Prime Minister opening WELA July 2012

Prime Minister Julia Gillard toured the Kimberley last July and stopped in Wyndham where she visited the Wyndham Early Learning Centre (WELA). The Prime Minister opened a new purpose-built building for WELA and committed her support and funding to the centre. But to the shock of families dependent on the centre the majority of the funding, less than one year later, will cease on June 30 – WELA will be reduced to very little, operating only for limited hours.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard was greeted warmly when in Wyndham, many turned out for her at the WELA launch. It was the first visit by a Prime Minister to the predominately Aboriginal town, in the far north of Western Australia.

WELA’s general manager, Jane Parker said she is still reeling from the disbelief that the majority of the funding agreement will cease, especially after the Prime Minister’s visit to WELA during her tour de force throughout the Kimberley.

The Kimberley has one of the nation’s highest homelessness rates – officially seven per cent of its population, and 90 per cent of that homelessness is Aboriginal, of which Wyndham bares a sizeable brunt. The majority of Aboriginal peoples throughout the Kimberley, and particularly around Wyndham, are impoverished.

Ms Parker said the programmes run by WELA give families – parents, grandparents and carers – the skills they need to help their children be ready to cope with school. Ms Parker said that pre-primary teachers say they can tell which kids have been to WELA. Many can count and know their alphabet prior to pre-primary, and they are also taught various manners and behaviours and various coping mechanisms. Ms Parker said that the parents of WELA kids are confident and hence are able to visit the school with that confidence in tow to talk to the teachers about their children’s progress.

“So we do not understand why the funding will be reduced to a paltry amount.”

“We do not understand why this has happened in light of the Prime Minister’s very visit to our centre, her launching of a new building and all the publicity around it.”

Prime Minister Gillard was followed by a huge media contingent throughout the Kimberley and the WELA launch was centrepiece to her tour and the news media fanfare.

“In our town many families are disadvantaged, and WELA makes a real difference in helping families to function better and get their kids ready for school,” said the Centre’s former Chairperson Estelle Hunter.

“In fact, as people from Oombulgurri community now live here too, we need more funding not less, so we can provide outreach to families who are not yet ready to come into the centre.”

Oombulgurri has become near desolate with people having relocated to nearby towns to be within services despite many of them finishing up homeless. Both the State and Federal Governments have let down Oombulgurri and its peoples leaving the nearby towns standalone in providing what support they can.

Ms Parker shakes her head in despair and disbelief.

“In the Prime Minister’s Report on Closing the Gap 2013, the first sentence on early learning says, ‘A child’s health and wellbeing from before they are born through to their preschool years helps to set them up for life.’ If that is the case, we do not understand how the Government can stop funding a service that has won awards, been positively evaluated, and is so obviously delivering what is needed.”

WELA’s programmes were named the winners, two years in a row, 2011 and 2012 of awards in the Department of Communities’ Outstanding Family Service Provider to Children.

“They say programmes are being reviewed. We say that interim funding should be provided until the new scenario is clear,” said Ms Parker.

WELA have sought the support of their new Kimberley member of Parliament, Aboriginal woman Josie Farrer, and of the Western Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert. Both are asking the questions at their State and Federal levels. The Stringer has emailed questions to the Office of the Prime Minister. There has been no response.

Ms Parker said that staff are trying to hang on despite the cut in funding because they know how important the programmes are to families, many of which are single parent families. But already one worker has left. She herself has seven children to take care of and could no longer hang on due to the Government’s funding backflip.

“More will have to go by the end of the month. All are Aboriginal women with lots of skills that they want to use helping Wyndham families provide a nurturing environment which, as the Prime Minister states ‘can help to instil positive behaviours and values and steer children along a path to success at school and adulthood.’” This is not the first such story out of the Kimberley where management executives of Aboriginal organisations be they in Wyndham, Warmun, Halls Creek, Derby or Broome have complained of funding cuts or their inability to secure promised funding to address the myriad social issues that their peoples face on a daily basis.

http://thestringer.com.au/prime-minister-laps-up-welcome-but-breaks-funding-promise/#.UbmdQN8iPIU

by Aleisha Orr, care of WA Today

In developing countries there are children who spend their days stuck in a bed or on the ground, sometimes on cold concrete or out in the dirt.

While Australian children with medical conditions that make it difficult or impossible to walk use wheelchairs, they are not always affordable or easy to come by in places such as the Solomon Islands, Libya, Lebanon and the Congo.

A group of Perth retirees have been changing the lives of children in more than 60 countries, having built and distributed almost 26,000 wheelchairs for children in need of them.

Wheelchairs for Kids has been operating for 14 years and has more than 100 volunteers making wheelchairs which have been distributed across 66 countries.

According to those involved, it is the only project of its kind that works on such a big scale.

They work with humanitarian groups to distribute the wheelchairs once they are transported overseas.

Wheelchairs for Kids CEO Gordon Hudson and volunteer workshop manager Olly Pickett have seen the project develop since beginning in 1998, producing about 25 wheelchairs a month.

They have seen Wheelchairs for Kids, a Rotary backed project, grow to what it is today, making about 340 wheelchairs a month and about 4000 a year.

Mr Pickett, who spends much of his day in a wheelchair himself because of mobility issues caused by ankle problems, said wheelchairs gave children a whole new lease on life.

“Their lives would be much the poorer, for the simple reason that these little kids are on the ground and the governments sort of don’t give any help to their parents, particularly their mothers,” he said.

“The children are on the ground, just waiting for someone to pick them up.

“But a wheelchair makes a huge difference to them, not only to the children but also to the family, and the kids can get to school now, can get to the markets,  just get out and have fun with the other kids, who push them around.

“It gives them a lot of dignity.”

Wheelchairs for Kids also provides a great outlet for retirees such as Mr Pickett, who donate their time to the cause.

“I love it. It’s certainly very rewarding in so far that you’re doing something for someone who’s far less fortunate than what we are,” he said.

“If you can get a smile on a little kid’s face because they’ve got a chance to have a life, just to get out and meet other kids and get to school, I mean it really does something for you.”

Mr Picket said the volunteers enjoyed what they were doing so much that no one ever missed their rostered shift unless they were sick or on holidays.

Mr Hudson said a lot had changed since the early days of Wheelchairs for Kids, and the outfit had become very professional.

“In 1998 it was very small; we were making wheelchairs out of old bike frames in the corner of a workshop,” he said.

“After about a year we realised we could make them new for about the same price as we could to make them out of the old bike frames.

“Four years ago, the World Health Organisation did a survey of wheelchairs supplied into under-resourced countries and they found a lot to be desired.

“The ordinary folding wheelchair just didn’t stand up in the rough terrain and they found that wheelchairs needed to be fitted and adjusted to the recipient.”

Two years ago they stopped production of their standard wheelchair and, using the latest advice, redesigned it.

“We now have a wheelchair made to World Health Organisation specifications, which is completely adjustable to all sizes to suit the growing needs of children,” Mr Hudson said.

“[Now] we have 120 volunteers that work in shifts, across four mornings a week, we have about 30 retiree volunteers on each shift.

“There are millions of children out there spending their time in the dirt, can’t get around, can’t go to school, can’t go to play with other children.

“Giving them a wheelchair changes their life, and changes the life of their family.”

Gerry Georgatos manages the Wheelchairs for Kids project, a job that always poses challenges – more so now that the project has recently lost some of the regular funding it relied upon.

“Cutbacks always tear at the soul of an organisation. It means a lot more people power, but people power can’t really replace all of the materials that we need,” he said.

“We’d like to actually secure the future for wheelchairs for children.”

To secure this future and help more people Mr Georgatos said the group needed to buy the factory.

“That’d give us the capacity to grow the output,” he said.

“There’s millions of kids (we could help). The more kids we can help, the more lives we touch and communities we help. Then they’ll have the opportunity for education – and that’s one thing that they’re definitely deprived of.”

For more information or to contribute to the project visit the Wheelchairs for Kids website.

Western Australia’s Premier Colin Barnett has signalled what may become a national trend; the finding of budget saves by cutting spending to initiatives assisting Aboriginal peoples. The Closing the Gap targets are being touted by some as having been reached, while others claim otherwise, may begin to spiral out of control once again in the decade ahead with less funding to be made available by Governments.

WA’s Premier Colin Barnett is refusing to sign the Closing the Gap Indigenous health agreement until after his Government’s August Budget. Premier Barnett will only commit to Aboriginal health, and obviously to other areas affecting Aboriginal peoples, after the State Budget and obviously he will commit only what his Budget will arguably allow him.

The National Partnership Agreement (NPA) on Indigenous health targets was signed by all States, Territories and the Federal Government in 2008. $1.57 billion was arguably invested over four years on Aboriginal health – to treat chronic disease in particular but also to better develop Aboriginal health systems.

But trachoma, diabetes, renal failure and hearing loss are at horrific levels among Aboriginal peoples, especially among the poorest 200,000 Aboriginal peoples, of whom more than 100,000 thousand live in what have been described as third-world conditions by many, including UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay, Amnesty International Secretary-General Shalil Shetty and world-renowned documentary film maker John Pilger.

The NPA agreement is up on June 30, and a new one needs to be signed but there is no way that WA, Australia’s richest State, will sign it before then.

Despite the WA Government stating that it will interim fund the initiative for another three months past June 30, it will not commit to the spending on Aboriginal health initiatives that is being asked of WA at this time, not till after the August State Budget.

Federal Aboriginal Health Minister Warren Snowdon wrote to Premier Barnett to try and secure his signature on the NPA agreement.

“Under the NPA, all Australian Governments have implemented, or are currently implementing, an extensive range of activities to improve Indigenous health outcomes and contribute to closing the gap in life expectancy,” wrote Mr Snowdon to Premier Barnett.

Insiders have told The Stringer that Premier Barnett intends “less will be spent on Aboriginal health but it will be spent more effectively.”

Coalition leader Tony Abbott earlier in the year told the National Indigenous Times that if he became Prime Minister he would take direct control of Aboriginal Affairs, adding it as portfolio – Prime Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, and that he will work alongside Northern Territorian Nigel Scullion in addressing Aboriginal Affairs – the closing of the gap, health, education and housing.

The Stringer has been told by sources close to Mr Abbott that he too, like his fellow Liberal, Premier Barnett, will take control of how much is to be spent on Aboriginal initiatives. He is bent on making financial saves. The Stringer has been told that Mr Abbott, if and when Prime Minister, will engage a powerful troika to “better executive spending” and from the “bottom end up”. Mr Abbott wants to do away with spending on the heavy bureaucracy and the numerous consultants of Aboriginal Affairs.

“He wants to spend funds directly on addressing alcoholism, on getting kids into schools, on providing services, on getting people into jobs.”

“Some can call this assimilation but in the end it’s about changing lives that everyone and everything else tried has failed to do.”

The powerful troika that is being touted behind the scenes but yet to be announced is Warren Mundine, Professor Marcia Langton and Noel Pearson.

These three are well credentialed but also highly controversial figures who have polarised Aboriginal peoples. Mr Pearson is probably the most controversial of the three with hundreds of millions of Government funding that his Cape York Institute has received yet to show any real advances for the people of the York peninsula. Aurukun is an embarrassment for Mr Pearson.

The Stringer posed the question of the troika to Mr Abbott’s office. For the first time they have decided to not respond to the National Indigenous Times. In other words they will neither confirm or deny the troika – but our sources are on the money.

It is a huge gamble to take, at the expense of impoverished Aboriginal peoples, to reduce expenditure on Aboriginal health, education and housing when clearly many targets are still not being met. Ideally it would have been wiser to maintain at least current spending but reduce bureaucracy and the number of consultants.

The Federal Government in its May Budget committed more spending on Aboriginal programs but this does not mean this spending will be met past September 14.

In WA it looks like Aboriginal spending will take a huge hit, one that the mining rich State’s Aboriginal peoples cannot afford. WA, alongside the NT, has Aboriginal homelessness, youth suicide and health issues such as trachoma and otitis media at horrific levels and with some at world record levels. Aboriginal incarceration rates in Western Australia are a national tragedy with one in 14 Aboriginal adult males in prison, the worst incarceration rate in the world.

Premier Barnett is bracing WA for austerity measures, not dissimilar to Queensland where Premier Campbell Newman will do away with 66,000 public service positions over the next five years.

Already Premier Barnett has confirmed that 1,000 public service jobs will go. Therefore more direct control from ministerial offices will be needed in many areas, for instance Aboriginal Affairs, which will see Premier Barnett and the State’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister Peter Collier more involved – and in making and acquitting the decisions of where and how any funding to Aboriginal programs should be spent.

The Stringer will cover a number of issues in the weeks ahead – the troika of Mundine, Langton and Pearson, and their own track records, and the burden they will be carrying for Aboriginal peoples. The Stringer is also aware of looming changes to the Native Title Act and processes which yes will expedite determinations and future acts and compensation payouts before ‘people die waiting’ but which will be peddled with the express intention to speed up Indigenous Land Access Agreements and tenement tenure for extractive industry miners and developers – it will not be about the Native Title Holders and their rights, it will be about encouraging mining projects.

http://thestringer.com.au/aboriginal-affairs-under-fire-funding-cuts-guaranteed/#.Ubj3O98iPIU

Over the last week or so the statement that forms the title of this article would probably qualify as the most used phrase on talk back radio and television in Australia. Overwhelmingly and extremely depressingly, caller after caller came on air and the venom and hatred towards Adam Goodes and his handling of the racist incident in the game against Collingwood was laid bare. There is nothing to be gained from rehashing the events of the day and in deference to Adam and others I believe that it is unnecessary for us to do this.

Let us however put some perspective on the whole issue. The use by the teenager of the term in this instance is racist and unquestionably so. Even the cheats’ way of research via “Google” will take you to Wikipedia that lists the term as one of many racial slurs that can be levelled at people of dark skin. What I found intriguing is the reaction of the Australian public in this case when compared to the outpouring of anger a few years ago (2007-2008) over the incident on the cricket field in the test match between Australia and India. In that instance, Harbhajan Singh from India was accused by some Australian players chiefly Matthew Hayden of having called another Australian player, Andrew Symonds, a “monkey”. Symonds, for those not aware of it is dark skinned, being of West Indian/English heritage. He wears the dreadlocks and does not fit the stereotype of an Anglo Celtic origin Australian Cricketer. As soon as Singh is alleged to have used the term, Hayden has supposedly said to him words to the effect that “that was racist”. This matter was then referred to the relevant authorities after considerable grandstanding and theatre on the cricket pitch. At that time the media examined the alleged racist nature of the term purported to have been used by Singh. The Sydney Morning Herald then ran a headline that said Cricket’s Day of Shame” and then discussed the issue in some detail.

The overwhelming conclusion drawn by the media at the time was that the term was racist when levelled at people of dark skin. The media called unabatedly for decisive punitive action to be taken against Singh. For reasons that are not relevant to this article, the matter was quickly quelled. Part of the reason for this was the flexing by the Indian cricket authorities of what was fast developing into a substantial muscle in the cricketing world.

Contrast this with the reaction that is currently being trotted out in the popular media. Goodes is being vilified by commentator after commentator and caller after caller with suggestions that he needed to “toughen up” and that these comments were commonplace in Australian sport and therefore in some inconceivable way, justifiable!

Based on what we know of the term that was used in this incident, the only conclusion that we can draw is that Goodes’ reaction was entirely appropriate. The average mainstream Anglo Celtic member of the public has no concept of what racism and vilification Goodes has gone through his entire life. And this too in his own country! The indigenous population of Australia has undergone much more severe forms of racism than most others in the world. They have had crosses to bear since the first days of English occupation of this country. This racism continues to be perpetrated against them well over 200 years later in Australia. There are policies of government that continue to have racist edges to them and clearly disadvantage the Aboriginal population because of their culture, skin colour etc.

Goodes has consistently indicated that the comment made by the teenager took him back to his childhood and the racist bullying that he endured as a child. He has also said that he had not fought back when he was younger. However, the status he has today is that of a very high profile leader of his community. Whatever he did to combat this issue was going to be of considerable value in the battle for reconciliation that the wider Aboriginal communities are having. It has to be said that Goodes acted in a very dignified manner. Whether the police reaction and behaviour was appropriate or somewhat over- zealous is not in Goodes control. He was mindful of the fact that the perpetrator was a child and was more in need of counselling than punishment.

Goodes’ treatment of the matter was the drawing in the sand of a very substantial line. This line will hopefully never be breached again by anyone in Australia. We will now all be more mindful of our actions and words and hopefully, think through the implications of whatever we may say.

It must be said that the actions of the Collingwood President, Eddie McGuire, were reasoned and very sensible. He offered his club’s apology immediately and undertook to take whatever action was necessary to bring some closure to the sorry matter.

Finally in discussing this matter, the position that I took was one that I had alluded to in other articles I have written here. I am not the person to whom the comment was directed. It is not possible for me therefore to feel the racism that Adam Goodes felt.  Therefore the only position we can take is that if Adam felt belittled and vilified by that comment then we have to provide solace and understanding to inform him that the teenager’s view is not one that is widely held. And we need to place procedures and practices in place to try and educate that child’s view. In various incidents of this nature that I have dealt with involving vilification of the Australian Aboriginal people, I have always recommended the implementation of restorative justice programs. In this particular case this would involve the teenager being required to volunteer in an Aboriginal service delivery organisation so she can attempt to understand the disadvantage this community has in their own country. Hopefully, the AFL and Collingwood football clubs can suggest this form of action.

http://thestringer.com.au/shes-only-thirteen/#.UaV2Qt8iPIW

Photo – theage.com.au

Today, the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus welcomed the National Deaths in Custody Program Monitoring Report (NIDCP) finding that deaths in custody rates have decreased significantly in the past decade. Let us have a look if this is really the case. The reality is that Aboriginal deaths in custody are one the rise.

The report is published by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC).

“Twenty years after the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal  Deaths in Custody, the rates of deaths in custody for Indigenous and non-Indigenous prisoners, particularly suicides, are some of the lowest recorded,” said Mr Dreyfus.

The AIC report argues that between 2003 to 2011 most deaths in custody were due to natural causes. On May 20 The Stringer published Why are more prisoners dying from ‘natural causes’?

The AIC report found that Aboriginal people are now “less likely to die in prison (0.16 per 100 in 2010-11) than non-Indigenous people (0.22 per 100).”

The report found “that in the 20 years since the Royal Commission, the number of Indigenous prisoners has almost doubled.”

The report noted that between January 1, 1980 to June 30 2011 there have been 2,325 total deaths in custody across Australia and of these 450 have been Aboriginal deaths, therefore 19 per cent of the total custodial deaths. In this period, 1,397 of the deaths have been in prison custody, of which 238 have been Aboriginal, therefore 17 per cent of the total prison deaths. 905 were police custodial deaths of which 204 were Aboriginal deaths and therefore 23 per cent of the total police custodial deaths. There were 18 deaths of juveniles while in custody, of which eight were Aboriginal youth and therefore 44 per cent of the total deaths.

“Analysis of data captured by the NDICP over the last 32 years demonstrates that significant improvements have been made to prevent deaths in some areas, but that work should continue in order to reduce other forms of deaths in custody,” wrote Adam Tomison, the AIC director in the report’s foreward.

“First, it is of concern to see that the proportion of Indigenous prisoners has almost doubled over the 20 years since the RCIADC. In 1991, when the final report was handed down by the RCIADC, Indigenous people represented on in seven people in prison (14 per cent ABS, 1998) and one in seven deaths in prison custody.”

“In 2011, Indigenous people represented just over one in four people in prison and one in five deaths. Therefore, the number of Indigenous people in prison appears to have increased at a faster rate than the number of deaths of Indigenous prisoners.”

“Over the last eight years, the rate of death has been consistently lower among Indigenous prisoners than their non-Indigenous counterparts. It can be concluded that the headline finding of the RCIADC that Indigenous persons were no more likely to die in prison custody than non-Indigenous persons remains true today. At the heart of the problem is the over-representation of Indigenous persons at every stage of the criminal justice system. Any efforts to reduce the number of Indigenous deaths in custody must therefore incorporate a focus on reducing the number of Indigenous people who end up in prison.”

“A second point of concern is the relative age profile of Indigenous deaths in custody when compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. Almost half of all Indigenous deaths (48 per cent) in prison custody were of persons aged 25 to 39 years, compared with less than two in five (38 per cent) for the equivalent non-Indigenous cohort. For deaths in police custody and custody-related operations, almost two in five (39 per cent) Indigenous deaths were of young persons under the age of 25 years, compared with just over one in four (27 per cent) for their non-Indigenous counterparts. Apart from dying at relatively younger ages than non-Indigenous persons, a greater proportion of Indigenous deaths are due to natural causes, “noted Mr Tomison.

In 2010-11 there were 85 total deaths in custody of which 21 were Aboriginal deaths and therefore 25 per cent. Therefore it appears that indeed Aboriginal deaths in custody appear on the rise rather than decreasing, and the significant reduction overall is not a significant one. The Aboriginal deaths in prison custody for the year accounted for 21 per cent of the prison population deaths, while Aboriginal deaths in police custody accounted for 26 per cent of the total police custodial deaths. Despite the disproportionate high arrest rates of Aboriginal people and the disproportionate incarceration rates of Aboriginal people these are horrific rates, both crude totals and in proportion to total numbers.

In that period there was also a death of an Aboriginal juvenile while in detention.

In terms of comparative long term trends the report noted “throughout the 1980s, the number of deaths in custody increased steadily from a low of 21 deaths in 1979-80 to a high of 83 deaths in 1989-90. During the 1990s, the number of deaths in custody continued to increase, reaching a peak in 1997-98 with 109 deaths. Since this peak, there has been a moderate decline in total deaths, reaching a 20 year low in 2005-06 of 54 deaths.

However, since this low, the number of deaths has again started to increase.”

The report noted that in the last decade “the number of deaths resulting from natural causes has surpassed self-inflicted deaths as the most prevalent type of death in prison custody.”

The number of Aboriginal “natural cause deaths in 2009-10 was the highest ever recorded and for non-Indigenous prisoners, 2009-10 was the second highest on record, with 2010-11 representing the  peak in the natural cause deaths among this group.”

Medical groups and prison reform advocates have long called for an inquiry into the rise into natural cause deaths.

A few years back the Australian Medical Association (AMA) then national vice president Dr Steve Hambleton supported the call for an investigation into natural cause deaths.

“The ages of Australian prisoners dying are alarming. The differentiation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians makes it even more disturbing,” said Dr Hambleton.

The writer of the article, Gerry Georgatos declares an impartiality conflict of interest. He has completed two Masters which have topically included and analysed Australian Deaths in Custody and he is a PhD researcher in Australian Deaths in Custody and Australian Custodial Systems. He has written widely on deaths in custody and has called for an inquiry to better understand the rise in natural cause deaths. In Crikey, in 2011, he was quoted, “I have deep concerns about the attribution of manner and cause of death and therefore about the classification of deaths in custody. There is nothing natural about a person dying of causes that basic medical intervention could prevent. More than 50 per cent of Aboriginal folk who die in prison are classified as natural cause deaths but maybe what has occurred is that medical attention wasn’t flagged or their insulin dependency was not given proper care or they were maltreated or neglected.”

http://thestringer.com.au/report-on-deaths-in-custody-people-dying-at-high-rates/#.UZ9XOt8iPIU

Photo – AAP, Mick Tsikas

The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Colin Neave, recently released his team’s May 2013 report on ‘Suicide and Self-harm in the Immigration Detention Network’. The 165 page report opens up with, “This report contains information that some readers may find confronting or disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.”

Under the Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth), the Commonwealth Ombudsman investigates the administrative actions of Australian Government agencies and officers.

The Ombudsman found in his report that subsequent the greater numbers of Asylum Seekers reaching Australia’s shore in recent years that despite various attributed improvements there still needs more to be done. “Overall, we believe the department (of Immigration and Citizenship) is not in a stronger position in terms of its capacity to manage the immigration detention network and associated risks and issues.”

The report noted, “There is a strong correlation between the rise in the average time in detention and the increase in self-harming behaviour during 2011.”

“Australian and international evidence supports the conclusion that immigration detention in a closed environment for a period of longer than six months has a significant, negative impact on a detainee’s mental health. The data shows that a steady increase in the average length of detention, as well as the rapid rise in the numbers of people in detention, was a precursor to the peak in the rate of self-harm in 2011.”

The report noted that between July 2010 to late April 2013 there were 11 deaths in immigration detention.

The investigation concluded many factors contributing to the self-harming by detainees and which include the personal experiences which many of the detainees had fled from, for instance torture. The factors also included widespread fears for the wellbeing of family and dependents left behind. Factors included social isolation and loneliness. Closed detention environments gave rise to disempowerment, limited privacy and overcrowding. The long delays in ‘processing’ refugee claims were major factors.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has noted that they are nearing a complete rollout of adequate psychological support programs and of a culture that will accentuate the prevention of self-harm among detainees. But when taking into consideration the reports this year alone have come out of Christmas Island, Curtin Detention Centre, Northern Immigration Detention Centre, Darwin Airport Lodge, Manus Island and Nauru these claims of rollout and the imputation of wellbeing are ludicrously way off the mark.

The report stated, “We believe the department needs to further consider the data and governance arrangements that it needs to effectively manage the risk of suicide and self-harm. The department needs to assure itself that the service providers are delivering services consistent with the contract, including providing appropriate clinical response to suicide and self-harming behaviours. “

“In our view, the department could have been more responsive to environment intelligence about the increased risk and incidence of self-harm in the immigration detention network during 2010 and 2011, such as the concerns raised by stakeholders, including this office, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Detention Health Advisory Group, relating to the operational challenges and escalating self-harm.”

In July 2011, the Commonwealth and Immigration Ombudsman announced an own motion to investigate and “examine the incidence and nature of suicide and self-harm in the immigration detention network” and to “identify the factors contributing to suicide and self-harm.”

As at 6 February 2013, there were 24 operational immigration detention facilities including Alternative Places of Detention (APOD) “with a capacity expanded to accommodate some 7329 detainees, and a contingency capacity of 9357.”

“This investigation commenced in July 2011 in response to the deteriorating psychological health of detainees we had observed particularly on Christmas Island, and against a backdrop of several deaths and escalating self-harm in immigration detention. As the Joint Select Committee later observed in its March 2012 report, ‘An alarming number of detainees have resorted to self-harming. The Committee is not able to accurately estimate the current number or frequency of self-harm incidents, however it appears to be a regular occurrence.”

DIAC claimed it was not able to accurately estimate the incidence of self-harm because adequate data systems were not in place. In May 2012 it started producing its Monthly Self-Harm Snapshot.

The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman during the course of their investigation sought data from DIAC and Serco on the incidence of self-harm in closed detentions. But the report has cast doubt on the integrity of their data.

“On 15 March 2013, the department provided us with a dataset that it considered to represent an accurate picture of self-harm incidents reported to the department by Serco. While we continue to have concerns about the categorisation of incidents as reported by Serco to the department, we accept that this dataset demonstrates the general trend of self-harm incidents in immigration detention.”

“This office is concerned that self-harm by children in immigration detention facilities is an ongoing issue, notwithstanding the decrease in self-harm incidents since the peak in August 2011.”

“Prior to May 2012, reports produced by the department and Serco did not routinely and separately monitor self-harm by children. However, in October 2011 the department provided data to Parliament that demonstrated that self-harm involving children was at a concerning level, representing almost 14 per cent of self-harm incidents between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2011.”

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) published an annual report on Asylum Seekers, the demographics and the trends. The UNHCR’s 2011 statistical report noted a sharp increase in Asylum Seeker applications in the 44 industrialised countries. There were estimated 441,300 claims in 2011, that is 20 per cent more than the 368,000 applications in 2010, and the highest since 2003.

Australia received 11,510 applications which was equivalent to three per cent of the applications among the industrialised countries.

The Asia Pacific regions has at this time more than 3.6 million refugees, around 24 per cent of the world’s total refugee population. In 2011, just 22 countries resettled 79,800 refugees and Australia ranked three in admitting 9,200 refugees. The United States resettled 51,500 and Canada resettled 12,900.

The Ombudsman’s report reinforces only what most know, that studies “have indicated that people who have fled violence and disruption in their countries of origin, and who may have been subject to torture and trauma, often exhibit pre-existing mental health conditions or are vulnerable to developing a post traumatic condition.”

“People detained in an immigration detention facility in recent years may have been exposed to, or involved in, suicidal or self-harm behaviours. This is a particularly difficult issue, as detainees seeking to maintain their own stability are unable to physically dissociate themselves from their environment, and often cannot choose to associate with people with more positive modes of thinking and behaviours.”

“As explored elsewhere in this report, there is a high level of mental and psychological illness among detainees, particularly those detained for extended periods. This creates an environment where many detainees are surrounded by people in the same situation, also experiencing mental illness, frustration or distress.”

“Drawing on our discussions with detainees, we believe there may be a contagion effect that magnifies dysfunctional thinking in these circumstances. Impulsive and dysfunctional methods for problem solving and drawing attention to the perceived problems may include the behaviours seen in riots and disturbance.”

The report pointed to the obvious when suggesting that the witnessing of others self-harming can heighten the risk of “imitative behaviour or contagion and lead to broader self-harm among the detention population. We have been advised that this phenomenon, known as contagion effect, has its origins in social learning theory. The basic premise of this theory is that verbal transfer of information and observation of other people ‘acts make up the basis for the acquisition of all types of human behaviour.’ Witnessing others self-harm or suicide, for example, following the receipt of bad news which is presented as a solution or ‘way out’, may serve to model for others who have similar problems.”

The report noted that in periods where the average time of being held in detention so to were there declines in recorded incidents of self-harm.

Previous The Stringer articles:

Excising Australia

May 20^th 2013 by Dr Binoy Kampmark

Nine year old boy detained at Christmas Island after father’s death

May 7^th 2013 by Gerry Georgatos

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Robert Eggington, CEO of Dumbartung

Led by the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation which works with many grieving families of suicide victims a Suicide Crisis Summit was held on May 21. More than 300 attended in what was both a highly emotive experience and a direct call to Governments to reduce the Aboriginal youth suicide rates in Australia.

Australia’s Aboriginal youth suicide rate is the highest in the world. – Australia’s Aboriginal children – The world’s highest suicide rate

Dumbartung CEO Robert Eggington and his grief counsellor wife Selina Eggington called for the Summit and ensured that it was well attended by Government officials.

“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), suicides accounted for 4.2 per cent of all registered deaths of people identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in 2010, compared with 1.6 per cent for the general population of Australia,” said Mr Eggington.

“Our children are dying as young as eleven years old, from suicide.”

“This experience has caused a massive rupture of our community’s spiritual heart and it is creating a traumatic burden of pain and suffering for many of our families and people.”

The rise in Aboriginal and Aboriginal youth suicide rates are all the more startling when compared with rates two, three and four decades ago. Aboriginal peoples were not killing themselves in the numbers that they are today – and this indicts Government neglects and an increasing condition of hopelessness and dejection.

The three hour Crisis Summit finished up with a list of recommendations and outcomes which were presented to the Commissioner for Mental Health, Eddie Bartnik and to Premier Colin Barnett.

“We were encouraged by the attendance, over 300 people attended enabling the Nyoongah community to vent and express what is so often the oppressed and silenced voice of our grassroots families and people,” said Mr Eggington.

“Senior Government officials turned up, the National Congress of the First Peoples sent its representatives. It was good to see Mick Gooda (Social Justice Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission) turn up along with many others.”

“We need now a political reaction to the pandemic of suicides that blights our youth.”

Following the meeting we had a forty minute meeting with Premier Barnett. He met with us, twelve Nyoongah representatives which also included my brother Dennis (CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Services WA), Rex Bellotti and Dean Collard.”

They stated to the Premier that it is abhorrent that an industrialised country such as Australia, the world’s 12 largest economy, has according to the United Nations State of Indigenous Peoples report the world’s highest Aboriginal suicide rates.

“In a number of towns and Aboriginal communities in Western Australia the suicide rates amongst Aboriginal populations has reached 100 times the national average.”

“Despite all the support programs and initiatives since the Sue Gordon Report the suicide epidemic among our peoples continues to surge,” said Mr Eggington.

Dumbartung has called for a triennial funding agreement for them to continue and increase awareness of suicide prevention programs and initiatives they have developed during the last three decades.

“The programs need to be coordinated State-wide,” said Mr Eggington.

Mr Eggington called for the development and funding of special Aboriginal taskforces to work alongside the Coroner’s Office, the Health Department and directly with the State Government.

“This suicide crisis is one that both the Government and our community need to work very closely together to deter the ever increasing pain and suffering that is being experienced by many of our families and communities.”

http://thestringer.com.au/political-reaction-needed-to-end-suicides/#.UZ9WDd8iPIV