Indigenous Incarceration in Australia

Not to “deflect from the issue”, but that bonus caused a problem all across society, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, with many people becoming parents just to get the money.

 

That works in missions and reserves where it can be strictly monitored as happened in WA over the covid 19 disease period where I believe crime and excess alcohol drinking in these areas decreased by 40%. Most aboriginals live in urban areas and the excess alcohol use cannot be stopped at least in a generation. I find it easy to quote figures on this subject to back up arguments but playing with the stats can be misleading. One thing in my experience is that throwing shedfuls of money at aboriginal groups to improve housing , schooling etc generally does not work. May be someone can come up with that figure...how much govt money, mining money etc has been given...( above and beyond the normal dole, etc) to improve aboriginal lives? You might get a shock.

 

Just in case anyone thinks I am anti-alcohol, I am not. I love my beers, my wines, my ports and my spirits.

But I am a big believer in the responsible consumption of alcohol. Excessive alcohol leads to people making poor choices/bad decisions.

When I was 12 (back in 1969), my 10-year-old sister was killed in a accident. A drunk truck driver ran into the side of the family car on a country road. It also put my Mum, my Dad and three of my youngest siblings In hospital.

 

I'm so sorry to hear that

 

It helped form who I am today. I learnt resilience at an early age.

 

The problem is as soon as anyone mentions tacking indigenous 'problems' they are called racist.

Talk about 70% of incarcerated are for domestic abuse.......racist

Talk about alcohol abuse.......racist

You cant tackle problems without genuine and honest discussion based on facts.

Its easier and politically safer to say nothing. Thats why feminist groups go nowhere near the topics of indigenous rape, incest and spouse abuse.

 

Exactly, you only have to see what has been happening around the world in the past few weeks.

I don't think the Australian govt has ever got a handle on the aboriginal problems, basically speaking of poor schooling, health, alcohol, lack of jobs etc which can all lead to a spell at her Majesty's' pleasure. One thing they can do is start promoting what they are doing well and then capitalize on that especially in the sporting arena and the arts. Maybe a lot of positive stuff to begin with because it appears that things are working to a certain degree. The recent destruction of caves by Rio Tinto in WA is a pointed sign that we have let the aboriginal community down by destroying their history bit by bit and that just creates angst which is not forgotten. Unfortunately I think the topic of incarceration of aboriginals is a bit too narrow for constructive debate without involving a multitude of other factors.

 

One of the best songs from the 80's Aboriginal Brisbane Bands.

 

Doesn't matter if you're black, white, pink or purple- growing up in an environment of poor parenting, alcoholism and domestic violence diminishes mental well being. I consider people who are able to pull themselves out of these environments and find middle class success as truly exceptional. Doing so requires a wisdom and resolve which is understandably beyond the median individual due to years of hard wired experience from a young age.

Definitely no easy answers here. Perhaps they lie with the education system focusing more on life appropriate subjects- ie basic financial management, poverty and the it's many causes/traps and how successful people from the community achieved what they did but I'm only stabbing around in the dark here?

 

I got slammed on ABC facebook for suggesting that people should take personal responsibility for their lives. Instead of trying to comprehend what I was saying I got branded 'racist', 'ignorant' and 'privileged' straight away.

When you question what protesters are after they respond with equal treatment. You question how they are not receiving equal treatment in 2020 and they respond with insults and the past history of injustice. They are not looking for solutions and they slam anybody who thinks outside their echo chamber.

Personally I believe that a lot of people who attend these protests are doing it because they think it's the right thing to do. However, very few of them are well-informed and have done any research about the issues at hand. Indigenous Australians have very unfavourable standing in many areas like income, educational attainment, incarceration rates etc. The BLM movement and supporters confound these issues with racism, when it has very little to do with racism from the current population. The unfavourable socioeconomic condition that many indigenous Australians are in is due to a history of colonisation and discriminatory laws (i.e. actual systemic racism, the like of which no longer exist).

When you research into BLM and the organisations like the 'Warriors Against Aboriginal Resistance' you discover that it is all about race victimization. It is a class warfare technique to try to gather political capital for far left economic and social policies. Then you have far left organisations like socialists and antifa who are just there to exacerbate anger and throw gas on the fire.

 

I was lucky enough to do that when I was 18.

One day it hit me - I was responsible for my life; not my parents, not my family, not the Government, ...

That day was the day I believe I became an adult.

Unfortunately, some people never come to that realisation.

 

You did well - I didn't work it out until my very early 30's, and then stopped playing "the victim" and decided my future and happiness is dependent on only one person - me

 

Bang on. Amazing what some research into these so called equal treatment groups brings up and you have obviously completed some research. Once a person offers a different opinion or speaks out against their ideals you are branded a racist or shut down especially in the current climate where every man and his dog is jumping on the bandwagon. I hear that some of the inflammatory stuff on ABC shows and radios is so one sided that not one person takes a different view and if they dare then all hell breaks loose. I would love to see some healthy debate on the subject on TV but that wont happen because even wealthy TV channels are too **** scared to offer up anything even relating to healthy discussion. A retired police officer was shot dead by a black looter in New Orleans 1 day ago....nary a word said. On a lighter note, it is worth looking into some of the good work for young aboriginals being done by the Richmond football club (Tigers) in Melbourne, this kind of stuff is never mentioned.

 

Excellent post. While racism is still one of many factors facing Indigenous Australians and African Americans the issue with these protests is that the narrow issues they focus on (Indigenous deaths in custody and African Americans killed by police) which are downstream of much larger and far-reaching problems affecting those communities. The pervasive self-policing language seeping into our institutions and media, courtesy of the far left, places these discussions off the table and therefore inhibits meaningful progress.

The other problem is that inequities that are likely to continue to some degree even if you deducted racism as a motivating factor. Any continuance of these inequities, even if progress is made (ie fewer African Americans being killed by police over the years) still require an external scapegoat, usually white and systemic, to soak up 100% of the blame.

 

Social media is a dangerous and crazy place atm. I cannot believe the anti-science-believers taking over a dedicated science page. It's like they deliberately seek out opposing views so they can rant and swear and rage. On a politicians page, I bought up a linked query about his documented backroom deals, and boy, didn't I get a lot of personal hate attacks in my message folder.

I have found, the only way to combat is to stay calm, stay factual, don't get personal - did I mention stay factual - and link to trusted sources where you can. We can only educate one mind at a time ...

 

Please do not make this a left versus right issue - the right is equally to blame due to denial that oppression/suppression is occurring and the determination to pigeonhole due to race (ie, white supremacy and US voter suppression in predominately black neighbourhoods)

 

my solution to combat this is to sign out, and let them huff and puff,
eventually, they will run out of puff and no one will care

 

as i see it , problem one certain politicians feel the urge to place quotas on police , the police are often lazy , on go for people of ethnic background hoping they do NOT understand the law AND don't have the funds to put up a robust legal defense

i see it as a poor v. well-connected thing , although i appreciate the Aboriginal seems suffer worse dislocation from being imprisoned ,

since i grew up on the fringe of Brisbane i reject bad parenting is a racial thing i have seen poor parents of every hue , and parents struggling against all odds to keep their family together , some succeed some never really had a chance

i see alcoholism and domestic violence as a symptom of a family under stress rather than the cause of the stress , from my observations it is financial stress first

the education system has been a failure , but time will make that self-evident

another issue is society has destroyed many aboriginal cultures and each one of those cultures was a unique cumulative knowledge on how to live in that part of Australia comfortably

without that heritage and confidence they can grow up to be self-reliant they are at a huge disadvantage

 

For decades subsequent Governments have been throwing money at this issue, to no avail.

Currently, I feel it is filed in the "Too Hard Basket".

 

We fully expect to outlive the aboriginal daughter/step daughter
She has been provided every opportunity time and time again, and most of us/her relatives are tired of helping over and over only to be used and abused (clearly it is all our doing & fault, not her's)
We won't blame the authorities, the police, ambulance or the "history" of australia
She has continued to make poor choices, to take the easy road, time and time again

The past is exactly that, in the past, and various people's need to stop thinking and feeling like they're living in past generation's, they need to get out of the rut and actually make change, not protest about it (in the hope someone else will )