Wall St was down 94 overnight, its biggest fall in a month, while the local market is down 66.
Who speaks for Aboriginal people? You, Warren Mundine?
|
ABC presenter Julia Christensen: The Federal Government has confirmed that it will continue funding a federal taskforce that’s been investigating allegations of child sex abuse in the Northern Territory for the last few years. The commission’s work was due to end because the government said it was too expensive, they couldn’t afford it. But now Prime Minister Rudd and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin have stepped in to overturn the decision which will be welcome news, because there was a lot of criticism earlier this week that the taskforce, which is part of the Australian Crime Commission, was being disbanded. Kim Hill is the CEO of the Northern Land Council. Kim Hill good morning. Kim Hill: Good morning Julia and good morning listeners. Christensen: You’re not so pleased with this news, why not? Hill: No, put things into perspective Julia. I mean my response in regards to the comments made by Professor Langdon and Mr Warren Mundine, who don’t live or have any cultural affiliations to the Northern Territory. I’m just disappointed to see that indigenous leaders perpetrating the myth that indigenous people are overwhelmingly criminals in nature. And it’s not true. And if these people do believe that there are child abusers in their communities well bring that to the attention of the police. Christensen: What’s your feeling about the taskforce, do you not support it? Hill: No look the taskforce, and my understanding in regards to trying to capture or get evidence to prosecute child abusers is very difficult, in nature, because it’s difficult for the families and it’s difficult no doubt for the victim’s family to provide that evidence for courts to get prosecutions or police to get prosecutions. So it’s a sensitive issue we’re dealing with. And it’s not a question about the Australian Crime Commission and what they’re doing; I think police officers are doing a fantastic job out there. The issue is for us, is the enforcement issues. Christensen: Well Warren Mundine has said that he’s only interested in the safety of children and if that makes him a racist then he’s happy to be a racist. Are those the sorts of comments you’re talking about? Hill: No, you know, that’s Warren and if Warren’s got problems with his aboriginality that’s his problem. Christensen: What do you mean? Hill: Well no-one’s calling him a racist are they? Christensen: Well you’re suggesting that he has no right to speak. Hill: Look again, he’s a self promoted aboriginal leader. People have said to politicians, particularly down south, this gentleman and others do not speak for aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Christensen: Do we need this bickering, I mean shouldn’t we just be getting down to the issue of child abuse and throwing as many resources as we can at it instead of bickering as to who is and who isn’t an Aboriginal leader and who can speak? Hill: No look again, in my press release yesterday, and it hasn’t been reported, that it’s particularly disappointing that the real opportunities to overcome indigenous disadvantage are being missed by some commentators. And I do want to, you know, I do care for aboriginal women, they are one of the most beautiful women in the world, our children are beautiful and we need to protect our children. However it’s disappointing that people want to try keep their status within society, and you know, trying to represent the most disadvantaged group in this country, our leaders in the Northern Territory are well equipped to deal with that. Christensen: Well Sue Gordon spoke out when it was reported that the Crime Commission Taskforce was being dropped, she said she wanted it to stay. Does she have a right to speak Kim Hill? Hill: Look at the end of the day in regards to the Australian Crime Commission, my understanding is that their funding was coming to an end. Okay, people want to see enforcement issues, particularly in areas of child abuse, the whole issue of children being neglected. I support a number of initiatives under the intervention, no doubt the cleaning up of rubbish around the communities, the car bodies which are littered throughout our communities, the nutrition program, the housing program, there are some really good initiatives under the intervention. However, I go back to the point that, you know, it’s disappointing to see that indigenous leaders perpetrating that the myths of indigenous people particularly here in the Northern Territory are overwhelmingly criminals in nature. |
|
|
9 Comments
Frank, you sound like an interesting person. My experience of remote aboriginal settlements has been overwhelmingly bad. Yours seems to be good, or at least tolerable.
I would be interested to communicate directly. I don’t know if this will get past the moderator or if you’ll read it but my address is gandlin@bigpond.com. Please talk to me.
It’s typical that narrow minded white trash like Bilious, and uninformed journos like Ms Christensen take the high moral ground; it’s a pity they never realise it’s made of sand.
I believe the point that Kim Hill is trying to make is that the Indigenous people are represented by many different tribes, and to have one tribe make policy for so many others does not work. Sp Mr Mundine isn’t racist, it’s just he doesn’t speak for all aboriginals when he makes his utterances. It is as nonsensical as believing Berlusconi speaks for all of Europe when he makes his silly comments. He doesn’t. Even if when he is chairman of the European Community; other countries will not accept his rulings if they have not been consulted. It’s the same with the aboriginal people. How do I know? I’ve talked to some as well as to sympathetic whites… probably a lot more than the bilious Bilous or Ms Christensen has ever done.
Can I also throw in here that a vast majority of remote communities DO NOT suffer from alcoholism, rampant rapists and pedophiles… but again, I’m taking my facts from people who work on them, visit them and see these things first hand. But I guess they’re no match for election year politics and Alan Jones.
Research my friends; it can be most enlightening.
Please can some one please tell me how many children have been found to be sexually or physically abused since this so called intervention began. It is my understanding that most of the children reported as being abused before this time had already been investigated and offenders taken before the court. Is not the reality be that this type of intervention would lead to abuse going underground and less likely to be found, putting more children at risk.
B. Ms Hill, how long do you think hard-pressed people in the south who pay taxes, worry about losing their jobs, and struggle to pay school fees for two children are going to feel generous towards people who insist on living where they can do nothing but be burdens on the taxpayer and show no signs of being able to cope with modern civilisation, despite you claims that you have adequate leaders in the NT?
Hill. But this was our land and your people stopped us living the way we used to so you owe it to us.
B. Forever? If you accept that you can’t and won’t go back to pre-contact life but want to enjoy the benefits of modern civilisation, not least increased healthy life expectancy, don’t you want to show you can pull your weight and contribute as well as anyone else by the time your young children are 25 or 30? If so, what’s your plan? Don’t you think Warren Mundine, Noel Pearson, Sue Gordon and Marcia Langton know more about what will help hunter-gatherer people with no marketable skills to become self-respecting employable citizens of Australia than the unnamed NT leaders you would rely on?
Precisely whom Warren Mundine speaks for is a vexed question. One possible answer is everyone! When he was the National President of the ALP, Mundine was a member of the National Indigenous Council, which endorsed the policies of the Howard Government. Mundine also blamed communal land titles for Indigenous poverty, while being employed as the CEO of Native Title Services Corp - an organisation whose purpose is to advocate for the recognition of communal interests in land. Likewise, Mundine apparently saw no conflict between his role at Native Title Services Corp and his recent appointment to the board of the Australian Uranium Association. Now we hear that Warren is happy to be called a racist. Who really cares? A more pressing question is why does the Rudd Government listen to Warren Mundine at all?
There is more to child abuse than sexual exploitation. It is child abuse that children are not getting decent meals with fresh fruit and veges; are in substandard housing,with poor sanitation , and are lacking a decent education.etc etc
Perhaps the commission’s work was due to end for the same reason the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq were sent home some years ago?
As to “who speaks for Aboriginal people…”; are we to assume that the highly diverse Aboriginal Society has a small group of ‘spokespersons’? What is the answer to the question: “Who speaks for non-Aboriginal Australian’s?” Attempts at creating democratic structures in Aboriginal society that might have produced such “spokespersons” have been resisted and sabotaged. No such unified structure exists today.
Right from the start the NTER (Northern Territory Emergency Response) has been based on stereotypes of dysfunctional communities, widespread depravity and violence, “rivers of grog” and so on.
The latest (what I believe to be a co-ordinated attack) is the perpetuation of the myth of a deep chasm between Aboriginal men (the “perpetrators”) and women and children (the “victims”).
I’m a non-Indigenous resident of Yuendumu- a “prescribed area” under the NTER Legislation- and have happily lived here with my family for over three decades. Yuendumu is a great place to bring up your children.
Whilst I don’t deny that Yuendumu has some problems and could be improved (name me a place that this doesn’t apply to), I’m stunned by the continuing barrage of assertions and untruths being unleashed by Governments (NT & Federal) and their cheer squad, to justify the extremely wasteful and counter-productive Intervention.
Aborigines on remote communities are being denied control of their own lives and destiny.
This is the Ultimate Injustice.
Years from now a PM will be making a speech saying “sorry” to those remote Aborigines whose societies and languages will have been destroyed.
(Incidentally I don’t claim to “speak for Aboriginal people”- just myself.
Also at meetings here, local Warlpiri when they speak tend to be ignored and not listened to)
Bilious (is that what your parents called you?)- I hear it all the time: how tax payers money is wasted on those ungrateful ‘black-fellows’ that won’t get off their arse and get themselves real-jobs …. ad naseum.
Well, guess what, most of that money doesn’t reach us out here… Your tax payer’s money (and mine)paid for a $200,000 fence built by outside contractors around our rubbish dump (5Km away), an estimated $500,000 so far for salary and accomodation and travel for a GBM (Government Business Manager) that doesn’t appear to do much. Probably a similar amount for Centrelink personnel to implement that bizarre scheme known as “Income Management” and so on …. ad nauseum. You wouldn’t believe the number of public servants that come out here on big salaries in shiny new four-wheel drive vehicles.
And Steve Martin you might add: denying children to be taught in their own language, disempowering and disrespecting their parents.
And I can assure you that Yuendumu children have been getting decent meals with fresh fruit and veges for a long time. Mind you: Charity volunteers are expected here soon to distribute fruit to school children. How bloody patronising is that?! As if Warlpiri people don’t buy fruit for their children.
Incidentally “income management” is applied to ALL Centrelink recipients including dignified pensioner ladies that have never drunk alcohol in all their lives. Targeted “income management” applied to the odd “rotten apple” by all means, but accross the board? No wonder they had to suspend the Racial Discrimination Act.
I have never forgotten the history of Aborigines in the first edition of The Australian Encyclopedia in the 1960’s - so the disconnnect between what I read then about their healthy family life, birth control, and other strict social matters and the facts as we are fed them by the media today - is vast.
Kim Hill is right in saying that Aboriginal women and their children are beautiful - but how can they cope with menfolk brought up in poor families with alcohol and drug abuse making their violence seem to be ‘natural’ ?