the life expectancy of aboriginals is about 20 years less than whites.
If we were that bad, it'ld be right to ban alcohol from aussie.

the prevelance of child abuse in ab. communities warrants immediate attention.

yes, sex abuse has happened in churches too, and scouting clubs etc etc.
I don't want ot give my taxes to drunk child abusers

It pretty poor that you want to stop moves to help children, just for the sake of your hatred of a politician.

I'm not saying that the aboriginal people don't need help - but in one breath the Government is talking about alcohol bans and in the next breath it says that it will re-open some alcohol outstations that were previously banned.  It was in the news today, I just can't find it at the moment.

I understand what your saying mantra..and i understand what Sprint is saying..but the fact is..John Howard is so deviat we just cannot believe he would be now at the 11th hour want to help these so desperately needy pple, if it werent to help hmself.

Sprint -Mantra would never advocate NOT helping such a needy group of pple., its not in her nature, but like me and most of Australia it comes as too little too late...who could believe his heart is in the right place when we know only to well his human rights record.

David Hicks..etc

The oppression sexual abuse and horrific domestic violence suffered in these commnuities for the last 11 yrs. Im not sure what you dont get Sprint.

Its asking to much for us to be asked to believe that this man is little more  than greedy  opprtunist whos main interests and best friiends are the likes of Bush and big busness and Politicians. These best friends of Howard has profitted at the expense of these little abused children , and thats not to mention the rest of Australia whos standard of living has been eroding for the last 11 yrs...pple on disabilty, age pensioners, sole parents, the unemployed etc, he wants to punish thenm all, for what being down and out????..we could be here all day of we cared to go back and do a complete list.

Hes taken from the poor to give to the rich, hes robbed this country blind.

I think hes got a huge shoe collection like Imelda Marcos somewhere.

That is one of the reasons why  I left new zealand and now am an Aussie.

This is further proof that Howard is correct again.
May 16, 2006
Page 1 of 2 | Single page
ALICE Springs Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers has described in shocking detail an epidemic of sexual abuse and violent death — especially among women and young children — that pervades indigenous communities throughout central Australia.

Ms Rogers, who has handled hundreds of cases of sexual assault in 12 years as a prosecutor, has prepared a graphic dossier that includes a description

And in another case, Ms Rogers described how . Her mother and the father had been drunk at the time of the assault, which was carried out by a young man.

"The volume (of sexual assault) is huge and I don't have a single file in my room that is not related to violence. Seventy per cent of the cases are violent crimes against women. The practice comprises homicides, grievous bodily harm, adult sexual assaults and child sexual assaults."

Ms Rogers' disclosures are in a dossier obtained by the ABC's Lateline program. They are based on case files that have come across her desk, confirming in horrific anecdotal detail a level of sexual abuse that has gone unchecked in remote indigenous communities where there are often few or no police.

She said witnesses and victims were often forced to retract evidence because of intense cultural pressure and, as a result, many cases went unprosecuted.

Rather than blame alcohol and substance abuse for what she says are staggering levels of domestic and community violence, Ms Rogers said indigenous communities, especially the men, must accept responsibility for the violence. She said the causes of the violence could be traced to a culture that promoted male authority over women.

Ms Rogers' views, broadcast at length on Lateline last night, are drawn from a paper she delivered to a recent closed conference of police officers. They are certain to cause controversy in the Northern Territory, which has the highest rates of murder and physical assault in Australia.

Sexual violence has been a largely taboo subject in the NT, an issue seldom, if ever, publicly addressed by Aboriginal leaders and never openly addressed by the NT Government. There are few programs for domestic violence among indigenous organisations.

Ms Rogers, who declined to be interviewed by The Age last night, told the ABC of another case in which a small baby was stabbed twice in the leg by a man attempting to kill her mother. In another case a teenager witnessed his grandfather being stabbed repeatedly in the throat. "These kids see violence as an everyday part of their life and many of them become violent themselves," she said.

She said that out of this culture often emerged a pattern where the boys "beat their wives" and their sisters were "beaten by their husbands". Asked if violence was a built into the culture she said: "Yes."

She said that young men were given a status in the community where they were not made accountable for their actions.

Ms Rogers said she had given up being a public defender after becoming "sick of acting for violent Aboriginal men".

"Small children become so inured to the violence. It doesn't augur well for Aboriginal people to be functional human beings with the attributes for turning around and caring for children themselves," she told the ABC.

■ The Federal Government will help the Northern Territory fix alcohol prices in a bid to stamp out alcohol abuse, parliamentary secretary for health and ageing, Christopher Pyne, has promised.

After a meeting of state and federal health and police ministers yesterday, Mr Pyne pledged to help the NT overcome obstacles such as competition laws, which prevent it from setting alcohol prices or otherwise regulating liquor sales.

"We want pricing to be available as a tool to the Northern Territory Government in combating their alcohol problems," Mr Pyne said. How that would be practically worked out was still to be decided, he said.

In the past, some NT retailers have attempted to band together to increase the price of alcohol in what they said was a bid to stop abuse. But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission opposed the move, saying it amounted to price fixing. The ACCC also found the price rise would not stop people buying alcohol, but simply leave them less money to spend on essentials such as food.

With ANNABEL STAFFORD

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/05/15/1147545263399.html

I have deleted some details.




Six men charged with child sex offencesArticle from: AAPFont size: Decrease Increase Email article: Email Print article: Print July 09, 2007 07:09pm

Six men in their twenties have been charged with a range of child sex offences against three young girls in Western Australia's north.

Police today charged the men with 18 offences against the girls which allegedly occurred in the Halls Creek area between 2005 and 2007.

A police task force, including members of the Department of Child Protection, has been sent to the area to investigate systemic child abuse in the community.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Graeme Lienert said the charges arose from an investigation into how a 13-year-old girl had contracted a sexually transmissible disease in February.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22044496-5003402,00.h

mantra wrote on Jul 10^th, 2007 at 8:43am:



Well said mantra..porn should be banned nationwide.

Howards actions have resonated apparently with a few voters unable or unwilling to see it for what it is , but Labor still leads Libs by 10 points 2 party preferred. Howard is now one point behind Rudd on the preferred PM rating..thats the Chanell 9 result anyway.

Raising the cost of anything makes no difference if one is addicted. The cost of cigerettes were about $3 per packet when I gave up, and thank god I did..at $14 and $17 a packet it is a horrendously expensive addiction these days and doesnt seem to be deterring too many pple evn with the graphic advertising labels.

What makes me sick is the verys erious issue of child sexual abuse being used as a poltical "football" as they say, by Howard.

Getting stuck in and doing something after long last is great, but if its not driven by a genuine desire, which this isnt, it will die completely by the time we go to the polls and will never be heard of  again until next election.And in the meantime theyve done more damage than ever in these communities.

Every other day now a "new case" of child sex abuse is coming out of NT.

Blo ody pathetic.

The government is using blackmail to do these health checks - if they suspect (whoever they are?) a child has been sexually abused, unless the parents agree to their child being physically examined - they will have their income cut off.

They have only got voluntary staff at the moment for this intervention - how is that supposed to help the Aboriginals change their life?

The State Governments and the NT Government in particular are being blamed for the neglect of these communities - but this article from the NT Indigenous Times says otherwise - http://www.nit.com.au/story.aspx?id=11884

Quote:


So why is the Government misleading the Australian population over whose responsibility is whose?

Should the paedophiles get a more lenient sentence than white people living in mainstream community who commit the same crime? Going by the numbers in The Australian today, the abuse is rife, and can be at least partly attributed to failure to enforce the law previously. If the law had been enforced, a lot of the incidents would never have happened and there would be far fewer men from these small communities being dragged through the courts. We leave these communities to themselves for a while and let them degenerate, then we round them all up and jail them for their degeneracy.

Howard is doing something. They are not your kids, yours sleep safely and soundly.  
To score points on a decisive PM, you'ld take any side on any topic.

Sprint these phrases ie "sleeping safe and sound "are phrases being bandied around in the media..you soak up propaganda like a sponge dont you.?

I think what your trouble is Sprint the Ind problem wasnt really known to you prior to the NT scam.

Thing is Ive lived with this my whole life, having lived in the outback for most of my life..this is not news to me..and yes even to I and many pple who live in towns such as mine it is sickening..but the most sickening thing of all Sprint is for most of my life was the fact that Govts allowed it to happen!!!

THEY ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN-THEY KNEW AND DID NOTHING!!! LITTLE BABIES AND CHILDREN HAVE BEEN RAPED AND MURDERED FOR 200 YRS AND GOVTS ALLOW IT- IF THEY KNEW--AND THEY DO AND DID!! AND THEY DONT ACT? IT MEANS THEY HAVE ALLOWED  IT. GOT THAT?????

THIS IS WHAT MAKES PPLE LIKE ME AND MANTRA

Oceans, I have just read your posting. Was not ignoring it, the topic is important to me.

As I have been aware, aborigines have had alcohol/isolation/abuse issues for many decades.
Despite the many millions of dollars given to them and all sorts of assistance and whatever aboriginal led committe has ever started.
Nothing has improved.

I hope something is being done now.
I think every support should be given to anyone who does anyting to stop this.
I don't care who that is. As long as they do something different.