Australia is a country that keeps apologising.
We have apologised for the stolen generation.
We are sorry for what happened to child migrants.
We have apologised for stealing the babies from single mothers and having them adopted out.
Authorities are apologising far too often for yet another Aboriginal death in custody.
Many institutions are now apologising (having been dragged kicking and screaming) for the horrific sexual abuse of children in their care.
We are sorry about the way gay people were treated and it looks like we may soon be very sorry the police did not adequately investigate a spate of apparent gay suicides in Sydney a few decades ago.
We are very sorry, our representatives opine earnestly with suitably solemn looks on their faces.
We must root out the wrongdoers, we must examine our systems and processes.
We must make sure that such behaviour never occurs again. Everybody weeps and metaphorically tears at their hair, rends their garments and piles their heads with sackcloth and ashes.
And then, job done, satisfied with what good people we are, we blithely get on with our lives as if absolutely nothing has happened.
And, given last night’s horrific Four Corners program exposing appalling abuse of (mostly) indigenous children in juvenile detention in the NT, it seems nothing has.
Four Corners revealed the brutal treatment of children in youth detention facilities in the Northern Territory. Post continues after video.
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Can't believe how many times I have read or heard people say terrible things about other people due to the colour of their skin, religious beliefs etc then follow it by "but I'm not racist" but I am not a bigot" I haven't watched the whole 4 Corners episode due to being on a plane but the short parts I have watched have horrified me and yes made me ashamed to be Australian. I don't honestly know if I could watch the whole show in one sitting. I don't understand how people can possibly think this is ok and an appropriate way to treat children regardless of why they are in detention. I am a Mental Health Official visitor and heard a NT Prison Official Visitor on the radio talking about this situation earlier in the week and was surprised and disappointed by his comments. Our role as an Official Visitor is to observe and receive complaints from patients in my case and prisoners in his, to report back to the relevant Ombudsman. We are meant to be totally independent of the system within which we are working. We are there to provide a voice for people who otherwise don't have a voice. I can't believe that out of all the children and staff in this detention centre over the years none of them complained to this man or other Official Visitors. That they NEVER observed behaviour or attitudes from staff that made them question what was going on behind closed doors. Staff who witness abuse and stand up and say this is wrong are not congratulated or thanked, they are questioned and bullied, they burn out and leave the work environment because they are unable to change what is wrong and the stress becomes too much. I have been a "whistle blower" in the past, standing up for people who had no voice, reporting abuse when I saw it and it wasn't easy, I certainly wasn't praised for pointing out that there were staff who thought it was ok to physically restrain and injure a person who was in our care. In fact I was ridiculed and even told that it could be a very stressful situation when the person was behaving aggressively and I should have more understanding. Me who had been punched, kicked, bitten and had my hair pulled out of my head by the person I was supporting, Me who didn't retaliate by hurting them back, Me who sang songs, danced and reassured whilst being injured. Our system/culture of making a so called "whistle blowers" prove that what they are reporting is true rather than thanking them and reassuring them that they have done a good thing is also part of the problem.
Thank you for being a whistle blower. I think these kids have reported issues, we have heard stories again and again in the media that these young people have been mistreated. It was ignored, dismissed and justified. Even a regular visitor to the detention centre said he believed in tough love (god knows where he draws the line about what is ok). When do these people understand we are not living in the dark ages, where you just bash shit out of kids and teach them a lesson! When we allow young people (some of which are the most vulnerable in our community) to be sadistically abused - we have lost any essence of morality or ethics. Good ---- decent adults modelling good behaviour and calm and reassuring routines to stabilise these kids out of the cycle of abuse and offending.
Jane raises a crucial issues - the abuse of power and racism. The fact that people still keep denying racism and the abuse of power is evidence of the lunacy. No decent human can look at that footage of humiliation and extreme violence abuse of children, and say "oh it is ok because they stole something, or it is not racism". A reality check is in order. Aboriginal people are stopped by police where non Aboriginal people are free to go about public life, they are more likely to receive the full force of the law (others will receive warnings, suspended sentences etc). These children are suffering at the hands of the State. Malcolm Turnbull has refused to widen the Terms of Reference, he in fact is giving the outcome before it started. It would be like the Catholic Church being allowed to run the current Royal Commission. The NT government sanctions the abuse of Aboriginal children, even Giles maintains after the 4 Corners report, that will continue to go hard on children and incarcerate even more. Labor's Senator replacing Peris is equally devoid of care for Aboriginal children. She over saw the department when the original claims were being made about the abuse. She saw fit to do nothing!!!!!!!!!!!. We cannot strip search children on the street, we cannot torture children, we cannot throw children against walls, unless you have being given power by the authorities to abuse and do so without fear of prosecution. A vile and inhumane situation that needs to stop immediately. Those torture masks have no place in juvenile detention. Strip searching is in the realm of paedophilia and adult dominance over vulnerable children. Enough!