Transient Languages & Cultures

Last time John Howard's ship came in, it was a Norwegian freighter, as Max Gillies observed. Today's Crikey has a Special edition: Howard's Aboriginal emergency, which suggests that this time, he's running the Aboriginal flag up the masthead.

Ten years ago when Howard came to power, his new Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Senator John Herron, said that his predecessors had got it all wrong. He wanted Aboriginal 'self-empowerment and said that the Howard government would adopt 'practical, commonsense policies' on health, housing, education, employment and improve Aboriginal people's lives.

That didn't happen.

Last week Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle “Little Children are Sacred”, a long and detailed report on child abuse (Rex Wild and Patricia Anderson), showed just how bad things can be in some communities. Recommendations to cope with this included, among others, recommendations on improving communication between Aborigines and non Aborigines by using translation, interpreters, use of indigenous languages, and improvements to education. I list some that caught my eye at the end of this post.

The Government has focussed on the detail and ignored many of the recommendations of the report. Instead today Howard has seized the opportunity of justifable public outrage at the sexual abuse of children to bundle together some good measures with a whole lot of measures which have nothing to with child abuse or what causes it, but which will give the Government much greater control over Aboriginal land and Aboriginal lives.

I am sure that many members of the Government feel deeply troubled about the lack of improvement in Aboriginal lives since they came to power ten years ago, and that many will see some action as better than none. But I have a bad feeling that, since there's an election around the corner, some politicians are going from children overboard to abused children. This is because so little thought seems to have gone into how these measures would be implemented. They don't address the fact that many of the bad things happen not in the small communities, but in the fringe camps of the big towns. The talk is of "prescribed areas" and "affected areas". I bet Darwin and Alice Springs won't count as affected areas. And so the desire for freedom will suck more people out of the smaller communities to the towns. Where there will be grog.

Here are some of Howard's measures with my off-the-cuff comments - and see Crikey for the responses of others.

1. "We'll ban the sale, the possession, the transportation, the consumption and broader monitoring of takeaway sales across the Northern Territory. " How's that going to play in downtown Darwin, Alice and Katherine? Bloody good drinkers in the Territory.

2. All Indigenous children in the Territory are to undergo a medical check.
A good thing - but will the Government provide the resources to follow up - like the chronic ear and eye problems? Hearing-aids? Will they provide cheap fresh food?

3. "Fifty per cent of welfare payments to parents of children in the affected areas, and the obligation in relation to that will follow the parent wherever that parent may go, so the obligation cannot be avoided, simply by moving to another part of Australia and effectively, the arrangements will be that that 50% can only be used for the purchase of food and other essentials"
Is this really saying that only people in Indigenous communities will be subject to this restriction? Or will it apply in town camps too? And if so how do you distinguish between an Indigenous person on welfare and a non-indigenous person on welfare? And what do you do about places with high rents? How will the food 50% be quarantined? Will they offer food stamps? Vouchers? Or will Indigenous people have to go cap in hand to an overseer?

3. "The Federal Government will take over the running of townships using five-year leases"
What does this mean? NO Aboriginal township is capable of running itself? No Aboriginal township will be allowed to have more than a five year lease?

4. "We will scrap the permit system for common areas and road corridors on Aboriginal lands.".
What has this to do with the child sexual abuse? Stopping permits might allow free flow of non-Aboriginal abusers of children and grog-runners to Indigenous communities.

5. "We're going to ban the possession of X-rated pornography in the prescribed areas and we're going to check all publicly funded computers for evidence of the storage of pornography."
I have felt queasy for a long time at the availability of porn, but again - Darwin porn shops won't be impressed.

6. And an increased policing presence.
Good idea - but remember Sergeant Hurley - provide more Indigenous police officers, and especially women - there are some Indigenous women doing brilliant things in the policing area.

There are no easy answers and there needs to be time and thought given to what the measures should be, and how they should be implemented.

And so to some of the Wild and Anderson's report's recommendations that didn't rate for Howard. They lack the can-do razmatazz, but, if implemented, would have far-reaching effects in the long-term. There're lots more - I just put some that are relevant to people interested in language and education.

53. That, notwithstanding that Northern Territory schools have a single curricula framework, DEET is to ensure all teachers in remote schools consult with local communities as to any appropriate modifications, consistent with Recommendations 100, 102, 106, 107 and 108 in the Learning Lessons Report.