Aboriginal gap prompts call for new
'paternalism'
Australia's health minister documents poor delivery of health services
and questions policy of self-determination.
By Janaki Kremmer |
Correspondent of The Christian
Science Monitor
August 16, 2006
WADEYE AND DARWIN, AUSTRALIA
It's boom time in Australia's northernmost city, Darwin, fueled by gas
pipelines and mining. But an hour's flight by Cessna due south, over
vast wetlands and floodplains, lies the aboriginal community of Wadeye,
a shantytown of about 2,500 people.
Cut off from the rest of the state during the wet season, many families
here live 17 to a three-bedroom house. Half the population is under 15
years old and can't speak English. The isolation and humidity exploded
this May in gang warfare involving spears and makeshift weapons.
With residents facing third-world conditions within a continent of
plenty, some officials are calling into question decades-old efforts to
introduce self-determination in aboriginal communities. What's needed,
they argue, is a return to a form of "paternalism" that would appoint
more capable administrators and instill a wider sense of responsibility
for aboriginal communities.
Prior to releasing a health report on the aboriginal communities in
Australia, Health Minister Tony Abbott wrote recently that
self-determination was unworkable and that "someone has to be in
charge." He proposed an administrator with wide-ranging powers instead
of the current local councils chosen with community input. Mr. Abbot
wrote that self-determination had only encouraged officials to voice
concern without backing it with responsible action.
Abbott's report revealed that indigenous life spans are, on average, 17
years shorter than those of the general population. He went on to write
that the problem was not a lack of government spending but the "culture
of directionlessness in which so many aboriginal people live."
Frustration with aboriginal policy has been building. Earlier this
year, a member of Parliament said that if the problems on Palm Island
couldn't be fixed, then perhaps the aboriginal community should be
evacuated to the mainland.
"As far as aboriginal affairs are concerned, this country has taken a
strong stance that self-determination has led down a blind alley," says
David Martin, an expert on aboriginal affairs at the Australian
National University in Canberra. Slowly, the government is attempting
"a more practical reconciliation focusing on roads, power lines, and
housing."
This means cutting development deals with communities. In the remote
west Australian aboriginal town of Bidyadanga, with a population of 800
people, the government agreed to build a new swimming pool after
children pledged to go to school under the "no school, no pool" rule.
The latest policy shift, Martin argues, may be unfairly scapegoating
previous efforts at self-determination. "Under self-determination, the
indigenous people were lumbered with jobs they did not have adequate
training for like maintaining roads so when they failed to do their
work properly, self-determination was blamed," he says. "In reality,
it's the entire state apparatus that has failed."
Tom Calma, commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands social
justice, argues that self-determination isn't flawed, just misapplied.
"Control over administration and service delivery has been handed to
communities without the required training and capacity existing," said
Mr. Calma in a statement after Abbott's remarks.
Aboriginal communities are wary of a policy shift that could upend
their lives. Local councils, including those in Wadeye, have been
appalled by Abbott's remarks, saying the message harks back to a
stricter time where the Christian missions had control and people were
known not by their names but by the numbers on their assigned
dormitories.
Two town elders, Nolene and Geraldine, still remember their numbers. "I
was 55 and Geraldine was 76," says Nolene, laughing. "In some ways,
those days were better because we had to bathe, learn English, and were
fed properly. Now the men just smoke ganja and no one wants to work."
But Terry Bullemor, CEO of Wadeye's local council, shakes his head at
Abbott's remarks. "The people are just starting to have intellectual
awareness of their situation. Self-government has not been given a
chance.... We are slowly moving toward giving people control, but it's
all very confusing because the governments come and go without
explaining their systems."
Theodora Narndu, one of Wadeye's traditional owners, says the main
problem is that residents were displaced from their homelands. "When I
move away from Wadeye, I don't have confidence.... I need to be with my
mob on my land to be proud. Then I can take you fishing and to the best
billabongs. I am in charge, you see."
Mr. Bullemor says that the council is now considering moving the
"outsiders" back to their own homelands around Wadeye.
Full HTML version of this story which may include photos, graphics, and
related links