Internet Edition Issue 2
April 2006

Editorial

Bishop's Easter Message

Former Wanalirri students graduate from Year 12

Reading Recovery Pilot Project for Kimberley Catholic Schools

From the Office of Justice, Ecology & Peace

KCP Magazine

What’s new….?
By Br Shane Wood cfc

Three news stories in the past weeks have made the point
painfully clear to all those willing to take notice that things are not improving for our Aboriginal people in the Kimberley. The stories involved, Halls Creek, petrol sniffing and health statistics.

The Halls Creek story hit the headlines nationally and locally and there was a flurry of comment from everyone you could think of – the ‘usual suspects’ as some would characterise them. What astounded me was the little time given to the genuine desires of the people of Halls Creek and especially the families of the children involved in the alleged sexual abuse. These people do not necessarily want to have their say through the media; they probably want to talk in private with a small group of concerned and committed experts who have the authority to direct resources to the places where they are needed.

There would be no delay in moving all the necessary Departmental machinery into such a situation if it was in a suburb of Perth. Why the shyness here? It seems to me that the situation must be critical for people to speak out in such a fashion and it also seems clear that the caregivers themselves know what is required and are prepared to do whatever it takes to clear up this mess. So the experts need to sit down with the families in a culturally appropriate way and sort it out, not waste time and energy looking for someone or something to blame. Clearly criminal charges need to be laid if crimes have been committed.

The roll-out of non-sniffable petrol has begun in a number of places, but clearly there needs to be a way of ‘plugging the holes’ in a system that allows a community to receive the new petrol but not the Roadhouse across the highway. This terrible practice of sniffing petrol is another symptom of a culture in crisis and the best psychologists, social analysts and family therapists need to be engaged with elders and other leaders in a wholistic approach to Aboriginal community building. If the disease remains untreated, another symptom will replace the one we are attempting to remove.

Oxfam Australia recently released a report on Indigenous health in time for publication to the media visiting Australia for the Commonwealth Games. The statistics are shocking and have varied little over the last 20 years. In part the Report mentions that ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians can expect to live 17–18 years less than other Australians. Indigenous life expectancy at birth is estimated as 59 years for Indigenous men and 65 years for Indigenous women compared to 77 years for non- Indigenous men and 82 years for non-Indigenous women. This is comparable to the life expectancy that applied to non-Indigenous Australians almost 100 years ago’.

So, what’s new in 2006? To our national and regional shame, not much.

^ top