The most sinister aspect of the Federal Government’s initiative in the Northern Territory is that it is exploiting the abuse of children in order to further undermine Aboriginal rights, with the explicit intention of seizing control of their land. These grossly intrusive measures will ultimately contribute to the continued disempowerment and destruction of Aboriginal people and their ancient cultures.
Having worked as a full-time teacher in a remote Aboriginal community I am fully aware of the social dysfunction that is reported regularly in the mainstream media. Minyerri, like so many other communities is entrenched in a sickening cycle of poverty and oppression. A sense of hopelessness and despair is everywhere: from the pathetic state of housing, to the violent shouts and screams of fighting in the middle of the night, to the festering boils and sores on the arms and legs of the eight year olds I tried to teach.
Such a scenario does not suddenly occur. It is the result of generational neglect by government. Aborigines out bush are the forgotten people: the ones we have chosen to ignore simply because they failed to fully assimilate.
Now though they find themselves at the centre of a heavy-handed military-style operation which the government claims is an attempt to help children who have been sexually abused.
The Little Children Are Sacred report clearly states, "There is nothing new or extraordinary in the allegations of sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory." These problems have been around for decades. Aboriginal leaders have warned politicians about the endemic problems of community life and the desperate need to provide adequate housing, education and health services.
Why is the government suddenly hell bent on assisting the people whose cries for help were reduced to whimpering whispers over years and years of inaction? Why now? What is the motivation for focusing so much energy on a problem that has been completely ignored in the past?
Each individual is entitled to their point of view. Perhaps this is a grand act of altruism, but more than likely, in my opinion, it is not.
If the government was sincere in its endeavors to alleviate child abuse then it would actively engage each community in the healing process. One course of action will not suit 60 different environments. Each community faces a different set of circumstances. It is imperative that the government works in conjunction with community elders to try to formulate courses of action that build on cultural strengths, fully incorporating the Aboriginal world view.
Tragically, the imagination of our government does not stretch this far. It is incapable of empathising with Aboriginal Australians and that is exactly why we are where we are now. It has stormed into these communities without any long-term plan and without consulting the people whose land they are seizing.
It is implementing bans on alcohol without uttering a word about the need to construct culturally sensitive rehabilitation centers for long-term addicts; it is forcing children to go to schools that are inadequately staffed and woefully resourced; it is restricting the only source of income that parents have to supply their large families with food and other essentials. Most importantly, it is taking control of communal land through the imposition of five-year leases.
How does compulsory acquisition of land have anything to do with helping abused children? It doesn’t.
It does, however, tie in neatly with recent government proposals to store highly toxic radioactive waste at Muckaty, Mt Everard, Harts Range and Fishers Ridge: all Aboriginal communities situated in the Northern Territory. If these proposals are approved then Aboriginal people will have nuclear waste (from Lucas Heights, and possibly European countries) deposited close to their communities. It is obvious this will have a profoundly negative impact on their way of life. Exposure to toxic waste is fatal. The waste dump may contaminate the water these people have to drink, the animals they hunt for food and the plants they use for cooking and bush medicine.
Acquisition of Aboriginal land also provides the government with the perfect opportunity to expand their uranium mining interests. The politicians will say they are creating employment for communities, but it is morally unacceptable to force people to desecrate the land that has nurtured them for thousands of years.
So on one hand the government is using the military to control the communities and ensure that children are no longer sexually abused, while on the other hand it is making plans to use the land on which these children live as a waste dump for highly toxic radioactive material.
Support from the public for the government’s radical intervention sadly reflects our ignorance and insensitivity towards Aboriginal cultures. The welfare of children and the empowerment of communities are not truly on the government’s agenda. They have masterfully manipulated this situation to once again serve their own needs. The noose of Aboriginal oppression has been tightened a little more. It is a telling indication of the state of our democracy when the rights of society’s most disadvantaged citizens can be further eroded without a murmur of protest from the majority of our population.