AUSTRALIA'S Catholic bishops have lashed the unequal application of welfare payment restrictions to Aboriginal parents as racially discriminatory and counterproductive.The 43 clerics said the federal cabinet's in-principle support for a plan to link welfare payments to school attendance for all Aborigines but only non-indigenous parents who are considered negligent was probably in breach of Australian laws and international obligations.
The bishops welcomed the focus on child abuse, but they said much more than a “law and order response” was required to address the “shameful state of affairs” in indigenous communities, Fairfax reported.
Solutions to child poverty, abuse and homelessness required long-term funding rather than top-down solutions, they said.
The bishops warned that providing services to tackle disadvantage in Aboriginal communities in the same way as in mainstream society risked a form of cultural annihilation.
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