We don’t arrest them; we release them, only to offend again.
We don’t move them to safety; we return them to the scene of their abuse, and those violated are violated again, before becoming violators themselves, unpunished.
And those abused learn to be abusers, propagating the spiraling cycle of abuse.
The parents aren’t held accountable; the perpetrators aren’t taught about the heinous nature of their crimes.
In 2003, then-PM Howard was informed bluntly and frankly about the cycle of abuse in some Aboriginal communities. Howard acted only four years later, when the election approached … an action rife with white fellas solutions and money for white fellas programmes, and virtually >no consultation with the Aboriginal communities themselves.
PM Rudd is from Queensland, where much of the abuse and dysfunction is occurring. We’ll see “the mettle of the man” in how he and his Government address this outrageous situation … a situation we would not tolerate in any white-Australian community I know.
Judy Bamberger, O’Connor ACT