Nothing funny about Abbott’s laughable lines

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.