Build before you protect?

April 19, 2008, 11:29am,  89 views

An indigenous youth representative at this weekend’s 2020 summit says a new national Aboriginal body should be created to avoid some of the “ad-hoc policies” surrounding the federal intervention.

“The intervention is a classic example of highlighting where the relationship just isn’t right between indigenous Australia and non-indigenous Australia,” he said.

“You need to build those foundations properly before you can build policies and programs which attack those immediate issues, such as child protection and domestic violence.”

He says a treaty should be signed between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians because the agreement would be good for our the county’s national identity.

“Not only something that recognises the history … that talks about the way this country has been built on the sacrifices of indigenous people, but also really setting the guidelines on which the relationship needs to be built, which can then contribute to how we can build practical policies and programs,” he said.

Cobblers. It’s absurd to say the foundations need to be built before you tackle issues like child protection and domestic violence.

Too bad if you’re one of the kids being sexually abused, or one of the women being bashed. Just ask them to hang in there while a new national organisation is established for more talks to be held. Yeh, right.