The Northern Territory Emergency Response, commonly referred to as The Intervention, not only was/is bad public policy. It is ineffective public policy. One of the objective was/is to get kids in to school. This it is failing to do in many communities. Do you think relevance might be an issue? Real job prospects might be another?
In our town shopping and doctor's appointments are an issue. I was always good at the school attendence thing, but lately my kids are home more than they should be. There is a cultural problem, but I think the school leaders have no idea about the other stuff and what it is like to live here with kids. The head has kids but he doesn't live with them during the week. We need to be thought of as a separate case in head office.
ReplyDeleteLinda, This is the problem, isn't it. Cultural disconnection within our many communities - not just Aboriginal communities. It can happen with rural communities, migrant communities and so on.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I keep coming back to inclusion in decision-making not just top down with some people being deemed to know and the rest of us deemed not to have a clue.
It means getting involved with PEOPLE.
Bureaucracies - while they have positive aspects - when reduced to mere efficiency and pushing paper and finding technical solutions fail and fail the communities they are supposed to serve.
Communities are not there to serve government, politicians, bureaucrats. They are there to serve us.
Bureaucracies - as often as not - find the human condition too messy and systems, paperwork, technology less messy and more efficient. They miss things like disconnection with rural life; difficulties of isolation; relevance to how people live.
We are in a society which operates with so many factors within that can be turned against us so easily - even stuff we enjoy. Television can isolate us from others in our families let alone the community. And that's before we get to talking about the insidious effects of legal and illegal drugs. And there's more.
All I can say to that is to be aware within our own families and neighbourhoods and be on the look out on how to stay connected in the face of so much that is happening to sever our connections with and fellow-feelings for each other.