Living in the Northern Territory: A submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

article by Gerry Georgatos Michele Harris OAM and Georgina Gartland in June 2011 prepared a submission to the United Nations on what it is like for many Aboriginal peoples to live in the Northern Territory - a place of contrasts in which many Aboriginal peoples are subsumed by a whirlpool of inhumanity, neglected and disregarded into acute and abject poverty, and incarcerated as downtrodden. If a peep is heard from any downtrodden Aboriginal person who lives rejected as oppressed or marginalised in the Northern Territory they are punished by a tumult of government authority stampeding through their lives, saturating every last dignity of human worth, if not their unending spirits, telling them to shut up.

The Military Northern Territory Intervention is a contemporary phenomena unheralded in recent times that has misjudged and misrepresented peoples, humiliating them Australia-wide and internationally, let alone condemning Australia racially with racism and forms of discrimination and social engineering long considered far removed from the Australian political landscape and the national consciousness. If an Aboriginal community raises their voice about their disparity, the abject poverty, the lack of equity in terms of social wealth and infrastructure, about problems to do with unemployment, education, health, domestic breakdown, forms of violence - they are then beaten into the ground by an Australian government appears affronted that any person would dare speak ill of the lucky country, the country in which a mining boom has raised wages and the standard of living to the highest in the world - except for the bloody Aborignal peoples who should have known better to 'suck it up' as they had long been told to do, generation after generation - and remain Australia's open secret.

As soon as an Aboriginal person peeps, the finger is pointed back at them, and the news media has long been trained and harrassed to focus on them, for our governments are very good at this - in blaming the victim and manifesting victim as perpetrator. Governments intentionally abrogate responsibility by shouting down those who cast aspersions upon them - it is as clear as the light of day that the actions of our governments to the Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory are warnings, by punishment, that they should desist from alerting others to calls for justice - especially for their right to funding. Australian governments, dish up a stormtrooper mentality, Gestapo and Kafka like stuff, with one authority smashing their way through Aboriginal societies, communities and cultural settings, declaring to them that their historical and contemporary identities are liabilities. They tell them that they are living like heathen in a no where land, and that everything is their fault - for instance their inter-generational poverty, their lack of access to the full suite of services that non-Aboriginal Australians take for granted, and that they are the cause for every dysfunction and even though they portray them as helpless at the same time they tell them that it is meritocracy and it is up to them to rise to the occasion.

If they speak up about any sorts of problems where funding is requisite to remedy the issues or long term objectives the government launches its tirade of spirit breaking authorities into their lives tso as to tame them, coral them, herd them, destroy any allegiance they have to their cultural setting, to each other, the land, and they seek to compartmentalise them in order to manage them. The Department of Child Protection will come in and forever disturb their family make up, and if need be tear families apart. The Deparment of Community Development will soar into their lives and swiftly declare how they should live and manage their lives with total disregard for their esteem and happiness - utterly dismissive of self-determination and the notion of Aboriginal advancement by Aboriginal peoples. They are thrashed into income management schemes, by various coercion removed from their lands to live in dilapidated 'town hubs', blackmailed off their lands by deprivation, and of course the police are educated to believe that every Aboriginal person is a potential offender and to discriminate against them with a well of suspicion and aspersions that are not reserved for non-Aboriginal Australians, excepting maybe for the poorest among us. The government taps into the inter-generational stereotypes that have been shoved down our throats about Aborignial peoples, and they do this for political expediency, to win votes, and to pretend that some easy piecemeal solutions lay only in the minds of those practioners who by mere election alone are parliamentarians. Since when has any government accepted real responsibility for the predicament that many impoverished Aboriginal peoples find themselves in? They prefer the abominable and blame the victm as the perpetrator of their own fate. If governments had accepted their responsiblity in having induced the predicaments that many Aboriginal peoples face then governments would have provided the full suite of funding required to franchise Aboriginal Australians with the social wealth they have for so long been denied. Governments would work alongside Aboriginal peoples rather than perpetuate discrimination an with such harrowing anguish reminiscent of the worst social engineering that was owned by colonialism and neo-colonialism.

After visiting the Aboriginal community 'Utopia' in the Northern Territory, Amnesty's Salil Shetty said, "What I saw was just devastating." He saw first hand the effects of government policies. "The fact that people are living with no running water, toilet, shower and electricity in one of the richest countries in the world is completely unacceptable." However it is acceptable because it occurs and is tragically the constant, inter-generationally. "Despite 20 years of research which provides evidence of the benefits of living on traditional homelands, around 500 homeland communities are being left to wither as the government starves them of essential services."

Michele Harris OAM and Georgina Gartland collated literature and witness on the effects of government policies on our Northern Territory Aboriginal peoples which demonstrate the crippling effects that are evidenced by tragic disparity levels between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory, and by horrific poor health worse than that found in many developing nations. The Northern Territory cannot disguise its racism as well as for instance Western Australian can because Aboriginal peoples are 31% of the Northern Territory population, whereas the Aboriginal population of Western Australia, 80,000, is less than 3% of the total state population.

"Aboriginal children living in the prescribed areas of the Northern Territory live under legislation that does not affect Aboriginal children in any other parts of Australia, or any other children who live in Australia whatever their ethnic grouping. It is for this reason that we are providing a complementary report to the Australian NGO Report LISTEN TO CHILDREN in order to draw specific attention to the situation of children living in the Northern Territory.

This legislation, known as Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Reform and Reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act) 2009, has dominated the lives of all Northern Territory Aboriginal people since 21 June 2007. It is referred to as the ‘Intervention’ or officially known as the ‘Northern Territory Emergency Response’.

In the main, the Intervention has been seen by Aboriginal people as punitive and referred to in a statement by Aboriginal elders as a ‘dispossession’. "

The submission includes a statement by Aboriginal Elders of the Northern Territory as if it is a letter to all peoples of Australia, "Now, after so many years of dispossession, we find once again we are being thrust towards a new dispossession. Our pain and our fear are real. Our people are again being shamed."

Harris and Gartland in their submission explain, "Abuse referenced in the report LITTLE CHILDREN ARE SACRED" has been disregarded. "Child protection services, like many other services to Aboriginal people in the NT, have been limited by their lack of funds and governmental support. General infrastructure had been poorly maintained and basic housing needs unaddressed. Inadequate access to education and health care simply highlight the level of gross disadvantage in which Northern Territory Aboriginal children have been living and continue to live. Children of the Northern Territory are living in communities where leaders have been disempowered, where control over land has been coercively transferred to government, and where the levels of despair and disillusionment are mounting. It should be noted that the many changes enforced through the new legislation have been imposed without negotiation or consent of community representatives. Perhaps the most disillusioning aspect of government intrusions is the total failure to acknowledge the instances of success and advances within communities which occurred despite the lack of adequate community funding in areas of business, rehabilitation, bi-lingual learning and others. Prior to 2007, community Elders were responsible for 80% of homelands being 'dry communities.' The failure of government to recognise these achievements has affected the relationship with communities and undermined the authority of the Elders."

United Nations Special Rapporteur, James Anaya visited in 2009 and said, "I have observed numerous successful Indigenous programs already in place to address issues of alcoholism, domestic violence, health, education, and other areas of concern, in ways that are culturally appropriate and adapted to local needs, and these efforts need to be included in and supported by the government response, both logistically and financially. In particular, it is essential to provide continued funding to programs that have already demonstrated achievements."

The submission notes that Australia, party to various international conventions, treaties, protocols and sub-protocols, is obliged to recognise the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. Australia is obliged to do everything within its national means to achieve this. How is it that Australia has achieved this for non-Aboriginal Australians however has failed to do so for Aboriginal children.
Harris and Gartland wrote, "The majority of children growing up in the Northern Territory are most likely to live in unacceptably poor accommodation. There are no guarantees that they will have access to a safe water supply or to a functioning sanitation system. In the majority of cases, despite a recent government building program, children will live in overcrowded conditions, and some in situations where the overcrowding and allied problems are extreme. While many children in the Northern Territory might have the right to adequate housing, this is not a reality for most. Access to adequate nutrition and consequently achieving optimum health standards are gravely problematic."

Australia is obliged to diminish infant and child mortality, to ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care. To combat disease and malnutrition, to make adequate provision of nutritious foods and clean drinking water. Australia has provided this for non-Aboriginal Australians however has failed to do so for Aboriginal peoples - why?

Harris and Gartland note, "Children's physical health is compromised by the conditions in which they live and their exposure to diseases associated with these poor conditions. They are also exposed to the stresses placed on parents and their demoralisation created by the impact of the new legislation. Many parents have been re ‐traumatised by the events of the Intervention and live with increased levels of fear related to their further loss of trust in government. Some parents are able to supplement their food supply by hunting. However, for those in remote areas unable to do this, welfare benefits are inadequate to raise children on healthy and nutritious
diets."

Australia is obliged to premise of equal opportunity and that it shall make primary education compulsory and available free to all. To deny children a full time education "...particularly so for a country like Australia is totally unacceptable. Australia that could well have afforded to comply with this requirement many years ago. Instead there are some 45 Homeland Learning Centres across the Northern Territory, which do not offer full-time qualified teachers to their students. As a result the Northern Territory government denies these children a full‐time education... It highlights the discrimination experienced by children in ways that are not common to children in other parts of Australia, and a series of recommendations have been made which, if introduced, would be welcome steps to improving the current situation."

Harris and Gartland wrote, "In order to understand the world of children growing up in the Northern Territory it is helpful to know something about the environment in which they live - overcrowding, poor housing, and health." According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, "Some Indigenous households, especially those in remote areas, live in conditions that do not support good health. In 2006, 14% of Indigenous households were overcrowded, which puts stress on basic facilities and contributes to teh spread of infectious dieseases. The highest rate of overcrowding was among renters of Indigenous or mainstream community housing in the Northern Territory, where 61% of indigenous households were overcrowded. According to a more recent 2009 Government mapping report on Galiwin’ku and surrounding areas the incidence of overcrowding is even greater. Galiwin’ku is a homeland in East Arnhem Land with a mainly Aboriginal population of over two thousand people. We are told, 78% of Galiwin'ku households are considered to be overcrowded." Harris and Gartland include, "In June 2011, the principal of Shepherdson College, Bryan Hughes, made the following statement, 'One of the biggest issues hindering school attendance is overcrowding on the island. An average of 15 people live in each house, and one house has 54 occupants. The houses have only three or four bedrooms, so families sleep in shifts and older students and adults walk the streets at night. At 2am, there can be 40 to 50 or even 100 people walking around the community, and we're expecting these kids to be at school in the morning.'"

Harris and Gartland note, "In the Northern Territory children can still be found living in appalling conditions in humpy camps."

In 2010, the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association and Centre for Health Equity Training, Research and Evaluation, UNSW conducted a health impact assessment (HIA) of the Northern Territory Emergency Response. The link between poor housing and poor health was clear, "...there is a strong relationship between the quality of housing and health. Overcrowding and lack of access to basic 'health hardware' of safe water, electricity, adequate areas for food preparation and storage, washing facilities, adequate waste disposal have contributed to the poor health of Aboriginal children and communities. Overcrowding, poor quality housing increase the likelihood of infectious disease, family and sexual violence and substance abuse. This has knock-on effects including limits to children's educational attainments, tiredness and inadequate cleanliness that have devastating impact on employment prospects, and reinforces social disruption and marginalisation from mainstream society."

Harris and Gartland included, "The HIA looked at all aspects of the Intervention and its effect on the people. One of the worst aspects of the NTER (Northern Territory Emergency Response) was the compulsory acquisition of 5 ‐year leases over the ‘prescribed areas’. This was followed very quickly by government’s refusal to provide new housing to communities unless they were prepared to lease their land back to government for between 40 and 99 years. These acts were deeply undermining of a people who see themselves as spiritually related to their land, and whose responsibility it is to protect the land, to perform cultural ceremonies on the land and to care for the sacred sites. The increase in depression, self‐harm and suicide has been documented both in government as well as non‐government reports. The HIA looks carefully at these links, 'ownership and control over land and housing have a positive influence on psychological and physical health. Aboriginal identity is tied to land, cultural practices, systems of authority and social control, intellectual traditions, concepts of spirituality, system of resource ownership and exhange. Loss of control over land, a lack of engagement with non-Aboriginal Australia and resulting powerlessness has had ongoing, serious negative impacts on health."

Harris and Gartland included a comment from an Elder, who described her relationship with the land, "Take away from me my responsibility for the land, take away from me my land and I am nothing. I will become a carbon copy of another culture."
Harris and Gartland continue, "Any discussion on Aboriginal health in the Northern Territory needs to be placed in the context of inter‐generational trauma, and with it the despair and accompanying dependencies on alcohol and other drugs that prevail in many of the Northern Territory towns. Since colonisation the treatment of Aboriginal people has been deplorable. The forced removal of children from their mothers was simply an Australian policy that flourished for more than a hundred years and went on into the 1970’s. There are still mothers living today, who at an early age, had their babies wrenched from them for no other reason than their own Aboriginality."

A.O. Neville, a public servant and state Protector of Aborigines in 1930, wrote in The West Australian newspaper, "Eliminate the full blood and permit the white admixture to half castes and eventually the race will become white."

"There are concerns in the Northern Territory today that there is an increase in the removal of children from their families. Certainly the conditions in which the parents are attempting to provide for their children are becoming more difficult. The levels of despair amongst parents in the Northern Territory, who have experienced increasing disempowerment in all aspects of their lives due to the policies of the last four years, is far from conducive to healthy child rearing." The latest government 'Close the Gap monitoring report notes that the number of children in out-of-home care has risen from 10.8 per 1000 children in 2007 to 14.9 per 1000 children in 2010.

Harris and Gartland compiled a number of recommendations in the submission - Recommendation 1: "Housing stock must be increased at a faster rate than is currently planned to ensure children have the opportunity of growing up in a safe and healthy environment."
Recommendation 2 :"Refurbishments should not be considered as part of the current housing program as they have no impact on conditions of gross overcrowding."
Recommendation 3 : "The coercive practice of linking the basic provision of housing to the transfer of land leases to government should be terminated." Recommendation 4 :"Government should engage with community leaders to negotiate ways forward where community elders and parents can have the leading role in planning the future of their children."
Recommendation 5 : "The Northern Territory Emergency Response should be brought to a close."

Harris and Gartland noted that in 1995, using World Health Organisation criteria, it was found that children of the Northern Territory were showing signs of malnourishment in large numbers. It was reported that, "The 20% of malnutrition is many times higher than would be expected statistically, and higher than in many underdeveloped countries. International relief agencies regard a prevalence of wasting in children of more than 8% as a nutritinoal emergency. " Harris and Gartland included, "In October last year Olga Havnen from the Red Cross expressed her feelings regarding the level of malnutrition in Northern Territory children as a scandal. She said, 'We have rates (of malnutrition) here in the Northern Territory that have been documented back over the last 20 years that are significantly worse than many of the least developed countries in the world. We also know that we've got amongst the highest rates of low birth weight babies. It's just immoral to allow children to continue to suffer the kinds of depravation that they are. To say that it's okay for kids to be hungry and to be malnourished I think is just a scandal.'"

Harris and Gartland also note, "Some aspects of raising healthy children rely simply on the ability to be able to afford to access and purchase healthy food..." They gave examples, "This means when it comes to feeding children, parents on welfare benefits in the remote community of Beswick are having to pay almost 70% more than parents in similar circumstances in Melbourne. Sunrise Health Service, when conducting the survey, made the point that the prices at the Bulman licensed remote community store are even higher than those at the Beswick store. If the cost of living is so high in remote areas there would be grounds to apply a regional subsidy to welfare beneficiaries as a first step in addressing the problem. However, since remote community stores are already registered and supervised by Government it would seem that freight subsidies and other forms of subsidies could be applied more directly to address the massive differences in food prices. As part of the Intervention in 2007 local stores were required to be registered by government. One improvement in some of these stores is the access to fresh food. In a survey undertaken in June 2010 community residents acknowledged the availability of fresh food but, were unable to afford to buy it because of the high prices. Again the issue of subsidies could well be addressed." How is it that most of non-Aboriginal Australia has access to healthy food and at more affordable prices and many Aboriginal Australians do not?

Recommendation 6:
"Consideration should be given to providing remote area food allowances for welfare beneficiaries. It is usual for public servants to be paid remote area allowances to cover the higher cost of rent and other essentials in remote areas. Alternatively subsidies negotiated with remote area stores should be applied to ensure food is available at the same prices as in town supermarkets."

Recommendation 7 : "Arrangements with Outback Stores and other licensed stores should be negotiated with government whereby the prices of fresh vegetables and fruit are set at affordable prices, even if this would require the payment of subsidies."

Harris and Gartland continued, "There are many pressures on children and their families in the Northern Territory and since the introduction of policies related to the NTER (Northern Territory Emergency Response), pressures have increased. One of the greatest pressures comes from the decision by government to bring the Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) to a close. This project, introduced in 1975, has provided part-time employment for many Aboriginal people in remote areas. The announcement to terminate the project was based on the concept of replacing this work with ‘real’ jobs paid at standard rates. Unfortunately, only about 30% of Aboriginal people who were previously employed through this Project have been able to secure employment, and the remainder are now for the first time complying with the requirements of Centrelink to obtain unemployment benefits. For many families there has been a considerable decrease in overall income and an increase in disillusionment, shame and despair impacting directly on the well-being of the family as a whole. Other pressures come from unrealistic penalties for minor offences which seem to be aimed unwittingly at keeping jails full to over flowing. The high rates of incarceration of Aboriginal people across Australia are higher than those of South Africa towards the end Apartheid. For every non-Aboriginal person in prison, there are 14 Aboriginal people imprisoned. Most Aboriginal people are unable to afford to pay fines and the chances are that they will end up in jail for even the most trivial misdemeanours."

The Northern Territory is not able to disguise its racism and discrimination and its neglect of peoples as well as the other states and territories, because 31% of its population is Aboriginal whereas in Western Australia 3% of the state population is Aboriginal - 80,000 West Australian Aboriginals. In WA 1 in 40 Aboriginal people are incarcerated in one of the state's 13 prisons, and therefore 2,000 adult Aboriginal peoples are held as prisoners in WA, out of 4,500 total prisoners. 1 in 20 WA Aboriginal males are incarcerated, and the statistics are worse when we include Aboriginal youth. 41% of WA's total adult prison population is Aboriginal. 84% of the Northern Territory's adult prison population is made up of Aboriginal peoples - this is abominable. 26% of Australia's total prison population is made up of Aboriginal people. The total prison population of Australia has doubled from 1991, 15,000 to 30,000 in 2011, with the brunt of the surge being borne by Aboriginal peoples who are incarcerated at greater rates than non-Aboriginal peoples and at greater rates than at any other time in modern Australian history. Australia's Aboriginal peoples are the most incarcerated peoples in the world - at rates that pale into insignficance those of the Maoris of New Zealand, the First Nation peoples of the USA and the Inuits of Canada. The rates of incarceration of Aboriginal peoples in Western Australian and the Northern Territory are beyond justifiable and one of the world's most horrific predicaments. If this predicament occurred in most other nations of the world, in nations without presumably dictatorial regimes there would be a civil war.

Australian governments continue to disregard forewarnings from the United Nations, which include poor assessments of the Australian government by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, by the UN Periodic Reviews and by other agencies including UNICEF. Recently, the UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay slammed Australia's evident racism and maltreatment of peoples however the Australian government rejects the allegations and imputations - a hostile denial.

"Since the beginning of the NTER in 2007, incarceration in the Northern Territory has gone up by 30%... The Intervention includes restrictions on the use or possession of alcohol in prescribed communities. The fines that accompanied these restrictions were particularly harsh. Possession of a bottle of beer will result in a fine of $1,100 for a first offence, which very few people would be able to pay, and consequently, jail is inevitable." The Northern Territory imprisonment rate was 679 per 100,000 adult population, the highest of all Australian states and territories and above the national statistic of 165 per 100,000 adult population, according to Corrective Services. If we look deeper at statistics relating to age of those who are presented before the criminal justice systems we will find that Aboriginal Australians do so by a difference of decades to non-Aboriginal Australians, and that by the time they maybe adult offenders most will have offended as children, and this clearly indicates that unlike non-Aboriginal Australia that they never had much of a chance at 'equal opportunities' or to 'advance themselves' from the very beginning of life - it is a hard determinism, and a having been born into a particular condition. I agree with Harris and Gartland, "Sadly, the Intervention has done great personal harm in that it has shamed and blamed Aboriginal parents."

Harris and Gartland concluded, "For many children growing up in families in the Northern Territory, it is likely that they will share a home with numbers of unemployed adults and their lives are likely to be impacted upon, either directly or indirectly, by experiences involving law enforcement systems. Children are most likely to have observed, or been engaged in, both violence and alcohol abuse. Depression amongst adults will be common."

Recommendation 8: "The decision to terminate the Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) should be reviewed in the light of massively increased unemployment."
Recommendation 9: "Input from Aboriginal elders should be sought in how best to manage alcohol through culturally appropriate rehabilitation programs." Recommendation 10: "Income Management should no longer be compulsory. It should become a programme of choice."

Harris and Gartland in affirming cultural rights included the East Arhnem Land's Dhanggal Gurruwiwi in telling us, "Children in our communities should come from the known to the unknown, and it is also very important that children growing up in our communities, I believe, should understand and be able to identify in who they are, so that they will be able to grow with dignity and knowing where they have come from. And also come to the stage when they are older they can cope with the expectations that we have from people from the wider community, and they will be able to walk in confidence in two worlds.'" Harris and Gartland continue, "The importance of children living with their families in community is clearly spelt out by Dhanggal in her recognition of the need to prepare children to walk in ‘two worlds’. It also means that children must be a part of an education system that acknowledges the cultural environment in which it is operating. Since the advent of the NTER the Northern Territory schools have been required to teach the first four hours of each day in English. This ruling has gravely affected those schools that had been committed to a bilingual approach to language. The imposed termination of bi‐lingual learning has caused distress to many. Yalmay Yunupingu, a bilingual teacher wrote, 'Yolngu language is our power, our foundation, our root and everything that holds us together. Yolngu language gives us strength, language is our identity, who we are. Yolngu language gives us pride. Language is our law and justice.' This sudden and new attack on Aboriginal languages has had the effect of diminishing not only language but the culture as a whole. In many communities it has had the impact of alienating parents from the schools their children are expected to attend. Sadly, it would appear that one of the results of this action has been a decrease in school attendance."
Harris and Gartland described, "(The) government’s response to non‐ attendance is to introduce punitive measures targeting parents and creating even greater pressure on parents. Families with unenrolled and non‐attending children have their income support benefits withheld until children return to school. This type of response further compromises the health and well‐being of children and leads to conflict within families."

Recommendation 11: "Reintroduce an appropriately resourced bi‐lingual learning programme to communities that request it."
Recommendations 12: "Engage with parents and together work towards culturally appropriate solutions to solve the problems related to increasing non‐attendance of schools. “

Education
Harris and Gartland noted, "It has been well documented that Aboriginal people living their traditional lives in Homelands tend to have better physical health than those living in towns. There are significantly lower incidences of diabetes, heart disease and chronic kidney failure. Additionally, general overall well being is believed to be appreciably better.

Key findings from an innovative study initiated by traditional owners in collaboration with researchers at Charles Darwin University’s Institute of Advanced Studies, the Northern Land Council and the Menzies School of Health Research have shown, '...that people taking part in customary and contemporary land and sea management practices, particularly those living in traditional homelands, are much healthier, including lower rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, one of the greatest disadvantages for families living in Homelands is the almost negligible access to full‐time education... (The Homeland learning centres) often have classrooms built by parents with limited resources and many have received almost no infrastructure support from government. The equipment in HLC’s is minimal. A recent video, 'Two Schools', showing a Homeland Learning Centre at Mirrngatja and comparing it with a small school for white students at Dundee Beach School, is an example of the incredible level of discrimination that is practised against Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory... (Most of the learning centres) are not staffed by full time qualified taachers. As a result children are denied full‐time education. Teachers mostly fly into Homeland Learning Centres for a number of days per week, flying in and out each day... They are already grossly overcrowded. These centres have been without acceptable infrastructure and staffing for many years and whole generations of Aboriginal people have lost their right to education. For a wealthy country like Australia, this is a disgrace."

Recommendation 14: "Provide accommodation for teaching staff in remote communities.”>
Recommendation 15: "Provide up to standard classroom facilities and equipment to all students including those in remote areas."

The submission by Harris and Gartland is a sliver of insight for those distant and far removed from the social realism that is the Northern Territory and which allows for an unfettered view, unencumbered by the morass of public relations and bureacracies that have been unleashed by governments. Ultimately, the submission reinforces the myriad of various layers of racism in this country yet to be unveiled and which hold back a particular peoples from their right to self determination and equal opportunity based advancement. The full suite of funding long denied to once disenfranchised Aboriginal peoples is yet to occur and is evident by the disparity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, in the Northern Territory and Australia-wide. We can develop a suburb within six months, with a full suite of infrastructure, social wealth and even broadband, in any city and town in Australia however we cannot develop equivalent communities, and in so doing grafting education, health and employability, for Aboriginal peoples in communities that are allowed to resemble the worst of the shanty towns of Apartheid South Africa, such as Kwandebele. The federal and state and territory governments are prepared to justify the malnutrition of Aboriginal children at levels worse than developing countries, and our government is prepared to allow one generation after another to languish in poverty, and for a significant proportion of them to be incarcerated in the most unbelievable numbers in our nation's prisons. It is evident that Aboriginal peoples must be provided with their full suite of funding, allowed to advance themselves, with only others alongside them, and to ensure this maybe they need representation, allocated seats such as the Maoris, in the Australian Senate and the House of Representatives, aside affirmative actions by political parties. It has become evident that the Australian government does not heed what the United Nations, UNICEF, UNESCO and other nations have to say about Australia's maltreatment of its Aboriginal peoples.

Gerry Georgatos
Western Australia reporter, The National Indigenous Times
Donnybrook-Bridgetown Mail correspondent
Online Editor, News Worldwide Today
Managing Consultant - Education, Training, Advocacy
Human Rights Practice - 0430 657 309

BA (Phil), BA (Med), BA (AIS),
G/Dip (Human Rights Ed), MHumRgts, MA (Social Justice)
Researcher in Australian Deaths in Custody
Consultant & Advocate, Human Rights Practice
Convener, Human Rights Alliance (WA) (Australia)
www.studentswithoutborders.com.au
rran.org - Refugee Rights Actions Network
Ecological, Social Justice, Aboriginal Group (WA)
Bridgetown-Balingup Amnesty Group
UNAA WA
www.georgatos.com