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Real solutions - not just shock and awe

By Lyn Allison - posted Friday, 29 June 2007


A six-month ban with no rehabilitation means alcoholics will either find other sources of comfort for their addiction or react with even more violence. Many are already so brain damaged that expecting them to miraculously become model citizens when the alcohol is removed is absurd. Where are the support services for themselves and their families when they go into withdrawal?

The Commonwealth already has an agreement with the NT which is said to prioritise family violence and substance abuse prevention and overcrowding but with only the vaguest of the need to do something about the sexual abuse of children. Just today the Royal Australian College of Physicians issued a statement saying it cannot provide the requirements for sexual abuse “screening” of all aboriginal children in rural and remote communities in the NT as there are neither the doctors nor the facilities. Do we demonise the doctors too for highlighting this critical fact?

There is no doubt that tough action and tough talking is crucial. The perpetrators need to hear, clear and loud, that this abhorrent behaviour will no longer be tolerated. But, more importantly, we need to know what happens after the police and the medical teams leave.

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I know we and the small children abused daily must be grateful that, after almost 12 years, “something” will be done to give them the same protection under the law that everyone else has. But it must be a long term “something” that delivers hope and health services and education and counselling and infrastructure and respect. Real solutions - not just shock and awe.

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About the Author

Lyn Allison is a patron of the Peace Organisation of Australia and was leader of the Australian Democrats from 2004 to 2008.

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