Now you’ve heard it in black and white

These acts of violence perpetrated by desperate people are nothing more than shameful despicable acts that necessitate quick and immediate action by law enforcement agencies.

High frequency of crime and delinquency

The proportion of Indigenous people who reported being a victim of violence increased from 13 per cent to 23 per cent between 1994 and 2002: double that of non-Indigenous people. Where once Indigenous people who had a propensity for criminal behaviour, young and old, stole from non-Indigenous people, they are now less discriminating in who their victims are. Most Indigenous people would know of another Indigenous person who stole from or assaulted them or someone within their extended family.

Weak and fragmented network of communications

In 2002, 42 per cent of Indigenous people aged 18-24 were neither studying nor employed in the labour force, compared with 13 per cent of other Australians.

How are our people meant to network with the rest of the community and keep open a strong and positive line of communication with others if they are often illiterate or have only attained a low level of education?

Many Indigenous communities are losing their organisations through maladministration or because of placing too much trust in unscrupulous recruited Indigenous or non-Indigenous people. And in the process they are losing their access to phone, email and fax facilities.

Very few of our marginalised community members would own a personal computer, and even less would have access to the Internet at home, primarily because they don’t have a job or if they do it only pays a subsistence wage. I would love Indigenous people to have a strong network of contacts similar to those who make successful use of their “old school tie” connections.

So after my appraisal of the ten indices of disintegration do I think we are a silent dysfunctional race who condones child abuse and domestic violence? Overall I emphatically say we are not, although some Indigenous communities may require extra assistance to avoiding identification with that unsavoury category.

But one think I say is that it takes an entire community to raise a child and that we as a community must speak out against abuse of any description in order to maintain a healthy safe environment for all our children to grow and lead fulfilling lives.

In saying that however, I am mindful of those weighty words of Tucholsky, “There are many sorts of noises, but there is only one silence".