadgee and Mornington Island.  Mornington Island itself has a host of different problems.  Under alcohol prohibition the locals have discovered how to brew their own and the problem whilst not as bad as it was years ago is still very much alive.  Doomadgee, they just buy the grog from Burketown and sit outside the border of the Alcohol Management Plan area and drink themselves silly at the “family tree”.

    • Richard the Lionheart says:

      09:10am | 23/09/10

      Just tribal warfare. Get over it. There will be worse to come. Look at the fights in detention centres between different races and groups. Desert communities are like detention centres. Many of us yearn for three free meals a day, shelter and welfare forever.  Chance to sit back, read books, play games, educate ourselves, converse, watch TV nd do some art/craft. Things we are unable to always persue until retired. The photo is horific. Welfare poverty is no excuse for filth. Why do my taxes support such sloth, dysfunction and lazyness. No dole without cleaning up their communities. No dole without repairing their roads. No dole without getting rid of discarded vehicles. No dole without civic pride.

      Reply

    • Heath Karl says:

      10:01am | 23/09/10

      Maybe the tax you pay is not sufficient for civic pride? and when was the last time you repaired a road, Richard? and why does the picture so disgust when it clearly looks better than Kings Cross every morning?

      Aboriginals dont get civilisation. We get all our rubbish and put it in a huge pile on the city limits and cover it with dirt. Out of sight…

    • PaulB says:

      10:10am | 23/09/10

      Desert and remote communities ARE detention centres.  They are fenced by distance.  They are devoid of any kind of meaningful work unless it’s provided through Government largesse.  Indigenous people who do try to break out are faced with indifference and obstruction from the White side of the fence, and accusations of “Uncle Tom” from their own side.  With the advent of Alcohol Management Plans in these communities much of this remote hopelessness has now been brought to regional centres like Cairns which are filling up with homeless marginalized Blacks who are drinking and (increasingly) using drugs.  We have seen a marked rise in violent street attacks including rapes of tourists, many of which are not reported (for the Japanese the shame of reporting it is too great so they discreetly shorten their trip and just go home).  The perps are inevitably identified as “Aboriginal or Torres-Strait Islander”.  We see bands of kids wandering the streets at all hours through the night, and quite routinely see our cars broken into and our outside areas ransacked in the mornings.  Its not tribal warfare.  That is a woeful oversimplification.

    • ZSRenn says:

      09:22am | 23/09/10

      Sitting reading this in downtown ZS China I wonder in amazement not at this story but at the fact that this story was never told in AU media. Justin Beiber gets a new haircut sure.

      But real news no way!

      I have noticed this since being here AU does not get anywhere near the quality of news reporting that I get here in China. When I return home I love to wake up every morning to the sugar coated serve that the stations present. NOT!  I now wonder when I catch a train why the happy sunny people of breakfast TV never do the show from a town as described above.

      Is it because bad AU news doesn’t sell and Aussies (Cantonese for S**t by the way. Had to laugh at that during the Olympics) like to keep their heads in the sand about what is wrong with Australia.

      Or are their more fiendish reasons Australia finds itself so monopolized by its so called independent press. Well done punch about time somebody started telling these stories. Wake up Australia

      Reply

    • Elise Kinsella says:

      09:25am | 23/09/10

      Great article, thanks for the piece and your passion Tory.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      09:30am | 23/09/10

      In too many places Aboriginal society is non-existent.  There is no such thing as a social structure.  And this is the result.  There is no point in apportioning blame.  Was it Wave Hill and the destruction of pastoral paternalism?  Was/is it an entrenched welfare dependency?  Doesn’t matter.  There is a huge problem that is a national shame.

      With the best will in the world nothing imposed from outside can change things without cooperation from Aboriginal communities.  There seem to be too few people within the communities actally trying to turn things around.  I think it is time to stop caring about individual rights for a while in search of a way to restore structure to the communities and entrench that most basic right of a stable society.  Without a stable society all other rights are useless. 

      Ban grog.  Link welfare to social performance, whether it be school attendance, swimming pool privileges or maintaing basic hygiene.  And do it for a generation or so, not until someone has a different idea.  Whatever it takes.

      Whatever it takes should be completely bipartisan.  Aboriginal welfare should not be the stuff of party politics.  And it should not be the plaything of bleeding hearts.

      Reply

    • Lady Fong says:

      09:40am | 23/09/10

      How come it took so long before we read about the troubles? Would we have heard if the people hadn’t fled to Adelaide? Perhaps what we need in remote Australia are not only social workers and teachers but more journalists and writers. If they lived the tragic life of the indigenous their reports would be so horrific that some good things would happen. Remember what happened when the war in Vietnam entered the living rooms of America?

      Reply

    • ibast says:

      09:43am | 23/09/10

      It’s footy finals season.  Why would commercial media wan to cover this story?  Australia has become heartless and uncharitable.

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      12:07pm | 23/09/10

      Same story Neil

    • mareeS says:

      01:33pm | 23/09/10

      Neil, it’s the same story, just written in a context that latte-sippers in Syd-Melb might relate to.

      Having said that,  it should be compulsory for every Australian to visit at least one remote community to see the best and worst of life for our indigenous citizens.

    • hot tub political machine says:

      10:12am | 23/09/10

      I can remember hearing a teacher who works out in an extremely remote area talking about the issues with remote communities. He said “Something bad happens, and there’s a moral panic in the media..and then we all move on and (very suddenly crying from a steady voice) …those issues are still there”

      Its complicated, it bloody well is. Its not hopeless but the problems of remote communities aren’t going to be solved quickly and they deserve more thorough scrutiny than just news reports. We need to see the forest rather than the trees…..it doesn’t sit easy with our usual information consumption habits in Australia.

      Just want to put out a correction there to those judging Aboriginal communities for their treatment of women and children. Have a look at the stats for domestic violence and child abuse in Australia – guarantee its happening a few hundred metres from where you go to sleep at night. Child abuse slightly more likely if you live in a poorer area – domestic violence – almost uniquely for a crime, has no socio economic factors. It happens on the poorest street in your city, and it happens on the richest one. Statistically it happens on your block –oh and the stats are usually and underestimation because they rely on official reporting of a crime which usually goes unreported. So before we go judging on how remote communities treat their women and children…..

      Reply

    • Jim says:

      10:43am | 23/09/10

      hot tub….what we read about in the papers regarding violence and assaults in these communities is a very carefully watered down version. If the truth were actually written it would read like a horror story. I’ve worked in these areas, I know (now ex) police officers who still have nightmares. I’ve seen young social workers go up north full of good intentions and wanting to change the world suddenly and shockingly slapped in the face by reality. There was an NT woman (social worker) raped so violently earlier this year that she is now permanently disfigured and has a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. That only was reported once in the media then hushed up. And the assaults are not limited to women and children…anything that moves is a target.
      Until you see it first hand, you cannot comment.
      In saying all that, there are some communities leading the way in stamping out violence and alcoholism.

    • Jordan says:

      10:19am | 23/09/10

      I think it’s terrible that people have to flee their homes, but I’m insanely happy that these people who left with their kids LEFT. That should be the point of this story: that they’re not putting up with this kind of nonsensical violence anymore. The problem lies in the violence happening and the people that just let themselves get abused, so I look at this story with a pretty big smile on my face. Action to get Aboriginals into a better position starts with them; it shouldn’t rely upon non-Aboriginal people telling them what to do, but helping where they can. Playing victim only gets you so far.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      10:30am | 23/09/10

      “Of course, this is just a trite rhetorical device to point out how differently Aboriginal issues are handled.”

      Wow, Tory, we are in agreement.

      I this it is worrying that we have Mad Max-esque dystopian desert hell-holes in this country, which the authorities seem unable to control, and which no-one can seem to sustainably develop. Having said that, I am not sure why there is an expectation that the government can automatically handle these sorts of contingencies.

      Reply

    • Bethany says:

      11:38am | 23/09/10

      If this had happened on the NSW coast, the people involved would have been immediately arrested and jailed for breaking the law. I am sick to death of all this special pleading by ‘disadvantaged’ groups. One law for all and all equal before the law. Is that too much to ask?

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      12:22pm | 23/09/10

      Bethany
      Yuendumu is 300 kilometres from Alice Springs down a corrugated road framed by termite mounds and spinifex.  To get there takes at least 4 hours. There are communities further up the Tanami track that extends for 1000 kilometers until you get to Halls Creek.
      So much for immediately arresting and jailing those who break the law.

      Meet some of these people
      http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/08/14/2335800.htm

    • Bethany says:

      02:37pm | 23/09/10

      Badger,
      Thanks for the link. Four hours then. This went on for two days! If a mob of anglos was terrorising a remote town, the response would be swift and helicopters would darken the sky. Are you suggesting that remoteness and an under-resourced police force is sufficient excuse for parts of Australia to operate outside the rule of law?

    • Phil W says:

      05:44pm | 23/09/10

      Bethany, you are still dreaming!

      There have been mobs of anglos terrorising people in communities.
      http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/16/2984589.htm was on the fringe of a large town.

      Up the road is a town with the police do not man the station any more, they cannot justify the expense. It is an integrated community where white and black live side by side.

      The violence in Yuendemu was probably family against family, not tribe against tribe. Lots of power imbalances exist and lots of sleepless nights in some places, kids hiding in clothing bins because of violence at home. Lot of anti-social behaviour amongst white kids too, wandering the streets at all hours. Don’t get me started on NZ vs aborigine vs ...

    • Bethany says:

      10:44am | 24/09/10

      Phil W, thanks for the link. The ‘mob’ of anglos in your link is five people, two of them 17 year old boys throwing bottles. They were all immediately arrested, charged and taken into custody, which sort of proves my point.

    • Miles says:

      12:05pm | 23/09/10

      It’s quite obvious to all and sundry that these problems are greatly influenced by the presence and mass consumption of alcohol.  But if we were to remove this from these communities (and prevent it’s importation into them), we would surely be branded ‘racist’ or some similar tag before you know it.  So how are we exactly supposed to ‘combat’ these problems if the participants are by no mean willing to help themselves?  Blame everyone you want, but they old adage rings true here - ’ You can lead a horst to water, but you can’t make them drink’.  Ironically, the drinking part is in reverse though…

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      12:31pm | 23/09/10

      Yuendumu has been a “dry” community for more than 20 years.

      It is also a prescribed community - (subject to the intervention).

      Looks like the locals have been struggling with Alcohol, petrol sniffing for a long time.

      Do you blame your entire community when a few individuals exhibit anti-social behaviour and break the law?
      What sort of “water” do you want these innocent women and children who were born into this community and suffer physical and mental abuse through no fault of their own to drink?

    • Markus says:

      12:46pm | 23/09/10

      Obviously many would not as it would affect their business severely, but if a store was noticing that damage done to their premises by drunks was costing more than they were making from selling alcohol, would anything prevent them, as a private business, from choosing to stop stocking it?

    • Khoa says:

      12:17pm | 23/09/10

      I could not believe it. The collapsed of civilization have just began. Looks like we are fed up with both state and federal government for their failures. Particularly all most members of the Liberal, labor and the Greens.

      Reply

    • Ginge says:

      01:39pm | 23/09/10

      It is disheartening, but I fail to see how things can possibly ever improve in remote communities. With no industry, no employment and no possible means of self-reliance they will forever be dependent on being funded by the State.  Its not the money flow itself that is the problem, but instiutionalised welfare dependency snuffs out any possbility of self-determination along with the empowerment of hope that comes with being a master of your own destiny.  I don’t know what the solution is - but I have the undortunate feeling that there just isn’t one.

      Reply

    • Peter M says:

      03:11pm | 23/09/10

      I have lived in the N.T. for over 15 years.  I have visited alot of Aboriginal communities and they are just depressing to go into. Many communities dont have people in authority running these places. Some still have tribal laws, but some are also run by people from outside the community who go in and try and keep the peace within. Alot of Government communities are also made up of many clans of people who have been brought together from different areas to become one community, and this can cause problems, especially if alcohol or someone from another clan cause things like death. Over the past 20 years or more the younger people in the communities are starting to take over the communities and the older people are afraid. In Yuendumu the older people tried to set up dry areas in the community as well as get the kids off the streets at night, but now they are having to flee due to a family dispute.  In the past, like other communities there have been flare up’s of violance and the police have sent special forces into the area to calm people down.  Maybe it is time that these communities were wound down and that the younger people do move into main stream Australia and try and bring the future generations into the present and not lock them away in distant towns, where there is nothing to do but get paid sit down money.

    • DJ says:

      03:05pm | 23/09/10

      The wider problem is the media is reluctant to report any negative stories associated with anyone who claims aboriginality. The media is worried of being painted as racist and discriminatory for reporting on any thing negative about aborigines. this is doing their community no favors whatsoever. This is what has led to the overall neglect of their communities throughout Australia. Pauline Hanson, while going about addressing the problem entirely the wrong way, was howled down for even speaking about such problems by the media. She was ridiculed for pointing out what were facts that aboriginal communities everywhere suffer from. If the problems were given an unbiased airing by the media then, I can only wonder, how much further down the track we would be as a nation in addressing them, nearly 15 years on. Well done, all sections of the media, not only has the government failed Australias first peoples, so have you. Be man enough to address and admit your own failures and contributions to this problem, unlike successive governments, and now start to give a balanced and unbiased and unedited reporting of events everywhere.

      Reply

    • Marilyn Shepherd says:

      03:29pm | 23/09/10

      The most revolting thing was listening to Paul Henderson and Mike Rann talk as if they are the old fashioned “protectors” as they bewailed the aborigines daring to leave a reservation without permission.

      Do they think we live in the 19th century or is the racism entrenched.

      If they want to leave a place they are in danger that is their absolute right.

      And Wayne there is no such thing as illegal people smuggling into Australia because no-one is being smuggled.

      We don’t know that though because our moron media are too busy whipping up lies and frenzies.

      Reply

    • Elliette says:

      05:17pm | 23/09/10

      Lindi Lindi, an excellent post! Also BK’s comment which links to your post.

      We know the problem, but have any of us questioned the solutions implemented over the years?
      Who implements them?
      How is the money spent?
      Is any attempt made to assess on an ongoing basis if these ‘programmes’ are having an impact? ( Managed Income:- two Reports:-no positive impact)
      Are recipients of such ‘programmes’ being listened to? ( Refer Lindi Lindi’s post..).

      Assistance/solutions/schemes are utterly useless-USELESS,-if no assessment is made about their outcomes;- and critically;- if those who are affected are not listened to (paternalism to Indigenous Australia is endemic).

      Government has done absolutely nothing- but has been ‘seen to be doing many things’ over the years.

      THAT is what is important to them; (Government).Their public image. God forbid! that we should find out from those who have come down to Adelaide exactly what has happened.

      Why are they not allowed to speak?
      Would we even care?

      Reply

    • Graham says:

      05:53pm | 23/09/10

      Two words - SELF RESPONSIBILITY. Wow imagine if people took responsibility for their own actions and stopped wanting tax dollars to fix the problems they have created for themselves.

      Reply

    • Marco says:

      06:01pm | 23/09/10

      It’s their culture. Stop being so white and nosey. There is no ‘problem’ to ‘fix’ here. You cannot apply white standards to other cultures. Their current ‘way of life’ is still a thousand times more ‘civilised’ than what went on before Europeans arrived and extended their average lifespan beyond 30.

      If you gave these people one million dollars each, it would not change the way they conduct themselves. There is no white solution to this problem. Because, again, there is no problem outside of a wesernised worldview imposing on a non western culture.

      Just because they live on the same continent doesn’t mean we should change them anymore than we change Papua New Guinean tribes cannibalising each other.

      The more you act like you care, the more they will resent your paternalism. You’re only getting brownie points from other motherly whites.

      Reply

    • I like Noel Pearson says:

      06:06pm | 23/09/10

      I wondered how long it would be before the irrational Ms Shepherd would stick her oar in. Go back to minding your sheep and let the adults discuss in peace.

      Reply

    • Dave Kelly says:

      06:07pm | 23/09/10

      You ned to read the whole story including the murder here in Alice at one of the town Camps. Most of the problem is Family Business and payback.

      Reply

    • Dean says:

      06:10pm | 23/09/10

      Could you plse go back and Report on what the “Brawl” was about, no doubt another meaningless argument about nothing with this mob….

      Reply

    • Greg says:

      06:58pm | 23/09/10

      Poor Tory. It’s getting harder and harder to blame whitey isn’t it? Not that that will stop you from trying.

      Maybe you should look closer to home if you want to find somebody to blame. Of course, nobody can blame the Aborigines themselves. They can’t be allowed to take any responsibility for their actions or be held accountable for the consequences. They are only allowed to be victims, with permanent and unquestioned access to endless amounts of welfare money.

      Do you really think that a bunch of white Australians would have been taken seriously if they had just turned up en masse in a capital city and demanded immediate welfare? No. They would have been lucky if they were placed at the end of a 5 year waiting list.

      Just imagine the media outrage if Aborigines were treated the same as white people. Imagine if they didn’t get welfare on demand or if they actually had to apply for jobs to get the dole. Imagine if they were expected to move to another location to find work.

      It is the Big Media journalists who cover up Aboriginal dysfunction and crime. It’s the journalists’ association who prohibit the publication of racial information when it might lead to criticism of minorities. It is journalists who promote the white guilt trips, demanding more welfare money despite the obvious fact that billions have already been wasted with no improvement being achieved.

      It is journalists who complain that something vaguely needs to be done, and then complain about government interventions, while offering no alternative. It is journalists who complain about so-called “stolen” children, and then complain if they are not rescued.

      There is an obvious solution. Aborigines need to make a decision. If they want to live a traditional lifestyle in remote areas, like they did before European settlement, then they should do so without welfare money just like they did 250 years ago.

      If they want to live in the modern world, then they should be treated the same as everybody else. No special treatment. No dole unless you apply for jobs. Move to where the jobs are. Pay for your own food, shelter and education. Contribute to society instead of being a parasite. Abandon the entitlement mentality.

      Either option will allow them to escape welfare dependency, and gain self respect as well as the respect of other Australians.

      Reply

    • mickijo says:

      03:01pm | 25/09/10

      The worst words that are dragging Australia down and backwards are “asylum seeker” “traditional owner” and the very silly “first nation”. All are used to hit the Aussie tax payer with more and more demands for wasting money.  The only aboriginals who should be treated differently are the full bloods. The rest, the largest majority claiming “aboriginality” should be treated exactly as the rest of Australians with the exact benefits and the exact responsibilities.

    • Richard says:

      07:18pm | 23/09/10

      Happens all the time in any number of dysfunctional aboriginal communities across the country dozens of times per year.  Riots are as common in some of these places as sporting matches in mainstream Australia… Seems to coincide with access to liquor though.

      Reply

    • Craig says:

      09:49pm | 23/09/10

      let me just say to you, your bleeding heart is ill informed…...i was brought up in several remote communitys…...this is nothing new and the police are powerlless if it is on aborigial land…...try arhame land in the NT….Good luck policeing that place…....
      we are talking about places that r 3/4 days drive from anywhere.
      There is nothing there but they stay…...
      so go live in a place like this for 12 months then come back a wright a follow up…...yeah didnt think so.

      Reply

    • Belle says:

      10:07pm | 23/09/10

      The causes- alcohol, drugs, violence, inter-generational poverty and unemployment. Young people who can’t even look after themselves reproducing at a higher rate than any other demographic.
      The solution? Some tough decisions needed- link school attendance to welfare payments; make the majority of payments in vouchers for food and clothing; all people able to work must be engaged in some form of training or community service to receive their payments.
      Then make the really tough decisions- birth control implants for girls until they reach the legal age of consent and have completed education or training; compulsory parenting courses for those having children; ongoing parenting support to ensure children have the best start in life.
      Notice there is no reference to race, it is the catastrophic fallout from a disfunctional section of society that must be addressed regardless of skin colour.

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      04:08am | 24/09/10

      If people help others, it is because it is human nature to do so. If people do not help others, or do not help others adequately, it is because it is human nature to behave in this manner. That is why there will always be cases like this, even if the human race survives another million years. For individuals, it is better to rely on oneself to find happiness within. Looking to others for happiness ... well, help is almost always begrudged, or doled out in a miserly fashion. I speak from personal experience as a onetime child who “fell through the cracks”. No, I did not fall through the cracks; I failed to scale the cliff. My fellow climbers did their best to push me off, and those who already waited above did not see I was in trouble, or were too busy with other concerns to lower a rope.

      Reply

    • michelle says:

      07:39am | 24/09/10

      With all the billions they have been given they should be living the high life by now ,its a joke what about the rest of the 20 million Australians ,all we hear is aborigine this aborigine that ,its our turn now .

      Reply

    • Anjuli says:

      11:07am | 24/09/10

      My area is classed as low social economic ,it was once a lovely neat clean and well looked after suburb, so what has happened over the last 20 years the council or whoever ,have bought up houses and have housed the aboriginal families in them only for the houses that once were neat and clean to become wrecks .  Gardens which were once lovingly taken care of are wilderness, now that there is an over flow refugees they are now appearing so let us see what happens with those homes .

      Reply

    • Harry Webster says:

      11:14am | 13/10/10

      michelle by the sounds of your ignorance i wouldn’t be surprised if you have ever met an aboriginal or been to a community in remote australia. There are some serious cultural problems within these communities and the approach in the way that the money is spent needs to be changed. I still sit back and wonder how in the lucky country the social divide between the city and country is so large. there are people living in slum like conditions in Australia believe it or not. So I think that it would be much better if you people that are complaining about the amount of money that indigineous Australians are recieving to try and improve their standard of living to somewere near that of which the poorer economic suburbs of our cities are living, try and be less of a snob and wake up to yourselves. Thats right I’m talking to you Michelle

      Reply

    • Georgio says:

      12:43pm | 17/10/10

      I am sick of the whiteys who think they know what’s best for Aboriginal communites and their social problems. Has an Aboriginal Australian, I personally believe the govts, colonial & present have a lot to answer for, and individual people need to take self responsibility for their own quality of life.

      Reply
 
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