From my inbox The pattern started when the grogbans were lifted in Alice Springs. Soft-hearted and empty-headedprogressives in Labor decided they knew better than local communitiesand Indigenous people (including me) who said lifting the bans wouldlead to violence.And so it did. And the bans had to come back. Now we’re seeing it again with thecashless debit card. A review of the scheme conducted bythe University of Adelaide found that many people in the communityinterviewed for the review said since the cards were stopped, alcoholand gambling is up. What a surprise. Only it’s exactly what I and many others said from thestart. The Labor’s social servicesminister Amanda Rishworth has done her best to talk around thefindings by proudly trumpeting the suggestion that causal statementscannot be issued from the report’s analysis. But that ignores the fact that thereport contains the words of many Indigenous people in thesecommunities telling us in their own words about the dysfunction andharm going on in their day-to-day lives. Even the local Labor MP, MarionScrymgour, the Member for Lingiari has accepted the findings of thestudy. Hers makes one more Indigenousvoice telling the truth while the minister ignores it. I seem to remember something aboutneeding a Voice to hear from Indigenous people about the policies thataffect them. Oh well, that was then, this is now, and apparentlylistening is off the table. Of course, this isn’tsurprising.This is the same pattern from thisLabor Government every time.They are unable to respondcoherently to these issues because they are unwilling to accept thefacts. It’s a cliche to talk about thebleeding-heart lefties but this is what they look like inaction. This is a left-wing progressivegovernment that is willing to let these communities rot in dysfunctionand abuse because people – usually their inner-city activistsupporters – will think it wouldn’t be “nice” if they take the seriousaction required to solve the problem. They’d rather look compassionate than accept the facts andmake the hard choices required to get REAL solutions. But that would require realleadership which is sadly lacking. Children going without food andclothing in Australia shouldn’t be a partisan issue. If Labor had any actual care forIndigenous communities, they would accept this report and take actionto reinstate the cashless debit card immediately. Against this backdrop ofrepetitive failure and despair, in TheAustralian newspaper this weekend, I outline my vision thatrecognises Aboriginal Australians as Australians and affords freedomof choice and the same standards for us all. I will email you all a full copy nextweek, but let me know your thoughts if you read TheAustralian this weekend. Yours for REAL solutions,
