Aboriginal People -- Human Rights Action Needed
 

I just read this over at Shakesville and wanted to post:

Shakesville: Let's Go Outback Tonight!

I can't say we in the US have done much better, but I still think this is worth speaking out about. Hopefully some day we will be able to treat everyone as a human being worthy of autonomy and respect.

I'm going to sign the petition.

That article seems highly inaccurate; at least according to the sources that were provided. Example: They aren't withholding income, they are withholding welfare payments.

I don't have a problem with holding back 50% of welfare payments so that the recipient can prove they are using the money for necessities.

From what I briefly read, I think the program should be rolled back too. Not because it is racist, although it probably is, but because the only thing government welfare programs create are helpless individuals who require even more assistance.

While I don't think that government welfare programs help anybody in the long run, abolishing them all of the sudden is a terrible thing to do. People have become dependent on these programs for survival, and they are left with nothing.

If welfare programs are to be abolished, they should be phased out over time and people are provided with job training, career counselling, small business mentorship, etc., to help them find alternatives.

JS, it is not up to you or me, but the laws of economics and nature.

There will come a time (sooner rather than later) where governments won't be able to afford these programs anyway. They already can't afford them. But the charade will be kept up until the very end and many people are going to be surprised when they have to drastically change their lifestyles. It will probably be fairly abrupt and even painful.

In the case of the OP, it seemed like the program was fairly new so that's why I was of the opinion to abolish it. Because once programs like that become permanent and thus "necessary" in the minds of the people, there is no way to slowly roll these programs back. The people won't have it. It's all or nothing.

Thankyou. Many Australian Aboriginals are displaced peoples in their own land. It is very sad.

Just for the record, a lot of Australians oppose the "Northern Territory Intervention". It seems like a case of "Something must be done! This is something, therefore we must do it!". Even the creator of the “Little Children are Sacred” report is horrified at the way the Government chose to respond.

This issue popped up during an election year and the (then) Prime Minister seems to have seized upon it as an opportunity to appear decisive in the eyes of the Australian people. (He has a history of doing this - Google "Children Overboard" for example).

It's a tragedy that the now Government (then Opposition) went along with it through political expediency but their current position is much more measured. They've rolled back a number of the measures and have been waiting for a review of the intervention before making further changes. That review has just come in, so watch this space.