Inquest hears damning evidence

By JESSICA STRUTT

MORE damning evidence was presented to the Coroner’s inquest into five Aboriginal deaths in Oombulgurri community, held in Kununurra last week.

The allegations may well see the community closed down.

Child protection agencies were racist because they were too scared to remove Aboriginal children living in squalor with their parents in case they were accused of being politically incorrect, former Federal indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough told the inquest.

Mr Brough said WA’s Department of Indigenous Affairs was ‘deaf, dumb and blind’ when it came to addressing the needs of Aboriginal communities.

He said that many small remote Aboriginal communities such as Oombulgurri were not viable and should be shut down for the safety of the children living in them.

Mr Brough told State Coroner Alastair Hope that circumstances in WA’s remote communities were worse than in the NT, where the Howard government last year ordered intervention in a bid to tackle the crisis.

“If a dog was found in a community in Perth living like children are living in the Kimberley, in many places the dog would be taken away and cared for and the carers would be charged by the RSPCA or relevant authority,” Mr Brough said.

Asked if departments refused to remove Aboriginal children because of their skin colour, Mr Brough responded: “It is absolutely because they have a different skin colour.

“There is no doubt that these departments are racist in their attitude, not because they hate blacks, but because they are scared to do anything about these issues because of political correctness.”

Mr Brough said those opposed to closing small communities often argued it would be killing a culture but in reality many were not occupied by the traditional owners.

He said many small communities of between 50 and 150 people were simply not viable because it was impossible for governments to provide the services needed to deal with the issues of intergenerational sex and alcohol abuse.

“The reality is that many of these people are going to be much better served out of that community… we have to be honest if you want to save the next generation and that may well mean closing down Oombulgurri,” he said.

Under questioning from State Solicitor’s Office lawyer Delaney Quinlan, Mr Brough conceded he had never been to Oombulgurri, though he had told the court earlier he had visited many parts of the Kimberley, including Kalumburu.

A child protection officer, whose name has been suppressed, told the inquest the council made it difficult for staff to do their job and on the rare occasion they were given access to the community they were not allowed to stay overnight.

The officer said people in the community were too scared to speak to child protection staff or told not to speak to them by certain members of the community.

Under questioning from John Hammond, the lawyer representing indigenous people, the DCP officer agreed sexual assaults had occurred in the community for more than a decade.

When asked if the officer was worried about children in the community at the moment, the officer said: “Yes I’m worried in a way.”