Indigenous health: Revolt scuppers bid to let the grog flow again

Plans for a one-off event to allow the legal sale of alcohol in ­Aurukun have been scrapped.

Plans for a one-off event to allow the legal sale of alcohol in ­Aurukun have been scrapped amid fears the decision could lead to a return of grog-fuelled violence in the Cape York indigenous community.

The three-hour permit sought by Mayor Dereck Walpo would have legalised the sale of alcohol in the dry community for the first time in a decade.

But it has been abandoned after a backlash from the community, with an overwhelming number of locals against the proposal and the perceived threat to social harmony. It comes as the Queensland government prepares to end a contract with an acclaimed Griffith University program that has been hailed by community leaders as the most effective way to tackle the town’s youth sexual ­violence problems.

In a statement released by the council, Mr Walpo said community feedback — five submissions in favour and 33 against — led to all councillors voting against proceeding with the alcohol trial at a council-owned tavern. “They believed Aurukun was still in a stage of healing after having alcohol forced on to the community in the 1980s and that it was better to focus on opportunities for personal and community development,” he said. “Some feared it would be the start of a slide back to the days of spiralling domestic violence, poor school attendance, terrible health statistics and elder abuse.”

Aurukun councillors Ada Woola, Vera Koomeeta, Doris Poonkamelya and Edgar Kerindun wrote to the government last week, calling for the plan to be scrapped. They said “other work needs to be done in ­Aurukun” to address domestic violence, assault and non-attendance at school.

A 2012 report by Griffith University criminologist Stephen Smallbone found a generation of indigenous children in Aurukun and the western suburbs of Cairns were over-represented as victims and perpetrators of sexual violence. A committee led by retired Supreme Court judge Stanley Jones issued recommendations to the government on how to address the issue. But that committee has been replaced by a new “roundtable” group.

Child Safety Minister Di Farmer, whose department has taken over from the Department of ­Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships in handling the issue, said the committee completed its work when it delivered its final report.

One of the committee recommendations was for the government to continue to contract Griffith Youth Forensic Service — a clinical service that assesses and treats perpetrators of sex offences. The Australian revealed yesterday the government would not continue to fund Griffith’s program.