ATSIC's domestic violence shame
06.09.1997
ATSIC's refusal to fund a women's legal service to fight domestic violence in indigenous communities is to its eternal shame. It begs the question: why?
FOR two years, a group of committed Aboriginal women in south Queensland have fought tooth and nail to establish a legal service to help their own.
Violence against women and children, coupled with sexual abuse, are some of the greatest problems faced by Aboriginal communities.
More than half of Aboriginal men in prison are serving sentences for having assaulted or murdered members of their own families, usually their partner.
When the women's legal service was set up, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission _ the parent body overseeing all things indigenous _ would not fund it. The Queensland arm of the organisation turned a deaf ear to the women.
Why has this been so? Could it be that the indigenous men, culturally the leaders of their communities, do not have a burning desire to see their women given the protection a legal service could provide?
Could it be that they don't particularly want their women and children to know their rights or have some organisation to go to when they are being subjected to violence?
With all the proven instances of waste, fraud and plain inefficient management over which ATSIC has had control in recent years, one would have thought that this particular project would have commanded attention.
To the organisation's eternal shame, that has not been the case.
Indigenous women cannot use existing ``male-run'' Aboriginal legal services because they have a policy of not taking on issues ``black against black''. And since most of the problems of the women will concern being belted by partners, that is a no-go area.
As well, Aboriginal legal services concentrate almost exclusively on criminal issues, whereas the women in need will be seeking help in areas of child protection, domestic violence orders and so on.
But the federal and Queensland governments have come to the rescue and the women's legal service will be launched officially in Brisbane next week.
It will be a modest birth; just one permanent employee working from temporary offices in the old Boggo Road jail.
But it is considered important enough for federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams to attend the launch on Wednesday. And that night, the formal dinner will be addressed by Police Minister Russell Cooper and prominent Aboriginal spokeswoman Jackie Huggins.
The Federal Government has committed $75,000 a year to the project and the State Department of Families, Youth and Community Care has put up $81,000.
An incredible number of lawyers have indicated they will do voluntary shifts for the service, providing advice and counselling on a roster basis.
Central to the success of the new organisation is its elected chairwoman, Cheryl Buchanan.
Buchanan brings a wealth of personal experience to the position and, as a wife who was ``battered from pillar to post'', she can speak with some authority on the subject of violence against women. Her face and arms still bear the scars of dreadful beatings.
But this lady is no wimp. She has a history of fighting for indigenous people.
It was in 1971 that a rather unremarkable young Aboriginal girl was seen around the land rights demonstrations. She was prominent at the famous ``tent embassy'' protests on the lawns of Parliament House at the time but was best recognised as the girlfriend of Black Panthers activist Dennis Walker.
WALKER, son of the late Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker), is now nearing the end of a four-year jail term in Grafton. He might have a criminal history but he was never one who assaulted women.
But that former girlfriend _ the mother of his son _ is still fighting for her people.
This time the fight is more personal. Buchanan is carrying the fight for Murri women, fighting for their rights to live without violence at the hands of drunken partners.
Buchanan hit the national headlines a year ago when, through an incredible fluke, she was reunited with her son Illich. He had been taken from her at birth and adopted by white parents who went to live in England.
Illich was brought up in Norwich and, in October last year, he was traced by Buchanan's mother. When told of his Australian family, he made the trip out, to be greeted by the mother he had never known, two sisters and three brothers.
That was just another phase in the remarkable life of a woman with boundless energy and limitless reserve to continue the fight for equality for Aborigines.
In the past year she has been appointed a commissioner for Corrective Services in Queensland and is chairwoman of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Legal and Advocacy Service.
The legal service is formed of women representatives elected from communities as far west as Birdsville and Bedourie and north to Hervey Bay.
Buchanan said yesterday that a main aim of the legal service would be to introduce preventative programmes so women can be saved from violent partners.
``It's a 60s term but what we're about is consciousness raising,'' Buchanan said. ``Our first moves will be to have cross-agency workshops to see how existing agencies can help us and vice versa.
``The violence among our people is terrible. It results from many things including socio-economic conditions. We are a dispossessed people. There are few job opportunities.
``But the truth is that nobody has the right to bash women and that is one way the frustration is being expressed in our community. Somebody has to make sense of it and say the violence has to stop. A lot of education is needed.''
ATSIC's refusal to help the women who have launched this organisation is an indictment of its commitment to the betterment of the have-nots in their communities.
It is a disgrace. Millions of dollars can be wasted on stupid projects, lost on ``housing'' schemes or just not accounted for _ but a few grand could not be found to provide Murri women with legal support, advice and counselling.
