It is good to see swift action taking place as a result of the revelations of poor treatment of youth in detention in the Northern Territory. There has been a public outcry, and rightly so. I long for the day when the same level of outcry is given to the continuing violence and child neglect in many Aboriginal communities. Why isn’t there an outcry? Perhaps if there was an outcry from protesters and commentators, communities would be safer and more functional, resulting in fewer children being locked up. It is better to fix the problems before detention than at the point of detention.
Anthony Dillon, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, NSW
Never have the deeds of the misty eyed and misguided morally vain do gooders been more exposed than in the wash up over indigenous youth in detention in Darwin and more broadly as exposed on 4 Corners.
I think we can assume that many if not all of these kids, including the non indigenous, would have benefited and had better prospects if they had been removed from their hopeless, chaotic and dysfunctional family environments earlier on.
Unfortunately, because of the fiction of “stolen children” and the opprobrium and censure attached to it, that option is no longer available confirming once again that the road to hell is most definitely paved with good intentions.
Jim Ball, Narrabeen