The scandal and betrayal that have blighted the
Aboriginal community of Papunya have left politicians strangely
silent.
In a recent how-to-vote guide produced by Emily's List for
yesterday's Northern Territory elections, Alison Anderson is given
top billing. Anderson, the pamphlet from the Labor women's lobby
group tells us, is a highly respected former ATSIC commissioner
passionate about equity and with strong community links.
The pamphlet complains about the "scurrilous attacks" Anderson
has been subjected to by this paper and her opponents in the
election, without explaining the substance of the alleged attacks.
It urges women to donate to Anderson's campaign as ALP candidate
for the seat of Macdonnell, because her fuel costs about $1.60 a
litre and she needs campaign expense money.
This piece of puffery, penned by Joan Kirner and Senator Claire
Moore, is breathtaking in its naivety and sweeping assumptions and
remarkable in what it fails to mention.
Anderson, they say, is worth voting for because she is
indigenous, a member of the ALP and "when women support women,
women win!".
Never mind that Anderson was once closely linked to Liberals and
in particular Philip Ruddock, a former indigenous affairs minister,
which some ALP supporters might find hard to swallow; that she and
her family are wealthy; or that her husband, Steve Hanley, is the
central figure in a scandal involving the misappropriation of
millions of dollars in federal and territory funds.
Emily's List failed to mention that Anderson travels the
electorate in a stylish four-wheel-drive of the sort that most
people from her community can only dream about, sent her children
to private schools in Adelaide and holds a number of
directorships.
It is difficult to imagine that she would ever be hard up for
petrol money. Hanley, who was forced out of the community clerk's
position by local authorities because he was not qualified for the
job and broke too many rules, manages the Papunya general store,
which has a monopoly on local petrol sales and an annual turnover
of $2.2 million.
If Anderson has a commitment to equity and her community, a
casual observer driving through Papunya might have trouble
discerning that. After almost 10 years of first Anderson, then
Hanley, running the community, it remains one of the poorest places
in Australia and would rank alongside stricken areas in
Bangladesh.
Millions of dollars of territory and federal funds have gone
into projects over the years but three out of 10 locals are petrol
sniffers and most men die before reaching 50. Suicide bids by
desperate, lonely, addicted teenagers are common. It is hardly a
record any aspiring politician would want to brag about.
But then official corruption in indigenous communities is not
something Clare Martin, the territory's self-assured Chief
Minister, highlighted during the poll campaign.
It's OK for her Government to crack down on public drunkenness
by indigenous Australians, but mismanagement that the Chief
Minister can and should do something about is apparently best
ignored.
For two weeks now, I have sent a list of questions to the Chief
Minister for comment. They were simple, nothing tricky, and
included the following:
· Given the damning assessment by Deloittes of Papunya's
finances and given Hanley's long history of non-compliance with
local government authorities, why won't the NT Government hold an
inquiry into Papunya's administration?
· Why hasn't Hanley been interviewed by NT authorities and
why have no steps been taken to probe the closure of (council-run
project) Warumpi Arts, which went broke after tens of thousands of
dollars were appropriated by unidentified persons?
· Hanley held no qualifications for the clerk's position
yet occupied the post on an acting basis for four years. How was
this allowed to happen, especially when his poor administration
record was known to authorities and drew numerous complaints?
There was also this question: Does the Chief Minister have
confidence in Anderson as the ALP candidate, noting that she was
the clerk at Papunya for nine years prior to her husband taking
over?
For two weeks, Ms Martin has refused to answer or even offer so
much as a no comment. It is surprising she does not appear to have
a view on Papunya's shabby management, which has led to the
betrayal of indigenous people by not delivering a successful
anti-substance abuse program in 10 years. But political power and
service delivery do not travel easily together in the
territory.
As for Emily's List, rather than talk to politicians, Joan
Kirner and Senator Moore should talk to the young women of Papunya
and ask them how they voted. They could start with the promising
young artists who once sold works through now-bankrupted Warumpi
Arts and ask them what it's like to no longer have an income or a
future.
They might also pause to consider Canberra's probe into
Papunya's finances organised by another woman, Sharman Stone, a
cabinet secretary and distinguished anthropologist who knows much
about the aspirations of indigenous Australians and their sorry
history of discrimination and degradation.
