Why the Prime Minister's visit to Arnhem Land is nothing but window dressing.

By ALYS GAGNON

With our Prime Minister spending a week in Arnhem Land right now, one could be forgiven for thinking that here we have a leader truly committed to closing the gap for Indigenous Australians.

Before he was elected Prime Minister, Tony Abbott promised to spend one week every year embedded in a remote indigenous community. A worthy and important attempt to bring indigenous issues to the forefront of political debate and demonstrate his commitment to the policy area.

“I think it would be a very instructive thing for a prime minister and senior officials of the Government to spend a week here [Arnhem Land] to learn what it is like to live, to train, to study in this area,” he said during last year’s election campaign.

And true to his word Mr Abbott is currently embedded with the Yolgnu community in Gulkula, in the north east of the Northern Territory.

Now, I have no doubt that Prime Minister Abbott has an honest wish to address the issues that confront Indigenous communities, remote and suburban, across the country. You could hardly be human and not be moved to want to do something when you understand the statistics on life expectancy, education attainment levels, health outcomes to name a few of the factors that impact on Indigenous life in Australia.

For example, the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare has found that, “for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

population born in 2010-2012, life expectancy was estimated to be 10.6 years lower than that of the non-Indigenous population for males (69.1 years compared with 79.7) and 9.5 years for females (73.7 compared with 83.1).”

However, in the face of $534 million of cuts to Indigenous programs announced in the last budget, it’s hard to view this week as anything more than a cute opportunity for the Prime Minister to get some photos in an Indigenous community.

These cuts will hit everything from Indigenous health and welfare programs, to education initiatives, job and employment services, and early intervention childhood services.

In fact, just as Mr Abbott arrived in Arnhem Land two days ago, Fairfax newspapers reported on the situation of the 38 Aboriginal Child and Family Centres who find themselves in limbo following funding cuts in June.

Let’s be very clear about what these centres do.

They provide early intervention health and family services for young Indigenous children who are at risk. They help families get their children to school, get access to the health services they need, provide parenting programs for mums and dads who might happen to need a bit of extra support and advice – as many of us do from time to time.

Importantly, the provide an alternative to the mainstream services of which many Indigenous people are wary of using for fear that their families will be broken up.

This week’s visit also comes with speculation that the Government may postpone the referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution. Constitutional recognition represents an important step in the movement for reconciliation and it’s been put off for far too long already.

The Prime Minister needs to more than just be seen spending a week with Indigenous Australians.

Great to visit some local business’ around Nhulunbuy, followed by video calls with the CDF & Defence Minister pic.twitter.com/YeXLTtgAQl

— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) September 16, 2014

He needs to walk the talk, stump up the funding so urgently required to address the serious issues faced by Indigenous Australians and take a true step towards reconciliation.

Anything less renders his current visit to remote communities a token gesture; window dressing of which Mr Abbott ought to be ashamed.