Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Nothing funny about Abbott’s laughable lines

By Graham Ring - posted Tuesday, 18 July 2006


Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has made another foray into Indigenous affairs. He spoke to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare recently about the difficulties faced by remote communities. And the health minister’s prescription? A new paternalism.

I tracked down a transcript of the speech assuming it would begin with something along the lines of “A funny thing happened to me on the way here today”.

From there I thought he could warm up the crowd with a few mother-in-law gags and a couple of “two blokes in a bar” scenarios.

Advertisement

Then maybe a longer one about an unlikely collection of people stranded together in a damaged aeroplane working out how to allocate an insufficient number of parachutes.

One could be an Irishman called Paddy, allowing the jokester to bung on the faux-Irish brogue for cheap laughs.

As the evening drew towards its climax, he could slay the punters with the “new paternalism” material and storm off the stage while they were still rolling in the aisles.

After sides were split and thighs were slapped, he could make a triumphant return to the stage to take his encore bows.

But, it seems, the minister was seeking to be taken seriously.

His “back to the future” proposals are truly staggering. The sad and shocking revelations aired on two ABC Lateline programs in recent times shouted to the world a fact already well known by anyone who takes a genuine interest in Aboriginal Australia: some remote Indigenous communities have very serious problems.

Advertisement

Instead of prompting a search for answers, the media circus that ensued became an undeclared “open season” on remote communities. Anyone with a tale to tell or a half-baked idea to expound was given a soapbox.

“Bring in the troops,” some cried, as though economically troubled Australian townships were failing nation states. “Pack them all up,” shouted others, without describing how this wondrous relocation would occur or just where “they” might be subsequently deposited.

Politicians and commentators vied with one another to scale new heights of hyperbole in ever more hysterical attempts to demonstrate their level of outrage. Most laid the blame in the usual place ... at the feet of the victims.

Let’s pause for a brief fact check. I’ll make it quick, so that things don’t get all black-armband, but it needs to be said.

Before we whitefellas lobbed up to save this tenuous culture which had somehow limped along for the previous 60,000 years, life in the bush would have been very different.

For one thing, it’s most unlikely that desert-dwelling Aboriginal people lived in groups of 2,000 or more. It simply wasn’t economically viable. They knew that. But as time went on, these people were dispossessed not only of their sacred lands, but of their traditional hunting grounds as well.

The replacement diet of massacre and malevolence wasn’t terribly life-sustaining.

It should come as no surprise then that many Aboriginal people chose to “come in” to the relative security of church missions and government ration depots where they might at least receive a minimum of food, shelter and protection.

Minister Abbott presides over a portfolio which sees Aboriginal health chronically under-funded. He is quick to point the finger at Indigenous communities who suffer from the scourge of petrol sniffing, but fails to take the decisive action necessary for the comprehensive roll-out of non-sniffable Opal fuel.

Frankly, it’s distressing to hear the minister recite the litany of Indigenous health indicators as though he were a social commentator rather than an elected official with a key responsibility to improve the situation.

The government must move beyond blaming and blathering. No small communities - black or white - are going to be able to organise all the services they require without government assistance. Some will never be economically viable.

Perennial voice of reason, HREOC Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma, points out that Palm Island already has a government-appointed administrator. This is hardly a showpiece community.

Abbott talked up the much-vaunted COAG arrangements but neglected to mention that the struggling community of Wadeye was one of the COAG sites.

In March 2003 the Thamarrurr Regional Council at Wadeye signed a Shared Responsibility Agreement with the Federal and Northern Territory governments.

The three key priorities for the region were identified as women and families, youth, and housing and construction.

Perhaps three years on, Abbott might care to make a ministerial statement describing the progress that has been made in these areas. This will assist taxpayers and voters to make judgments about how effective the government has been in the discharge of its responsibilities.

High-profile summits, grandstanding politicians and bouts of public indignation will come and go, but the complex problems of troubled remote communities will remain.

The futile search for magic wands and silver bullets must be abandoned. The solution lies in the sort of slow, unglamorous policy development work which isn’t conducive to screaming headlines.

Indigenous Australians must play a key role. All jokes aside, if we haven’t learnt that, then we haven’t learnt anything.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. All

First published in the National Indigenous Times on June 29, 2006, Issue 108.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

11 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Graham Ring is an award-winning writer and a fortnightly National Indigenous Times columnist. He is based in Alice Springs.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Graham Ring

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Graham Ring
Article Tools
Comment 11 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy