Consultations with Indigenous women from three towns in Western NSW
Racism and civil society: Community consultations held with Indigenous women in Wilcannia (24 July), Brewarrina (26 July) and Walgett (28 July) conducted by the Sex Discrimination Unit at HREOC, which prepared this report.
- The
extent to which racism exists in Australia
- Experiences
of racism
- The
double burden of racism
- Lack
of involvement by Aboriginal people in decision-making
- Racism in provision of services for Aboriginal people
- Sources and causes of racism
- Past experiences of racism
Theme 2: Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
- Aboriginal women
- Intersectionality of racism and sexism
- Intersectionality of youth and racism - young Aboriginal people
- General Strategies
- Cultural awareness training
- Greater Aboriginal involvement in the decision-making processes
- Better service provision
- Lobbying government
- Programs to challenge racism
As part of its consultations
for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance being held in August and September
2001 in Durban, South Africa, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
has produced an issues paper on the intersections of race and sex in experiences
of racism (the 'intersectionality issues paper'). A copy of the intersectionality
issues paper is available at:
www.humanrights.gov.au/worldconference/aus_gender.html
In this paper, the Commission committed itself to placing women's experiences of racism centrally in its work for the World Conference. To this end, the Commission conducted a series of group consultations with women in order to better understand the range of experiences of women who suffer disadvantage and discrimination on the basis of race in Australia. The Commission travelled to Wilcannia, Brewarrina and Walgett in Western NSW to talk to Indigenous women about their experience of racism. Details of the time and place of the meetings are annexed to this report. The Commission also conducted four focus groups with immigrant and refugee women in collaboration with the Immigrant Women's Speakout, a non-government organisation. The results of these consultations are to be found separately in the report of consultations with migrant and refugee women.
The insights gained through the Indigenous focus groups are presented in this report. They were incorporated into the Commission's World Conference Against Racism Consultation Report which informed the Commission's work in Durban at the World Conference.
The meetings concentrated on discussing:
- particular experiences
of racism against indigenous women;
- causes and sources
of this racism;
- what the Commission, government at all levels, and the international human rights community can and should do about these problems.
The following report is a synthesis of these discussions.
Theme 1: Sources, causes, forms and contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
The extent to which racism exists in Australia
"We just live with racism every day. It's like getting up, washing your face and having a cup of tea."
Fighting racism is an ongoing battle, it is unlikely that we will see change in our lifetimes.
It is intractable being black. When you are Greek, for example, you can come to Australia, perform a ceremony, take on the citizenship of Australia and be 'Australian', whereas Aboriginal people are always seen on the outside.
Aboriginal people are always having to chase, catch up, enter the white man's world - why can't white man enter the world of Aboriginal people where they are not seen as dumb and the underdog?
Aboriginal people have to live in two worlds (the white man's world and their world). However the same applies to the white people who come live here, because they haven't had anything to do with Aboriginal people before.
Aboriginal people have to put on a mask every day to enter the white world - where they are still seen as good for nothing. People judge Aboriginal people before they meet them. We people are always looked at by white people as low and no matter how much we try to keep up with white Australians we will always be pushed down and judged as black, lazy and good for nothing.
"There is so much [racism] going on in the outback". Even though there are no formal separations between white and black people any more there is still so much division, e.g. black people drink at the front of pubs and on the streets while white people drink at the back.
Women experience racism from both service providers and on the streets. Racism when being provided with services is more difficult to deal with than experiences of racism on the street, because you think that the service providers are working for you.
Black people are treated as foreigners in their own country - they are always looked down upon and will never get jobs.
The white people want blood from our kids, and while I don't condone our kids' violence there are reasons why they behave this way.
There is only one Aboriginal person on the Wilcannia Golf Club Board (one position reserved for an Aboriginal person). However because this is only one position this person can always be outvoted, so they are not really given a real voice.
When we have a meeting on crime everyone in Brewarrina comes (black and white), however when we have a meeting on doing something positive in the town, such as starting a minor league, no white people come.
"We hold 75% of the voting power here, yet we can't get a black local government."
It is not just white on black racism, there is black on black racism too. This is fuelled by jealousy towards those with jobs or alternatively because you are from the wrong family. When an Aboriginal person tries to or succeeds in making something of their life, they are pulled down by other Aboriginal people and seen as "white" or "coconuts" or "cockroaches". Those people who do go away to get an education and come back, cop it from their own community, as well as copping it from the white community. Aboriginal people therefore experience a double burden of racism - racism does not only exist between black and white people, but also within the black community.
"A lot of our people get up there (into high levels of decision-making) and leave us all behind." People put their own people down. Especially when that person is telling them what to do, they think, "Who the hell does she think she is speaking to?"
Sometimes it can be hard for Aboriginal people to relate to other Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people often play dumb in their jobs just so that they can get on with other black people.
Aboriginal people won't support the businesses of other Aboriginal people because of jealousy and not liking to see people doing anything to better themselves. This jealousy has "bitten us blackfellas and it is helping the whitefella along."
Lack of involvement by Aboriginal people in decision-making
Racism exists to the extent that Aboriginal people have been removed from participation in the decision-making processes within their own communities. White people are sent to Wilcannia to do things for Aboriginal people rather than letting Aboriginal people do things for themselves e.g. running the school, hospital. This is because there is a fear that Aboriginal people know too much and by not letting them take control they can be kept under control. Even when Aboriginal people are consulted, their input is ignored. It seems that those people who do consult Aboriginal people do so for their own benefit, not because they really care or will use what they are told.
Grassroots people are not listened to. You go to health meetings all the time and recommendations are made and presented but nothing is done to follow them up. White people or 'so called professionals' think that they know what Aboriginal people want.
There are no Aboriginal people or women on the Walgett local council, and most of the local council members are from Lighting Ridge.
The local school in Walgett does not have a group of people within the community who they can approach - there has been no P & C at the primary school for the last five years.
They like to bring
people in here to look over things - "people like to come and go
and look and see." There are always people wanting to meet with us
- we have meeting after meeting, and people come and write things down
but nothing happens after they walk out of the room. We are sick of going
to meetings. We want action now. We don't want people using us just so
that they can say that they have spoken to us. We want people to come
back to us after the meetings - but they don't. Instead our issues are
pushed under the mat and we feel used. As a result, people won't even
come to meetings anymore because they feel that nothing happens.
ATSIC gives us a lot of money for housing and infrastructure, but nothing
for any of the other programs we want to run. As a result there is never
any support structure in place.
Racism in provision of services for Aboriginal people
There is no system of cultural awareness training in place for the service providers (doctors, teachers, nurses) who come to Walgett. DOCs only comes when someone calls them, this makes it hard to build a relationship with the Department.
We would like to take people out camping etc. "All of the pubs have courtesy buses to take people home, so why can't we get a bus?"
The participants identified a number of areas in which they had experienced racism:
Administration and structure
Classes used to be divided into family groups, so that brothers and sisters were in the same classes, however now they are divided into years, i.e. years 3, 4, 5 and 6.
"The sooner they give anything to us, the quicker they take it away." They introduce something in the school and it starts to work, and then a new principal is brought into the school who wants something different done.
The principals
In one town the women felt they were not working with a principal who was supportive of the needs of Aboriginal students, for example, the principal stopped letting the AMS (Aboriginal Medical Services) into the school. That school has a health and hygiene problem - we need a new school, or at least new toilet blocks. The women had approached local council and the Department of Education about this however nothing has been done.
This principal had been here 12 months and would possibly be here for another six years, but people already want her to go. The retention rate of kids in her school is low: there were nine year 12 HSC students in 2000 and only four in 2001. Most students drop out of school in year 8 or 9. They leave because the school is not sensitive to the students needs - most of the teachers come straight from university.
The teachers
Teachers sit in the staffroom running down the black kids when they are meant to be at the school for the kids. Kids are being abused by the teachers in the school. The teachers should be outside in the playground listening to the kids. In general, most of the teachers are uninterested in the kids and the school, they only come out here because a few years here will mean that they get promoted faster.
You never see the Aboriginal teachers unless the kids are in trouble, they never go out and talk to the parents.
Content of the education not appropriate
Why do black people need a degree to teach black people? Is it to prove to white people that they are qualified to do the job? The education that white people can offer the kids in Wilcannia is often more appropriate for people in the city, and bush kids are different to city kids.
There are about 5-10 different language groups represented at the school. You can't start teaching one language group as other groups will be angered by this.
They don't teach culture at the school - they wanted to have a white man teaching the kids culture.
As there are Jewish or Greek schools, there should be Aboriginal schools - this is what Wilcannia local school is meant to be, however it doesn't feel like it (a school is its principal).
Discipline issues
There are a lot of things happening around the school that should not be happening. These things only occur because no-one is listening to the Aboriginal people. Only when a fight between the children breaks out is an Aboriginal person called.
Kids play up at school because their parents aren't involved in their schooling. At award nights only a few parents come, this doesn't give the kids much encouragement. Parents fuel the situation - on Aboriginal celebration days white parents keep their kids at home. In general no white people come to these days. At a public meeting teachers were complaining that kids use violence against them however there were very few parents at this meeting listening to the teachers (mostly grandmothers attend).
Brewarrina has changed so much over the years - the laws and government have meant that people aren't allow to discipline kids in the way they used to, and the police won't pick up kids who are running amuck. "They took away from us what we had."
When a kid mucks up in school they get suspended and sent home. This happens all the time - and it is often the same kids. There is no benefit in sending them home, often without books or anything to do for 2-3 weeks. Most don't even go home, they just walk around the streets. They learn nothing there. Rather than sending them home, they should be keeping them at school in a separate class or putting them in the homework centre. The Aboriginal teachers could help the kids being sent home, but they don't.
We need something done with the school - the school system isn't working for our kids, we can't just stick the kids in school, they are bored in this environment and just muck up.
Quality of education
While it seems like the education here is good it is probably the lowest in the state.
There used to be a good mix at the school in Walgett, approximately 50% white, 50% Aboriginal students. Now it is mostly an Aboriginal school - 90% Aboriginal, there are probably 10 white kids. The white kids in Walgett, and a few Aboriginal kids (about 2 or 3) are sent to the Catholic school. The Aboriginal kids who go to the Catholic school have it hard. The Catholic school won't have anything to do with the public school.
The local public school in xxx used to be a good school, but it has gone bad - there is a bad headmaster, bad teachers. There are no Aboriginal teachers at the high school in that town, and only 2-3 Aboriginal teachers at the primary school. Most teachers come to the town "stay here 3 years, get all their points and piss off."
There are some teachers who have been in Walgett for 13 years, or who stay in contact with the people in Walgett after they leave. We are trying to get them to stay longer, as then they build up a good relationship with the kids and community. A woman who trained eight people to be teachers at the school in Walgett was shocked at how young the teachers being sent to Walgett were. When the huge problems of the town are considered, it is hard to understand how they can send such young teachers here.
Once a week the Distance Education kids, who are in the majority white kids, come to the local school in Walgett. They don't mix with the other kids in the school (majority Aboriginal). The Distance Education kids are given separate classrooms, different lunch and playtimes. When the Distance Education kids have sports days they go to the private school (they don't have sports days with the kids at the public school in Walgett). This system of not allowing Distance Education and Aboriginal kids to integrate in Walgett public school has been going on for years now. We have spoken to the Department of Education, the Board of Studies, ministers etc to change the situation however nothing is ever done. "They talk about reconciliation, yet they've got this crap going on in the school."
It's hard for both men and women to get a job because they are black - because we are Aboriginal, we are all seen as thieves, we are "bad all over", we're "all the same." Black men are often not employed because they do not have a degree or the right training, or because they have a criminal record. The requirement by many employers to do security checks means that many of the men in Wilcannia cannot get a job, or join the army, even though they have only committed minor offences. Even if these minor offences were overlooked, many men will not even apply for a position because they think in their minds that they cannot apply because of these minor offences.
White people are being put in identified positions for ridiculous reasons e.g. because the application form of an Aboriginal person who is qualified for the job was a day late!
In Brewarrina, you need to be 'in there' (in with the right crew/family) to get a job - you need to know the CDEP or else you get knocked back for jobs. If you are seen in the pub drunk at night, there is no way anyone will give you a job the next day.
'I won't take a job with the police. I'm not going to tell my people what to do. You end up hated by your own people, acting like a poodle for them [the police]."
It's hard to get kids into jobs - a couple of young Aboriginal girls went to the Shire for work experience however they didn't feel comfortable there.
The cotton industry by Brewarrina creates slave labour. It brings in millions of dollars but only gives us seasonal work in very bad conditions e.g. no toilets, having to work in the heat, (not meant to work when the temperature is over 40 degrees, but we work in 48 degree heat) there is nowhere to sit and have lunch. The community was never consulted when the decision to put the cotton industry in the area was made. The cotton industry is too powerful to take on: "You scream your lungs out and nothing happens." We need to pressure the cotton industry to be putting back into the community.
Kids in Walgett have to go out of town to get work experience, because no-one here will take them. The secondary school career advisor can only get some of the boys shearing placements for work experience, but that's about it. There is only one Aboriginal girl in Walgett employed at the chemist. There is nowhere else for Aboriginal people to be employed in this town. In the supermarket in Walgett if they do hire Aboriginal kids, they put them out the back stacking boxes, while the white kids get the jobs out the front.
The staff in the Shire Office in Walgett drive Aboriginal people out of the office - they create pressure and make remarks to the Aboriginal people working there that makes them leave.
"We want our kids in offices, not out with shovels."
Hospitals
When an Aboriginal person goes to the hospital, the first thing they are
asked is, 'How much alcohol did you drink last night?' or 'What drugs
did you smoke?' They don't ask white people this.
A new hospital has been built in Wilcannia, however something went wrong in the planning of the hospital - there is no obstetric equipment in the hospital, nor is there a permanent dialysis machine in place, even though there are so many diabetic people in Wilcannia and the nearest place to get an ultrasound for pregnant women is a two hour drive away (which is a problem as the women have to drink a litre of water before having the ultrasound).
There are no facilities for women to have babies in Brewarrina. Not being allowed to have your babies born in Brewarrina means that even though you and your family is from Brewarrina, when you are asked where your babies were born you have to say Dubbo - this is such a loss of culture. There is no move to change this - the new, closer health centre being built has no theatre for women to have babies. Women should be allowed to have babies in their home towns - it is part of the culture to have babies here. This means there should be facilities in place which allows women to have babies in their towns.
When a baby is born and there are complications or the baby is sick the mother isn't allowed to stay in Dubbo hospital with the baby.
The sign outside the hospital in Walgett is in Ulari, however it should be in Kamilaroi, as this is the language of the area.
In Brewarrina Aboriginal people struggle to have control over the health services. Mainstream services are not adequate and the Aboriginal Medical Service continually has to compete with mainstream services for funding.
You are always arguing with the nurses, they only come up here for a few weeks at a time and as a result never build a relationship with the people in the community. There are problems with the nurses in Walgett - they treat Aboriginal people with no respect, are nasty and don't treat babies well.
There was a doctor up here for a month who refused to give people prescriptions because she thought that people were addicted to prescriptive drugs. She did nothing else besides stop giving out scripts e.g. she ran no other health program at the same time. As a result, all that happened then was that people had to travel to Walgett and Dubbo to get scripts.
Since the cotton industry has come to the area there has been a big increase in chest infections, particularly in babies, and a 70% increase in asthma. We asked for an investigation into this connection but were told that we had to prove that there was a connection between these diseases and the cotton industry before they would investigate.
There is no legal service in Brewarrina. A solicitor comes from Dubbo, but only on the same day as the court is in session. The person charged gets five minutes with the lawyer before they go into court. Court cases in Brewarrina are mainly concerned with AVOs, domestic violence and assault charges.
You need to have the solicitor there in the station when the person is being charged as well as in the courtroom.
No legal assistance is available when taking out an AVO. When a black person takes out an AVO on another black person, and there is no police involvement, legal services will not get involved.
The Aboriginal Women's Legal Service (AWLS) in Walgett is ATSIC funded and under the auspice of Women's Legal Resources Ltd. The Women's Legal Resources Ltd has just appointed a white female manager at AWLS in Walgett.
The police are always driving around Wilcannia videotaping people and gathering information on them. The police are rarely seen, except when they are driving past.
"Rapes, bashings and sexual assault [in our community] are always overlooked - instead people want to focus on the crime [in the town] that sees our kids put on death row."
"The police do a bad job - they have a hands-off approach. They will see a fight, stand by and watch people fighting, or just drive off in the other direction."
There is one female police officer, however she wants nothing to do with women's issues - if you approach her because you've been bashed by your husband she does nothing. She is only interested in doing her job as a cop.
AVOs aren't taken out by police, a woman always has to make a statement in order to get an AVO taken out. However another participant commented - Police take out AVOs themselves and proceed with the order whether the woman makes a statement or not.
Even though we have had two black deaths in custody, none of the recommendations from the Report into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody have been implemented here. No-one is listening to us: we wanted to hold a quiet protest after one of the deaths in custody but we weren't allowed.
There are two Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers (ACLO) in Brewarrina, both male. They never enter the courtroom even though they should be there. They just do a taxi service - picking up drunks and dropping them home. It would be good to have a female ACLO.
There are too many young police sent to Walgett.
Since the magistrate in Walgett has been ordering that there be no bail for re-offenders of domestic violence, women have been reporting incidences of domestic violence less frequently. This is because women don't want to see their men locked up, they just want the violence stopped.
There are very few police run programs in place e.g. for kids, even though people always ask for them. There are a few police that are trying to do good stuff with the kids, but will this be continued?
Provision of goods and services
The shopkeeper at the supermarket in xxx is really racist, calling every black person a 'black bastard.'
The supermarket in Walgett doesn't employ Aboriginal people. Mothers have to leave their kids outside when they go in to do the shopping at the supermarket in Walgett. The supermarket owners watch you like a hawk while you are doing your shopping.
At the take away bottle shop in Walgett there are no glass sales after 6pm and you have to leave the premises with your alcohol in a car. Aboriginal people drink in the front pub in Walgett out of plastic cups, whereas the back bar, which has a dress code, and is the white man's pub, serves drink in glasses. The Sporting Club and RSL in Walgett have no takeaway alcohol after 9pm. These are recent changes to the selling of alcohol in Walgett and were made without any consultation with the Land Council or the local Aboriginal community.
The only ATMs in the town are in the clubs and you can't go in there if you are not a member (most Aboriginal people are not members).
"It's worse than when we used to live in the tin humpies." There are major problems with housing in Walgett - neglect, water leaks, nothing is ever fixed or painted or renovated. If people are unhappy in their homes, they feel unsafe and violence starts in the homes.
"We don't blame the Land Council in Walgett, we blame the big council - the one with all the money, they never come out here to see what the situation is."
There should be air-conditioning in houses in Walgett. Not having air-conditioning affects the performance of kids in schools - they can't sleep at night because they are so hot, then they wake up tired and fall asleep in class.
It's really difficult for Aboriginal women to be able to find a place to rent privately in Walgett. Aboriginal women go to the only real estate agent in Walgett and ask about places to rent and they are told that there is nothing available. However there are empty places around and we've seen other people being taken into those houses to have a look. They just don't want Aboriginal people in these houses. But when funding was given to the Aboriginal community in Walgett last year and the real estate agents knew there would be Aboriginal money coming into Walgett, 'for sale' signs went up everywhere and the prices went up.
Aboriginal people are treated badly when they go into the real estate agency - you can never talk to the agent privately, you always have to talk to the agents while their friends stand around listening.
The DOH houses in Walgett are in a terrible condition and the Department does not respond when you ask them to come to fix things up. For example, there is stagnant water lying in front of the houses - kids are exposed to Hepatitis C and other health problems. Nevertheless people pay full rent for DOH houses - $216 a fortnight.
The DOH waiting list is being abandoned as the Walgett housing stock is being sold off. DOH is not supportive of single women in Walgett with kids trying to get a house. The Housing Support Network is trying to establish a network that will support women in taking up DOH tenancies in Walgett.
The people in Dubbo don't deal with the DOH in Dubbo - they would rather go to the DOH people in Orange because they know they get things done there.
Racism will always be here - "you can't change anybody's feelings".
Racism comes from ignorant people. It has been here since Captain Cook, and has been passed on for generations.
It is a personal rather than a structural thing.
Attitudes towards Aboriginal people:
White people come into the town as teachers, nurses etc and they want to mix with the Aboriginal people but the white people here 'get hold of them' and tell them not to mix with us - any white people who get too friendly with us get shipped to another town. So in general the teachers, nurses, police etc who come to work in Wilcannia never mix with the Aboriginal people of Wilcannia. Those who do mix with Aboriginal people are then ostracised by their own people.
White people drive everywhere and never walk the streets to try meet Aboriginal people. They stick in little groups, even if they work with Aboriginal people.
People believe a white man who says that he is black, and has the papers to prove it, however if a black person walked into a government office and said I'm white and also had the papers to prove it, it is unlikely that people would believe that he is white.
The culture is dying out fast, because no-one wants to listen and no-one wants to teach. No-one takes the time to visit the elders and talk to them.
There is no acknowledgement of the Aboriginal men from this area who fought in the world wars.
People used to spend more time in the bush, doing more cultural things than they do now. "We just want our rights back, our culture back, although it's probably gone."
Aboriginal parents put down going to school, because of their own experiences and therefore do not encourage their children to go to school. This creates a vicious cycle of lack of education. The parent's hate of school comes from the past - colonisation, working on properties, stations etc - even if the parents don't directly talk about the past, the kids know. Kids are more influenced by home than school - "if they see their parents hating school, they will hate school." The children have everything in their classes e.g. computers and books, however they are not encouraged by their parents to go to school, nor are they likely to use any of what they learn when they grow up. You can't expect kids to take homework home to parents who themselves can't read or write.
The past means that it is often hard for a black person to be the boss - for example, there is a black person who holds a high position and still calls the white people working for him 'boss'.
Theme 2: Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Indigenous women are more likely to stand up and defend their rights whereas men are more likely to sit back and say nothing. This makes women more vulnerable to backlash and racism. Men know racism is there but they won't confront it, whereas women will confront it.
On another level it was also maintained that women feel racism more and may respond to racism differently to men. While men may physically fight someone who calls them names, women may walk away and be broken inside. Racism leaves women with a broken spirit. It hurts them more and no amount of counselling helps.
"When a black woman makes a cake she just puts in the flour and the water, the white woman is always busy with measuring cups - measuring out the amount of flour and water."
It is hard to say why women are turning to alcohol, maybe because of more everyday pressure, unemployment, young women have nothing to do.
Intersectionality of racism and sexism
Black women are looked at as black first and then a woman. Being seen as black AND a woman places black women at the lowest rung of the ladder.
The hardest thing is when a woman goes for a job that needs someone who can speak on behalf of or liaise with the community. The woman will not be hired because there is the concern that a woman will not have the standing in the community to perform these roles. However men do not usually apply for these jobs as they do not like to go into jobs that require you to be already trained. Men prefer jobs that provide them with on-the-job training.
In Walgett there is a refuge for women. It is run by a committee made up of men. We need a women's committee to be running it. The refuge for women is funded by SAAP, and a dry house for men is run by DOCs. When women go to the refuge they have to pay $50 to stay there and buy their own food - men don't have to pay any money to go to the dry-out and are given food for free.
The only person who can drive the community bus in Walgett is a woman. The men get jealous of this and give her flack. Despite the men whinging about her, they don't do anything themselves about getting their bus license.
We need to get a community bus for women. Although there is one for young people it is difficult for women to get to use it (there are about 12 forms to fill in before you are allowed to use it!).
People do not want to see women standing up for their rights, e.g. at the Wilcannia Golf Club, Aboriginal women are more likely to get barred than Aboriginal men or white women. If a black woman and a white woman were at the Golf Club drunk, happy and singing, the black woman, not the white one, would be kicked out.
Aboriginal women see what is going wrong in the town and are trying to fix it. "We sort of assist ourselves - Aboriginal women do the best with what they can, they hold the people together."
Intersectionality of youth and racism - young Aboriginal people
"We need a vision for the young people, there is nothing for them to do out here."
Alcohol is a BIG problem is Walgett - particularly for young people, alcohol and drugs are the biggest problem.
When you take the kids out they experience racism e.g. at the Rock Eisteddfod.
Going away to a school e.g. in the city, is a daunting experience and something that many young Aboriginal people do not want to do as this means leaving their family and community.
"No one thinks about the little fellas, what they see going on in the town they are starting to do now." Kids should have a place to go when their parents are drunk - there used to be a safe house for kids in Walgett but it didn't work. We don't know why.
Theme 3: Measures of prevention, education and protection measures aimed at eradicating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Even through there is racism within the community it is still more important to address the racism black people experience from white people as there are issues of power tied into white-black racism. This town needs a big forum where black and white come together to address racism. We all know racism is there but no minds will come together to meet and discuss it in this community.
When white people are brought into Wilcannia, as nurses, teachers etc, they should be orientated with the community: there needs to be cultural awareness training and socialising with the community. "When the white people come into the town they should come down to our level, rather than us chasing them."
Police are taken to Mutawintje for cultural awareness training before coming to work in Wilcannia. However this needs to occur on a more regular basis, especially if they are going to be in Wilcannia for 2 years.
A white person could be trained to deal with the black people in Wilcannia and teach them to be culturally aware and listen to black people.
Employment and workplace strategies with the business sector
White people should recognise that it is the black people that keep Walgett running. "If we didn't go to the Sporto, the RSL, the shops, this town would have nothing."
Greater Aboriginal involvement in the decision-making processes
We need to get Aboriginal people and in particular Aboriginal women on the local council. We need unity among black people, cohesion in the community, support for programs.
The government should stop sending people into Wilcannia and rather give the Aboriginal people living here a go to run programs - give them the money. If a mistake is made it is then a black man's mistake (and people are more forgiving of a black man's mistake in Wilcannia). Too much money is spent on what white people think black people need money spent on. Pouring money in is a band-aid solution. Aboriginal people need to be directly involved in making decisions in Wilcannia.
Real consultation of Aboriginal people needs to take place in the school and hospital. Aboriginal people are only ever used as a 'liaison', for example, to deal with the drunk people who walk into the hospital (but not to do medical tests on people) or when there is a fight amongst children at school. Aboriginal people should be used less as a liaison person and be given the real job to do.
Services which can be provided by Aboriginal people (who have the knowledge of the people, area etc) should be provided by them. Black people have to be the ones to take control, take over running things.
HREOC coming out here to consult us is useful as HREOC has never been here before. However is anything really going to come out of this process?
The Shire has to pull their weight and be prepared to work with the community. The new general manager wants to work with the Aboriginal community. The personalities of people running things is crucial to the projects being successful. The General Manager in Wilcannia is good, he listens to the Aboriginal people.
Ensure that a continuity of services exists. There is no follow-through with projects, or permanence to them. Projects are started and then forgotten, which means that they fall down, time and time again. If there are services that can be provided by Aboriginal people in Wilcannia, let them provide them and have control over the running of these services as opposed to bringing a white person into the community to do it.
"We don't want to fight with them, we want to work with them and hopefully they will work with us."
The government has to meet Aboriginal people half way, for example, by bringing a female minister or any minister out to start listening to the women out west and to see what's really happening out here and so that we can tell them about the programs we want to put in place. "We've had women go to Sydney or Canberra from here, but we want to see the ministers come here to see what's going on - have them eat a bit of emu and Johnnie cakes." Also it would be useful for women to go from Brewarrina to Sydney to see how things work - we need to know how to use the system.
A project is to be started which will get various committees in the town to 'adopt a class' at the school e.g. the Shire will adopt year 6, the working party will adopt year 5 - the committees will act as mentors for the classes and take the kids out on outings.
Aboriginal language is taught in school at Wilcannia.
Every day children learn about their culture and are often taken on excursions into the bush to see and learn about the birds, animals, flowers etc. While culturally appropriate schooling is a good idea, it is hard to say whether this will actually make things easier for children.
In general however, there are few projects that work or have worked in Wilcannia - there have been no improvements in the situation there in the last 14 years - things have just gotten worse. The only thing that works in Wilcannia is the safe house, however there is nothing in place for men (this is a problem as the women leave the safe house and go back to the men).
The homemaker's program in Brewarrina has been quite successful - it has set up the Laundromat, services to help women earn money for cleaning, and will hopefully result in the safe house being established.
Theme 4: Provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress, [compensatory] [1] and other measures at the national, regional and international levels.
Not discussed
Theme 5: Strategies to achieve full and effective equality, including international cooperation and enhancement of the United Nations and other international mechanisms in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and follow-up.
There was no discussion on this theme.
Recommendations
1. Foster better community relations between black and white people in towns through:
- holding big forums in towns where black and white people come together to address the issue of racism.
- white people in towns supporting Aboriginal people in the towns, for example, by attending Aboriginal cultural days.
2. Increase involvement of Aboriginal staff in schools and encourage the teaching of Aboriginal culture in schools.
3. In general provide more facilities, services and activities for the people in towns, for example, introduce youth programs, provide facilities such as swimming pools, movies, community buses to take people out camping.
4. Provide medical facilities in towns so that women are able to have babies in their home towns.
5. Introduce cultural awareness training for white people coming to work in Aboriginal towns so that they are orientated with the community. This training should involve social activities and aim to teach white people how to deal with and listen to the Aboriginal people in the towns.
6. Encourage Aboriginal people, in particular women, to become involved on the local councils in their towns.
7. Dissuade the sending of white people into towns to run programs and services rather, where possible, fund Aboriginal people to run the programs and services.
8. In general, if there are services which can be provided by Aboriginal people in their towns let them provide and have control over the running of these services as opposed to bringing a white person into the community to do it.
9. Directly involve Aboriginal people in the decision-making process, particularly when the decisions concern their communities e.g. regarding education or health issues.
10. Ensure a continuity of services exists e.g. follow through with programs that are started, rather than starting and stopping them as so often happens.
11. Encourage members of parliament and ministers, particularly female members, to visit Aboriginal towns and listen to the women.
12. Encourage women to go to Sydney/Canberra and visit parliament and HREOC so that they are aware of the systems and how they work.
1.
Note: The word compensatory was in brackets as there was no consensus
among governments to include it under this theme.
