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Black welfare report ignored

By Tony Koch

18 January 2007 - A CONFIDENTIAL report warning of the devastation of Aboriginal people through violence, alcoholism, disease and hopelessness was shelved ahead of the Queensland state election as Premier Peter Beattie moved to abolish the agency charged with redressing the problems facing the indigenous community.

The document, drafted last year by the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy at the request of then minister John Mickel, was to be the first progress report on a five-year plan.

But the 239-page draft was kept secret and, as soon as Labor was re-elected in September, Mr Beattie abolished the department without warning. This was despite Mr Mickel's proclamation during the campaign that the department was the appropriate "co-ordination agency" and the plan, Partnerships Queensland, the best "whole-of-government policy".

A copy of the report, obtained by The Australian, warns "there is an urgent need to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's standard of living ... and that by almost every indicator of wellbeing, ATSI Queenslanders are significantly more disadvantaged than other Queenslanders".

It recommends an "immediate and sustained action to reduce the disparity in all life stages".

The draft's appalling statistics, which the Government yesterday insisted were not new, sparked outrage from former senior bureaucrat, police inspector and ATSIC commissioner Col Dillon, who described the document as "a shameful record of the Beattie Government in terms of its delivery of services to indigenous people".

The revelation that the report was shelved comes amid growing dissatisfaction with the Beattie Government's handling of indigenous affairs in light of the Palm Island death in custody case and rioting in the Cape York community of Aurukun. Queensland's record on land rights has also come under scrutiny after the Beattie Government refused to join a settlement between the NSW Government and the Githabul people.

The report says indigenous babies are up to 4.6 times more likely to be placed in care, indigenous children are up to 45 times more likely to be admitted to hospital for assault and indigenous children are subject to protection orders up to 4.4 times the rate of children from non-indigenous backgrounds.

Mr Dillon said the disbanded department "had dedicated officers who were doing great work" but there was no co-ordinated response and other departments were failing indigenous people.

A spokesman for Communities Minister Warren Pitt, whose portfolio absorbed indigenous affairs after Mr Mickel was promoted in cabinet, last night insisted the report, dated April last year, was still being finalised.
"This baseline report is the cornerstone of a new performance framework," Mr Pitt's spokesman said.

"It shows the Government is serious about getting better results for indigenous Queenslanders."

Mr Pitt's spokesman maintained the Government was committed to a multi-department response and said that while the report was part of the accountability mechanisms, the statistics were not new. "While this is a new report, generally there is nothing substantially new in the report," he said. "It is new in the sense that it has been collated and compiled in a more comprehensive way."

Mr Dillon, who resigned from the Government last month accusing Mr Beattie of ignoring indigenous needs, remained sceptical of the Government's commitment to indigenous affairs.

"This report clearly highlights the deception that this Government has perpetuated on the people of Queensland," he said. "This Government does not have the political will to change what is in desperate need of change.

"Nothing has improved under the stewardship of Peter Beattie, and nothing will. Not one mention was made in the election campaign that the indigenous policy department would be abolished."

Source: The Australian

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