Katter candidate Tanika Parker’s challenge for ALP: keep our kids safe

An Aboriginal Katter party candidate has called for the reinstatement of a sexual violence program axed by Labor.

Katter party candidate Tanika Parker, in Cairns on Thursday, wants to ‘make a difference’ in the regions. Picture: Brian Cassey

An Aboriginal nurse hoping to ­unseat state Labor MP Cynthia Lui in the Cape York-based marginal electorate of Cook has called for the reinstatement of a specialised youth sexual violence program axed last year by the Palaszczuk government.

Katter’s Australian Party candidate Tanika Parker has joined police and Indigenous leaders in questioning the dumping of the preventative program lauded in two government reports for its work among Aboriginal communities in West Cairns and ­Aurukun.

The Griffith University Neighbourhoods Project sent forensic psychologists into the community to train residents to identify sexualised behaviour and work intensively with at-risk kids.

A steering committee, which included the state’s top bureaucrats and police, reviewed the program and in its final report, released in 2018, recommended it continue to be funded and ­expanded to other communities.

Ms Parker, from the indigenous community of Hopevale, said she had seen the trauma of sexual violence while growing up and working on Cape York and that the program gave residents the ­expertise to help themselves. She said the program should be ­expanded to communities wherever there was need.

“We’re asking for funding to be restored to a program that was proven to be getting results,’’ she said. “This comprehensive, holistic approach was a beacon of light in our communities, and that little bit of hope has been buried.

“‘What is the government scared of? Any program that’s doing well in regional Queensland gets kicked to the kerb by Brisbane politicians who clearly don’t care about our issues.’’

Ms Parker, a registered trauma nurse who also worked at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, is making her political debut with KAP, saying the party reflects her ambitions to “make a difference” in the ­regions. “Uncle Bob (Katter, federal MP) has for years fought for the regions and I want to be that strong voice for the graziers, farmers and disengaged youth, ­whether you are Indigenous or non-Indigenous.’’

The office of Ms Lui, the first Torres Strait Islander elected to parliament, has yet to respond to questions about the axing of the Neighbourhoods Project.

KAP state leader Rob Katter, who could hold the balance of power after the October 31 state election, said the government wasn’t doing enough to assist Indigenous communities.

He said the government’s ­recent release of a pathway to a state treaty with Indigenous people was misplaced. “It’s astonishing that a program that was reducing youth sex offences and was endorsed by their own people was cut and instead their focus is on offering people a treaty,’’ he said. “That is an insult for First Australians’ intelligence up there. They don’t want more words, they wants solutions and action.’’