The news that Tony Abbott would spend three weeks in a remote Aboriginal community came as a bit of a surprise to me and I expect to many others. But it was a somewhat pleasing surprise.
We don't often hear of politicians getting down and dirty with their constituents. It is hard to imagine those involved in political decisions regarding prisons 'doing time' in custody, or those shaping policies concerning the homeless spending time on the streets.
While we don't have to experience literally another's world in order to be open, respectful and attentive to their needs, it is always important to enter into their world as much as we can. And this involves a risk that can prove transformative, even life-changing.
The news of Tony Abbott's going to Coen encouraged me to listen to him on the ABC's Radio National. He was talking with Fran Kelly about his experiences in this small Aboriginal community north of Cairns. I then went online to read his blog. I was immediately struck by his introductory sentence: 'here are three examples of the complexity of Aboriginal life, especially in remote locations'.
Complexity is not a word one often hears from politicians.
His first example concerned an employer who came to the community seeking workers for his mobile abattoir. He arrived during a funeral and was not able to see all the men who might have been interested. He had to return again, a five-hour road trip each way.
Then there was the man who was being released from jail after serving a sentence for domestic assault. His partner and children, in fear and in order to stay away from him, felt no option but to leave the community and go to Cairns, away from their close family networks and supports.
His final example was the school and its initiative to support full attendance. It used a public noticeboard to highlight current and past rates of attendance, including the names of those whose attendance was 100 per cent in the preceding term. However, he noted, there was nothing currently on this board as there was disagreement about the meaning of 'non-attendance'.
I found Tony Abbott's use of the word complexity quite engaging and encouraging. It suggested some reflection and a desire to deepen the experience. The information he gave about each of his examples was enough to suggest that remote community life is not as predictable and simple as it sounds.
There are a range of reasons, for example, why funerals continue to play a large part in the family and social life of most Aboriginal communities. How does one resolve the tension between a child's attendance at a funeral and attendance at school?
As he suggested in his blog, there remain a number of complexities for everyone living in remote Aboriginal communities. And it would seem reasonable to hope that we might have politicians who are quite comfortable around naming and knowing them.
What then followed in the blog came as a surprise. 'It is possible to change some things quickly but substantially improving the key indicators of Aboriginal disadvantage is more likely to take a few decades than a few years. The key is getting Aboriginal people into real jobs.'
In admitting that substantial change will take time, he was also admitting that this involved some complexity in understanding the particular social and historical context. Such complexity does not suggest one 'key' but a number, and perhaps a range of quite different sized and shaped keys.
Being able to hold together the various tensions that lie beneath the complexity of this remote community would seem to offer a valuable and important way forward.
What I liked about Tony Abbott going to Coen was that he gave himself a chance to learn. He stayed for three weeks based in the local school, and ended up with the hope that 'this kind of stay could be an annual event'. I sense he has a genuine interest in the lives of the people. His reflections left me with a hope and a response.
He stated at the outset that he perceived 'complexity' in remote community Aboriginal life. I hope he continues to retain some comfort in the use of that term. For not only is there complexity within remote Aboriginal communities, but also in our urban worlds. The proposed Government suspension of parents' welfare payments if their children miss too much school would seem to be one example of this.
How encouraging it would be to hear more politicians comfortable in the use of the word complexity.
Dr Brian F. McCoy SJ is NHMRC Fellow for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe University.