As opposition to the Federal and West Australian’s governments’ plans to cut taxpayer funding to remote Aboriginal communities is ramped up by the usual left wing groups, Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan backed the move.”It’s just impractical, and in fact it’s impossible to provide the level of services that those communities need to deal with these intractable problems that they are facing,” he said.

The Commissioner said child sex abuse, substance abuse and family violence in some communities was extremely high, and their remote locations make it difficult to address the problem. “Because they are so remote, the problem is so significant, we can’t guarantee a good policing service to those places, certainly not at the level you’d expect for that type of problem,” he said. He said sex abuse was being under-reported by up to 90 per cent, and that girls as young as 11 had been prescribed birth control in some remote communities.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) data referenced by the commissioner refers to a 2000 study which concluded that up to “88 per cent of all sexual assaults in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities go unreported”. But it also stated that “less than 30 per cent of all sexual assaults on children are reported”, indicating that the overall rate of unreported sexual assaults on children was 70 per cent.

The ABC reports that the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) said it was appalled at the suggestions of widespread abuse. ALS chief executive Dennis Eggington said Mr O’Callaghan’s comments were alarming. “If the State Government and the police believe that this abuse has been occurring and continues to take place, then someone should be held accountable,” he said. “Because if this is the case, then the State Government has failed in its duty of care.”

Oh yes readers, its the state govt that has failed here, and the police, whereas the individuals carrying out the abuse, aborigine adults, mothers and fathers, are blameless. When are we going to see some politicians with the guts to set the purveyors of this cowardly garbage back on their arses?