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Frank Baarda

My family and I have resided at Yuendumu for 35 years. My wife is a retired schoolteacher that has been involved with the bilingual programme at Yuendumu School since its introduction. My eldest son is the only Warlpiri speaker to work for Google (in Ireland). I have Luritja and Warlpiri speaking grandchildren. I don’t claim to be anyone’s spokesperson. The opinions and comments expressed herein are my own, as a long-term non-Indigenous resident of Yuendumu. Nyampuju ngajunyangu ngurra (this is my home).

Herewith a summary of what I told you (Peter Yu, Bill Gray, and Howard Pedersen, in the presence of Harry Nelson) during your visit of inquiry to Yuendumu:

  1. Mal Brough and Senator Heffernan deeply offended residents of remote communities (black and white) with their lies and distortions stereotyping us as incompetent useless and depraved. These across the board allegations were never retracted.
  2. Community Employment Brokers- During the 6 months contract of our first CEB, I’m not aware of a single “real job” having been created or found by the Intervention for a Yuendumu resident.
    I believe a new CEB was appointed, I have yet to meet this person. A bit strange as I’m the manager of one of the few ‘free enterprise’ organisations based at Yuendumu.
  3. The fence at Yuendumu rubbish dump- Believed to have been part of a $200,000 contract.
    The Yuendumu Mining Company (‘YMC’) is a local enterprise, owned by approx. 400 Aboriginal shareholders. For many years its been thrown ‘contracting crumbs’ such as say $10,000 worth of rubbish dump work (filling in and digging of trenches etc.) on behalf of the Yuendumu Council (recently taken over by the externally run Central Desert Shire, but that is another Intervention. Will the Shires also be reviewed?).
    The Intervention has not approached YMC to inquire if we were interested in any contract work. In fairness to them neither have we inquired what may be on offer.
    Our bulldozer is worn out, and if they’d approached us on the $200,000 contract we would have had difficulty rising to the occasion, although with that kind of money we may have been able to replace our bulldozer!
    Our bulldozer driver, instead of training the next generation of local plant operators, is on the dole living in Nyirripi and being income managed.
  4. In Yuendumu we don’t have ‘black’ and ‘white’ residential areas. This is the result of a deliberate decision by members of the Yuendumu Council (such as Harry Nelson) that Yuendumu was not going to have ‘black ghettoes’. When I first came to Yuendumu, there was a central core of white housing, and all Aboriginal residents were living in ‘Kingstrands’ (‘donkey-houses’)-unserviced little tin sheds- or humpies. This gradually changed at the height of self-determination. Self-determination had already been seriously undermined and eroded by the time the Intervention was sprung on us. Pat Turner hit the nail on the head when she proclaimed the Intervention to be “the last nail in the coffin of Aboriginal self-determination”.
  5. The Intervention affects all residents of Yuendumu, black and white. Two retired white nuns that have lived in Yuendumu for decades have been offered exemption from Income Management. They’ve refused on the grounds that if they are offered exemption, so should all other pensioners on Yuendumu.
    Incidentally Major General Chalmers himself told me (on his second visit to Yuendumu) that “we don’t call it Quarantining any more”. Personally I don’t care what they call it, I think its an insane scheme under any name.
  6. A Yuendumu pensioner couple was presented half a year ago with Order of Australia Medals by the then Administrator of the NT (Ted Egan). This was all done with great ceremony in front of a Media contingent and a bevy of dignitaries and politicians. This dignified old couple is now on Income Management.
  7. On the wall of this room (the now defunct Yuendumu Council’s Meeting Room) there is a framed photograph of Eddie Robertson Jampijimpa resplendent in mayoral robes. The photo was taken when Eddie presided over a naturalisation ceremony when a French nun and a Pommy family became Australian citizens. Eddie as well as being the elected Council President was running the Powerhouse at the time. Two weeks ago Eddie asked me if I had a job for him (I didn’t). He now lives in Nyirripi, is unemployed and is on Income Management.
  8. Centrelink is notorious for being one of the most incompetent Government Agencies, a reputation that precedes the Intervention by years. It really is a case of the inmates having been put in charge of the madhouse. Centrelink’s motto (which appears on all their correspondence) is “Giving you Options”. When it comes to Income Management there are NO options.
    At incredible expense, several Centrelink officers now travel regularly to and from Yuendumu in shiny new rented four-wheel drive vehicles to implement Income Management.
  9. For decades now the Yuendumu Social Club Store has been doing “Income Management”. Pensioners have BY CHOICE had their Centrelink cheques lodged at the store and been able to ‘draw’ on these. This has been done by people that knew the people concerned and for example a crippled or blind person would nominate a grand daughter to do his or her shopping for them. This arrangement has now been thrown into disarray by the imposition of Income Management run by people that don’t seem to know nothing. Anecdotal evidence is that Income Management that has recently been introduced to Yuendumu (after delays resulting from local opposition) is causing much confusion and anger and is turning out to be what in Australia is colloquially known as a ‘Big Root’.
  10. It is an ill wind that blows no one any good. The political machinations of the Intervention in pushing their agenda have forced the Yuendumu Social Club Store to clean up their act. Whilst remaining firmly opposed to the Intervention and its methods, they are now applying for a Licence under the NTER Legislation.
  11. I can’t think of anything the intervention has done that wasn’t already being done, or that could have been done internally given sufficient support. For example they re-introduced School lunch programmes (admittedly through the Yuendumu Womens Centre) and claimed the credit for it, as if they had invented the wheel. Such programmes have been run in Yuendumu for years (many subsidised by the much-maligned Yuendumu Social Club). It was only the previous School Principal that stopped school lunches (this being one of her several weird ideas).
  12. The Intervention did have a building put up (at goodness knows what cost) which is meant to be a ‘men’s shelter’. I am told that for years now Yuendumu has been asking for a ‘Mens Centre’, somewhere for middle aged men to socialise, perhaps play pool, wash their clothes or whatever. The Mt.Theo programme caters for the young people of Yuendumu. There is an Old Peoples programme; there is a Womens Centre but nowhere for the men in between (the very people stigmatised by the Intervention).
    So what do we get? A little enclosed building that looks like a mini-gaol. I have no doubt its been designed by the same Architect that designed Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay. Whoever dreamt up the idea that Warlpiri men would seek ‘refuge’ in such a place, is definitely on a different planet than ours out here. It’s unused and unstaffed. Another example of the indecent waste of money that is the Intervention.
  13. Whenever I go, people of goodwill talk about the ‘Aboriginal Problem’. People say to me: “What can I do to help the Aboriginal people”, like we are some sort of basket case that needs to be helped, and that couldn’t possibly do anything for ourselves. To a significant extent, political opportunism, as well as ethnocentric value judgements have created a narrow very negative vieuw of places like Yuendumu that we don’t deserve. The Intervention only accentuates this injustice.

Yuendumu has a lot to be proud of. We have such organisations as the film award winning Warlpiri Media Association, and the world famous Warlukurlangu Artists, not to mention our winning Football team.

I don’t lock the doors to my house. I don’t fear for the safety of my grandchildren that live here. I think our ‘free ranging’ kids have a great life and the potential to become terrific adults.

I’m not saying that Yuendumu is perfect. Much improvement to Education, Health and Economic outcomes can and should be made. This can only succeed by sustained support and encouragement of internal long-term initiatives.

Externally imposed ‘solutions’ backed by draconian legislation, such as the Intervention is doomed to failure (despite, and perhaps even because of the shit-loads of money). Unless one subscribes to the conspiracy theory that the Intervention is simply aimed at driving people off the remote communities to free the land for such as unfettered mineral exploration and nuclear waste dumps. If that is true, the Intervention will succeed if it is allowed to roll on.

In my opinion the Intervention is tearing at and doing untold damage to the social fabric of Yuendumu.

This Intervention has to be exposed for what it is- an ethnocentric, monolingual, insane, wasteful and immoral initiative.
Better late than never, it needs to be stopped.
Otherwise I fear that after I’m gone, some future President or Mufti of Australia will be apologising to future generations for the destruction of the precious few remaining Indigenous Languages and world-views.

Frank Baarda, Yuendumu, 15th August 2008

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