[Greens-Media] Aboriginal permit system should stay - Greens

[Twomey, Chris (Sen R. Siewert)]

Permit system should stay

"The Minister is missing the point once again," said Senator Rachel
Siewert.
"Mr Brough's suggestion that dropping the permit system is needed to
tackle abuse on remote communities is over-simplistic," she said today.

"Once again he has gone for the sensationalist approach."

"The Greens support the continuation of the visitation permit on
Aboriginal lands," said Senator Siewert.

"The police and child support agencies already have access to these
communities, what they are lacking is the programs and the resources
they need to make a difference. That's something Mal Brough could easily
fix."

The Senate discussed a range of measures to tackle child abuse
yesterday, with helpful suggestions coming from all sides of politics.*

"There are plenty of straight-forward things the Minister could do that
would have an impact on the ground," she said. 

"Surprisingly, media access to remote communities wasn't high on the
list of priorities for real-world measures that would make a
difference."

"Sufficient safe and secure housing, culturally appropriate support
services and a permanent police presence would be a good place to
start."

"We are still waiting to hear from the Government about how they will
plan to implement the recommendations of the Senate inquiry into petrol
sniffing."

*   Senate Hansard 12/9/2006 p33-42  
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/dailys/ds120906.pdf


	           
For more information or comment call 
Chris Twomey on 0407 725 025
Email senator.siewert at aph.gov.au
http://www.rachelsiewert.org.au

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