The Queensland Premiers department has recently released a report on the State Government’s controversial “Meeting Challenges Making Changes” (M.C.M.C.) program including the controversial Aboriginal alcohol prohibition regime.
John Tracey offers his analysis of the report.
The executive summaries of the C.M.C. report are somewhat fluffy, full of broad platitudes. However the specific findings, and lots of them, deliver a sharp criticism of the government and it’s total inability to transform policy into program, at least as far as the M.C.M.C. goes.
Aboriginal disadvantage, and the strategies to overcome it cannot be understood without considering the historical reality of invasion and dispossession. This is the root cause of disadvantage. Different Aboriginal, Government and welfare commentators have identified Alcohol and drug dependence as the causal problem, others poor housing, others family violence, others poor education and training, others a whole plethora of desparate situations. None of these things are causal factors, they are all symptoms of the radical cause. Invasion and dispossession is the cause. Like an individuals body, symptoms themselves have escalating causal affects creating a momentum of co-disease until the causal factors are healed. Without getting too philosophical, the western medicine methodology is to repress or translocate symptoms with instant relief as the ultimate goal. Other notions of health recognize the secondary nature of symptoms when treating causal factors of disease. My first point of analysis of the MCMC evaluation report is it, as well as the programs it analysed, does not address causal factors of disadvantage. The report itself goes as far as to say “…the (Implementation) Plan did not appear to come to terms with some of the important practicalities associated with available capacity or cultural and historical practices in each of the communities.”
Until this is dealt with the government may have the hindsight to identify problems of the recent past but is incapable of developing realistic strategies for the future.
The original objectives of the MCMC included a comprehensive strategy around alcohol abuse. It included supply restrictions (prohibition) and demand reduction initiatives including rehabilitation, treatment and diversion. Of these policy objectives only the former was pursued - the legal restrictions and criminal consequences of alcohol possession. This omission of demand reduction programs is relevant in three ways. 1/it is a total failure to translate policy into programs indicating incompetence or at least a lack of understanding by the public service “The evaluation also found no evidence of a structured change management process for working with agencies within Government.”
2/It means that the objectives of dealing with alcohol abuse and related issues such as family violence totally failed. This is emphasized in the report “There is little indication from the community case studies that the alcohol supply focussed MCMC policy was having a significant effect” and “It is clear that current approaches are not resulting in significantly improved outcomes”. 3/Perhaps most importantly this program omission has made the police the primary agent for indigenous policy implementation, a flash back to protection laws and just as likely to cause further confrontation and grief in communities targeted by MCMC. Last years death in the Palm Island watch house is a case in point. These problems are identified in the report.
“The strong, consistent perception in all the case study communities related to the futility of a supply solution without first addressing the demand issues and setting up processes for coping with unintended consequences of the restrictions. These consequences included driving to access alcohol and increased contact with police and courts.”
“…… convictions and fines had increased with reported increases in financial pressures placed on families in the community. The increases in offences may indicate that the site of drinking and alcohol-related harm may have simply shifted as a result of MCMC.”
Posted by kurityityin in Aborigininity