Now I know Senator Jacinta Price is related to the poor little five-year-old girl (Kumanjayi, a little baby) abducted and brutally slain by a 47-year-old accused criminal, Jefferson Lewis, near Alice Springs, and is rightfully grief-stricken, but she is also correct, in my view, in calling for a Royal Commission into the abuse of girls and women in remote Australian settlements.
The problems faced by our outback communities cannot go on. The Federal minister is just plain wrong to call for the family to be allowed to grieve and no further action taken at this time.
When my son Joe was killed by a drugged driver, and I’m sure I’d be supported in this by Tom Mclucky, who also lost his son to a drugged driver, we grieved, but by God we also wanted justice done and steps taken to help ensure other parents did not have to suffer as our families did. Tom did a wonderful job in forcing the local Government to take some steps to improve the law as a result.
It’s time the Federal Government stops sweeping the brutality, bashings, rapes, bullying, stand-over tactics, and abuse of children by mostly drunken men under the carpet, and ensures that the issue is tackled once and for all, and a royal commission would be a great start.
In the old days, when there were more rural stations in the NT, many of the local men would be employed as stockmen and their families would be taken care of on the big stations. Maybe not the best way of doing things, but it seems better than what we have now.
I ask this question: Is it really necessary to confine so many of our Indigenous citizens into settlements of 300 to 400 people where there is very little work? Even if alcohol and drugs were not a problem, the boredom and the lack of opportunity for young people, especially, must be stifling.
Would it not be better to actually close some of our more problematic settlements and maybe create more employment in larger communities and towns? The bottom line is that we all owe it to the Indigenous women and children of the NT and WA to really address this issue and not keep sweeping it under the carpet.
Keep up the pressure, Jacinta, and sorry about your personal loss.
The seat of Farrer looks very close after the One Nation candidate, David Farley, trod on his feet in answering several questions about policy and also the fact he seems to have supported several parties in past elections. However, it does not look like that will make the job of the Liberal candidate any easier to keep the seat, but a much closer vote between all the candidates seems likely.
Regardless, One Nation still seems likely to get their first House of Reps seat and usher in a new, interesting development in Australian politics.
