Aust'n Labor Party infighting over Aboriginal Violence

PLANS for a national summit to confront indigenous violence have divided Labor, with the party's national president, Warren Mundine, supporting the proposal amid continued opposition by state and territory ALP leaders.
Mr Mundine, an Aborigine who has fought within his party to end the political wars between Labor and the Coalition on indigenous issues, called on his state and territory Labor leaders to attend Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough's summit. His comments came a day after Northern Territory leader Clare Martin scoffed at the idea.

"I'm saying to the state and territory ministers they've got to come on bloody board and fix it," Mr Mundine said yesterday.

"I'm encouraging them all to get into the room at this summit but don't make it a talkfest - come out with some outcomes."

But Ms Martin yesterday refused to budge. "We are not doing the Mal Brough show," she said. Mr Brough yesterday remained adamant that he would get state and territory leaders to attend the summit as his first priority.

Mr Brough also won the support of the Howard Government's most senior indigenous adviser, Sue Gordon, who mounted a passionate defence of the minister and called on state and territory Labor leaders to support the proposed summit.

Ms Gordon, the National Indigenous Council chairwoman, said Mr Brough was a good minister committed to protecting children and "getting things done" in the tough Aboriginal Affairs portfolio.

Ms Gordon said critics should look beyond Mr Brough's much-criticised claims of pedophile rings operating in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities and listen to his "underlying message".

"There is no excuse for what is going on and Mr Brough is very keen to change that.

"He wants action and he's told me we can get money and start doing things."

Ms Gordon praised Mr Brough's desire for action. "He's ex-army and he's about moving things along. He doesn't want lots of meetings." But Mr Mundine said Mr Brough must put money and resources on the table to resolve the problems.

"He has got to come to the table with resources, and they've got to work as a team, and Clare (Martin) needs to be at that, and I urge all my Labor colleagues to be at the summit," he said.

John Howard said Aboriginal customary law should play no part in the way criminal courts treat violent offenders.

"I do not believe in any shape or form in the application of customary law by the courts or anywhere else in this country," he said. Northern Territory AMA president Paul Bauert yesterday called for the army to be brought in to restore peace in at-risk Aboriginal communities.

Dr Bauert said 1300 children under the age of 15 at Wadeye in the NT were at risk of abuse and the army should be asked to restore law and order.

"It seems to me that one of the only ways this community is going to get a chance to catch its breath ... is for the forces to be there primarily as peacekeepers," Dr Bauert said.

Gutless Pollies

We have the Labor Party led state and Territory Governments here playing minority politics, refusing to acknowledge any of this happening then abuse the Federal Government for doing nothing to help.

Politicians have got to be one of the most useless pieces of absolute s*** to live and breathe.

Wait, pollies do have a use. Target practice.

Put out on the vast grasslands, pull out the guns and watch the vermin run like rabbits.

The question remains, "Why now?".
Obviously these things have been going on for quite some time. I've been following the coverage of this issue in The Australian. I have been impressed at the inflamatory nature of the coverage that appears to serve no other purpose than to stoke anger in the reader.
America once experimented with the use of force to save children in a little place called "Waco". It doesn't work.

I certainly don't believe sending in the army will help matters any. It is more likely to inflame the situation. However, something definitely must be done.

Cries of racism simply do not change the fact that such abuse is higher in these communities. As long as people continue to be afraid of words, these children will continue to be swept under the carpet.

I totally agree that something must be done.
The situation appears to be the direct results of official policy regarding the racial situation. Now the government proposes further policies to remedy the situation that it helped create.
One of the first steps should be to findout who is poisoning the minds of the Aboriginal population. Likely the same parties who are poisoning the minds of the readers of The Australian.

If this course is pursued the likely result will be civil war in Australia.

The aboriginal communities are being poisoned by alcohol abuse and petrol sniffing. Any community with high substance abuse has high domestic abuse. Full stop. Race is irrelevant.

The underlaying problems need to be addressed before the abuse can be stopped.

As long as complete strangers are verbally (and sometimes physically) assaulted because of something as benign as the color of their skin; skin color is not irrelevant.
The way skin color is viewed is what should be irrelevant.

It is extremely hard to help Aboriginal communities as when a government actually does something to help, they get attacked for "white man knows best".

This can act as a deterrent to help anyone.