Reports and Realities

But former senior indigenous bureaucrat, police inspector and ATSIC commissioner Col Dillon said the communities could only do so much and that the abolition of the department left the Government with little co-ordination.”This is just typical of the Beattie Government in regard to indigenous people – all talk and no action,” Mr Dillon said.”The situation is so bad that the Government cannot employ child safety officers on the remote communities because they are frightened to go there. The Government flies them in in the mornings and then out at 3pm.

“How can this Government just sit on its hands and say it is still evaluating?” (source)

This sounds really bad for the Beattie Government doesn’t it? The natural question one has to ask is just why are child safety officers afraid to go to these remote communities? Could it be because it is such a poisoned chalice to do so rather than a lack of will by the government? Ultimately the people who have the primary responsibility for the welfare of children are the parents who made them in the first place. How can the likes of Col Dillon complain about “government inaction” but ignore the apparent community indifference to the welfare of its own children? Because if the community leaders will not back the government efforts to protect their children No officer will risk their life and career to do so either.Especially when those who have tried in the past have been so ill treated by the communities they sought to serve. There have been enough stories in the last year or so to make it clear that the level of abuse and neglect in the remote communities is unacceptable to any civilised person but there has to be more than “blaming the government” talk from people such as Col Dillon. If they have any respect or support in theses communities they are obliged to use it for the welfare of the children and not to support or make excuses for the abusers.

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