Indigeneous Women Kept As Cash Cows

[icyfroth]

ABORIGINAL women are being “kept pregnant” as “cash cows” in order to make money from government hand outs, a former Labor MP has claimed.

Former politician Gary Johns made the controversial comment during an interview on Ten’s Bolt Report on Sunday morning during a discussion over the proposed constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians.

“A lot of poor women in this country, a large proportion of whom are Aboriginal, are used as cash cows,” he said.

“They are kept pregnant and producing children for the cash. Now that has to stop.”

Johns’ comments were in response to a report from Aboriginal Housing Victoria which today revealed Aboriginal women were 34 times more likely to suffer domestic violence than non-indigenous women, published by Fairfax.

He aimed his comments at Cape York community leader Noel Pearson and his approach to constitutional recognition.

“I’d like Noel and his team to start thinking about fundamental issues that affect his people and our people at the really lower end of this society,” he said.

“They should be trying to smash the welfare state, not a liberal democracy and its constitution.”

The former MP who served in the Keating government has gained attention on social media for his controversial comments, but he’s no stranger to backlash when it comes to his views on welfare.

Writing in The Australian last year, Johns suggested welfare should be linked to compulsory contraception, saying there should be “no taxpayer inducement to have children”.

“Potential parents of poor means, poor skills or bad character will choose to have children. So be it,” he wrote.

“But no one should enter parenthood while on a benefit.”

http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/former-labor-mp-gary-johns-says-indigenous-women-are-being-kept...

I disagree about welfare being linked to compulsory contraception.

[lloydslights]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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@bella_again wrote:

Maybe its time to build people up to give them choices and create community that encourages positive life style choices. Maybe we need to fund homelessness organisations and places like Anglicare that are losing funding to feed the community.  Maybe we need early intervention to take place to stop this horrific cycle of abuse instead of spending millions on Royal commissions and reports that do not even relate to reality and usually never implement anything of use. There is a hell of a lot more we can be doing then what we are doing now.

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There can be no solution without funding.

Sadly, earlier this year the Abbott Government  cut federal funding to every single option you mentioned above.

Without funding for prevention, education and support services, the cycle continues.  

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In some areas, I don't think the funding was getting to the people in need, though.  Perhaps the funding has been found to be not making much of a difference to the "end-user" and this information has come from commissions, reports, etc. (another mob who rely on "funding" to conduct these investigations).

All the paper pushers were getting paid from that funding.  

For example, social workers for remote  aboriginal communities. Weekly wage, car to visit remote areas, camera to take proof of living conditions, Motel accommodation, meals, etc.

So in fact, the unemployment numbers may rise amongst those paper pushers, and that is what is worrying to them. 

Maybe the funds from the projects that don't seem to be making much of a difference, will be diverted to areas that need more social workers that can make a real difference - such as early intervention in cases like Chloe.

DEB

[polksaladallie]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

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@morgana2408 wrote:

Sadly abuse, neglect and family violence are not restricted to one particular family background

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True. But did you read this bit in the OP?

"Johns’ comments were in response to a report from Aboriginal Housing Victoria which today revealed Aboriginal women were 34 times more likely to suffer domestic violence than non-indigenous women, published by Fairfax."

Fairfax published it, so it must be true.

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Yes but it is also true that women in the lower socio economic demographics are more likely to suffer domestic violence regardless of race. So it would be obvious that indigenous women, who are more likely to be in a lower socio economic demographic than other women in this country, would therefore be more likely to suffer higher levels of abuse.

It has little to do with their culture but more to do with their poorer than average standards of living.

The guy is an idiot anyway. He has a history of talking rubbish.

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it is also true that women in the lower socio economic demographics are more likely to suffer domestic violence

Not true.   Family violence occurs in all stratas of society in the same ratio.   So, lower socio-economic women are not "more likely to suffer domestic violence".

[lobs211]

Most traditional Aboriginal women are good parents even if their parenting is not the same as the rest of us.  

LOL - what the??

Maybe we could consider:

Forever, Aboriginal Mothers have been having big families - my dad is one of 19 LOL. It's only now that money is attached so people say they havin babies for money but they always had lots of babies.

Domestic Violence: NO WHERE in culture is it ok, BUT in culture Man is boss of business, not children. Some women beleive man is boss of everything and that they are not as important/ worthy/ capable. So a man treats her bad and she puts up with it cos she deserves it (her thinking) to keep her in line cos she must have been getting out of line.

What Im saying is - its not always about money , if you grow being told you not as important as a male and then a male treats you bad, well its kind of expected.

I really beleive alot of this is changing tho - women coming stronger cos they not relying so much on a man for everything. When I was young, I never knew no woman without a man = shame. Now I know lots of women (me!!) who last thing they want is some man LOL

Does this make sense?? ha ha 🙂

[lind9650]

Yes, Lobs, you make sense.

I was born and raised in an Eastern European society where the same thinking was normal.

When my first husband bashed me the first time and I told my mother, she just said to me; "You must have desrved it." I never complained to her again.

Even today there are those old cultures that believe man has all the rights and women have to be kept pregnant and barefoot in the house. It's not only Aboriginal women.

Erica

[gleee58]

This young woman won't be fitting the lazy stereotyped description of the Blot fandom.

Go fund her.

http://www.gofundme.com/ebstonyc

Ebony Allen (aka Ebs or @Ebswearspink) is a Kamilaroi and Dharug woman from Redfern, NSW with a determination to dream beyond what could and should be possible for a little koori girl.

Inspired by Aboriginal leaders like Roberta 'Bobbi' Sykes and Larissa Behrendt who have studied abroad, Ebs applied for a Masters in Liberal Studies (Digital Humanities) at CUNY and  just under two weeks ago (2 July 2015) received her letter of acceptance!

Despite what mainstream media would have you believe, the pool of monies for Aboriginal people (in academia or otherwise) is not as large or accessible as thought and therefore in spite of personal reservations Ebs is asking for your assistance to make this dream become a reality.

What is the studies?
The Masters of Liberal Studies in Digital Humanities is an emerging field of academia that is essentially the application of digital technologies to humanities scholarship and teaching, the digital humanities involves a range of approaches that include algorithmic literary criticism, new models of “distant reading,” the use of network theory to examine historical events, the digital encoding and analysis of archival manuscripts, the incorporation of geospatial data into scholarly projects, the uses of social media and networked platforms to enhance classroom instruction, among others.

The field, as a whole, explores the ways in which traditional scholarly activities are being reshaped by the new methodologies made possible through data-driven inquiry.

Because indigenous people are early adopters of technologies, Ebs has proposed that my thesis look at the curation and assertion of indigeneity on twitter; an area that seeks to build upon the work of other academics like Dr Bronwyn Carlson, another Aboriginal woman that has taken a similar approach to indigeneity and facebook.

What will the completion of the studies create?
Ebony has strived throughout her professional career to create change that empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and improves the nation as a whole.

She aims to use her studies to increase the knowledge and presence of Indigenous Australians in online media and to further diversify the way that they are perceived throughout mainstream Australia.

[icyfroth]

To blame this grinding poverty on Tony Abbott's funding cuts is so predictable from the left.

Aboriginal ppl get welfare benefits and housing the same as anyone else, yet there is this grinding poverty! Why? While not exactly living the high life, people can at least subsist on benefits provided. 

This article might give some insight:

Billy was a star rugby league player back in the days before ice came to town.

The legendary Manly and Australian five-eighth, Cliffy Lyons, was born here and they reckon Billy had similar flair.

“Yeah, they all talk about it,” says Annie. “I hate hearin’ it, actually. Just to hear how good a player he was. It was a wasted opportunity.” But then, so is everything about their lives now.

They are on a course that will almost ­certainly end badly – jail, mental illness, maybe even death.

True, their lives were always going to be a struggle, even without the ice.

Both came from broken homes. Annie’s parents were heroin addicts and her grandma raised her.

Billy gives us a shorthand version of his upbringing, which ends with “well, yeah, I never really had much to do with me old man”.

They both started smoking pot as young teenagers, then progressed to speed. Even so, they managed to lead relatively normal lives; Annie did work-ready courses and Billy scored tries for the Narrandera Lizards.

The switch to ice two years ago, they say, was when they lost control.

Every single cent of their dole payment now goes on drugs. They can only get enough food through the kindness of friends and relatives.

“We’re going back to mission days,” says Shaurntae Lyons, a local Aboriginal leader. “Our kids are starving, they’ve got no shoes and not because the ­government aren’t giving us money. The money is going on the ice.”

Entire Article Here

 Worth clicking through and reading.

There comes a point where throwing money at a problem can no longer help, but actually hinder.

If anything, government should be funding increased surveillance on drug imports.

[gleee58]

Imports?  They make the ice here.

The comments were not out of concern or care for indigenous women or poor women.  The Blot/Gray indigenous hatefest comments were purely motivated by their horror at the prospect of constitutional recognition.  

[icyfroth]

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@gleee58 wrote:

Imports?  They make the ice here.

I know. Plenty of drugs are also imported, or the ingredients to make them.

The comments were not out of concern or care for indigenous women or poor women.  The Blot/Gray indigenous hatefest comments were purely motivated by their horror at the prospect of constitutional recognition.  

Typical response. Do you have anything to say at all on the problem indigenous ppl face?

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[gleee58]

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@icyfroth wrote:

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@gleee58 wrote:

Imports?  They make the ice here.

I know. Plenty of drugs are also imported, or the ingredients to make them.

The comments were not out of concern or care for indigenous women or poor women.  The Blot/Gray indigenous hatefest comments were purely motivated by their horror at the prospect of constitutional recognition.  

Typical response. Do you have anything to say at all on the problem indigenous ppl face?

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The revolting misleading comments by Grey to Blot were not about finding solutions for indigenous or poor women or about domestic violence.  The comments were just an intro excuse for fuddy duddy sexist racist white men to express their disgust at the concept of changing the constitution to recognize the first nations people racism.

[icyfroth]

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@gleee58 wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

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@gleee58 wrote:

Imports?  They make the ice here.

I know. Plenty of drugs are also imported, or the ingredients to make them.

The comments were not out of concern or care for indigenous women or poor women.  The Blot/Gray indigenous hatefest comments were purely motivated by their horror at the prospect of constitutional recognition.  

Typical response. Do you have anything to say at all on the problem indigenous ppl face?

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The revolting misleading comments by Grey to Blot were not about finding solutions for indigenous or poor women or about domestic violence.  The comments were just an intro excuse for fuddy duddy sexist racist white men to express their disgust at the concept of changing the constitution to recognize the first nations people racism.

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From the OP:

"Johns’ comments were in response to a report from Aboriginal Housing Victoria which today revealed Aboriginal women were 34 times more likely to suffer domestic violence than non-indigenous women, published by Fairfax.

He aimed his comments at Cape York community leader Noel Pearson and his approach to constitutional recognition.

“I’d like Noel and his team to start thinking about fundamental issues that affect his people and our people at the really lower end of this society,” he said.

“They should be trying to smash the welfare state, not a liberal democracy and its constitution.”

This trhead however is about his comment  "Indigenous Women Kept As Cash Cows".

Do you agree/not agree?