‘RACIST’ BILL PASSES IN SILENCE
In the wee hours of an icy winter’s morning in Canberra, many of us slept as a bill called Stronger Futures passed through the Senate.
Most of us remain ignorant of the nicely named package of legislation targeted at closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians that was voted upon at 2am in the tired, cold chambers of the Australian Senate.
Photograph via Tracker.org.au.
Granted, indigenous affairs are complex and their discourse doesn’t fit into a neat little two to three-minute spot on television or a few hundred words of editorial, and that is especially the case for this bill.
Stronger Futures was designed to replace the Northern Territory Emergency Response Act.
Many of us would remember back in 2007 when the NTER was implemented in response to a report entitled Little Children Are Sacred which found Aboriginal child sexual abuse was rampart throughout the Northern Territory due to poor health, alcohol, drug abuse, gambling, pornography, poor education, housing and general disempowerment.
The Act banned the consumption, possession or supply of alcohol in designated areas as well as placed filters on public computers to combat the spread of child pornography in an effort to decrease the number of sexual abuse cases.
The execution of the NTER or Intervention was quick and brutal.
The army was deployed. The Racial Discrimination Act was suspended. Signs that read “WARNING. PRESCRIBED AREA. NO LIQUOR. NO PORNOGRAPHY” were erected in many of the 73 targeted communities. New police stations were established.
And it all happened in the name of the protection of children.
The logic was that a stronger police presence would mean there could be more opportunities for vulnerable people to report crimes and ultimately that sexual abuse and alcohol-related violence would decrease.
Many have concluded that while something needed to be done in regards to alcohol-related violence and sexual abuse, the Intervention was too heavy handed.
The justification was initially rampant sexual abuse, but the language quickly changed to poverty and neglect. Since the dramatic events of 2007, there has been little inquiry from the wider public into its impacts.
This lack of scrutiny, I imagine, is what has resulted in the quiet passing of the new legislation.
Stronger Futures extends some aspects of the NTER for 10 years. It offers a softer face than the Intervention did. The Racial Discrimination Act has been reinstated and it is promised that the “disrespectful” signs will be taken down.
In fact, at first glance, the contents of the bill all seem quite reasonable.
The goals of getting more children into school, conducting more child health checks, improving housing and the like are reasonable and necessary pursuits. Yet the mechanisms to achieve these outcomes remain hotly contested.
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12 Responses to this article
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Pete July 9, 2012
Yep. Welcome to White Australia.
Much hand-wringing and tut-tutting but no real solutions.
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Carz July 9, 2012
Could you imagine the uproar if it happened locally. What if the government came along and said “Hey Metford (or Scoresby, or wherever) residents, because a few people who live in the town are irresponsible with their welfare payments we are going to take over. We will control how and where you spend your money, we will punish you if your kids wag school, we will take control of the land and send in managers who know nothing about you or your town. Oh, and by the way, this will only apply to white people?” Do you think anybody would sit back and let that happen? Not freakin’ likely. So how can it be right just because it is in another state with a different race targeted?
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WENDY GREEN July 11, 2012
Except, Carz, that the people in those five other areas (like Bankstown NSW) are from all over, not just Anglo-Saxon but other cultures as well, so I don’t think it’s just Aboriginals that are being targeted but anyone who can’t manage their benefits adequately.
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Sarah July 9, 2012
Thanks, Julie. Well done.
Yes, it is a very complex issue but the fundamental flaw in the STOLEN Futures legislation is, like you say, “there has been no real consultation in the creation of these laws.”
If the Racial Discrimination Act has been reinstated, I hope there is a class action against the government before too long …
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Annie Also July 9, 2012
Awful wild despairing. It will be us next on DSP.
Come on and see where I spend our allowance and see if YOU could do any better. We have been on this for 20 years as husband has many chronic disorders….Our children finished HSC and went to Uni where they went cold and hungry to finish their degrees.
If you don’t do it for us, DON’T do it to someone because they are a) Aboriginal b) live in remote communities c) alcohol is a problem ( seen the people at sporting events lately??) d) are poor e) children miss school.Some of the areas that COULD be helped;
a) Better education facilities ( eg Kings School…well why not? Tax payers are paying for their three swimming pools etc)
b) More extensive health support ( make doctors go and work in Aboriginal communities BEFORE they are given full qualifications and pay nurses better to go there..and build proper facilites
c) Respect, listening, recognition of ‘Aboriginal ways’.
d) Housing ..including running water, electricity…and ASK the people what KIND of housing..stop being arrogant and thinking the way WE live is good enough…it ISN”T. And do the UPKEEP on the houses ( get architects to design houses that are useful for a culture that believes in sharing EVERYTHING…)Will that do for starters???
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from the ststs. you deliver it would appear there is increased reporting of bad stuff thRo. Watson July 9, 2012
I feel conflicted on what you raise in your article about “outcomes”~ from the stats. you deliver it would appear there is increased reporting and action on bad stuff which has been happening like sexual and fmily violence in white communities~I think i family contexts if someone with an alcohol problem is blowing the family budget some third party intervention on income management may be a path to a safer future~ blame the govt. not the partner ? Overall sick-making the toll of human suffering…
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The Huntress July 9, 2012
I am going to do some further reading on this bill and write to my MP. I lived in remote Australia when the NT intervention was executed and the effect on the Indigenous community was horrific. The intervention caused more harm, fear and displacement and was nothing more than a token knee-jerk reaction without actually thinking about how it would help the people. For an intervention that was designed to prevent sexual abuse within communities, but then sending in the army to force children to undergo invasive health checks for signs of sexual abuse, I can’t see how it could be deemed a success or any reason why it should be extended.
This is a national disgrace.
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Ro. Watson July 9, 2012
I am glad the Racial Discrimination Act has been re-instated its protections should never have been removed in the first place. Any exceptions should only be about”special measures” designed and implemented with agreement from locals to advance not detract from the enjoyment of equal rights. Any change is likely to bring some displacement and unintended consequences. I am sick of violence of all kinds~ especially hurting women and kids. The cant around male disempowerment if steps are taken to say to stop this is bullshit.
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Ro. Watson July 9, 2012
Anyway~ not sure around whether there was a practice of sexual health checks without basis for such an examination for a kid or adult in trouble~ I slipped by as as a white woman in W.A sexually assaulted by my g.p father and 2 aboriginal men- does this statement disempower black and white men or make them stronger about acting the right way?
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Ro. Watson July 9, 2012
I met Mr. Ward who died in the back of a prison van~ he called himself a big man~why are there not more big men and women here to say stop the violence and do something about this tragedy of ruined or at the least stunted lives?
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Mez July 10, 2012
‘A woman now has a place and a voice in the community,’ according to Bess Price. She is on the ground, living the experience and she wants a long intervention. This may repulse Ms Behrendt and the loony left but while Ms Price says it’s beneficial, I’ll support it.
Perhaps, in the interests of balance, the Hoopla could ask her if she considers this policy to be driven by racism.
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ro.watson January 25, 2013
I remember June,2007 well because I had, um,er “a breakdown”. My own personal emergency. I would like an update on what is happening under the new legislation, on the ground.
