Archive Article: Australia’s Indigenous Peoples And Alcohol
January 3, 2009
Australia has a very low murder rate and it has remained low for a century. But if the Northern Territory figures are taken on their own, then the Territory has one of the world’s highest murder rates. It is mainly violence between Indigenous Peoples, and alcohol, other drugs and petrol sniffing are often involved.
One of the most controversial statements on the health of Australia’s Indigenous Peoples was contained in the Charles Perkins Memorial Oration given at the University of Sydney last October by Noel Pearson. An edited version of the lecture has now been published in “Arena” magazine.
Mr Pearson spoke about “The Human Right to Misery, Mass Incarceration and Early Death”. In particular he identified two causes. First, “passive welfare” – what I have heard others call “white fella sit down money” – whereby some communities have been reduced to living on welfare handouts. Second, there is addiction and substance abuse.
On the latter he argues that the alcohol and drugs are not symptoms of something far worse – they are a major problem in themselves. He says that there are five factors needed for an outbreak of substance abuse: (i) the substance being available (ii) spare time (iii) money (iv) the example of others in the environment and (v) a permissive social ideology.
Mr Pearson takes a very strong line on substance abuse. He says: “It is addiction itself and the substance abuse epidemics themselves that need to be attacked with mandatory drug-free treatment, and we need to remove the opportunity to choose an abusive lifestyle or continue leading one”.
Mr Pearson buys into one of the standard debates over alcohol and other drugs. On the one hand, there are the people who argue for a strict line of total opposition to them – for example, the alcohol awareness network that I chair. On the other hand, the official line from government is that of “harm minimization”: the acceptance that a few drinks taken responsibly are OK. Mr Pearson supports the strict opposition line.
There are no easy answers to this problem. The Prohibition imposed by the US government in the 1920s failed. The Prohibition policy led to a flourishing black market of bootleg liquor, and large profits were made by crooks, such as the father of John F Kennedy. But by the same token, the end of Prohibition did not end the problem of alcohol in the US.
Returning to Mr Pearson’s recommendations, he talks of restricting access to alcohol and other substances and for enforced treatment. These are severe measures (though no doubt the health crisis among Indigenous Peoples would justify tough measures).
By implication, Mr Pearson’s address contains a challenge for non-Indigenous Australians. We need to recognize that harm minimization is a risky policy – for all Australians – and that a policy of strict boycott is much better.
For those non-Indigenous Australians who support the various struggles of Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, they can show solidarity with them by not having any alcohol or drugs themselves.
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