"Paternalism" helping black children

It may not be ideal but it sure does a lot more good than admiring blacks as "noble savages" and "respecting" their dysfunctional alcohol-sodden culture. And too bad that it upsets lots of simplistic Leftist pretences to wisdom. Welfare payments destroyed most of what was left of traditional Aboriginal society so attempts to remedy that damage are proper. And since a complete welfare cutoff is not on the cards, paternalism seems to be needed to unscramble that egg -- insofar as it is possible at all. The thing that would do most good is making welfare payments available only in areas where there is work available -- such as Victoria's fruit-growing areas -- and there does appear to be some mental movement in that direction

In June last year, when controversy over the newly announced Northern Territory intervention was at its height, lawyer Noel Pearson slayed its critics with a powerful argument: "Ask the terrified kid huddling in the corner, when there's a binge-drinking party going on down the hall, ask them if they want a bit of paternalism," he said. "Ask them if they want a bit of intervention, because these people who continue to bleat without looking at the facts, without facing up to the terrible things that are going on in our remote communities, these people are prescribing no intervention, they are prescribing a perpetual hell for our children."




Twelve months after former prime minister John Howard announced the emergency intervention, following revelations of horrific and widespread child abuse, the difficult and painstaking process is advancing slowly. The former and current governments both deserve credit for abandoning failed, decades-old approaches. A start has been made, with 9000 health checks, more police, a drop in gambling, drug-taking and alcohol abuse, and improvements in school attendance and fresh food consumption.

Importantly, the intervention has shifted remote Aborigines to the centre of mainstream political debate, after a generation during which mainstream Australians became disengaged from their plight. During this period, welfare "poison", as Pearson identified the shambolic, failed models of indigenous governance and an obsession with the rights agenda among urban elites, brought about the near-disintegration of remote indigenous communities. Parenting skills were lost, law and order deteriorated and education, health and living conditions fell to Third World levels. The critics of intervention were so lacking in their understanding of how dysfunctional the communities had become they vastly underestimated the magnitude of the task at hand.

Now, slowly but surely, the communities themselves, lawmakers and the public are realising that effective measures are essential to give indigenous children and adults the same protection as others from sexual abuse, domestic violence and assault.

The Howard government's indigenous affairs minister, Mal Brough, kicked the process off with a proactive, determined approach. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Indigenous Affairs minister Jenny Macklin have also established themselves as pragmatic realists in indigenous policy, focused primarily on outcomes rather than ideology. After making the long-overdue apology to the Stolen Generations, the Government has moved on with the herculean task of helping indigenous Australians close the 17-year life expectancy gap between themselves and the rest of the nation.

At least some of the early improvements discernible across the Territory from the intervention so far are due to the fact that about 12,000 indigenous Territorians are having their pensions "income managed", quarantining money for necessities such as fresh food and medicine. The initiative announced by Ms Macklin yesterday to mark the intervention's anniversary was a sensible extension of the "tough love" approach. From early next year, a pilot program in Hermannsburg, Katherine, Wadeye and the Tiwi Islands will link Centrelink welfare payments, for black and white families, with school attendance. These, as Ms Macklin pointed out, must be turned around. It is also appropriate and fair that the trials will be extended to the wider urban white society as well.

The next stage of the intervention will be largely shaped by the Rudd Government's review, headed by Kimberley indigenous leader Peter Yu, due to report in September. Beyond the basics of food, clean water, education and health, a view is emerging that longer-term issues of investment, infrastructure and employment could require a kind of Marshall Plan, as Nicolas Rothwell foreshadows in The Weekend Australian today. This could mean resources and tax incentives being directed in a way that allowed the strongest communities to emerge as viable, sustainable centres in the regions that produce most of Australia's exportable wealth. Already, Ms Macklin has foreshadowed mining royalties being used more productively for the benefit of communities. For generations, the proceeds of mining have underpinned one of the highest standards of living in the world for much of white Australia. The ultimate challenge of indigenous policy is to ensure the benefits are shared by those who live where the wealth is produced.

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Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH