On governance [Note: Content Warning - discussion and links to reports on CSA, bigotry/hate, violence/abuse. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/.

 

There have been some recent news stories which illustrate some aspects of governance - or, perhaps more accurately, poor to bad governance. 

The first covers an Australian scheme - widely known as the “Cashless Welfare Card”, or Indue Card or the white card - which was notionally aimed at managing a social problem of spending money on alcohol first rather than essentials such as food food. In some remote communities, there was valid reason for that concern, and past measures had been adopted (such as alcohol bans) which managed that ... but they were weakened or overturned because they hindered the ability of alcohol businesses to make profit - including immoral/unethical profit. 

Bad responses to real problems have been experienced before. When the desire to do something constructive about a real problem of CSA reached the level of one of our most  racist, xenophobic, despicable governments ever, they implemented a heavy handed response infested with simple-minded militaristic amathia, a response which is fairly widely accepted as ...  “flawed”. For information on that, see   “Northern Territory National Emergency Response”   https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northern_Territory_National_Emergency_Response&oldid=1186928416   ,   “Ten years on, it’s time we learned the lessons from the failed Northern Territory Intervention”   https://theconversation.com/ten-years-on-its-time-we-learned-the-lessons-from-the-failed-northern-territory-intervention-79198   ,   “Analysis: A decade on from the NT intervention, the 'torment of powerlessness' lives on”   https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-21/stan-grant-a-decade-on-from-the-nt-intervention/8638628   ,   and   “Residents who lived through the NT intervention plead for governments to 'listen', 15 years on”   https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-24/nt-intervention-reflections-15-years-on/101238592  

Going back to the Indue card, what was implemented did not actually match what was recommended (being able to buy alcohol was still possible), it had massive technical flaws (links to credit cards, buy now pay later schemes, etc) that restricted its merit, was administered by a company who denied service when it was referred to as the white card (which is, IMO, a clear breach of professional duty and legal/contractual obligations based on a snowflake reaction to valid criticism), and caused massive stigmatisation - shown by the relief when the card was ended. 

It was a nightmare of bigotry, arrogance, and incompetence. 

And it is now dead, as a result of reviews. See:

“Mixed reviews plague scrapped cashless card scheme”   https://nit.com.au/08-07-2024/12419/mixed-reviews-plague-scrapped-cashless-card-scheme    and, from a couple of years ago,   “Cashless Debit Card trial to end with auditor-general's report the final nail in its coffin”   https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-08/cashless-debit-card-terminated-for-australian-welfare-recipients/101131280  

This failed scheme shows, in my opinion: 

• the importance of solutions that are led by those the solutions are aimed at - including, in this instance, Indigenous-led solutions, but similar needs have been illustrated in other areas (such as mental health - which my home state government is responding to brilliantly), and that such should always involve listening; 

• the vital importance of those with power (especially coercive power) being free of unmanaged unconscious bias - which is something I have written about elsewhere (e.g., here, here, here, and here). In this case, why was it the Australian Public Service were so determined to hold to the view that they think they know better? They were clearly wrong, making their views paternalistic and quite possibly based on a wrong (“outdated” or “outmoded”, irrelevant/inappropriate) worldview; and
  

• Indue morally and, IMO, quite probably legally owe compensation to all those improperly denied service over the use of a term that Indue didn’t like,      the Australian Gov morally but less clearly legally owes compensation to all who were harmed by this scheme,      and the Australian Public Service needs to be held accountable for its biases and the harm and waste of time, money and resources resulting from what seems to be an inflexible adherence to neoliberal/white supremacist/classist (victim blaming) ideology.
  

 

Other news items include: 

“NSW Ombudsman's report reveals state is failing to meet its core child protection responsibilities”   https://nit.com.au/05-07-2024/12376/new-ombudsman-report-reveals-dire-trends-in-nsw-child-protection-system   This sort of problem was the prelude to one of the failed, abusive schemes outlined above. If the response is to be effective, it is vital that there is no attempt to shift responsibility by victim blaming       

“Police investigate after mother of JC allegedly pushed over by officer during inquest protest”   https://nit.com.au/05-07-2024/12381/police-launch-investigation-after-mother-of-yamatji-woman-jc-allegedly-pushed-to-the-ground-by-officer   This is the sort of problem that can occur from problems such as dunderhead attitudes of the sort outlined above,   unmanaged unconscious bias,   and   arrogant, wrong/inappropriate worldviews - especially around policing and the use of force, unwarranted expectations of “respect” that ignore the vital necessity of police maintaining their social licence to operate by being respectful of those they are supposed to be serving      

“‘No evidence’ snap curfews will solve Alice Springs’ problems, advocate for Indigenous children says”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/09/nt-curfew-alice-springs-violence-linda-burney   “Catherine Liddle, the CEO of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC),   ...   distinguished the three-day lockdown imposed by police from the “genuine circuit breaker” declared by the NT government in March, which she said responded to “an absolutely extraordinary collision of events where children were at serious risk of serious harm”.   ....   Liddle said there had not been visible progress since a meeting between the NT and federal governments and community organisations in response to March’s youth curfew”   The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney,  stated funding had been provided, and pointed out this was an issue that had been building over a long time      

 

And there is this powerful example of what can go wrong when bean counters take a company over: 

“Boeing Is Everything Wrong With American Capitalism | Robert Reich”   https://youtu.be/duNbqQj8ewI?si=N5ufCnsLtAdnxnG6      

 

and, also from NSW: 

“Greyhound Racing NSW CEO resigns after report alleging animal mistreatment released and then removed | Greyhound racing | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/10/greyhound-racing-nsw-ceo-resigns-robert-macaulay-mistreatment-report   Not only is the abuse unconscionable, so is the attempt to cover it up. In an ideal world both would lead to criminal charges ...     

 

On a more positive note: 

a The Guardian exclusive reports:   “Largest UK public sector trial of four-day week sees huge benefits, research finds”   https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/08/largest-uk-public-sector-trial-four-day-week-sees-huge-benefits-research-finds-   “Exclusive: South Cambridgeshire experiment led to fewer refuse collectors quitting and faster planning decisions”   This is consistent with results elsewhere     

 

The UK has also ended an appalling abuse of human rights that my nation was callous enough to suggest, aid and abet: 

“Terminating Partnerships: The UK Ends the Rwanda Solution”   https://theaimn.com/terminating-partnerships-the-uk-ends-the-rwanda-solution/   “...it was a sadistic policy of beastly proportion, offering no prospect of genuine discouragement or deterrence to new arrivals, stillborn in execution and engineered to indulge a nasty streak in the electorate.”   But Rwanda may yet cash in on cruelty from other European nations ...     

And a call for improvements: 

“Charles Darwin University urges NT government to enact series of reforms to help Indigenous communities”   https://nit.com.au/09-07-2024/12274/charles-darwin-university-urges-nt-government-to-enact-series-of-reforms-to-help-indigenous-communities     

As usual when I start one of these thematic posts, I may add to it over time. 

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

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Note that, as with my main blog [see here], I am cutting back on aspects of my posts.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/