Barry Healy, Perth
The Aboriginal community in and around Bedfordale, in the south-east outer area of Perth, is reeling under the combined impacts of a racist campaign by the local Comment News and an attempt by World Vision to impose a neoliberal community development model on them.
World Vision, which is best known for its international aid projects, has recently become active in the Armadale corridor. Its latest project has been to set up the Armadale Noongar Corporation (ANC) in Bedfordale to help local youth.
Local non-Aboriginal residents, spurred on by the local paper, have attacked the proposal and Indigenous people feel let down by World Vision's conservative approach.
About 80 residents attended a heated community meeting on April 6 to discuss the proposal. The project coordinator, Roger Daventry, told the meeting that the proposed centre would help steer young Aborigines away from drugs, alcohol and crime. He also raised the issue of sexual abuse.
Racist residents were riled at the mention of social problems and Aboriginal residents felt humiliated. "People feel that the white people let us down", one local Aboriginal woman told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly.
Afterwards, Daventry happily described himself to the Comment News as "an unashamed Liberal voter" who nevertheless admires WA Labor planning minister Alannah MacTiernan. MacTiernan supports the ANC project.
The Armadale Examiner, another community newspaper, carried an article on April 15 entitled "Plea for Submissions on Bedfordale Plan". It instructed people on how to make a submission to oppose a development plan for a property, with obvious reference to the ANC project.
Local Aborigines are concerned about the direction of the proposal but also feel affronted by the open racism. They accuse World Vision of pursuing a neoliberal agenda of trying to divert Aborigines into business development instead of social justice.
The Comment News has vigorously campaigned about the anti-social behaviour of "Homeswest tenants" in the area. "Homeswest tenants" is code for "Aboriginal".
"There seems to be a push to reduce the amount of Homeswest housing available to poor people and to drive them into the open rental market", a local community worker commented to GLW.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, April 20, 2005.
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