Break, remake, ignore Aborigines

Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett
Indigenous affairs were so far down on the list of political priorities it hardly featured in Australia’s recent election campaign; however, Out There News reports —

“Aboriginal society in Australia is in crisis.”

“In overcrowded, broken-down houses and tin shacks on the edge of isolated towns such as Alice Springs and in tiny remote communities, many of Australia’s half-million Aboriginal people live in desperate poverty, disconnected from the modern economy except as recipients of welfare payments. Alcoholism and substance abuse such as petrol sniffing are rife, violence between drunken men and within families is common, and a large proportion of children fail to go to school.

“One of the richest countries in the world hides a subculture of third-world deprivation: on average, Aboriginal men die 11.5 years younger than non-Aboriginals; the life expectancy gap for women is 9.7 years.…

“In community after community across the vast, isolated north, people repeat the same complaint:

Government programs —almost all run by non-Aboriginal Australians with little knowledge of Aboriginal language or society — have taken power away from Aboriginal communities and left people feeling humiliated and marginalized, their wishes ignored and the very survival of their culture threatened.”

Sources and Notes
“Two Australias” written by Paul Eedle Wednesday August 4, 2010; Harold Nelson at Arlparra TX Al Jazeera English September 2010,
http://www.megastories.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=155:australias&catid=35:documentaries&Itemid=56


“Out There News investigates for Al Jazeera’s “People and Power” why a massive Australian government program to tackle poverty, alcoholism and violence in Aboriginal communities has provoked anger and despair among the people it is designed to help.… This “People and Power” film investigates the realities behind the claim and counter-claim about the Intervention. It explores what is going wrong, both in Aboriginal society and in the government response, but also identifies signs of hope.”


Film’s lead-in: “Julia Gillard has finally emerged out of Australia’s general election as the country’s first woman prime minister and leader of a new, Labour-led, minority administration. The negotiations to gain the support of independent MPs were tough. But one thing that barely figured on the agenda was indigenous affairs — an issue so far down the list of political priorities in Australia these days that it hardly featured in the election campaign of either main party.” This episode of ‘People and Power” can be seen from Wednesday, September 8- Monday September 13, 2010, or in archive, http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2010/09/20109894857737505.html

Alice Springs, a town in Northern Territory, Australia, lies on the intermittent Todd River and the Stuart Highway, 1,028 road miles (1,654 km) north of Adelaide and 954 miles (1,535 km) south of Darwin. The main focus of the Centre, Alice Springs is the name given to approximately 100,000 square miles (260,000 square km) of central Australia that includes large areas of desert and rocky ridges [Britannica note].