Aborigines and Johnny-come-lately

A few weeks ago John Howard, in the face of scary poll results and the admitted threat of electoral annihilation, stated that he did not have a rabbit to pull out of the hat. Well, guess what! He has just found his rabbit. Child abuse in Aboriginal communities is Howard’s rabbit – the Tampa and children overboard rabbit that he has harnessed just 4 months out from the federal election. Of course none of us condone child abuse and all of us want to see it eliminated but WHY HAS HOWARD WAITED TIL NOW TO ACT? Once again Howard’s actions are driven by political strategy. We have seen it with Hicks, climate change, water, and many other issues. As Dr Tim Rowse of the ANU wrote: Recently, we heard through the Prime Minister's leaked analysis of the Government's electoral prospects that he has no 'rabbit to pull out of a hat'. In 2001, when the Howard government needed a rabbit it found one in the alleged 'child abuse' by unauthorised refugees (Children Overboard). The government won a mandate to deal firmly with refugees, and it exercised that mandate, in part, by imprisoning children. Now the government is facing defeat, and it has found -- in the dire circumstances of some Aboriginal communities and families -- the 'rabbit' that it needs. Again, the protection of children will be the Howard team's rallying cry. Today's announcement has the stench of 2001's rotting rabbit carcass.
If there is any doubt about Howard’s belatedness and his tricky strategizing then the following should put the doubt to rest.
Patrick Devery writes on Crikey:The abuse of children in Indigenous communities is an issue that was highlighted long before Lateline's report in May 2006 initiated the Northern Territory Government's report into the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse. Below is a timeline of how the issue of sexual abuse in Indigenous communities has been publicly addressed.
1989: Judy Atkinson writes a report for the National Inquiry on Violence naming sexual abuse in Indigenous communities as endemic and epidemic.
1991: Ms Atkinson writes a similar report for the Prime Minister and cabinet.
1999: Aboriginal academic Boni Robertson leads an inquiry of 50 women, representing all indigenous communities in Queensland, to look into alcoholism and abuse of women and children in remote communities.
2000: Ms Robertson's report is tabled in the Queensland parliament.
2002: The Central Aboriginal Congress prepares a paper showing the number of Indigenous women being treated for domestic assault at the Alice Springs hospital more than doubled from 351 cases in 1999 to to about 800 cases in 2002.
7 July 2003: Prime Minister John Howard calls a summit on violence in Indigenous communities in response to statements by a number of indigenous leaders. The summit begins on 23 July 2003.
5 August 2003: Cape York community doctor Lara Wieland hands John Howard a 10-page letter outlining incidents of abuse, and claiming that child sexual abuse and neglect are out of control in the community.
26 November 2004: NT Chief Minister Clare Martin reports to a cabinet colleague that "social dysfunction" at central indigenous community Mutitjulu is driven by chemical addiction and passive welfare, and that two-thirds of its children are malnourished or underdeveloped.
15 May 2006: Lateline obtain a confidential briefing paper written by Nanette Rogers, Crown Prosecutor for central Australia. The paper -- originally intended for only a small number of senior police -- details endemic sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. Remember how this dominated the media for several weeks!! Where was Howard and his white charger then? (my point in italics)
22 June 2006: The Northern Territory Government announces an inquiry into child sex abuse across the Territory's Aboriginal communities.
8 August 2006: NT Chief Minister, Clare Martin, officially appoints Rex Stephen Leslie Wild QC and Patricia Anderson to the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sex Abuse.
30 April 2007: Little Children are Sacred, Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse is presented to the Northern Territory government.
16 June 2007: Little Children are Sacred report publicly released.
21 June 2006: Prime Minister John Howard and Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough hold a press conference to announce a series of reforms directed at indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. The Prime Minister calls the situation "akin to a national emergency".
It is disgusting that Howard should compare this situation to Hurricane Katrina when alarm bells have been clanging since the day he became Prime Minister.

A fair go for the word fair!

The past week has seen both sides of politics trying to outdo each other with their commitment to fairness. Labor wants to scrap Australian Workplace Agreements and introduce a fairer system embodied in Forward with Fairness and Fair Work Australia. Howard responded immediately to make his Work Choices fairer with some 'finetuning' to protect workers on less than $75000. Big Business condemned Labor and we had CEOs of some of our biggest companies saying the sky would fall if Work Choices was scrapped. I have to smile at CEOs who are on multi million dollar salaries pontificating about threats to whole sectors posed by collective bargaining. The just retired CEO of Rio Tinto was the saddest: Leigh Clifford earned $6.7 million last year (about $18,356 a day) bemoaned Labor's union driven agenda. How can these people relate to some 20 year old kid on $14.00 an hour in the retail sector being screwed out of penalty rates?
Of course Labor is not averse to a little fairness bypass as the shafting of the Labor member for Newcastle to make way for ACTU secretary, Greg Combet shows. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!.......fairness....... like beauty it is in the eye of the stubbyholder.

Mateship and Water

Finally the Howard Government comes up with something I totally agree with. They suggest pumping water from the mighty Clarence river in northern NSW over the border to the huge population centres of Southeast Queensland. At the outset I must declare that such a project would have to have strict controls. NOBODY is talking about draining the Clarence DRY!!! To be viable it would be about harvesting the excess water only to the extent that the Clarence's ecology and biodiversity would not be harmed.
But of course as soon as the idea is raised political and self interest jump right in. Consequently there is no way this proposal will get off the ground. The (Labor) NSW government won't countenance a (Liberal) Federal government idea that might be popular in Queensland where votes in the November election will be critical. Then there are the locals who see the proposal as the end of the world and think the Clarence is to be replaced by a large empty drain.
So...... mateship in Australia does not extend to sharing water.
EXCEPT where I live. Premier Peter Beattie is working 24/7 building a pipeline from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast so that water can be pumped from our full dams to Brisbane's near empty dams. Of course this is a stopgap measure that governments excel in and it would be more visionary to be construct a pipeline from the bountiful rivers of northern Queensland. A short pipeline from NSW's northern rivers would be the simplest and most logical but simplicity and logic don't sit well with experts and governments.
FOOTNOTE: I wonder if the guy who cut down the last tree on Easter Island intended sharing the wood with his mates or whether it was for his exclusive use and if so whether he was beaten to death by envious others.

David Hicks

So David Hicks has pleaded guilty to providing support for terrorism. Who wouldn't have to just get out of the hell of Guantanamo? For people like John Howard to say this proves what a traitorous bastard he is shows a lack of understanding of what motivates a person to escape horrific conditions. Jail in Australia has got to be a preferable option. The bigger crime is that he had to languish there for 5 years while John and George played political footsies.
I often think how good it would be if we could return to the ancient times where leaders led their armies into battle. The invasion of Iraq with George, Tony and John in the first tank into Baghdad!!! The war would never have got off the ground. They would have said: 'Stuff the oil! Let's get serious about solar power.'

Aussie Values - Good Value??

I just saw an item on TV showing Fred Nile, under a huge banner with the Australian Flag and the words AUSSIE VALUES, calling for a halt to Muslim migration until it can be established that the existing 300,000 Australian Muslims can be vouched for as worthy Aussies. Stone the bloody crows!!! When jingoism, racism and Christian self
righteousness collide they make for a perverse mix.

Then there was the standard 60 Minutes piece which once again talked of Aussie Values being freedom, mateship, patriotism, resilience, optimism (the kind that begets ‘she’ll be right!’). The usual suspects were interviewed: the ex-convict (freedom); the soldier (mateship); the dynastic grazier (resilience and optimism); the migrant (the lot); the flag draped yobbo (patriotism to excess). Once again it was presented as if these values are the exclusive province of Australians. Somewhere in there I guess Aussie Values do reside but it is the misuse of them by anyone from politicians to ordinary people that really gets me. It’s such a copout to use Aussie Values as a weapon in any holier than thou attack on someone whose difference you can’t handle. When you look at the daily examples of ALL sorts of people behaving contrary to the Aussie Values that we all think identify us a Aussies then you realize they are more an ideal than a real thing. The unprovoked bashings, the corruption, the executive crime, the ridiculous salaries that company CEOs get paid, the preference for vested interests, the rip offs and exploitation, the road rage, the obscene defences lawyers mount for vermin, etc. etc etc. all have nothing to do with fair go and mateship and tolerance and all the rest that we think typically characterize Australians. Values are open to all sorts of interpretation, use and misuse. That's what I'm doing here you may say!

Aaaaaaaah!! Good old Mateship

Another week that showed that good old aussie value mateship in all its glory. Kevin Rudd really got caught out by including ex crims in his mateship circle. Even our mates can get us into strife!! (Howard's mate George Bush has got him into strife over Iraq). Then one of Howard's ministerial mates had to be cut loose so Howard and his cronies, Costello and Abbott could maintain the onslaught against Rudd.
The whole episode, which I'm sure will surface regularly for months to come, illustrates clearly what I've been on about in this blog. Mateship is not always the great thing it is often cracked up to be. Misguided mateship can see mates lead mates into the jaws of hell. Mateship also knows when it's time to pull the plug.
PS Costello's and Abbott's snarling performances in the Parliament probably did them more harm than good. Imagine them with an attack of road rage.

Dick Cheney has mates in The Australian

Here is a letter I sent to The Australian that didn't get published.

The Editor
The Australian

The editorial (26/2) on Cheney's visit acknowledges that Bush and Cheney 'did not have a clue what to do next' after Saddam's removal. Instead of saying they still don't and chiding Cheney, it goes on to present him in a favourable light even when that glow includes nuclear possibilities in Iran. It is as if Greg Sheridanial took over and pasted in the tiresome pro Bush/Howard/Cheney sentiments from his Saturday Inquirer interview with the Vice President. The editorial says Mr Cheney is ' indefatigable' and we Aussies should be grateful. Zealous would be a better label and most Aussies now know the price for Cheney's and Bush's zealotry has been far too high. How amazing that this cut and paste editorial appeared opposite the more realistic article by C. Layne entitled Dick Cheney has led America Down the Road To Hell in Iraq.