Seven Years Of Noel Pearson Trials Have Led Aurukun To The Bottom Of the National Heap

What should we give our Indigenous peoples in return for their continent? Misery, of course.

I wouldl be really interested to see a complete financial breakdown of all these millions of dollars supposedly spent on our Indigenous Communities.

I will bet that most of the money has been usurped by unnecessary bureaucratic "administrators". How much was spent to dream up the slogans " From Handout to Hand Up" and "Our Right to take Responsibility" ? 

Children will got to school if they have good teachers and interesting curricula suited to their culture and life-style. How much was spent on this ? How much influence did the elders have in curriculum development ?

Show me the itemised balance sheet. No politician or bureaucrat would have the courage.

"Direct Instruction" is awful from an educational point of view.

Do you think there is the prospect for Stronger, Smarter to be more widely adopted.  It seems to have had good success with schooling.  Employment is another issue I suppose.

Years ago I remember Sam Watson talking about the amounts of money going into the Aboriginal bureaucracy and how little made it to Aboriginal people and their communities: Just give it to us once; we'll shut up, just give it to us once!

Amy as you know there is no silver bullet for the huge problems Aboriginal communities are facing.

It seems that the initiative of Noel Pearson's focused direct approach is the best way.

The results of the direct education approach is promising as Western Australia also wants to try.

I agree that the transparency and scrutiny of the grants is the most important element for the success and future of this type of projects.

Seems to me, Noel Pearson is a very complex character. It can't be easy straddling a fence. He was a legal advisor for ATSIC, which was disbanded in 2005 due to its 'apparent & inherent' corruption. Then became a friend of Mal Brough (Minister for Indigenous Affairs) in 2007, by way of jointly publishing policy papers. Most of which were of the hand out/hand up philosophy.

'Chopper' Bishop has demonstrated what a politician thinks of their constituents. I regard Pearson as a politician and there is a similar pattern as to how he treats his 'constituents'.

Having had a look at his Wiki page;

"In April, 2008, after attending Rudd's "Australia 2020 Summit", Pearson argued that any proposed constitutional reform aimed at recognising Indigenous Australians must be in a form acceptable to a wide range of the Australian population. He therefore indicated his belief that a "domestic agreement" would be preferable to a treaty beteen sovereign states."

I have little regard for lawyers or politicians. There is an old adage pertaing to conflict of interest, 'You can't wear two hats'.

I have great respect for leaders. I suspect he will never balance a third hat on his head.

Thank you Ms McQuire. Take care

Now I know why pearson is always wearing a new and 'deadlier' suit every time I hear him pontificate piously about why others don't see his pitiful allowance as not enough.

Two reasons (maybe 4) why a lot of cash is being splashed about and why it seems to be doing more harm than good:

1. The government (and pearson) have no intention of providing anything meaningful. An empowered black community that demands justice is the last thing they want to be worrying about. Better the petrol sniffing and/or high suicide rates.

2. meanwhile they can pretend that they are doing something meaningful because of all the cash they're spending - and pearson's new suits

3. all start up programes are trials. The ones that show promise, and are often initiated from within the community, are the first to have their money cut. This way the government can still claim they are doing something even if it looks like it's just another failure.

4. racists like DX2013 (he couldn't spell his own name) get to show they need the money even more.

There will never be, can never be, justice for black people under this occupation. Just opportunities for opportunists like pearson to hop on the gravy train while kicking his own people in the guts. It must have been his superior education what done it.

I visited Hope Vale briefly in the late 1990s. I thought I had seen a few places with ironic names, but this one topped the list. No black adult I saw there had an expression on their face anywhere above listless boredom, and every adult pair of eyes were dead with the drudgery of a life destroyed by alcohol and other whitefella chemicals.

When people ask me how I survive on a privately-earned income less than the dole, I start by pointing to my vegetable garden, my fruit trees, the vines that cover the walls of my house providing both summer shade and fruit, my preserving equipment, the gifts I get back from family and friends after giving them my surplus produce. Nowhere in Hope Vale did I see a single vegetable garden, despite the community-owned store charging prices roughly double those you would pay for equivalent fresh produce in Cooktown, less than an hour down the road south.

I asked the white manager of that store why he and his two staff were all white, despite being answerable to an all-black board. Only whitefellas could be relied on to turn up for work, he said baldly.

At the time, despite the cutbacks in the new Howard government's first budget, the combined Federal and State bill for Aboriginal Affairs amounted to somewhere north of $20,000 for every indigenous person in Australia – these days, in the wake of the wildly-expensive Intervention, it is up over $40,000. And that does not include welfare, schooling, health centres, and the rest of the raft of normal public services available to blackfellas as they are to all Australian citizens – it only counts special money spent solely to try and remedy black disadvantage. 

I can't speak for whether Noel Pearson's reforms have improved things there, or whether things got better or worse in the period between when I was there in 1997 and when the Pearson regime started to be implemented, but nothing has been plainer to any objective observer for my entire adult life than the total failure of all previous attempts to improve the lot of Aboriginal Australians, unless you count the Aboriginal Australians who work in the publicly-funded Aboriginal Industry. 

There is one good thing about this trial and that is that it has been going for so long. So many programs aimed at changing peoples lives are so short lived as to be counter productive. People keep getting herded up and told that this new program will change your life (wether you like it or not) get on board invest some hope and trust in this. then the rug is pulled from under the people again  often when we are just starting to get some traction. Long term issues need long term funding. Governments see the big headlines "Bad Stuff Haappening In Aboriginal Communities."  So they make another big headline  "Government Chucks Buckets Of Cash At Blackfellas"  and then they want another headline quickly, "Its All Happy Families At X Community".   That last headline wont happen in a hurry, what we have to aim for is a small note in the Classifieds, "That Bloke Seems Happier Today". After a time there will be more adds in the classys and maybe someone will notice, Gee we haven't seen one of those big shock horror headlines for a while.

I read a lot of condemnation and the over used 'racist' but has any one any answers ? Noel Pearson seemed to be at least some kind of answer but, if he can't do it, who can ?  How about people in the know ( and that's not me) showing us an answer or answers without burying us in bullshit.  Is there any answers ?

Excellent article by Amy McQuire. The awful circumstances in Aurukun and Cape York in general is reflecting a continuing  national tragedy in which:

1. Aboriginal Genocide and  genocidal avoidable death rate. 4,000 Indigenous Australians  die avoidably every year out of an Indigenous population of 670,000 , an "annual avoidable death rate as a percentage of population"  of 0.6% as compared to 0.0% (White Australia), 0.4% (South Asia) and 1.0% (sub-Saharan Africa) in an ongoing Aboriginal Genocide  (see "Aboriginal Genocide”; https://sites.google.com/site/aboriginalgenocide/ and Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, that includes  an avoidable mortality-related history of every country from Neolithic times and is now available for free perusal  on the web  : http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com.au/  ).

2. Educational Apartheid. Indigenous Australians are subject to an Educational Apartheid system in which 80% of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory  fail to meet basic literacy and numeracy standards,  truancy is the norm and thus most Indigenous children end up being essentially unemployable even for supermarket stacking (see “Australian Aborigines & Educational Apartheid”, Educational Apartheid: https://sites.google.com/site/educationalapartheid/australian-aborigines ; “Educational Apartheid”: https://sites.google.com/site/educationalapartheid/ ; and Gideon Polya, “37 Ways Of Tackling Australian Educational Apartheid And Social Inequity”,  Countercurrents, 22 May, 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya220513.htm ).

3. Australian Aboriginal Genocide and Australian Aboriginal Ethnocide. The British invasion of Australia on 26 January 1788 ultimately destroyed as many  as 600 unique Indigenous Australian tribes and a comparable number of languages and dialects  (it is estimated that in 1788 there were 300 distinct Aboriginal language groups  and 750 dialects of which only 150 survive and of which all but 20 are endangered ), this making the Australian Aboriginal Genocide qualitatively the worst genocide in human history (see Gideon Polya, “British Have Invaded 193 Countries:  Make  26 January ( Australia Day, Invasion Day) British Invasion Day”,  Countercurrents, 23 January, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya230115.htm  ). The Australian Indigenous Ethnocide and Australian Indigenous Cultural Genocide continues through massive child removal, closure of remote communities and departure from proper bilingual education (see Gideon Polya, “Ongoing Aboriginal Genocide And Aboriginal Ethnocide By Politically Correct Racist Apartheid Australia”,  Countercurrents, 16 February, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya160214.htm ). According  to a recent study (2009) : “At the end of 2008 the Northern Territory Government, supported by the Commonwealth Government, all but closed bilingual education in remote Indigenous schools by determining that the language of instruction for the first four hours of school must be English. This decision could spell the death of the remaining endangered Indigenous languages in Australia” (see Jane Simpson, Jo Caffery and Patrick McConvell, “Gaps in Australia's Indigenous Language Policy: Dismantling bilingual education in the Northern Territory ”, AIATSIS Discussion Paper Number 24, 2009: http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/_files/ntru/DP242009Simpson.pdf ).

4. This ongoing tragedy requires resolute, empathic action involving (a) informing everyone at home and abroad, (b) useful initiatives e.g. a tobacco- , alcohol-  and illicit drugs-free  Zone C  covering 90% of Australia (with localized exemptions  for tourist precincts) , and (c) a racist, genocidal and ethnocidal  Apartheid Australia should  increasingly  face the weight of international Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)  of the kind successfully applied against Apartheid South Africa and currently being applied against  US Alliance- and Australia-backed, nuclear terrorist, genocidally racist, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel. Boycotts.  Decent anti-racist Australians  will utterly reject the politically correct racist (PC racist) Lib-Labs (Coalition and Labor Right), vote 1 Green and put the Coalition last.

@Maris - Thanks for your comment - This article is directed at an expensive trial that has not lead to outcomes in Aurukun - and asks why there is no scrutiny placed on it like similar programmes, while the rest of Aboriginal Australia deals with savage budget cuts. For that I've used a report that charts Aurukun's deteoriation, and also the FRC's own reports. You can get a picture of the sort of questions that need to be asked based on data from the FRC itself. It's not about providing a glimpse at life in the community, and I would suggest only four or five "outreach visits" wouldn't do it justice either if someone was to write such an article.  

Good work Amy.  Forget FIFO trips to do Feel Good articles.  Let's see the hard cold facts about where that money has been spent.  This is a phenomenal amount of money.  $20million per year.  In the face of persisting poverty and disadvantage this is heartbreaking.

@Amy McQuire - I meant no disrespect to you or your article & absolutely agree that "four or five outreach visits" (or my 3 or 4) would not do justice to an article either.  I trust/hope my reference to a few visits was not construed as me knowing anything.  I do not.  I do know - on the other hand - that I like to read your articles in New Matilda 

@Cape-resident - I am particularly interested in your comments regarding local initiatives.  I've always believed that solutions come from the people/by the people ....... In fact your comments make me happy :) & optimistic  

Unless Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is acknowledged, diagnosed and appropriate interventions and strategies implemented, very little will make a significant difference. 

@ penangke

Good sense and well said. You can never be too cynical when commenting on the 'virtues' of this occupation.

To the best of my knowledge Pearson does not practice law, but he is a graduate of a law school.  There is that.  

Now, other points come to mind.  

It is hard to discern what Pearson stands for, I mean, his advocacy is mostly about social care, a field I believe he is lightly qualified to speak with authority albeit considering his mission history narratives which reveal superficial understanding of the complexities of social care needs.  In an earlier time I had read his 'Our Right To Take Responsibility', a so called treatise by some but to me this offered no new evidence to indicate deeper insight into the complexities, like much of his narrative, it is a re-telling of old news, much of the reporting provides coverage.  Nevertheless, during an earlier year, I had read this three times, front cover to back cover, not because I have problems understanding even the most banal rant, which is in my opinion is what it is, but because I was surprised at the immediacy of popular acceptance.  I could not work out what the attraction was.  I began to think I was surrounded by bogans, the reality of this thought became apparent to more I heard both white and black commentary to the point at which I questioned their capacity of awareness and critique.  The starkness of this reality revealed to me that even in mainstream education schooling does not coach children to critique realities of their environment, to be discerning thinkers.  This leads me onto my next point.  Direct Instruction has a similar effect.

Pearson holds himself up as an exponent of this approach to education.  I worry about this.  During an earlier time I once remarked to a former line manager that if Pearson is saying something new then you haven't learnt much about those complexities.  Thanks to my grade six teacher who opened my eyes as a 9 year old to the world, through her tutilage in critical thinking I developed an expanding awareness of global issues, for example, at that time Tel Aviv was in the media spot light for reasons that resonate today in Gaza.  My critical thinking or discernment capabilities would not have expanded had I been tutored by rote or direct instruction to assimilate.  I think, from publicly available sources, that Dr Chris Sarra reminds me of my former grade 6 teacher.

The other point is this.  

What evidence supports continued funding of the Cape York trials?  Reports to date suggest these fall well below the hyped promises of generational change, there has been at least one since federal and state government monies started flowing, and still the so called 'real economy' [presumably this refers to western economy] in those welfare state communities has yet to materialise.  The welfare state is part of the western economy, both major political party in Australia fund this according to ideology.  Anecdotal comments from Mossman suggest that very little has changed, very few jobs, small economy base of 2 or 3 employers employing along family lines.  I am assuming this pattern is reflected in other trial sites.  Perhaps if Pearson thought more about implementing social enterprise approaches then the results could improve.  My suspicion is that this is not the core business of the trial model.

@ Mossman Murri

"My suspicion is that this is not the core business of the trial model"

What is your suspicion about what the 'core business' is?

I think that governments 'core business' is two things: they don't want Blacks in this country to have a voice so they sabotage their own works. Why are they so hostile to Blacks having a voice? Because the Australian people want them to do something meaningful. So the governments narrative is: "look! the problem is so intractable that we only get small or regressive results no matter how much money we spend."

Secondly, why do they want to keep Blacks down and invisible? Because any justice towards our original inhabitants will come at a cost to business be it mining, finance, farming etc. So, no deal. Just like Palestinians, it would be better, in the governments mind, if the original custodians of this land would  just disappear. Don't worry about the suffering as 'collateral damage' in this system is normal and acceptable practice.

Thus we have had missions, assimilation, the stolen generation, stolen wages, cheap labour, petrol sniffing, disease, poverty, high umemployment, poor education, deaths in custody, high incarceration rates,  and social exclusion. What more does a government have to do in order to make it clear Blacks in this country are an inconvenience.

Otherwise, you might think they would have learnt something by now.

@Swarmi.  I have no argument with the points you make.  Yes, government will use the poor results from the trial and turn these into a blame the victim talkfest as often happens except in this case fingers will point to a so called "black" answer, the gravity of the criticism will weigh heavily as a future debt to be carried by many Aboriginal Australians to come.  Do you honestly believe that free marketeer Pearson will care about this?  However, my 'core business' reference is an allusion to 10% (consultancy fee?) of the $200m to date from government ergo tax payers dollars, and for very little result.  Thus, I am saying that the welfare reform agenda is an illusion, maintained for secular interests that are not inclusive of desires and aspirations of people in the trial communities.