Black and White Issue

The Federal Government dropped something of a bombshell last week and announced that it would be taking over the administration of the indigenous land currently in the charge of the Government of the Northern Territory.

The reason was a shocking report detailing endemic child abuse in Aboriginal communities, fuelled by alcohol and substance abuse, and the lack of any action by the local administration. Police stations, for example, had been built by the Federal Government but left un-staffed. New measures will include an influx of police and soldiers, an end to the permit system that restricts entry by non-indigenous people, and health checks, primarily for STDs, for those aged under 16.

It’s hard to see, in the face of the evidence of abuse, how this move could have copped such a bad press, and it continues to do so, with accusations of paternalism and a land-grab, and claims that the health checks could lead to another “stolen generation”, a reference to the formerly widespread practice of removing Aboriginal children from the parents and sending them to live with white families.

No one other than the Federal Government has come up a plan for dealing with the problem though and it has won the support of at least one Aboriginal leader, Noel Pearson, the director of the Cape York Institute. This interview
is highly recommended.