 Aborigines fear 'new paternalism' Stuart Rintoul 3rd July 2006
THE author of a landmark report into violence in Aboriginal communities has attacked the Howard Government for attempting to introduce "antiquated solutions" that are proven failures.
Attacking the direction of government policy and several key ministers, Boni Robertson said comments by Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough last week that the legal pendulum had swung too far in favour of Aboriginal offenders at the expense of victims "defied logic" when Aboriginal people were still grossly over-represented in jails in every state and territory.
She said Health Minister Tony Abbott's suggestion that a "new paternalism" was needed had left Aboriginal people feeling demonised and discouraged. "I would have thought this country would have been far more intelligent than that." Professor Robertson, author of the Women's Task Force on Violence report in 1999, which revealed a horrific level of violence in Aboriginal communities in Queensland, said the idea of removing children from violent communities was a throwback to the policies "that started this quagmire of problems in the first place - removing our children, tearing our families apart". "Enough is enough," Professor Robertson told The Australian. "Aboriginal Australia right now is in a position of fear and uncertainty. People don't know where we're heading - there is just this blame, blame, blame. "That doesn't mean to say we shouldn't do something about the violence and the substance abuse. Nobody wants to see a child hurt or violated. But there has to be a more productive, pro-active way of dealing with it than having to resort to those antiquated solutions that have proven time and time again not to have worked." Professor Robertson said if pedophiles had gone unprosecuted in central Australia, where an Aboriginal elder is alleged to have traded petrol for sex, "then those people need to be brought to the attention of the authorities and dealt with". Her research suggested pedophiles in Aboriginal communities were far more likely to be non-indigenous. She was highly critical of the Government for conducting a law-and-order campaign while not focusing on the causes of the violence - poverty, disempowerment and alcoholism. "What we are seeing now is a high level of energy, a high level of commitment and a certain amount of hysteria," Professor Robertson said. "The violence is terrible, but our people have been saying it's been there for years and years and years. The only thing that's changing is that the consequences of the violence is getting worse and the causes of the violence is getting worse - impoverishment is getting worse in our communities." Professor Robertson said that with the collapse of ATSIC, Aboriginal people had been deprived of an independent national voice and felt more isolated in public policy now than at any time since the 1950s, when they were treated as though they were incompetent, or as children. "Once upon a time - and it was only for a short period of time with ATSIC - we had a place in this country," she said. "But with the demise of ATSIC ... we no longer have a role where we are controlling our own destiny."
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