This article first appeared in The Australian, 18 May 2006

Culture is no excuse for crime

Wesley Aird

This week's abhorrent revelations on the ABC's Lateline from the Northern Territory of sexual violence against indigenous women and children in central Australia have rightly been met by outrage from both public and politicians. Neither the exposure nor the responses are new. But analysis blaming Aboriginal culture for the insidious rise of these nauseating sexual crimes has missed the mark.

In recent decades the decline of Aboriginal culture has been regulated by the Australian government, the states and the territories. It is now time for the states and territories to do more than just talk about a solution.

Traditional Aboriginal culture has been a victim of a generation of social malaise and dysfunction; a generation where traditional roles determined by gender, knowledge and skill were usurped by an insidious power related to access to government funding. The era of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was the era of the 'big man', where grace and favour wielded tremendous power over an impoverished people with poor literacy and even poorer governance skills. In effect, there was a breakdown of Aboriginal society. Headlines told stories of physical and financial abuse.

The societal breakdown experienced by hundreds of indigenous communities is shameful for two reasons. Taken at face value the stories are of destruction and despair in the day-to-day lives of real people in real crisis situations. However, there is a second level of shame in that, over the years, at various levels of government, politicians and bureaucrats have watched and funded this public descent in to hell.

Worse, this descent in to hell has been studied to death. It has been observed by bureaucrats and the commentariat and linked to some strange notion of remote romanticism and self-determination. No person in a story told by Northern Territory Crown prosecutor in Alice Springs, Nanette Rogers, will find romance or solace in having their life destroyed in the name of self-determination.

In reality 9 per cent of the indigenous population lives in remote areas and 18 per cent reside in very remote areas. Without taking anything away from the seriousness of the problems in remote and very remote communities, it is timely we widen our focus to address the problems experienced by all indigenous Australians. All too often we forget about the 70 or so per cent of indigenous Australians in urban areas. Even in affluent cities and inner regional centres, indigenous Australians occupy the lowest rungs of the social ladder in terms of education, health and employment. Disadvantage and despair does not stop at the edges of town.

It has been two years since the demise of ATSIC and the introduction of new-arrangements in indigenous administration. Although much has been achieved in the past two years, much more needs to be done.

We hear from time to time the calls for increased funding, usually from the Australian Medical Association, and in the past few days from Oxfam Australia. Admirable calls, perhaps. But no amount of increased funding will improve the lot of indigenous Australia without Aboriginal community leaders taking a genuine role in redressing the problems. Perhaps of equal importance is the role of the states and territories. In spite of the latest 'whole-of-government' approach, the Australian government and states and territories are still funding the crooks and perpetuating indigenous disadvantage.

In Queensland, the state government has sat on its hands for years over community dysfunction in places such as Doomadgee and Palm Island. It takes indigenous people to court if they dare stand up for their legislative rights and threaten the 'development at any cost' state. It was the Queensland Government that recently initiated legal proceedings against Aboriginal people and introduced a race-based maximum wage for indigenous cultural heritage workers. This practice is now gaining traction interstate.

In the Northern Territory, the Education Minister saves money in his budget by not putting enough chairs in a classroom for every kid in an indigenous town to attend school. The Chief Justice hands down slaps on the wrist for violent sex crimes.

Yet both Queensland Premier Peter Beattie and Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin have signed bilateral agreements with the Australian Government which purport to seek to overcome indigenous disadvantage. Given the track record of these two governments, perhaps Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough would do well to run a report card over the performance of these two early subscribers to the whole-of-government approach. Last month NSW and South Australia signed up. Let's see if they can do better than the first two.

Direct action by the states and territories is crucial in addressing the awful conditions in Aboriginal Australia. Just having politicians sign an agreement is not enough.

There must be guided commitment down a couple of levels to the line managers and regional managers who have day-to-day responsibility for interventions and programs. There must also be accountability at all levels of government.

Culture is used to cover up too much. Usually it is petrol sniffing and sexual abuse that grabs the headlines. We abhor both the obvious and destructive behaviour and its consequences. However, the culture of government is also capable of perpetuating indigenous disadvantage.

Wesley Aird is a National Indigenous Council member and a Bennelong Society board member. The views are his own.