Miscellaneous Masala/Spicy Stuff

Canberra, Australia — Australia's leader has announced plans to ban pornography and alcohol for Aborigines in some areas, and to tighten control over their welfare benefits to fight what he called a child sex abuse crisis among them.

Prime Minister John Howard was responding to an officially commissioned report last week saying child abuse was rampant in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, fueled by alcohol abuse, unemployment, poverty and other factors causing a breakdown in civil society.

Some Aboriginal leaders immediately slammed the plan as paternalistic, saying they had not been consulted about it and that they objected to restricting how indigenous people can spend welfare benefits.

Others applaud the plan's requirement that at least half of area Aborigines' welfare checks be spent on food and other necessities — a measure aimed to cut spending on gambling and alcohol. They want similar conditions placed on payments in a trial in neighboring Queensland state.

Hardcore pornography, which the report found was rife in Aboriginal communities and available to children -- who were thus desensitized to sex with adults, and who sometimes act out scenes with each other -- also would be banned.

Family welfare payments would also be linked to children's school attendance.

However, some warn that such a system — applied only to Aborigines — could breach federal discrimination laws.

About 60,000 of Australia's roughly 400,000 Aborigines live in the Northern Territory — the highest proportion of indigenous residents anywhere in the country.

Many live in isolated, impoverished communities where jobs are scarce and substance abuse is widespread.

Aborigines are a tiny minority among Australia's 21 million people.

They suffer much higher poverty and addiction rates, and other problems. Their life expectancy is 17 years shorter than that of other Australians.

Source: The World Wide Web! - Back to Homepage

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