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Mundine slammed for dismissing UN expert's comments
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
9:42:46 AM
By Tara Ravens
NORTHERN TERRITORY, September 2, 2009: High profile Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine has been slammed for dismissing the findings of a UN expert and told to get out of his air-conditioned office and visit people on the ground.
Richard Downs, spokesman for the Alyawarra Nation in central Australia, made the comments on Tuesday in response to Mr Mundine's criticism of the UN's special rapporteur James Anaya.
After spending 11 days touring Aboriginal communities, Prof Anaya described the intervention as into remote NT communities as "overtly discriminatory".
He also found it to be in breach of international treaties.
Mr Mundine rejected the UN's damning assessment of the controversial measures to combat child sex abuse.
"This Rapporteur's report should be dealt with the same as every other Rapporteur's report - just drop it in the bin and actually get on with the job," he told ABC radio last week.
"What is detrimental about the protecting of children, the protecting of women against sexual assault, physical assault?"
But Mr Downs said the former ALP president had no idea what was happening out in the communities.
"Get out of your air-conditioned office," he said in a statement.
"You need to visit the people on ground, see and listen to them or are you afraid to find and learn the truth?
Mr Downs said claims from the Labor powerbroker that the intervention was helping vulnerable women and children were "simply not true".
"Give us the evidence on how many convictions there has been with sexual child abuse, rape, murders," he said.
"Where is this Indigenous paedophile ring your government's statements stated at the beginning ..?
"Your government's so-called measures under the intervention go far beyond this to take away our dignity, our self-esteem, and land control, disempowerment, human and Indigenous rights." - AAP
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