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The ALP's dirty thirty. A Special NIT Feature. |
The ALP's Dirty 30: Part One
Special Election '07 Edition - 24 Nov 2007
NIT ELECTION '07 SPECIAL, November 23, 2007: Life might be better under a federal Labor government. It might not be too. CHRIS GRAHAM brings you 30 of the dirtiest things the ALP has ever done to blackfellas.
30. Not even a ‘non-core’ promise
GranTed, there’s a lot to remember amid the hurley-burly of an election campaign. But is it possible to forget to mention that if re-elected, you plan to abolish an entire government department?
Well, that’s what apparently happened to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie in 2006.
Within a week of being returned to office, Beattie announced that he was abolishing both the ministry and the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy, and merging it into the Department of Communities.
Problem was, Beattie had neglected to mention a single word of the plan during the entire six-week election campaign.
The move sparked the resignation of respected Queensland Aboriginal leader Col Dillon, a senior Aboriginal adviser to the Beattie government and the nation’s highest-ranking Aboriginal police officer (retired).
After several weeks of criticism by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, Beattie finally caved into pressure and re-created an Indigenous affairs portfolio. But as with most things ‘Beattie’, it was purely a cosmetic change.
Warren Pitt was appointed Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, but the portfolio is one of the only ministries in the Queensland government that has no corresponding government department.
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: In May 2006, the South Australian Rann-Labor government abolished its Aboriginal affairs department, merging it into the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
EXTRA AGGRAVATING FACTOR: Federally, the ALP screamed blue murder in 2005 when the Howard government ‘mainstreamed’ its Indigenous affairs functions into other government departments.
29. The three R’s - rip-off, rhetoric and rubbish
In 2003, NSW Minister for Aboriginal affairs, Dr Andrew Refshauge promised to spend whatever it took to ensure Aboriginal school students would “match or better the outcomes of the broader population”. That’s quite a promise. But as John Howard might say, it was of the ‘non-core’ variety.
The Sydney Morning Herald subsequently revealed that Refshauge’s promise sparked a review within the NSW Education department, which found the government would need to spend about $80 million to achieve the goal.
The following year, Refshauge - in addition to his roles as Education minister and Indigenous affairs minister - took over as NSW Treasurer. In his maiden budget, he handed over less than 10 percent of the amount his own department told him was needed, meaning the plan for an uplift of 53,000 Indigenous students became a pilot program for a selected few.
28. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
As Mal Brough continues his boy’s own adventure in the Northern Territory (with $1.3 billion of taxpayer’s money), the ALP is looking increasingly stranded on the issue of Indigenous affairs.
That’s primarily because it has nowhere to go on the issue, and the ALP knows it.
If the ALP opposes the NT intervention (which is popular with the punters) then Brough and a ‘caveman media’ will claim Rudd supports paedophiles.
If the ALP supports the intervention, then it risks upsetting Aboriginal people and anyone who’s spent more than 10 seconds actually analysing the government plan.
So the ALP did what the ALP does best. It had a bet each way.
In federal parliament, Labor put up a series of amendments to the raft of Howard government legislation, much of which had nothing whatsoever to do with tackling child abuse.
The federal government, of course, ignored the amendments. It hadn’t crafted legislation for the benefit of Aboriginal people, it had crafted legislation to take to the next election. A wedge, if you prefer. The longer the bills sat on the floor of the Senate, the more the government could claim Labor didn’t care about little Aboriginal children.
So having feigned a little moral resistance on the issue, the ALP waited a few days for dramatic effect and then voted for the legislation in its entirety.
Ironically, just a few weeks later, the United Nations passed the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, an aspirational document almost two decades in the making.
Official ALP policy is that a Rudd-Labor government “would be guided by the principles of the Declaration”.
Which begs an even bigger question: Why then did the ALP vote for the NT intervention legislation when it breaches just about every principle of the UN Declaration?
The answer is because there’s an election coming up, and you don’t win office by talking about - or being seen to defend - black rights.
27. The Liddy Clark experiment
Hapless former Queensland Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Liddy Clark was possibly the first Aboriginal affairs minister in the history of Queensland to come into the portfolio with a genuine affection for Aboriginal culture.
She was well-liked by Aboriginal people and spoke passionately on black issues at numerous public events. Unfortunately, Clark also turned out to be a bit of a nutter, a fact not lost on her boss, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who once reportedly described her in precisely those terms.
In her ill-fated 12-month reign as minister, Clark lurched from disaster to disaster and turned the Indigenous affairs portfolio into a rolling circus sideshow.
First there was ‘Winegate’, when Clark flew into a dry Aboriginal community in Cape York with a bottle of wine on her ministerial jet. The plan was to enjoy a little tipple on the way home. Clark claimed she knew nothing about the bottle and, initially, her staff backed her. Clark’s adviser, Teresa Mullan took the rap, and was duly sacked by the Premier over the incident.
But Mullan was hurriedly re-instated (into the Premier’s office, no less) after she publicly confessed she was not prepared to lie any further on the matter now that the police had been called in to investigate.
Clark barely survived the fallout, but a year later she was back in the spotlight again, this time over the ‘Faregate’ scandal.
Following the Palm Island riots, Clark quite sensibly invited Cape York Aboriginal leader Murrandoo Yanner to join her on a visit to the troubled community. The government paid Yanner’s airfares, but when media got a hold of the story, all hell broke loose.
Immediately after the riots, Yanner had commented that Aboriginal people should ‘kill a cop’ in retaliation for the death of Mulrunji. The media and the government went berserk.
And now a Queensland minister had paid for him to fly to Palm Island. The police union screamed blue murder.
Clark panicked, and her office phoned Yanner and asked him to lie by saying he had agreed to reimburse the airfares.
Of course, Yanner had done no such thing. Not surprisingly, that fact quickly emerged into the public domain.
After bursting into tears on ABC radio, Clark eventually stood down amid an adverse finding against her office by the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: Upon Clark’s demise, Peter Beattie installed John Mickel as Minister. Mickel’s first statement to parliament after taking over the Indigenous affairs portfolio was to issue a warning that he would not tolerate “headline grabbers” in his portfolio. Presumably, Mickel was prepared to make exceptions for his Premier, who only a year earlier had publicly described himself as “a media tart”.
MITIGATING FACTOR: Clark - while ineffective as a minister - was a government MP with a big personality and an obvious affection for Aboriginal people and Indigenous culture.
26. A shadowy past in Opposition
Federally, the ALP has had no less than 10 different shadow Indigenous affairs ministers in 11 years. But the figure is even worse when you consider that one person - Daryl Melham, served almost half of that time.
In the past seven years alone, the ALP has reshuffled the portfolio nine times.
When the Howard government took power in 1996, Member for Banks, Daryl Melham was moved into the shadow Indigenous affairs portfolio. A member of the ALP left, Melham was, and remains, a respected figure among Aboriginal people. He stayed in the job until August 30, 2000 when he resigned in disgust over the ALP’s capitulation on Queensland Labor creating a separate native title regime aimed at wiping out native title (SEE NUMBER 3).
All up, the ALP has treated the shadow Indigenous affairs portfolio with disdain (SEE NUMBER 25). With only a few exceptions, the portfolio has been used by Opposition leaders as a punishment for those who don’t support a leadership bid.
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: Julia Gillard was all but invisible during her stint. In fact most people in Indigenous affairs would be surprised to learn she even served in the role.
MITIGATING FACTOR: Kerry O’Brien and Kim Carr were two solid performers in the portfolio, as was Chris Evans. In fact Evans devoted much of his maiden speech to parliament in 1993 defending the Mabo High Court decision and lobbying for native title. The jury is still out on Jenny Macklin.
25. Loose lips sink ships... of state
No-one disputes that Indigenous affairs is a tough portfolio, but if you believe a couple of ‘anonymous’ ALP figures from the party’s left, it’s downright dirty work, hence their description of the position of Shadow Minister for Indigenous affairs as “the poison chalice” and “like accepting a job as a toilet cleaner on the Titanic”.
The comments were made by several ALP figures to Australian media in September 2000, just prior to Bob McMullan taking over as Opposition spokesman on Indigenous affairs (following the resignation of Daryl Melham in disgust at the ALP’s antics on native title - (SEE NUMBER 03).
Members of the left were agitating to abolish the portfolio altogether.
The comments sparked a major national row, and the ‘toilet cleaner’ phrase has, we’re sad to say, stuck. It’s returned to haunt the ALP on numerous occasions, with former ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark presenting McMullan with a toilet brush upon their first meeting.
McMullan was reportedly not amused.
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The people who made the statements never had the courage to identify themselves. Former Opposition leader, Mark Latham, in his controversial Latham Diaries correctly identified this as a long-time habit of ALP parliamentarians.
MITIGATING FACTOR: Two senior ALP figures - Gerry Hand and Cheryl Kernot - were both publicly outspoken on the issue, Hand (himself a former Indigenous affairs minister in the Hawke government) telling the ABC: “I’m just appalled that people would think it or say it, that it was a poison chalice. It’s probably, I think, the greatest privilege you can have in the Ministry is to work in Aboriginal Affairs.”
24. Kids are dangerous, particularly black ones
Aboriginal people rarely, if ever, do well when they become the subject of public debate in the lead-up to an election. Early 2005 in Western Australia was no exception.
Despite crime in WA remaining relatively stable for the past decade - particularly youth crime - both parties decided to run on the old electoral chestnut of ‘law and order’. In other words, a scare campaign.
The ALP Gallop government had already introduced tough new late-night curfews for young people in the Northbridge area. It was a policy aimed squarely at Aboriginal youth, who were well known to frequent the area.
If re-elected, Gallop promised to extend the curfews and establish an Entertainment Precinct Unit within WA Police to address antisocial behaviour not only in Northbridge, but Fremantle, Subiaco, Scarborough and other popular Perth nightspots.
MITIGATING FACTOR: Labor MP, Carole Martin - herself an Aboriginal woman - walked out of an ALP caucus meeting in April 2004, publicly accusing the Premier of “policy on the run” which did nothing to tackle the reasons why bored, aimless Aboriginal youth roamed city streets.
23. It was the drug dealers that done it!
There’s two ways you can view a riot. The first is with alarm. The second is as an opportunity.
That’s how Bob Carr saw the Redfern riots on February 15, 2004. The day after the riots, Carr was in no doubt what had caused the uprising... drug dealers.
That’s right, it wasn’t decades of official government neglect. It wasn’t ongoing police harassment. It wasn’t even the death of teenager TJ Hickey.
According to Bob Carr, the Aboriginal people of Redfern rioted to ensure that drug dealers were able to continue to ply their trade on The Block without being harassed.
Carr reminded media that one of the people arrested for affray after the riot had also earlier been charged with dealing: “The riot we saw was criminality, plain and simple. It was criminal behaviour. Now, I can confirm that there was police activity on drugs in central Redfern. Police had been conducting what we describe as pro-active raids in and around The Block. So there’s been police activity on drugs in that area.”
True enough, but a second person sought by police in connection with the riot had earlier been arrested for bag-snatching. Does that mean the riot was also about the right of Aboriginal people to carry Versace? In reality, the community of Redfern (in particular Mick Mundine from the Aboriginal Housing company) had been pleading with authorities for more than a decade to crack down on the dealers.
In the months leading up to the riots, locals had been actively lobbying for the removal of a NSW government-sponsored needle exchange van, which regularly visits The Block. Mundine labelled it a “honey pot” for drug dealers and addicts.
But the pleas fell on deaf government ears. Instead, the government solution was to create a taskforce to expedite the removal of Aboriginal people from the area.
MITIGATING FACTOR: Carr was at least more moderate than his opposite number in parliament, former NSW Opposition leader John Brogden. The day after the riots, Brogden called on the government to “bulldoze” The Block.
22. Why would the blacks find ‘nigger’ offensive?
For almost a decade, Murri academic Stephen Hagan has been lobbying to have the word ‘Nigger’ removed from a grandstand in Toowoomba.
The word appears - in massive type - as the nickname of Edward Stanley ‘Nigger’ Brown, the grandstand having been named in his honour in 1960 as Toowoomba’s first rugby league international.
Mr Brown, who died in 1972, aged 74, was a Caucasian Australian and was believed to have earned the nickname because of his extremely fair complexion, or because he had a penchant for using ‘Nigger Brown’ shoe polish.
Several court attempts by Hagan failed to force the removal of the sign, but in 2003, he finally secured the backing of the United Nations, and its Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
It ruled that the issue was a no brainer - the word ‘Nigger’ should obviously be removed.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie was unmoved. In fact, he publicly defended the sign, arguing: “Look, it would be inappropriate today, but it’s not inappropriate bearing in mind the history of it...”
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: Beattie maintained his position despite revelations former Minister for Mines, Stephen Robertson removed the words “Nigger Creek” and “North Nigger Creek” from signs in Herberton in far north Queensland just a year earlier.
MITIGATING FACTOR: Former Queensland Labor Premier Wayne Goss changed the names of several bridges and roads throughout the state, including “yellow gin”.
21. Fence sitting on native title
In late 2006, Federal Court Justice Murray Wilcox ruled that the Noongar people were the traditional owners of large swathes of Perth and its surrounds. It was an historic win for Aboriginal Australia, the first of its kind over a capital city.
Others, however, were less pleased.
A power of work has been done over the past decade to ensure that no Aboriginal group would ever successfully claim parts of a major city. Something clearly had gone terribly wrong, and the West Australian Labor government wasted no time in deriding the ruling.
A surprisingly emotional WA Deputy Premier, Eric Ripper told parliament the ruling was flat out wrong, and that Noongar native title had not survived colonisation.
A week later, Premier Alan Carpenter emerged to have a bet each way, although his tone was far more conciliatory.
Carpenter told a rally on the steps of WA parliament: “Reluctantly and against our most basic political and philosophical instincts, we have to consider the implications of the decision for the application of native title rights across the state of Western Australia,” Ripper said. Basic political instincts indeed!
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The ALP at a federal level also had an each way bet. Opposition leader Kim Beazley - whose seat of Brand is actually in Perth - embarked on one of the more obvious fence-sitting exercises of 2006, telling media that he supported both native title and the ALP government in WA: “You’ve seen around the country... very small pockets of achievement in the area of native title. In Western Australia, very large areas have been successfully made subject to native title. If they say they need to appeal these laws to get that clarity, they’re right.” The “very large” areas of native title in WA that Beazley was referring to are, of course, large tracts of desert. Native title over Perth is a whole different ball game. Cape York leader Murrandoo Yanner best summed up the feeling of Indigenous Australia, in this interview on ABC Radio: “I am not voting for no snake in the grass and that’s what Kim Beazley is. At least John Howard telegraphs his punches. Kim Beazley hugs us, takes photos with us, pretends to be our friend and support native title. The moment he has a chance to do something of substance to make social comments that would help clarify the issue, he throws more hysteria and mud.”
EXTRA AGGRAVATING FACTOR: During the handing down of his ruling, Justice Wilcox was scathing about the conduct of the West Australian government during the latter stages of the trial.
20. Just don’t mention the ‘A’ word
Mark Latham’s first speech to the ALP national conference in January 2004 as Opposition leader was a pretty big deal.
Newly installed in the top job, it was regarded as the most important speech Latham would make thus far in his career. And being an election year, ALP officials knew Latham had to be convincing to cement his place as a viable alternative to John Howard.
A passionate Latham spoke of a ‘Big Country’ that had room for everyone, and an ALP that would campaign on opportunity, not fear. Indeed, the speech was entitled ‘Opportunity for All’.
It probably should have been called ‘Opportunity for All... Unless You’re Black’.
Because as it later transpired, Aboriginal people were written out of the original speech.
The changes were discovered after an ALP staffer emailed a copy of the original file to various business groups.
It inevitably found its way to the Coalition, and some clever Liberal staffer enacted a feature on Microsoft Word called ‘Track changes’, which reveals what - if any - alterations have been made to an original document.
Latham’s speech originally read: “[We should be] big enough to say ‘sorry’ and work with the Aboriginal people to bring about genuine reconciliation with justice”.
That phrase was removed, as was this one: “I’ve always believed in the Labor Party as the great positive force in Australian politics.... the party that made us relevant in Asia and proudly told the rest of the world that we believe in Aboriginal reconciliation.”
The net result was that the word ‘Aboriginal’ didn’t once pass Latham’s lips. He didn’t even acknowledge traditional owners at the start of his speech.
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The ‘track changes’ revealed that the removal of the Aboriginal phrases in the speech were done by someone working in Simon Crean’s office. Crean is a senior member of the party and a former ALP leader.
MITIGATING FACTOR: The Indigenous affairs spokesperson at the time, Senator Kerry O’Brien made a very strong speech on an apology to the Stolen Generations, resulting in a standing ovation from delegates. The conference later endorsed the policy of saying sorry.
19. Compassionate Queensland
The death of any child is tragic. But three children - all of them related - in a single accident? It would be almost impossible for any family - black or white - to comprehend. But that’s what happened to two Aboriginal families in the outskirts of Brisbane on March 11, 2006.
Shortly before 7pm, Hayden Duncan, aged 11, his brother Glen, aged eight, and their nine-year-old cousin Reggie Fisher were struck and killed by a train while walking along the railway tracks at Goodna, outside Ipswich.
Just two days later, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie provided media with a commentary on why the tragedy occurred. It was, Beattie explained, all down to bad parenting.
“There needs to be very heavy parental responsibility on these things,” Beattie said. “I know that is not a very pleasant thing to say, but someone has got to tell the truth about this.” So here it is.
Prior to the discovery of the bodies, Norma Boyd, the mother of Hayden and Glen, had already contacted police after the boys had not arrived home by their 6pm curfew.
In desperation, the family had begun driving around neighbouring suburbs looking for the boys. The three boys died doing what all kids do - skylarking.
18. Big trouble in a little paradise
Mulrunji (his name has been changed for cultural reasons), was a 36-year-old Aboriginal man with a lot of live for. He had a son he loved and a partner he adored. Mulrunji had no history of violence and was not known to local police on Palm Island. In fact, he was known throughout the community as a ‘happy-go-lucky’ guy.
On the morning of November 19, 2004 Mulrunji was walking home after a big night out. He had a few under his belt, and was in high spirits.
On his travels, Mulrunji passed a police operation which was in the midst of arresting another Aboriginal man. Mulrunji made a rude comment to an Aboriginal Community Police Officer about ‘locking up one of your own’, and was told to move along. He complied. But the most senior cop on the island, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley overheard Mulrunji’s comments and decided he should spend some time in the lock-up for giving police a bit of lip.
Hurley, a mountain of a man at six foot seven inches and weighing in at well over 200 pounds, drove a few blocks from the scene until he located Mulrunji. He was arrested for being a ‘public nuisance’.
Within an hour, Mulrunji lay dead on the floor of the Palm Island police station. Something - or someone - had struck him so hard that his liver had been almost cleaved in two.
Suspicion immediately fell upon Sgt Hurley. Regardless, the two detectives sent to the island to investigate the death were picked up from the airport by... Sgt Hurley. They all ate dinner together at Hurley’s house later that night.
A week later, a pathologist’s report into the death concluded Mulrunji’s death had occurred after he tripped up some steps. Police forget to mention to the pathologist that an officer was accused of assaulting the deceased.
The Palm Island community exploded. The police station and the courthouse were burnt to the ground.
Despite calm quickly returning to the island, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie bolstered police numbers from six to more than 80, and then sent in armed members of the tactical response group to raid homes all over the island in search of people wanted over the riot.
More than a dozen Aboriginal residents were arrested and charged.
Beattie then announced he would visit the island to open, of all things, a police youth centre. Local residents asked him to stay away because they were still grieving. Beattie went anyway. And he didn’t miss the opportunity for some tough talking in the media, noting that Palm Island was a part of Queensland, and he was the Queensland Premier.
No-one gets to tell the Premier where he can and can’t travel in Queensland.
By late 2006, the death of Mulrunji finally made its way into the coroner’s court.
Acting State Coroner Christine Clements found that not only had Sgt Hurley caused Mulrunji’s death, but that he’d lied to the coronial inquest.
The Queensland Police Service also came under attack from the coroner, who noted that the investigation into Hurley’s actions was inept and at times wilfully ignorant.
Despite the scathing findings of the coroner, Beattie told media he had no problem with the fact that not only had Sgt Hurley not been sacked, but he hadn’t even been suspended. And he jumped at the chance to put the boot into the Doomadgee family once again.
The coroner had attacked the police over the fact Mulrunji had been arrested for public drunkenness, despite having committed no real offence. Beattie was asked if he’d change the laws.
“I have some reluctance in changing the law. I mean, it is currently an offence, public drunkenness. I don’t want to see... us move away from a position where it is an offence because I don’t believe that drunks should destroy our quality of life.”
Ironically, of course, the man who destroyed Mulrunji’s ‘quality of life’ was stone cold sober.
By early 2007, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Leanne Clare decided that Sgt Hurley should not stand trial.
Not only did she decide a jury should not determine the guilt or innocence of Hurley, but she actually took the extraordinary step of acquitting him in the ‘court of public opinion’.
Clare described Mulrunji’s death as a “terrible accident” and revealed she had gathered additional evidence as proof. Called upon to reveal that evidence, Clare went silent.
Beattie instantly supported the decision, and called on Aboriginal people to ‘respect the umpire’s decision’.
The DPP was independent, he said, nothing further could be done. But after several weeks of mounting public outrage, Beattie finally agreed to appoint an independent expert (former Royal Commissioner Sir Laurence Street) to conduct a review into the DPP’s decision.
Sir Laurence promptly found that Hurley should stand trial.
In June 2007, Hurley finally faced a court. Despite changing the testimony he’d provided to the earlier inquest (he now accepted that he must have fallen on Mulrunji, despite earlier testifying he fell beside Mulrunji), Hurley was acquitted on the grounds of a lack of evidence.
To this day, the only people ever jailed in relation to the death of Mulrunji have been Aboriginal people.
The death-in-custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee is unarguably one of the saddest chapters in the history of Indigenous/government relations.
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: In her first statement as shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin publicly supported the decision not to charge Hurley.
MITIGATING FACTOR: ALP’s former federal president, Warren Mundine was an outspoken critic of the Beattie government’s handling of the matter.
17. The past has nothing to do with the present
In August 2003, a 12-year-old Aboriginal boy who was a passenger in a stolen vehicle was killed in a car crash after a brief police pursuit through the suburbs of Perth.
WA Premier Geoff Gallop came out swinging, telling the media that Aboriginal people should stop blaming the past for today’s problems.
A few days later (on August 26) Gallop was asked by ABC radio whether he would “resile at all” from the tone of his statement.
Here’s Gallop’s reply: “No I don’t. I think all too often the wrong message gets sent out, you know, the question of the historical injustices that have occurred throughout Australia need to be dealt with, I’m committed to that, but it’s no good making excuses for very bad behaviour, antisocial behaviour. That sort of behaviour has to be confronted and addressed.”
Indeed it does. But pretending 200 years of history - including land theft, wage theft and child theft - has nothing to do with the present might be deemed a little... well, wrong.
As for “dealing with historical injustices”, the same West Australian government continues to oppose native title claims (SEE NUMBER 21), won’t pay compensation to members of the Stolen Generations and has refused to acknowledge the stolen wages scandal in WA, despite a bi-partisan report from federal parliament noting that WA should begin dealing with the issue as a matter of urgency (SEE NUMBER 14)
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The youth who was driving the vehicle subsequently escaped conviction over the death. An ‘outraged’ West Australian Police Minister, Michelle Roberts threw in her two bobs worth: “My view is he needs to be permanently detained. He should not be free to go and steal another car and wreck anyone else’s life. I personally do not think he is someone who should be at large at all. It may be you’ve got to have some sympathy for someone if their brain isn’t with it, and if they can’t understand the charges, and yes, maybe he should be regarded as a sick person. But one way or another, he should not be let loose.” The driver who Roberts thought should be locked away for the rest of his life was 14-years-old at the time. He escaped conviction because his brain had been severely damaged from years of petrol sniffing.
EXTRA AGGRAVATING FACTOR: Roberts is now the Minister for Indigenous affairs.
16. Honey, I locked up the kids!
Nowadays, federal parliamentarian Carmen Lawrence is regarded as one of the more sympathetic and outspoken members of the ALP when it comes to the black cause.
But it wasn’t always that way, particularly when Lawrence was in state politics, and even more so when she was in power.
Then, ‘bashing the blacks’ proved irresistible.
When Lawrence served as Premier of Western Australia (from 1990 to 1993) her government became the first in history to introduce mandatory sentencing for children. The law was unabashedly aimed at black youths, in the interests of appeasing white voters.
Eventually, the legislation was abandoned, but it remains to this day one of the more blatant abuses of power against Aboriginal Australians by a modern parliament.
AGGRAVATING FACTOR: The bold West Australian experiment paved the way for the ultra-conservative Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory to also introduce mandatory sentencing.
MITIGATING FACTOR: In 2005, Lawrence publicly delivered a series of lectures in Canberra in which she publicly acknowledged she regretted the introduction of mandatory sentencing.
EXTRA MITIGATING FACTOR: Lawrence resigned from the ALP frontbench in late 2002 over federal Labor’s policy on immigration and asylum seekers. She was, ironically, the shadow Indigenous affairs spokesperson at the time. She will not be contesting the 2007 federal election.
SEE ALSO: Dirty Thirty: Part Two.
SEE ALSO: He's not the messiah; the ALP's dirty thirty.
http://www.nit.com.au/news/story.aspx?id=13243
http://www.nit.com.au/story.aspx?id=13242
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