E&OE...........
Thank you very much Professor Webster, Major Brian Watters, Senator Scullion, ladies and gentlemen. I am really very pleased to have the opportunity during this visit to Alice Springs to participate in the launch of a contribution of about a million dollars out of the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation towards the problems of alcohol and other drug abuse within communities, particularly indigenous communities, here in Alice Springs.
This is a practical program with practical objectives, not judgmental but rather compassionate and a program that is designed in a very realistic way to recognise that in a cooperative fashion if we can assist in a way that understands the nature of the problem, progress can be made with all communities in reducing the incidence of alcohol and other drug abuse.
It is interesting that within indigenous communities in Australia, as I understand it, the incidence of abstinence is higher than it is amongst the general community. In other words, there are more indigenous people who don';t drink proportionately than there are other Australians who don';t drink. On the other hand, frustratingly, the incidence of heavy drinking clearly is much heavier amongst indigenous communities. So that is both a positive and a negative and when you';ve got a positive and a negative, the negative is depressing but the positive is encouraging.
And what this is designed to do, and it comes out of a fund of $115 million over four years and that flowed out of an arrangement – let me acknowledge immediately the contribution of Senator Meg Lees and the Australian Democrats that she then led – an arrangement was made in relation to some disagreement over some aspects of the tax reform legislation and it sort of had a happy ending. The changes went through for the future but the $115 million instead of being handed back effectively to the breweries, was put into a fund that was set aside. And the idea was that under the guidance of some experts and people who were dedicated to trying to improve the situation in this area the money was to be allocated. And that is what we are here to do and one of the rules applying to it was that 20 per cent of the projects had to be for indigenous communities – one in five. And that is what it is about.
Now I think we all have an understanding of the dimension of the problem. I don';t have any clever solutions. Let me make it clear immediately. It worries the hell out of me – the level of alcohol abuse and the terrible family and domestic consequences that flow from it, whether it is in the indigenous community or elsewhere. Sadly, as we all must frankly recognise, the incidence of it is higher in indigenous communities, but nobody should imagine that the rest of Australia is in any way immune from or untouched by the curse of domestic violence, the evil that men do to women in domestic situation. It is something that the whole nation has to grapple with.
So here I am in Alice Springs this afternoon to announce that we';re going to make a million dollars available and it';s going to help in a very practical way. The Tangentyere – I hope I';ve pronounced that correctly – Tangentyere Council currently operates community run night patrols in Alice Springs for eight hours a night from Tuesdays to Saturdays to reduce drinking and to prevent public disorder. And we';re going to provide more than a million dollars over three years to add a day patrol to operate from 1.30 to 6.30 on Mondays to Saturdays. Now that is a very practical extension. But as I say, I don';t have bright ideas but it seems to be as a matter of common sense that if you can augment the night patrol with a day patrol, that is going to make a contribution.
The funding will also help the Council to employ two referral officers to case manage problem drinkers, to help their families and to create better links with police and hospital services. And can I, as I almost always do at gatherings like this, acknowledge the tremendous work of the police in this difficult area. It';s not an easy job. They are the law enforcers but they are also human beings who respond to difficult social problems. And I think they do an outstanding job and they deserve our understanding and our support.
We';re also providing over $36,000 to the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress for after hours youth support service involving a mobile youth drop in centre, and this idea has been developed in cooperation with a number of youth services, the Alice Springs Town Council and the Northern Territory Government – who also, let me acknowledge, provide funding for this initiative.
And there will be $63,000 to the Central Australian Aboriginal Alcohol Programmes Unit to employ a Life Skills Officer to help its residents be active members of the community and gain skills to get work and accommodation.
Now these projects will follow specific efforts of the Alice Springs and surrounding communities to restrict liquor sales and in fact they';re a piece of the local initiatives that have been taken. I stress that no one response to this problem is any kind of panacea. If I';ve learnt anything in relation to these sorts of issues since I have been associated with them, particularly as Prime Minister, it is that there is no one simple solution. There is no one person who has got all of the answers, least of all me. But I do know that if you persist incrementally over time, you can make a difference. The worst thing to do is to throw your arms up in the air and say well it';s too hard. And one manifestation of that is what I call the let it rip philosophy in relation to drug abuse which says well you know, zero tolerance or a tough line doesn';t work, so let';s pretend it';s not a problem and it will somehow or other go away. I';ve certainly learnt that doesn';t work.
We have tried in the whole drugs area to confront the problem in three ways. We recognised that there are criminal elements in relation to drug trafficking and we will be as ruthless and as tough as possible in relation to them. We also know that a lot of people want rehabilitation and can';t get it and we';ve got to provide more services to help people rehabilitate. And we';ve also got to educate people, particularly when they are young, against the dangers of illicit drug taking.
Alcohol is different in one sense but it is part of the same problem because it can have the same debilitating effects. And I';m glad that Professor Webster linked the challenge of suicide and all that flows from the abuse of drugs and alcohol because it is all tied up and anybody who imagines that there is not a link between marijuana abuse and suicide, anybody who imagines that there is not a link between the violence that flows from alcohol abuse and suicide also doesn';t understand the nature of the problem.
It is a big problem. Can I say to the members of the Australian indigenous community who are here today and all of those who are working with them, we really are trying to help. We want to offer you hope. We want to offer you practical assistance. We have not come here to be judgmental. We';ve come here to be helpful. We';ve come here to extend the hand of friendship to you.
And finally can I especially thank Professor Webster and Brian Watters who are providing leadership in this area in their respective ways – Professor Webster as the Chairman of the Foundation and Brian Watters as the Chairman of the National Council on Drugs. Over the years I hope we have made a small difference. I hope that incrementally working together, I';m encouraged for example that the recent reports indicate that, and I know Professor Webster will be cheered by this, that the suicide rate among young males in rural areas in Australia has actually declined a little in recent years and there are some encouraging signs that the heroin death rate in Australia has also declined. Now some of that has been due to the heroin drought. Not all droughts have unhappy consequences. That particular drought has had a happy consequence. But long may it continue. It may not.
But what those two things demonstrate to me is that if you keep plugging away and you have good motives and you work with people and you don';t get too judgmental but you are practical and understanding, I think you can make a difference. And I hope these grants help locally. They are meant to. And I want to thank Professor Webster for the work that he is doing as Chairman of this Foundation. I';m very happy to announce these grants. I wish all of those here in Alice Springs who are working to make a difference, particularly for indigenous communities who do have special needs, special problems and a special claim on our concern and our compassion, I hope these will help.
Thank you.
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