There is a crisis... the Aboriginal communities are being torn apart by alcohol and child abuse of all types. This has been an issue for at least 20 years as remote aboriginal people are given large (by their standards) amounts of cash by mining companies (royalties for Native Title) and in addition the Dole and they spend it all on grog.
This leads to rampant alcoholism, alcohol induced violence and general anarchy as the aboriginal people essentially have nothing else to do.
But what is the solution? The Howard Government has banned alcohol and pornography and drafted an extra police presence that sounds daunting but in reality is only 50 or so police officers (10 from each state). Remember, the NT is as big as Europe and has such remote areas that 50 people on the ground wont be a huge impact.
So, we essentially shut down the grog and the porn (and I presume any other drugs) and get kids into school and force parents to sober up. All very noble, all very well intentioned, but why stop at the Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory? Why not help every other innocent child victim of the perils of modern drug abuse and ban such drugs in all parts of Australia?
We can't do that can we! Its part of "Australia's Culture and Values" that we can all have a beer after a "hard day's yakka".
Seems hypocritical to me... lets lockdown the "blacks" to make sure they grow up to our standards of Anglo-Saxon values... Next maybe Howard may think its a good idea to take the Aboriginal Children away from their parents and place them with good moral upstanding white Christian families and/or Religious Orphanages...
Hang on, didn't we do that already in the 50's?
1 comment:
I agree, John Howard's approach will only add to the suffering of children. There is no other group in society that would be subject to these kinds of measures!
As Gary Highland of ANTaR says, "Prohibition hasn't worked anywhere else in the world. Why does the Prime Minister think it will work in the Northern Territory? ... The heavy handed control of Aboriginal people helped create the problems of child abuse and violence. More of the same is not going to solve them."
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