The peak body for Aboriginal kids hits back after Dutton says sexual abuse is 'rampant' in Alice Springs

Politicians and advocates have pointed out that if the Opposition Leader has evidence of such abuse, he is legally bound to report it.

The peak national body representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families has rebuked Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for his comments on sexual abuse in Alice Springs.

On the second of two days spent in the town, Mr Dutton and Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price made claims of 'rampant' instances of sexual violence in the community. CEO of The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), Catherine Liddle, said there was no evidence to support Mr Dutton’s Claims.

"Sexual abuse is a really serious crime, which has a devastating impact on children, families and communities — this is not a political football," she said in a statement. 

“The claims of ‘rampant’ abuse fly in the face of evidence. Data from Territory Families show there has been no escalation in investigations of sexual abuse or exploitation."

Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy has called for Mr Dutton to report any abuse to the Police.

“I would ask opposition leader Peter Dutton, if you are aware of this, then you need to mandatorily report it to police so that there can be an investigation immediately, and if you have not done that, I would urge you to do so as soon as possible,” she said.

In the Northern Territory (NT), it is a legal responsibility under the Care and Protection of Children Act 2007 to report any concerns if you believe a child is being, or has been, harmed or abused. This is called mandatory reporting.

The Northern Territory Police Minister Kate Worden also slammed the Opposition Leader's claims.What we’ve seen over the last couple of days from Peter Dutton in central Australia is absolutely opportunistic, political game-playing, and using the most vulnerable people here in the heart of our nation as a pawn in that game. It’s quite frankly, a dog act.Coalition defends claimsSpeaking in Alice Springs on the matter, Mr Dutton used drastic terms to describe the alleged situation. 

“You’ve got kids here tonight who are going to be sexually abused or families where domestic violence has now become a current occurrence and were told that nothing can be done about it,” he said.

Liberal Party senator Kerrynne Liddle defended Mr Dutton’s claims speaking to ABC radio. "I say prove it's not happening and then we can have a conversation about the kind of language we can actually use for this.

"You've got the statistics, which everyone accepts are under-reported and under-represented," Senator Liddle said.

SNAICC says it invited the Opposition Leader and Senator Price to meet with them and community members "for a considered, evidence-based discussion of the issue of child sexual abuse and the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child protection system." 

The organisation said that, despite an invitation last year, neither Mr Dutton nor Ms Price have approached SNAICC for more information or to hear about community-led solutions.

 

https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/peter-dutton-says-sexual-abuse-is-rampant-in-alice-springs-the-peak-body-for-aboriginal-kids-has-hit-back/uzlt4ecr0

 

 

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PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.

 

 

Peter Dutton ends the year with detailed plans to wind back reconciliation, peppering departments with questions about the cost of Welcomes to Country and promising to scrap flags, dual names and the ambassador for First Nations people. By Karen Barlow.

 

 

The Coalition is moving to undo the First Nations naming of Australian military bases as it escalates its opposition to race-based symbols and other reconciliation policies.

A senior Coalition source has told The Saturday Paperthat the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence’s base renaming program, which has just started with the dual naming of bases on Wiradjuri Country in southern New South Wales, is under joint party review with a decision to be made in the new year.

The move follows Peter Dutton’s commitment to remove the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags from future prime ministerial press conferences and an increase in criticism of Welcome to Country protocols.

“It’s like every other day we get a sugar hit of racism. ‘Look at us. We’re going to cause this much harm to Aborigines. Oh, we’re going to take away their self-esteem by removing flags. We want Australia under one flag,’ ” Marcia Langton, an Indigenous leader and key campaigner for the Voice, tells The Saturday Paper.

“Well, that’s the One Nation policy. So, they’ve moved so far to the right and to right-wing propaganda, it’s difficult to take any of it seriously. These are not actual nation-building policies. They’re sugar-hit propaganda announcements.”

Dutton’s latest statements follow his vow in September to axe the ambassador for First Nations people, a position created by Labor. It comes amid increasing opposition scrutiny of Welcomes to Country and smoking ceremonies.

Since before the failed Voice referendum, the opposition has been using questions on notice and budget estimates hearings to ask how much taxpayer money is spent by federal departments on Welcomes to Country, smoking ceremonies and Indigenous “reconciliation matters”.

The queries have been put by various Coalition senators, including Alex Antic, James McGrath and Hollie Hughes.

The Coalition’s spokesperson for Indigenous affairs, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, says the welcomes are too frequent and advises those holding them to “cease with the activism”.

“While the historical form of these ceremonies may be up for debate, I am quite sure that the most accurate versions are not those that include a lecture in colonial guilt,” Price wrote in an opinion piece in Nine newspapers.

“Have the ceremony but lose the extremism. It only discredits the person performing it and risks alienating the broader community.”

Price, who during the Voice campaign controversially claimed that Indigenous people were not suffering negative impacts from British colonialism, says she is not interested in “pointing out race, or treating people according to their race, for the sake of it”.

“So, have the Welcome to Country, but also allow people to think about when and how that’s best done,” she wrote. “Let’s not crowd out the nuance, and importantly, let’s not lose sight of what we’re trying to achieve for Indigenous Australians. Sounds a bit like what the Melbourne Storm are doing, and for that, they should be congratulated.”

Price was referring to the NRL team’s announcement that it was cutting back on Welcomes to Country before games. Management insisted the ceremonies had not been cut entirely but that the club was recasting how it acknowledges First Nations people.

The Saturday Paper requested an interview with Price to discuss the Coalition’s approach to policy formulation for First Nations people, but she was not available.

A senior Coalition source tells The Saturday Paperthat the dual naming of Defence bases – a project first cancelled by Dutton when he was Scott Morrison’s defence minister – is under review, with the opposition seeking to “emphasise our unity as a nation, not our differences”.

The Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence had adopted the dual naming policy in 2019 as part of a three-year reconciliation plan. It was quietly blocked by Dutton in 2021 amid a ministerial warning to Defence to not pursue a “woke agenda” – a directive revealed by The Saturday Paperafter the May 2022 election.

In November this year, Defence announced the dual naming of two bases in southern New South Wales. The first efforts are the Wiradjuri names of Yalbiligi Ngurang for RAAF Base Wagga and Gabuga for Blamey Barracks in Kapooka, with Defence saying the new co-names highlight “longstanding links between Defence and First Nations communities by acknowledging the important role that First Nations people have and continue to play in the defence of Australia”.

It is understood local MP and former Nationals leader Michael McCormack was briefed on the dual naming.

“I’m absolutely baffled as to why a very senior politician in this country would focus on a group of people, in this case Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders … he wants to bring us down every opportunity. It actually reminds me of schoolyard bully tactics.”

Under the original plan, several more bases and establishments would receive dual names and new entry signs after the Wiradjuri pilot, but the timeframe for further naming of bases is unknown. And now, the Coalition is showing all signs of ending the initiative.

Indigenous leaders say the opposition is deliberately creating division through its string of announcements on Indigenous policies. It has announced more concrete changes to Indigenous affairs than it has in most other portfolios.

“I’m absolutely baffled as to why a very senior politician in this country would focus on a group of people, in this case Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, who have come through and survived the most horrific things that happened to our people through colonisation – and yet he wants to bring us down every opportunity,” says Jill Gallagher, chief executive of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

“It actually reminds me of schoolyard bully tactics. I really don’t understand it.”

Dutton has been clear in his messaging.

“If we’re split into different groupings or different tribes, we’re not going to be the unified country that I think we need to be,” he told 3AW in an interview that followed the flag announcement.

On the national flag, he was resolute.

“We’re a country united under one flag,” he told Peta Credlin, Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff and now a Sky News host.

“If we’re asking people to identify with different flags, no other country does that, and we are dividing our country unnecessarily. Now we should have respect for the Indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag, but they are not our national flags.

“I think the prime minister sends a very confusing message.”

Dutton also revisited his position on big business and what he called “corporate virtue signalling”.

“The prime minister’s not out there calling out Woolworths and not out there calling the pubs who don’t want to celebrate Australia Day,” Dutton said.

It is a strategy that attacks Anthony Albanese’s leadership and riffs on the success of Dutton’s opposition to the Voice referendum.

Pollsters say voters never raise First Nations flags as an issue of concern – in focus groups all conversations are about cost of living, housing and health access – but acknowledge that Dutton is trying to pick a “woke” fight with Labor.

Tacticians say the opposition leader’s plan is to get the Albanese government to talk about anything other than helping with cost-of-living relief, while “throwing red meat” to the right of the party’s base.

One Labor figure said Dutton is trying to “re-create the Voice” and a “Trumpian backlash against woke culture”.

Labor’s response has been measured and dismissive.

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, was quick to post on social media that Dutton was “proving himself unfit to be prime minister”.

Minister for Education Jason Clare said it was a distraction from Dutton losing two senior colleagues to retirement and from opposition policies he does not want subjected to scrutiny. “What this shows is that Peter Dutton is not ready to govern,” he told the ABC.

The prime minister said it was up to the opposition leader to explain why he has chosen to attempt to make flags an issue.

“It costs nothing to show respect,” Albanese told RN Breakfast.

Freshly elected in May 2022, Albanese made the three flags a statement of the transition of power, and they have stayed in view ever since.

“I want to bring people together and I want to change the way that politics is conducted in this country,” he told reporters on the Monday after the election.

The use of the national standard went into overdrive under Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott. Each additional flag stationed behind a podium was a guide to the urgency and importance of a prime ministerial event.

It was no surprise, according to one Liberal MP, that the “one flag” vow took place on the program helmed by Peta Credlin.

“It probably is reflective of the big influence that she tries to have over him and towards pulling us further and further to the right, which is ridiculous,” the MP tells The Saturday Paper.

“We need to stick to our knitting. He’s doing well. He’s talking about energy. He’s talking about cost of living. Australians are agreeing with him. He’s talking about Israel and keeping Australians together, not dividing us, and against anti-Semitism, and then suddenly it’s flags. It’s just typical of Credlin. She’s just toxic.

“If she’s allowed to have too much influence over Peter and over policy, then we won’t do as well in the election, because her strategy is wrong, and it’s been proven to be wrong.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxPUP_-2h40&t=123s&ab_channel=TheSaturda...

The opposition leader has confirmed recent reporting in Nine newspapers that he is taking regular advice and encouragement from Abbott and Credlin, 10 years after Abbott left the top job, but he’s downplayed the frequency and impact of the contact.

The MP questions how going hard on First Nations flags will help the Liberals hold on to a city seat such as Bradfield in northern Sydney, which is being vacated by senior moderate Paul Fletcher and is being seriously challenged by two-time independent teal candidate Nicolette Boele.

The Liberal says Dutton’s instinct comes from being a Queensland cop and from being in national security “strongman” portfolios.

“A prime minister shouldn’t be an attack dog,” the MP says. “A prime minister needs to be statesmanlike and bring Australians together.

“I don’t mean flags aren’t important. I mean, which flags the prime minister stands in front of is certainly not an issue that I’ve heard in my electorate.”

For Indigenous people, it is about being seen and knowing there are ongoing efforts being made towards reconciliation.

“We are one of the oldest living cultures on the planet and everything that happened to us was swept under the carpet. We were disempowered,” Jill Gallagher says.

“Whatever wealth we had, in the sense of wealth from a cultural perspective, was taken off us. Our language was forbidden, it was illegal. And we lived by a rule that you get told when to go to bed, when to sleep, when to eat and when to get up and whether you can leave a mission or not.

“Every aspect of our lives was controlled. Our culture was almost destroyed … We were becoming invisible in our own country. We were invisible in our own country. We’re trying to be visible in our own country. Is that too much to ask for anyone?”

Gallagher cites a similar push in New Zealand to reduce the presence and recognition of Māori culture. Under the Christopher Luxon conservative government, a series of policies that enshrine the special status of Māori people have been or are being unwound. This includes seeking to reinterpret the nation’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi.

“It seems they have views only about First Nations people – and those views are divisive – and they don’t have views on how they are going to fix the housing crisis,” Gallagher says.

 

 

 

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“Where’s their policies on Australians having access to affordable, healthy food, and the list goes on? Where’s his policies around that? Why isn’t he doing his job and actually holding the current government accountable? Where’s the affordable housing?”

Marcia Langton says the fixation on Indigenous people will achieve nothing other than division.

“Nobody’s mortgage is going to be reduced by these measures. Nobody’s cost of living is going to come down by these measures. It costs nothing to stand in front of an Aboriginal flag,” she tells The Saturday Paper.

“In fact, it gives the nation hope that there is an end to the vicious racism against Aboriginal people. It gives Aboriginal people hope and the [six million] Australians who voted ‘Yes’ who want a cohesive society, who want rid of racism.

“Shifting the goalpost to say that you despise anti-Semitism doesn’t remove the burden of Australia’s own history.” 

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on December 21, 2024 as "Exclusive: Dutton set to revive Indigenous placenames fight".

 

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Karen Barlow is The Saturday Paper’s chief political correspondent.

December 21, 2024

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/12/21/exclusive-dutton-set-revive-indigenous-placenames-fight#mtr

 

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

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         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.

 

Criticize Russia, ignore Western abuse: How these small peoples became victims of blatant hypocrisy

The rights of Indigenous communities are being wielded as a political club to against Russia, while inconvenient abuses are being ignored

By Nadezhda Romanenko

 

For years, international organizations claiming to defend Indigenous rights have paraded their so-called advocacy on global stages, branding themselves as saviors of marginalized communities. But when the time comes to take a stand against real atrocities happening in Western nations, these groups fall silent. Their mission, it seems, is not about protecting the vulnerable but about selectively targeting Russia while conveniently ignoring abuses committed by the so-called “liberal democracies” of the West. And nowhere is this double standard clearer than in the case of the Inuit people, who have faced generations of oppression, systemic marginalization, and outright human rights violations at the hands of Western governments.

The selective outrage of indigenous rights advocates

If one were to listen to the loudest voices in international human rights organizations, they would hear endless accusations against Russia. These groups regularly condemn Moscow for its treatment of Indigenous communities in the Far North, painting an image of systematic oppression. They seize on any opportunity to push narratives about “ethnocide” and “forced assimilation,” often without concrete evidence or regard for the complexities of these communities’ realities.

But when undeniable human rights violations occur in the West – ones that make headlines, ones that demand accountability – these same organizations fall deafeningly silent. Where is their outrage over the forced sterilization of Inuit women in Greenland, a practice carried out with the silent approval of the Danish government? Where are the fiery speeches, the damning reports, the UN resolutions demanding justice? They are nowhere to be found, because condemning the West does not fit the political agenda these organizations have been co-opted into serving.

Western atrocities against the Inuit: A conveniently ignored history

Western nations have long committed severe abuses against Inuit communities, often with complete impunity and minimal international scrutiny. Among these crimes:

Forced sterilizations in Greenland: Between the 1960s and 1970s, under Danish rule, Inuit women in Greenland were systematically sterilized without their consent in a shocking display of eugenic policy. The goal? To limit the population growth of Indigenous peoples, ensuring Danish dominance in the region.

The Canadian residential schools scandal: For decades, Canada forced thousands of Inuit children into abusive residential schools, separating them from their families and cultures. These institutions were notorious for physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, leaving lasting generational trauma.

Forcible relocations: The Canadian government also forcibly relocated entire Inuit communities in the mid-20th century, dumping them in uninhabitable regions under the guise of “civilization.” Many died from starvation, disease, and exposure.

Environmental destruction and exploitation: Western corporations continue to exploit Inuit lands for mining and oil extraction, often with little regard for environmental destruction or the impact on traditional ways of life.

Unlike the exaggerated and often baseless accusations lobbed at Russia, these were real, documented, large-scale violations of human rights. Yet, Western-backed organizations and advocacy groups – such as the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the Arctic University of Northern Iowa – stood idly by, refusing to call out the crimes of Western nations. Worse still, these groups continue to ignore the residual trauma and suffering of the affected Inuit communities. No compensation, no global reckoning, no endless UN debates – just silence. The hypocrisy could not be clearer.

The West’s covert manipulation of indigenous advocacy

The reason for this selective activism is as cynical as it is obvious: Western governments use Indigenous rights groups as political weapons rather than defenders of justice. Take the United Kingdom, for example. London actively manipulates Indigenous discourse through the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), not to promote Indigenous welfare but to advance an anti-Russian agenda.

In September 2024, European diplomats – including British representatives – reached an agreement at a UNHRC session to increase “awareness” about Indigenous issues in Russia. This was not done out of concern for Indigenous peoples, but as part of a broader Western campaign to demonize Russian policies while maintaining a convenient blind spot for their own atrocities.

Figures like Rodion Sulyandziga, a well-funded activist with well-documented anti-Russian positions, are being pushed into leadership roles not because they are effective defenders of Indigenous rights, but because they serve Western interests. His track record? A long list of anti-Russian statements and zero tangible improvements for the Indigenous people he claims to fight for.

Real Indigenous advocacy means confronting all abuses

If these international organizations truly cared about the plight of Indigenous peoples, their condemnation would be consistent – not selective. They would speak out against the horrors inflicted upon Inuit women in Greenland. They would highlight Canada’s ongoing struggles with Indigenous child welfare, where thousands of Inuit children continue to be taken from their families by the state. They would demand justice for the Indigenous Australians who suffer systemic discrimination under policies enforced by their so-called progressive government.

But they do not. Instead, they weaponize Indigenous suffering when it suits their geopolitical goals, wielding their outrage like a club against Russia while giving their own governments a free pass.

The time for hypocrisy is over

Enough is enough. The Inuit people and Indigenous communities across the world deserve real protection, not performative activism. They deserve advocacy that holds all governments accountable – not just those deemed politically convenient to criticize. Western human rights organizations must either prove their commitment to justice by condemning the abuses within their own borders, or they must be exposed for what they truly are: tools of Western political warfare.

The time for hypocrisy is over. If these organizations refuse to defend all Indigenous peoples equally, then they are nothing more than frauds in the business of selective justice. And the world should see them as such.

https://www.rt.com/news/612236-indigenous-inuit-rights-hypocrisy/

 

IN AUSTRALIA, THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE HAVE MADE MUCH PROGRESS TOWARDS A HONOURABLE SETTLEMENT OF THEIR PREDICAMENT, BUT THE "LIBERAL" (CONSERVATIVE) PARTY IS STILL A HINDRANCE... THE PARTY WAS THE MAIN REASON FOR THE FAILURE OF THE "VOICE" REFERENDUM. PETER DUTTON, THE LEADER OF THE "LIBERAL" (CONSERVATIVE) PARTY — AN ADMIRER OF FASCIST TRUMP — HAS PLEDGED NOT BE SEEN IN FRONT OF AN ABORIGINAL FLAG, SHOULD HE BE ELECTED AS PRIME MINISTER. MAY HIS HAIR CATCHES ON FIRE.....

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.