Aussie put restrictions on Natives.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Aside from the discrimination issues, this will never work. Alcohol bans are unenforcable, let alone ones which only apply to one section of the population.

[Don Corleone]

Strike, if it was just the people boozing it up themselves, you might have a point. But apparently there is rampant child abuse (physical and sexual) in these aborignal communities and everyone seems to agree that alcohol abuse plays a big role in that.

I don't see how this can work. If you folks have any sort of equal protection clause like our 14th ammendment, there's only 2 ways to go: banning alcohol to everyone, or banning it for noone. You can't say "Well, you Abos can't hold your liquor so no more for you".

I personally don't see what's wrong with requiring that at least 50% of a welfare check go towards food and utilities. I just don't see how Howard intends to enforce that portion of it.

As for the porn, send all the Abo's porn over here to the States. We could use some new stuff, ours is too formulated. (Just kidding. Something about having a daughter changes your whole way of thinking about porn).

[Papewaio]

Considering an aboriginal community will be by itself in an area larger then Wales except for maybe a local mine and a farm at max, the ban is easily enforceable... the remoteness is part of the problem, lack of police, opportunities etc

When working at the mines there is a ban on selling alcohol to the aborigines and also petrol as a lot of them sniff it and spray paints and toluene and other solvents. Its not a pretty thing to see a kid whose mouth and nose is chromed from the spray paint they sniff.

So removing alcohol is only part of the solution, the root causes need to be addressed too.

Now the biggest issue is that this may seem to hark back to the lost children generation and some of the overly extreme measures taken.

=][=

BTW aborigine is one step further then native, it means that they are the original or earliest inhabitants of a land.

On the other hand Maori's are natives as they wiped out the prior inhabitants.

[Yun Dog]

pfft its such a stunt

as said by the WA premier - hes been in power for 10 yrs and something HAS to be done NOW

in that 10 yrs hes been whittling away at funding to social welfare programs that have actually been helping the Aborigines

yet again Howard is pulling a 'Children Overboard' "WMD" & this time "Aboriginal Child abuse" - to appeal to the Lowest common denominator or "the average Aussie voter' who happens to also be a racist, Xeno, Pseudo-Christian, ignorant, biggot

Gladiator "He understands the Mob"

"He will give them blood and they will love him for it"

He will wave this red herring distractor in front of thier faces as if its been the most critical issue facing this nation and NOW hes riding though on his white horse saving us from ourselves - how did we ever survive without him and his transparently racist agenda


edit: for the "at least hes doing something" argument - as said by BKS hes not really becasue this wont work (been tried before), but it will make a lot of headlines - the problem is he doesnt have enough power - If we were to crown him KING then he could help us poor unwashed

[Papewaio]

Yun I agree that this is more headlines and probably won't work (although the idea of actually providing more police is one valid point)... what do you think needs to be done to
a) Stop the current issues in the short term.
b) In the long term diminish the problems.

Personally I think rather then looking after the Solomons we should be sending more of our police into these communities and engaging them to help themselves. More education targeting health and more access to health resources... remove all the porn, alcohol and child abuse... you still have a place that is so remote that basic health services are extremely difficult to provide to.

I don't think throwing more money at the issue via the aboriginal councils will work as they have shown very little progress with what they have done so far. Abstudy and scholarships by all means.

[Yun Dog]

To be brutally honest - I dont think there is a solution

basically they reject western culture but have taken all the bad bits like chronic alcoholism

we try and help them in the only way we know how - try and make them live like us - a house, a job - but this is all whitemans world - I mean for a start they dont have private ownership - everything anyone owns belongs to everyone else - so there is little motivation to have a house, car, and other white man toys - they just see it all as 'why'. Now weve brought them drugs alcohol and pornography you cant just take it away, because theyll just goto town and steal it (wouldnt you).

Just seems to me like anything we do will be more of what we did to them to start with. We have constantly meddled with these people because we are unable to grasp the fact that these people dont feel the need for progress or to drastically modify/exploit their environment like we do- and to be honest seeing where 'our way' is leading the planet and its people - Im not so sure they have it that wrong. As a consequence of thier misplacement from the modern western material capitalst world - comes hopelessness, depression , and abuse (in all forms).

they are the Indian out of Huxleys Brave New World - we've really only left one way for them to go - but like the tigers and other endangered species no doubt we can clone them and keep them in zoos.

Will they suddenly start living like modern man - some will, the rest will be pushed further to the fringe until the fringe is gone and then so will they be.

[CountArach]

in that 10 yrs hes been whittling away at funding to social welfare programs that have actually been helping the Aborigines

A very valid point. Howard has been exacerbating the problem for many years now.

"the average Aussie voter' who happens to also be a racist, Xeno, Pseudo-Christian, ignorant, biggot

lol, the most accurate comment I have ever read about Australian voters.

As a side note, I live about 10 kilometres from Cronulla (The location of those massive riots on the beach) and it is amazing the level of Bigotry and Xenophobia you will encounter around here. Sometimes I confront some of my friends on it and they cannot give me one credible reason why they think that Lebanese and Asians are worse than them. They hate them anyway (As a side note, I don't. Please no one get offended).

what do you think needs to be done to
a) Stop the current issues in the short term.
b) In the long term diminish the problems.

Well IMO:

a) Hmmm. I think that the police are probably the best way of dealing with this. Oh wait, no it isn't! They are underfunded!

b) Education. Just hit them hard with the education. Education will make it better.

Personally I think rather then looking after the Solomons we should be sending more of our police into these communities and engaging them to help themselves. More education targeting health and more access to health resources... remove all the porn, alcohol and child abuse... you still have a place that is so remote that basic health services are extremely difficult to provide to.

That is an infringement of these people's rights though. It creates the double standard of "We are so much better, we are allowed to keep our porn and booze, you on the other hand are uncivilised savages who cannot handle them. Hence we are allowed to take them from you."

I don't think throwing more money at the issue via the aboriginal councils will work as they have shown very little progress with what they have done so far. Abstudy and scholarships by all means.

I'm not sure, but I would bet that they are underfunded as well.

basically they reject western culture but have taken all the bad bits like chronic alcoholism

Rejecting Western Culture isn't a bad thing. There is nothing/noone who should be able to say that our culture is so much better than theirs. Besides, it was us who gave them the alcohol in the first place.

they are the Indian out of Huxleys Brave New World - we've really only left one way for them to go - but like the tigers and other endangered species no doubt we can clone them and keep them in zoos.

Hmmm, let me think. John the Savage was the most pure and the best person in the book. He was backwards technologically, but he was better at heart.

Will they suddenly start living like modern man - some will, the rest will be pushed further to the fringe until the fringe is gone and then so will they be.

I really hope not. Just another reason I will vote Greens when I am old enough (1...more...year...). They at least have the respect for these people's culture to admit that they may in fact be better than us.

[Yun Dog]

AHmmm, let me think. John the Savage was the most pure and the best person in the book. He was backwards technologically, but he was better at heart.


I really hope not. Just another reason I will vote Greens when I am old enough (1...more...year...). They at least have the respect for these people's culture to admit that they may in fact be better than us.

Yes thats rights, but what happens to him in then end, I seem to remember he hangs himself because he cant cope with the ugly brave new world he finds

Yes certainly its good to respect other cultures - the unfortunate thing in this case and many others is the swamping of the planets cultures with the 'greed is good' materialistic cosumer culture