Tough on crime, the soft stance

Soft on crime?

Now where have I heard that line before. Oh, that's right, only at every single Territory election ever held.

The Martin-led Labor Government has been quite diligent in using the Northern Territory "Misuse Of Drugs Act" against the Aboriginal population of the Northern Territory in order to produce incarceration rate figures to prove how tough they are.

At a time when there's great concern over the stability of the remote communities, our Government has been systematically removing the most stable demographic from those communities, (the 25 - 45 year old women) who are simply trying to take home enough pot to get them through the next six months of utter boredom (but of course that amounts to a "trafficable quantity").

As a result, the Labor Government has been incarcerating Aboriginal people at a rate not seen since the days when Aboriginal people were rounded up en mass to be place into the protective custody of the ever-loving Christians.

Does our Government have some hidden agenda for the further destabilisation of the remote communities?

Robert Fyffe
The Narrows


Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sat, 8 Dec, 2007
Source: Northern Territory News - Letters to the Editor (Australia)
Author: Robert Fyffe
Copyright: 2007 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au/