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They’re not faring well and the answer’s not welfare

Lainie Anderson

by Lainie Anderson

25 Sep 05:55am

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Filed under: Aboriginal Affairs, Aboriginal Issues, Food, Poverty, Welfare

46 comments

Teenage mums in Adelaide’s northern suburbs will soon lose their welfare payments if they don’t go back to school.

Amata in the APY Lands. Pic: Adelaidenow.com.au

Local federal MP Nick Champion asked for his electorate to be included in the Federal Government’s tough-love trial. As he says: “We are not doing anyone any favours if we do not help teen mothers finish school.”

I’m sure many of you are nodding in agreement. It’s hard to argue with a program designed to empower kids with knowledge and skills, instead of cursing them to a life of welfare dependency in the blind belief that they’ll rise up from entrenched disadvantage when they’re good and ready. But if conditional welfare is acceptable for white girls in the northern suburbs, why is the State Government so squeamish about the issue in SA’s Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands?

In recent weeks this impoverished stretch of South Australia has been likened to drought-ravaged, war-torn Somalia.

It’s emerged that while the State Government is creating market gardens in the desert, the Red Cross has been handing out emergency food parcels.

APY locals haven’t sat back on this: the Mai Wiru indigenous initiative has asked for $80,000 to help with a long-planned program to introduce voluntary food cards in six stores across the APY Lands.

Their funding request got knocked back. And in an unfortunate coincidence, we now hear that an SA Aboriginal Affairs Department bureaucrat has been suspended for an alleged spending spree on printer cartridges for gift card kickbacks – the bill for just two months was $80k.

Like so much to do with Aboriginal affairs, everyone agrees there’s a problem but there’s no consensus on a solution.

Take the issue of income management.

Some believe a voluntary scheme is the only way to go. The Mai Wiru food card program, which attracted federal funding for the software and infrastructure and now just needs the $80,000 for the actual cards and marketing, is one example backed by many in the APY Lands.

Others believe compulsory welfare quarantining is essential to stop the ingrained culture of ‘humbugging’, where people have no choice but to share their wealth with extended friends and family – instead of prioritising their monies for food to feed their kids.

Still others believe the Cape York style of Family Responsibility Commissions is the best plan of attack, empowering local leadership panels with the responsibility to guide dysfunctional families and ultimately take charge of their finances if parents aren’t shaping up.

If we can’t agree on which of these three programs will work, why not start immediately with the voluntary scheme? Give it three years. If incomes are still being squandered and children still aren’t getting enough healthy food to eat, move to the next level.

Surely that’s better than getting another three years down the track and finding we’re no further than ‘deliberations’ on the best option.

But sadly, inaction is sanctioned by the rest of us.

Aboriginal affairs is not a vote winner, and perhaps more essentially it’s not a vote loser. On the whole we simply don’t care about indigenous issues unless white South Aussies are directly affected by, say, a Gang of 49 crime spree.

And in textbook Rann Government crisis mode, MPs would rather accuse the media of sensationalism (and the opposition of destroying bipartisanship) than admitting to any kind of policy failure.

Acting Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tom Kenyon, who’s standing in for Minister Grace Portolesi while she’s overseas, has rejected the concerns of indigenous and social inclusion experts to say there is no food crisis.

Food parcels, he says, are sometimes handed out in his own middle-class electorate of Newland, so what’s the problem?

The problem, Mr Kenyon, is that like most of us you’ve never been to the APY Lands. Ignorance is bliss, isn’t it?

The SA-based Sight for All foundation, which works to curb blindness in Third World and outback communities, is helping to raise the $80,000 needed to introduce the Mai Wiru food cards. To donate, visit their website and click on ‘make a donation’.

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46 comments

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    • acotrel says:

      07:53am | 25/09/11

      ‘If we can’t agree on which of these three programs will work, why not start immediately with the voluntary scheme? Give it three years. If incomes are still being squandered and children still aren’t getting enough healthy food to eat, move to the next level. ‘

      Surely we cannot have anything ‘voluntary’ where there is taxpayers’ money involved ?  Let’s have more coercion !

      Reply

    • Super D says:

      08:09am | 25/09/11

      Irrespective of race, when a girl under 16 gets pregnant 2 childhoods are destroyed and 2 lives are destined to not reach their potential.  Of course there are examples where with family support young women with children are capable of educating themselves etc but lets focus on the 99% of cases where education ceases and long term unemployment ensues.

      The prevailing “wisdom” is that the best place for a child is with it’s natural mother - irrespective of whether the mother is 13 and a child herself or an older dysfunctional meth addict.  It may be a little confronting but in some instances never seeing their natural mum again could be the best thing that ever happens to a baby.  Though the “Stolen Generations” meme ensures that children, particularly indigenous cjhildren, are left in dysfunctional households.

      Perhaps the answer is free contraceptive implants for young women or even a no-baby bonus.  I reckon giving all Australian women $2000 at 14, 16 and 18 if they’ve not had a baby would be an incredibly cost effective measure.

      Now I want to recognise that everything I’ve written above is completely sexist and totally absolves men of their responsibilities.  This is because discussions of these sort of problems need to be held within the parameters of how the world actually works rather than some progressive utopia.

      Reply

    • Bev says:

      12:01pm | 25/09/11

      Perhaps the answer is free contraceptive implants for young women

      Good idea. Girls are responsible (barring accidents) for their own contraception.  They know the possible consequences of saying yes to sex if they have not adopted some method of contraception or insisting the boy does. They have a free choice if they conceive, carry it or abort.

      totally absolves men of their responsibilities

      No he must pay child support regardless. Men get no say about pregnancy.  Sure he can keep his zipper closed but she can equally keep her knickers on so that argument doesn’t wash.

    • BJ says:

      02:54pm | 25/09/11

      Bring on the male pill. Perhaps between the two of them, they can manage to get it right.

    • Elizabeth1 says:

      06:09am | 26/09/11

      Bev - I don’t understand why you believe men have no say in pregnancy. I have always told my son that he should take care of his own contraception.  Also protects him from STD’s.  He can’t control his partner but he can be in control of his own actions.  He knows, just like everyone knows, that having sex with a woman may result in a pregnancy.  If that were to happen he would have no choice but to support his child. I would have no choice but to support his child, my grandchild.  There are always consequences for actions and sex carries some of the biggest.  I did think your description of poor oblivious men blundering around accidently impregnating women (“I don’t know how it got there” or
      ” teddy did it” ) was quite funny. That a man would be outraged to discover that he was going to be a father after he deliberately ejaculated his sperm into a woman makes no sense at all.

    • Space Pigeon says:

      11:08am | 26/09/11

      Mandatory contraception until it is demonstrated that the person is responsible enough to care for themselves and a child. Will save many lives, take a huge strain of resources, and will get more kids finishing school.

    • Adopted says:

      11:26am | 26/09/11

      As someone who is adopted I very much believe that adoption is a wonderful thing and should be more common. I do believe in many cases children are not better with their natural mum I certainly would not be. It should never be done without consent of the mother though it should be considered a valid and ethical choice.

    • *sigh* says:

      11:57am | 26/09/11

      Mandatory contraception? You’re kidding right?  Are you aware of what hormonal contraception can do to a woman’s body?  Especially young women’s bodies???  Since forcing them to take the pill is impossible, they’d have to get injections or implants.  If you think it’s ok to force a child to be shot up with drugs that can have very serious side effects, you’re insane.

    • Roger says:

      11:59am | 26/09/11

      Elizabeth1
      Condoms have a much higher fail rate then other forms of contraception even with perfect usage. Condoms break and can fall off. Women can also also lie or be reckless with their contraception. Condoms should be used to avoid infections unless both partners have been tested or are virgins,though they are not adequate as the sole source of contraception.

      Certainly any sexually active (heterosexual) male should be aware that they could impregnate somebody and have a degree of responsibility. But males are far from equal females have more choices every step of the way. They can insist their partner wear a condom. They can take the pill of have an implant or use a diaphragm etc. They can have a morning after pill if they have unprotected sex. They can have an abortion. They can adopt the child. They can tell the father or not. They can get child support payments.

      A male contraceptive should be a higher priority for society. Right now the only major choices we have are:
      Abstinence (unlikely)
      Vasectomy (expensive, impractical and drastic)
      Condom (ineffective)
      Trust (fine if your have a trustworthy partner but not other wise)
      Other methods such as withdrawal (even more ineffective)

    • Elizabeth1 says:

      04:49pm | 26/09/11

      Roger - the only safe option would be condom. They are not so fallible “Three pregnancies resulting from 8,300 acts of condom use is a remarkably low pregnancy rate (.04 %) when calculated on a per-condom basis”
      http://www.sexedlibrary.org/index.cfm?pageId=788
      method failure or wrong size is the most common cause of condom failure, not the product.  The male pill is still a fair way off.  They have had success but it also makes men impotent making it irrelevant.  The male reproductive system is very complex.  They have had so little success in overcoming the erection issue that I know it is getting difficult to get funding to keep going.  I agree that men should have a right to hormonal contraception.  But unfortunately hormonal contraception is a tricky business and always has side effects. Mens side effects are that they cant have sex unfortunately. Women have strokes and thrombosis. There is always a price to pay.

    • Thomas says:

      08:50am | 25/09/11

      ‘But if conditional welfare is acceptable for white girls in the northern suburbs, why is the State Government so squeamish about the issue in SA’s Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands?’

      I guess in 2011 you’re supposed to answer that question even though every adult on planet earth knows the answer.

      Reply

    • MarkS says:

      09:44am | 26/09/11

      Because the bleeding hearts expect young white girls to act in a responsible manner & are willing to force them to do so if they do not, but do not expect the same of young black women. And they have the gall to say those who disagree are racist.

    • Paulb says:

      09:45am | 25/09/11

      pregnancy is shared around in a number of aboriginal families as a means of raising welfare money for the family.  Physical maturity is the only criteria whether it be 16 and over or thirteen - fourteen.  See it all the time working in public health system here.  Thank you welfare State

      Reply

    • Nick says:

      10:37am | 25/09/11

      Nick Champion, you absolute champion. Let’s end this horrible welfare state and become a properly functioning country again.

      Reply

    • Geoff says:

      12:58pm | 25/09/11

      Wish there was a ‘like’ button!

    • acotrel says:

      02:30pm | 25/09/11

      @Nick
      let’s also end subsidies for the wealthy ?

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      03:30pm | 25/09/11

      Yep let’s end John Howard’s middle class family welfare state- no baby bonus, no family tax A and B, no government funded maternity / paternity leave, no child care subsidies. I’d love to hear the middle class howl in fury.

    • marley says:

      04:43pm | 25/09/11

      @Shane - I’m middle class and I wouldn’t howl.  Course, I’m past the age of baby bonuses and don’t get a nickel from anything else anyway.  I’d rather see my tax dollars going to people who really need it - and I’d put disadvantaged aborigines near the top of the list - than to anyone “middle class.”

    • Fiona says:

      05:41pm | 25/09/11

      You have heard of the child endowment, pitiful amount though it was that everyone got while they were raising their kids. Don’t know just how far back it goes but I remember my mum telling us about it and we were born in the 60s…..

    • Demoman says:

      05:21pm | 26/09/11

      Can we then lower tax on the middle class?

      I’d rather have them breeding than the low classes or importing immigrants.

    • Julia says:

      11:28am | 25/09/11

      The lack of comments on this article compared to others might give credence to the statement “on the whole we simply don’t care about indigenous issues”. But I think it’s more to do with the frustration and exhaustion many feel about the way “indigenous affairs” have been handled ,and continue to be handled, by governments over the years. I can’t get my head around why Grace Portolesi is so opposed to the Mai Wiru suggestion. I honestly don’t know what she’s thinking, but sadly this is representative of the kind of non-thinking and lack of leadership that we have come to expect from Ministers for Aboriginal Affairs. As much as I may have disagreed with elements of the NT intervention, and the way it was implemented, at least it was decisive and was a clear statement that we cannot continue to allow people to live in such appalling conditions in Australia in the 21st century. Grace Portolessi’s market gardens are a bloody joke.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      03:09pm | 25/09/11

      I think people care about the issues, but are at a loss to identify solutions.  With aboriginal people themselves so divided about what they want and the future they see for themselves, and with so many self-interested academics, bureaucrats and politicians in the mix, it’s very hard to see where we go next. 

      One thing that occurs to me is that we should pay more attention to how other countries are dealing with aboriginal issues, and what works and doesn’t work elsewhere.

    • Dave C says:

      11:53am | 25/09/11

      I agree totally, if they are going to quarantine a certain percentage of welfare for Aboriginal people because it is believed that it will be wasted then it should be done across the board to all welfare recipients of all races colours and creeds (except old age and students).

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      02:35pm | 25/09/11

      @DaveC
      I agree.  I’m a 69 year old student, so I’ll be alright Jack.  I’m aboard, pull up the ladder ! If the bludgerrs can’t be individuals and extort a decent living from others by subterfuge or cheating, why should we better people care wha t happens to them ?

    • PTom says:

      02:54pm | 25/09/11

      I agree let’s quarantine all welfare and then we should dumb veteran, old age and student, as welfare help no one.

      The fact that a single mothers can raise 3 university graduate, with no real education herself while on government handouts is meaning less. Action should only be taking where it is need.

    • stephen says:

      12:25pm | 25/09/11

      Just the other day it was determined by DNA that the indigenous population is as old as the hills, and may I suggest that if it wasn’t for cotton shirts, bottled alcohol, and utes, they might still be mistaken for a 60,000 year old tribe.

      It’s time for bring our ancestors into the modern world.
      Noel Pearson 6 months ago in The Oz said that ... ‘we should be listening to what they (the Aboriginies) are saying’.
      But we have been listening and it is not working.

      Unfortunately, displaced populations should adapt to new conditions.
      That’s the way of the world, and the Aboriginies should ignore their past, and, like everybody else, (and it shocks me how many computer literates are into ‘Primitive Man’, as if pity and a fake awe will uncurdle the milk) should move with the times.

      (And If Mr. Pearson is so smart, get him to teach you the english language, so that you can at least get for what you ask.)

      Reply

    • Max, of Rocky says:

      01:50pm | 25/09/11

      We do not have the answers yet.

      Our governments have failed time and again, it seems they have not learned anything.  The old paradigms have not worked, dump them !

      What are the individual aspirations of these people ?
      How do they wish to live ?
      Where do they wish to live ?
      What are they prepared to do toward their lifestyle ?
      What do they want for their children’s future ?
      Do they understand that the “handouts” are just that and it is far better to get a “hand up “?
      etc, etc, etc

      They need to take possession of their own futures.  We need to help them do it. 

      Those on Aboriginal lands are sitting on potential goldmines, they need help to become independent.  Only then will their self-esteem get a lift.

      Negotiate a life contract, give them a help up, if they stumble and fall, help them up.  Persist !  The more switched on ones will get the message.  It may even take a generation or two, time and persistence are great tools.

      Our soldiers in Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan are doing a great job helping the locals, surely that is one clue ?

      Reply

    • Drive by Heckler says:

      02:17pm | 25/09/11

      Living on handouts adds little heat to the furnace of human economic activity, in fact it probably cools it a tad.  However, an uneducated, undemanding and meagre existence may be more beneficial for our planet, than another go getting corporate plunderer.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      07:07pm | 25/09/11

      If you’re thinking of a Marxist re-evaluation of common life, (as anyone under 45 grand a year should be)  then you can forget about hunter-gatherers as being an example of ‘food for all’.
      Indeed, the West’s preoccupation with the ‘noble savage’ is holding us back.
      The New Millenium relys on a stable Capitalism to furnish its goods, and our insistent harping over forgotten worlds, (worlds that brought us flame, animal skins as fashion - blame the French for that - and the groan - blame the Swedes for that - ) can only return us to the most primitive form of consumption : that is, one minus the surplus.

    • palone says:

      02:30pm | 25/09/11

      Ten comments at the time of this post. Says it all, really.
      These people had their own lives but we, the civilised ones , decided to “bring them into the 20th century”. How decidedly charitable of us.
      We infected them, abused them, used them, and then, after making them “Australians” in the sixties, tried to domesticate them. They ended up with the worst of our passed-on faults; grog, drugs,etc, but were dissallowed to excercise their traditional controls that had seen them survive longer probably than any race on the planet.
      Why? Because ‘their way’ was deemed “uncivilised”.
      Sure, they make plenty of mistakes, and some aboriginals are decidedly unlikeable, but I’ve met plenty of so-called ‘whites’ who have similar traits.
      Lincoln spoke of the “awesome responsibility” of freeing the slaves. He knew that with that act came the task of de-segregating in the minds of the liberators. And he was right.
      Without doubt, the greatest task facing Australia today is assimilation. Not just of the Aboriginal people, but of Muslims, Asians, many Europeans, and people from several other regions. Forget the so-called carbon tax, that’s just a political football which has some alarmists screaming “Tax, tax, tax!”, when at most it cost us ten bucks a week.
      The boat people wouldn’t be a problem if assimilation wasn’t a bigger problem. With all of their devious methods and with the ability to have people legally enter the USA to blow up buildings, I don’t think the terrorists would risk losing any of their trained operatives by sending them here on a rickety boat made of bamboo. May be I’m wrong, but…
      I’ve often wondered what ID a boatload of Muslim ocean- sailing yachtsmen would need in order to sail up the coast of Australia, disembark by inflateable off Cronulla, and be ashore in twenty minutes. With their cargo of destruction intact. Much ado about nothing, for mine. Just a thought.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      03:24pm | 25/09/11

      I’m not entirely clear what your point is.  Have we caused untold damage to aboriginal peoples, just by being here?  Yes we have.  So what do we do about it?  And what do they do about it?  We can’t go back and pretend the last 200 years haven’t happened.  And we also can’t demand that aboriginal peoples simply be assimilated - that is, apparently, not what they themselves want.  So what’s your solution?

      As for the non sequiter drift into asylum seekers issues, again, I’m not sure what your point is.  I don’t think most people are worried about terrorists arriving on the boats - but they are worried about how effective the screening of boat arrivals (or, for that matter, air arrivals) really is, and rightly so.  More than a few refugee-receiving countries are dealing with serious criminals and with persons involved in war crimes.  Not that I see what any of that has to do with aboriginal disadvantage.

    • PTom says:

      03:14pm | 25/09/11

      I always find it strange when talk of aboriginal welfare, there is no talk of moving families to jobs or job creation. We have no problem telling the rest of Australia there are no jobs where you live, you need to move.

      One of the biggest problem the intervention had was that male job/welfare was taken away and handed full responsibility to the female, making those males jobless in already high unemployment communities.

      Volunteer or compulsory quarantine is still only short term which will work to help families across all of Australia, however this does nothing for the parents to actual get job. Unless we plan on being welfare supporters for remote communities forever. We need a better longterm plan.

      Reply

    • oncebitten68@hotmail.com says:

      04:06pm | 25/09/11

      Just three marathons?

      Reply

    • Utopia Boy says:

      04:13pm | 25/09/11

      There is no “one fit” solution to this problem.

      Like any society, there are those who will work to change their circumstances, those who expect to be given everything and those who are happy (poor choice of word?) to go along with the status quo.
      Modernisation of indigenous Australians may be the answer for some, but not for all.
      The problem becomes complex when it comes time to decide how to give someone the opportunity to modernise / break out. Kids and young adults should be exposed to modernisation that doesn’t involve alcohol, STDs contracted from their brother / mother, lack of discipline etc. Unfortunately those well intentioned ideals ended up costing the rest of us billions due to the “Stolen Generation” fiasco.
      You can only try to help so much. How would a person from the “Stolen Generation” have the ability to communicate their “terrible life” if they weren’t “stolen” and given the tools to do so?

      They were “stolen” for the very reasons we see now - their pathetic parents didn’t have enough gumption to look after themselves, let alone their children. I don’t mean a house with a mortgage on Smith St Suburbia, but some love, attention and how to deal with life.

      “Steal” them all again and give them a chance.

      Reply

    • Dennis says:

      11:33am | 26/09/11

      They did a pretty good job of looking after themselves and their children for the sixty odd thousand years before whitefellas came… Plenty of gumption there.

    • Greg says:

      03:22pm | 26/09/11

      “They were “stolen” for the very reasons we see now ”
      You’re an idiot.
      They were stolen because their parents were considred to be animals and savages. This has nothing to do with love and attention. Dennis is right, Aboriginal people had no problems maintaining strong, respectful family links before European settlement so the problem is one of adjustment and education, not one of character.

    • mick says:

      05:30pm | 25/09/11

      Australia has a broken welfare system.  There is the perception that you don’t have to work.  A (distant) bludging family member told my wife that it was her “choice” as to whether or not she worked.  What it all means is that average Australians have to work all that much harder to keep a growing group of bludgers.  If there were not votes to be lost then governments on both sides of politics would have acted long ago.  But because both sides are scared of being voted out nothing ever much changes.

      I agree with food coupons for Aboriginal society.  This will bypass the misuse of handouts (no grog) and will put food into the mouths of their children.

      The clan coming and helping itself to earned income has been a problem for many years.  This is a barrier for young Aboriginals to make a life and I have no idea as to how this can be stopped.  I do feel sorry for those in the society who want to make a go of things only to be pulled down by their own free loading relatives. 

      Whilst I have heard it all…“racist”, “stolen generation”, “victimisation”, etc I am yet to see this community do something other than complain.  It seems to be easier to pull at the heart strings of others than to take responsibility and move on.  It is a sad ongoing story.  And the hundreds of millions (maybe billions) of taxpayer dollars which have been thrown at the problem have done nothing to fix the problems.  One thing is for sure and that is that white Australia should stop feeling sorry as it is unreasonable for white Australia to forever be made the scapegoat when Aboriginal society takes no responsibility and refuses to change or adapt and move on.  As one of the elders once said on a television series on the Redfern Block, “until we take responsibility for ourselves nothing will change”.

      Reply

    • Blind Freddy says:

      06:52pm | 25/09/11

      The basic problem is we don’t have enough jobs for everyone. It doesn’t matter that a few don’t want to work because even if they did there are no jobs for them. So come on all you highly paid and highly educated members of Australian society provide some real answers to the unemployment problem as it is only going to get worse. And far more is paid out in corporate welfare than on subsistence level handouts to unemployed in this country.

      Reply

    • Tator says:

      07:16pm | 25/09/11

      Lanie,
      The issues with the APY lands have been festering for years.  So what is the solution, is it more funding - I don’t think so as some commentators estimate that around $100k a year of taxpayers money is spent on each individual who lives in the APY lands and other remote indigenous communities.
      ( http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/6/rivers-of-money-flow-into-the-sand )
      This same article states that indigenous people who have assimilated into western society have the same literacy and numeracy as the society they have integrated into whilst those on the lands struggle even with curriculum specifically designed for them. 
      Even without the literacy issues, the communities have bigger social issues that have taken years to deal with in alcoholism and petrol sniffing.  These were huge issues which the end result was that alcohol and normal unleaded petrol were not allowed onto the APY lands.
      One of the things that has increased immensely in costs to the tax payer over the last 20 years is the costs of policing the APY lands.  When I was a lowly cadet 22 years ago, I spent time with the Multicultural Unit helping them train the what was known as Police Aides (now known as Community Constables)  for the APY lands.  They were responsible for the day to day policing and were supported by regular long range patrols by the police stationed at Marla.  Today, there is the same number of community constables in the APY Lands, but they are now only a support role for the full time police who are now stationed out on the lands.  Now these police officers cost twice as much in salaries than the community constables and are supplimented with a dedicated detective and intel officer.  And this just tripled SAPOL’s costs in policing the lands,  for a comparison, a single man station on the Eyre Peninsula is classified as Brevet Sergeant and receives a 33.5% clause 14 loading in lieu of overtime, recall and shift penalties,  on the APY lands, the position is a brevet sergeant rank as well, but receives a 45% loading AND around $10 k in other benefits on top of free accomodation, this is on top of the Federal Governments remote tax allowances which are around.  This is due to these positions being hard to attract staff so SAPOL basically throws money at the positions.  A friend of mine is the detective out there and basically commutes on a fly in fly out, coming home once a month on the police plane for an extended weekend off.  Good on him as his family can cope with the frequent and extended absences.
      I am not sure on the Health and Educations departments policies on their staff in those areas so cannot comment on their extra costs.
      So the problem really is one of you have a group of people with a land entitlement which has no economic base and relies on government funds to survive.  It is estimated that around 75000 indigenous live in these remote settlements and the bulk of funding for indigenous services are being spent on the approximately 15% of the indigenous community who live in these remote settlements.
      It is obvious to blind freddy what the problems are in welfare dependancy, no economic independance, illiteracy etc, and poor health, all exasperated and compounded by the shere remoteness of these communities.

      So what is the solution, they have tried throwing money at the problem to the extent that the estimated money spent on a family of four would enable that family to rent a house in the top end of Sydney and the children to go to top private schools. 
      Do we shut down these remote communities and attempt to have those who reside there assimilate into metropolitan and regional centres where there is the economic and social services base for them to be better supported.  But that has the downside of taking them away from their lands and allegedly removing their aboriginality, bit like the proponents of the “Stolen Generation” state as one of the worst parts of being “Stolen” even if they ended up with a good education and better life than most Australians.
      So the problems are obvious and massive, what has and is being tried doesn’t work and the political will to remove the biggest obstacle is very lacking, where does that leave those who live on the APY lands??  I don’t know and I reckon those in charge and who are paid a lot more than I am probably don’t know either.

      Reply

    • NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:

      09:22pm | 25/09/11

      Hi Lainie,

      Firstly, our message should be all about not falling pregnant & having babies when they are teenagers, anyway!!  I am also guessing that you are actually talking about the Indigenous Community in Adelaide.  Same rules should apply to all teenagers living in all states of Australia, no matter what their cultural background happens to be!! 

      I am trying very hard not to generalize in any way but when teenagers have babies very early on, unfortunately their lives do not amount to any major accomplishments or achievements, anyway!!  Is that really what we want for the future generations living in Australia??

      From a distance it all seems a great idea!!  Most probably an easy way to get out of work obligations & have benefits for the rest of lives!!  In reality it is very sad to think that they do not have any long range plans, goals or ambitions!! It is very much a learnt behavior & all about the fact that what we consider the norms & acceptable behavior in our society. But can I ask why?? 

      Sadly when that happens especially in a county like Australia, seen by the rest of the world so advanced in so many ways, the feeling is all so indescribable & disheartening to say the very least!! It is high time we began thinking about offering the young generation better alternatives, besides the guaranteed income for the rest of their lives.  Best regards to your editors.

      Reply

    • John says:

      11:35pm | 25/09/11

      @Nelishan - you have made some very interesting points. Another consideration might to re-evaluate the actual need for all young Australians to be at school until age 17 and complete High School or find a job. Why can’t we reintroduce Apprenticships. Not all young people have the desire or inclination to complete High School. Let them find a job or even join the Armed Forces to learn a vocation. Give them a choice except for the Dole. Young pregnancies is an educational problem and I believe that schools have been dealing with this issue to their best abilities. Responsibility lies with both partners to ensure contraceptives are used. But if a young girl wants to fall pregnant, purely for the Baby Bonus, how can one prevent that?? Maybe harden the rules i.e. only for mothers in a legitimate relationship?? I don’t know, as others have stated its a very dificult problem with no easy solution.

      Reply

    • Diogenes says:

      01:14pm | 26/09/11

      John,
      you like my current year 9-12s are somewhat mistaken. From the NSW DET website ...
      1. From 2010, all NSW students must complete Year 10
      2. After Year 10 - and until they turn 17 - students must be:
      a. in school, or registered for home schooling, or
      b. in approved education or training (eg TAFE, traineeship, apprenticeship) or
      c. in full-time, paid employment (average 25 hours/week) or
      d. in a combination of work, education and/or training

      In the interest of self preservation I am encouraging many of the year 10’s to consider 2.d as they hate school, and they can do a modified program (ie only do 2 or 3 subjects a year ) until they are 17.

    • NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:

      04:42am | 28/09/11

      Hi John,

      Much appreciate the fact that you took the time to reply!!  I could not agree you with you anymore or any less!!  Like most European Nations, we should be able to offer the incentive to at least try & establish some sort of profession & lasting occupation, whether they have had formal education or not!! 

      It is all about having the self esteem, confidence, ambition just to try & be something in life!!  Which means using their abilities & strong points to their best advantage!!  Surely, there is so much more to life than having little human beings to take care of, when they are barely children themselves!! Thanks once again.  Best regards to your editors.

    • Nigel says:

      09:43am | 26/09/11

      People talk about no jobs out there and the young are struggling to find work. Just having a very quick look at Jobsearch and they alone have 73,157 jobs available. Now lets over estimate the amount of skilled positions in this to 75% and we still have 18,289 jobs. And these are the advertised ones only. Lots more just in shop windows.
      As stated in many of the posts the problem is that we pay more for people to do nothing. So handouts should be frozen, not reduced, for the next 10 years. Then the lowest paid jobs would be better paying than the dole.
      As for a baby bonus, well why are we paying anyone to do what is a natural thing. It is only another handout to encourage the welfare state as an institution rather than a short term prop up when things are desperate.
      And all Australians should be equal and recieve equally. Black, white or whatever your colour or background. Everyone has an oportunity if they only get off it and take it. Just my thoughts.

      Reply

    • Squeeze the Middle says:

      04:07pm | 26/09/11

      Stamp duty on our homes reduces mobility and work force participation. It’s a number game Nigel.  Government makes more money from stamp duty on our homes than it would save on welfare payments if it eliminated that hurdle.  Hopefully Gillard’s Price on Carbon will finally shine the spotlight on the substantial cost of all the extra commuting and infrastructure required due to families not moving their homes closer to work. I won’t hold my breath for action though. Government will ween like a squealing piglet from that succulent cash flow.

      Home mobility is of course only a factor.

    • Warriors 20 Storm 12 says:

      01:20pm | 26/09/11

      in 1999, the Mad Monk said that welfare is not the answer for teenage mums and famale university students. Captain Catholic said that they should use their bodies to make money whilst they had good shapely bodies.
      Prostitution should replace welfare, the Mad Monk indicated.
      Now the Media wants Mad Monk PM ! Bring back Page 3 Bikini girls!

      Reply
 
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