Welfare only for the rich?
Comment by Margaret Allum
Right-wing commentators and politicians have greeted criticisms of Aboriginal welfare programs by the former chairperson of the Cape York Land Council, Noel Pearson, with roars of approval.
Pearson was reported in the April 30 Courier-Mail as having presented a discussion paper titled "Our right to take responsibility" to Cape York Aboriginal leaders. The paper described welfare as "a resource that is laced with poison, and the poison present is the money-for-nothing principle" which turns people into "drunken parasites".
Christopher Pearson, in an opinion piece in the May 10 Australian Financial Review, noted Pearson's comments with "pleasure". Writing for the May 11 Sydney Morning Herald, Gerard Henderson also welcomed Pearson's views, but expressed concern that they were "likely to be misunderstood in some quarters".
One Nation's David Oldfield said he agreed wholeheartedly with Pearson, but added that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) had to be abolished to solve the problem.
Federal minister for Aboriginal affairs Senator John Herron said the comments reflected the government's determination to break the welfare "shackles".
It is not surprising that the federal government seized on Pearson's comments with glee. It is a government committed to the idea that only big business deserves handouts from the government, demonstrated by its determination to introduce a GST which will shift the burden of taxation from the rich to the poor.
This government promises to "crack down on welfare cheats" while ignoring multibillion-dollar corporate fraud and will reward wealthy gamblers with GST-free winnings (if they are so lucky).
Some Aboriginal leaders, including Carpentaria Land Council general manager Murrandoo Yanner and the former head of ATSIC Lowijta O'Donoghue, also welcomed Pearson's contribution on Aboriginal welfare.
In the May issue of Djadi-Dugerang, the newsletter of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Yanner is quoted as saying that Pearson's comments were overdue. "Alcoholism is what turns a warrior into a woman-basher and a father into a paedophile", he said.
O'Donoghue said, "It is true that we have got to talk about responsibilities we have on the ground, to make sure our people actually take up their responsibilities and get off ... welfare and work harder at economic development". She added that if governments stopped shirking their responsibility to provide basic human rights, ATSIC could devote more time to solving welfare problems.
But many Aboriginal leaders are highly critical of what they see as Pearson's betrayal of his people, including Terry O'Shane, ATSIC social justice commissioner. "He is catering to the redneck elements who believe that all Aboriginal people are lazy bastards and should get off their butt and work. You can't go around calling your own mob parasites", he said.
Chancellor of the University of New England Pat O'Shane objects to Pearson's labelling of Aborigines as parasites. O'Shane said Pearson "knows little, or cares less, for the history of blacks' experiences with whites in this country ... in particular the level of dispossession, including loss of sense of self within the community and as individuals, suffered by our people". She suggested that Pearson is preparing himself for a career as a politician, an aspiration he freely admits to.
In her column in the May 11 Australian, Pat O'Shane acknowledged that as head of the NSW Aboriginal Affairs Department from 1981-86 she also "decried the disempowering effects of welfare policies and the fact that people have been stultified by the dependency such policies breed". However, she added, "governments at all levels and their bureaucracies have to develop policies and programs that enable [Aboriginal] people to develop, maintain and practice certain skills ... requir[ing] clearly articulated, practically oriented programs of education and employment training."
The best solution is that Aboriginal people be able to participate in meaningful employment, but the reality is that the government is unwilling to provide the means for such job creation. Tinkering around the edges with the Community Development Employment Projects for Aboriginal people, or creating work for the dole programs for the rest, will not provide jobs with a full wage for all those who need them.
There is no shortage of work needing to be done, especially in rural areas, where indigenous people's lack of access to basic amenities such as running water and decent housing is an indicator of the persistent racism in this country.
Welfare payments are a basic human right of all society's members. For so long as this society's rulers refuse to devote the resources necessary to create real jobs directed to raising the living conditions of indigenous people, welfare payments are also essential.