As I walked up the road yesterday morning to get some milk, I spotted Peggy Napaljarri Brown, Jenny Macklin’s best new friend and Valerie Napaljarri Martin sitting in the shade of a tree outside the ramshackle office of the Yuendumu Mining Company. Next to her sat Harry Jakamarra Nelson.
They all have better things to be doing, like mourning the recent and too-young passing-on of a brave young man, rather than sitting around under a cloud of barely restrained fury, working on a statement about journalists who have misrepresented them, their words, their good work and their community.
Peggy Nampijinpa Brown
Peggy’s statement is a fine example of anger reduced to words:
“Yirdijirli ngajurlu yarranu-tjulu warlkangku kula-karna ngukuurru-nyinami Interventioniki kulana wangkaja Interventioniki lawa. Nyampunalu Jungu jarrija ngapa-kurlanguku kurdu-kurduku mipa. Walkalu wangkaja. Pungku-nyayini Interventioniji nuwu-ka warrkijarimi. Lawa nyina kanti-kantirla nyampurla nganimparla. “My name was used telling lies. I did not agree with the Intervention. I did not say anything about the Intervention at all. I only spoke about the swimming pool for the kids. They are lying. The Intervention is rubbish and isn’t working in any way at all for us”.
A phalanx of journalists and snappers came up to Yuendumu on Monday this week to cover the opening of the new Yuendumu Pool. The mainstream media were represented by several local ABC journalists and photographers from Alice Springs and The Australian sent its Darwin correspondent, Natasha Robinson, and photographer James Croucher. The Fairfax press was represented by Russell Skelton and photographer Glenn Campbell. The weekly News Limited-owned Centralian Advocate sent Dan Moss and photographer Justin Brierty who provided their usual even-handed and fair report of the Pool opening.
And why are Peggy, Valerie and Harry so wild?
Well, of all the members of the mainstream media that made the effort to come out to Yuendumu to cover the opening of the swimming pool, only the local ABC got it right – that the Yuendumu pool had nothing to do with the Intervention.
Jenny Macklin
Jenny Macklin, to her credit, made no connection between the Yuendumu Pool and the Intervention in either her Press Release or from what I heard of her statements during the day. But then, she didn’t have to. Others did that job for her.
Russell Skelton wrote this in The Age under the headline:
“Intervention is working, Warlpiri women tell Macklin
“Peggy Brown, OAM, has no doubts about the emergency intervention or having half her income managed. ‘It’s working, no doubt about it,’ she said. The traditional owner delivered much the same message to the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, when they met for private talks yesterday. Ruby Williams, another Warlpiri woman, said she told the minister that women wanted the quarantining to stay ‘We don’t want any change,’ she said.”
Peggy Napaljarri Brown reckons the only true words in that paragraph are that Ruby is a Warlpiri woman and that Ruby may have said those words but may not have understood Skelton’s questions.
Natasha Robinson wrote this in The Australian:
“The opening of the pool yesterday marked a high point of hope for the whole community, which after initial reluctance has swung its support behind the federal intervention into remote Northern Territory communities. Women in particular in Yuendumu…speak positively of the intervention’s effects. Yuendumu’s women…welcomed Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin warmly yesterday. Ms Macklin…held meetings with senior women, who praised her decision to disregard the recommendation of the intervention’s review board to make welfare quarantining voluntary.”
Natasha Robinson doesn’t quote any locals as the source for her opinion, but if she had spoken to Peggy, Valerie or Harry, or any other strong women and men from Yuendumu she would have heard the same words presented to Jenny Macklin during the “private meeting” on a petition signed by over 230 Yuendumu residents, the front page of which was published in Crikey yesterday:
“This is our land. We want the Government to give it back to us. We want the Government to stop blackmailing us. We want houses, but we will not sign any leases over our land, because we want to keep control of our country, our houses, and our property. We say NO to income management. We can look after our own money. We want the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 reinstated now, not in 12 months.
“Yuendumu has a lot of things to be proud of. Our community programs, like the Mt Theo program, the bilingual education program, Warlpiri media, the Old People’s program, Warlukurlangu arts centre, childcare, the youth program, should be supported, celebrated, and used as a model for other communities.”
And these words from the petition, while directed to Jenny Macklin, Kevin Rudd and the NT Government ring equally true for the mainstream media:
“We want you to give us respect and dignity, and stop telling lies about our people.”
Peggy, Harry and Valerie want Russell Skelton and Natasha Robinson to come to Yuendumu to apologise to them and the rest of the Yuendumu community, to stop putting words in their mouths and to sit down with them and listen to their true stories about their homelands.
They might be in for a long wait.
I don’t know if Russell or Natasha are members of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance but the MEA’s Code of Ethics for journalists requires that members commit themselves to the four commonsense principles of Honesty, Fairness, Independence and Respect for the Rights of Others. And, while it has been noted that few journalists spend a lot of time working in Aboriginal Australia, for Russell and Natasha, among an increasing number of others, it is a regular part of their beat. As Chris Graham, Editor of the National Indigenous Times, told the ABC Media Report’s Gerald Tooth (cited in the MEA’s submission to FaCSIA in 2007 on Access to Aboriginal land in the NT):
“I just think journalists who work in mainstream media, not many specialise in Aboriginal affairs, and a lot of journalists are pulled across to cover a story, so they don’t really understand the very, very complex issues that are involved in Aboriginal affairs, and therefore they don’t ask the right questions, they don’t get good stories and that’s exacerbated by the fact they’re pitching to an audience with an even shorter attention span for Aboriginal issues, and the net result is very, very poor reporting and virtually no deep analysis of the issue.”
10 Comments
Yes, I agree with the comment by Chris Graham. “Very, very complex issues” and the “even shorter attention span” of the public doth not good reporting make (I think). Pity journalists don’t take more pride in their reporting. Pity that lovely people like Ms Brown are offended and angered by it.
John – I’ve been meaning to get around to thanking you for your several and thoughtful comments on various of my posts here. Please keep it up!!
These are very complex issues and I appreciate the difficult job that daily print journalists are under to file stories within tight deadlines and to please editors who may have issues and particular perspectives and preferences sometimes at odds with the journalist’s personal and professional views…but that does not excuse them from their responsibilities – both as members of the MEA, under local protocols and processes and generally.
And it is a pity that in the course of the rush to print that the views of important people like Peggy are not always recorded properly…I don’t know enough (yet) about what may have transpired on the day but at worst it may have been sloppy reporting or at best just mutual cross-cultural confusion – I’ll pass on what I learn.
You might be interested in this –
http://mike-servethepeople.blogspot.com/2008/10/capitalist-press-lies-about-opposition.html
Looks like a bit of a Bishop job.
Hmmmm…well, feel free to tell me to shut up if you wish!
If indeed it was an honest mistake or misunderstanding, then the jounalists should (as for anyone who makes a mistake) be keen on setting the record straight. But you do wonder how all these journalists got the story ar-se-about simultaneously unless by intent. Or perhaps they just copied each other’s notes?
My name is Bess Nungarrayi. I am one of those strong Warlpiri women you mob talk about. I was delighted when I read the article by Russell Skelton because at last somebody is telling the truth yet you call him a liar. I was born and raised at Yuendumu. I was also in mourning that week. I was there for Sorry Business. I am in contact everyday with my family there though I live in Alice Springs now. I am a Warlpiri translator and interpreter. Much of the Warlpiri you have reproduced is badly spelt and translated. You should try harder to get it right if you are going to use my language. I am chairperson of the Indigenous Remote Communications Association which is the umbrella organisation for all of the bush Broadcasting organisations in northern Australia. I worked with the Emergency Response Task Force to get the stores at Yuendumu registered for Income Management. I spoke to everybody in the community in my own language. I can tell you that most of the women and young people at Yuendumu do support income management and do support the new store set up by the women’s centre there. I can also tell you that the people you spoke to opposed the registration of the old store because they are on its management committee and they wanted to keep it the way it was, badly and corruptly managed. The loud white man who has been talking for my people was opposed because he has his own store and didn’t want it to change. He is protecting his own life style. Now they are on the Warlpiri Media committee and they and the manager, the new gate keeper, are stopping the people of my community from hearing the truth about the Intervention. NITV also refused to broadcast information to the communities on the Intervention because the people who run it are opposed to the intervention. You should get the MEA to talk to them about their code of ethics. They don’t know want my people to hear the truth so that they can make up their own minds. Some of them were also on the Old People’s Program committee. It was taken over by the funding agency because it was in such a bad state that the old ladies’ health was in danger. These are the same people who are now stopping my people from getting good houses. They all have good houses already. There are lots of young people out there who have a lot of dependants who have never had a house of their own. Old ladies like Peggy Nampijinpa, my aunty, are easily confused by this sort of arguing. Russell Skelton is not a liar. Peggy is confused. Her own daughter was working at the new shop that these loud ones opposed and tried to stop.
I know these things because the people you mention are my close relatives. They all have serious problems that the Intervention is trying to address. They have not done anything to fix these problems themselves. We have all lost too many loved ones, some have been murdered, some have died from grog. Most of their deaths are avoidable. We all have close relatives in jail. These things hurt all of us. We want this mob to support Jenny Macklin in what she is trying to do. We want our people to hear the whole story so that they can make up their own minds. We want these gate keepers to get out of the way. And we want you journalists to tell the truth instead of taking one side in the arguments our people have to work out for ourselves.
I’d like to congratulate Bess on speaking up and putting this subject straight. Everyone knows the women wanted income management and approached outbackstores to set the store up. And if the store and income management wasn’t wanted in Yuendumu then how on earth did the store take the amount it did in its first week. The store employs community people and is still doing really well. Real jobs, real money. Robert, you’re journalism is crap, it epitomizes the typical view of the 20% non indigenous population of Yuendumu
John – further to your comment about “shutting up” above – the Robert who posted that comment here is not me…
In relation to Nungarrayi’s comments above I welcome her lengthy comments but note that there are a few matters I’ll try to clear up.
Firstly, at no time did I call Russell Skelton a liar and, unless I had some firm proof to that effect I would never do so. He is an experienced journalist. I happen to think that he got some things wrong – not because he is a bad journalist but because he may have failed to ensure that the person he quoted understood his questions and that he had an adequate and accurate interpretation of what that person said. Beyond that I can say no more from my own knowledge.
Much else of what you refer to is your own opinion, which you are of course entitled to present here. It is difficult to respond to many of your points because it is either outside my areas of interest and experience or because your comments appear to be based more on opinion and rumour rather than fact.
I find it particularly concerning that you regard Nampijinpa as ‘confused’ – perhaps you should have a look at the video on the PAW website. To me it is clear from both the vigour and emotion with which she talks there that she is not confused about what she is saying.
I appreciate, and encourage, your right to hold and express your point of view. But just because we may have an opinion about something does not mean that everyone else may, or should, share it. From my own observations here, and from the clear evidence of the sheer number of signatures on the petition presented to Minister Macklin last week, there are some people at Yuendumu who may share your opinion but many who appear not to. There is also a difference between what you may want (people to support Macklin) and what other people may want to do (oppose Macklin’s plans) – that is just life.
Unlike “Murray”, Bess Price puts her name for all to see, and good on her! People that live in glass houses….if I were her I wouldn’t allude to potential conflicts of interest (”…loud white man…was opposed because he has his own store….”).
So who is this person (’Murray’) hiding behind a pseudonym?
How does he/she/it know how “well the store is doing”?
How does COMPULSORY quarantined income spending at that store translate into approval/support of Income Management?
As for: “it epitomizes the typical view of the 20% non indigenous population of Yuendumu” So what is our typical view? And how does this person know what it is? And for that matter what is the typical view of the 80% indigenous population of Yuendumu?
C’mon! Give us some credit (all 100% of us) of having a wide variety of views and stop perpetuating the myth that “the women are all in favour of income management and delighted with the new store that is doing really well”, and that “All opposition to Income management derives from those nasty Aboriginal men and white stirrers that are influencing and confusing the women”. Stop insulting the population of Yuendumu by assuming that we are easily manipulated and persuaded and that there is no capacity in our society to think out things for ourselves.
Incidentally, day before yesterday, at a heated meeting to discuss the Governments proposal to build houses in exchange for long-term leases, Peggy Brown made an unprompted contribution and once again vehemently condemned the Intervention as well as speaking about how sacred the land is etc. She did not appear in the least ‘confused’!
Frank Baarda
My last comment on this blog upset some people out at Yuendumu. I want everybody to know that I did not write that comment as the chairperson of IRCA and that I shouldn’t have mentioned IRCA at all. I did that because I am new to all this and I was very emotional when I wrote it. All of the views in these comments are my own and not those of IRCA or of anybody else. I apologise if I have unnecessarily embarrassed anybody.
We are frustrated by all of this arguing. Whitefellas are always trying to score points off each other and using us as a political football in their own fights. Too many Aboriginal organisations behave in the same way. There is a lot of emotion in all of this. All of those statistics about crime, bad health and death are about real people, our people, my people, my own loved ones.
All of the arguments are about what governments are doing or not doing, what politicians are saying, what journalists are writing. All of us Aboriginal people have different opinions on all of this. We aren’t robots who all think and act the same. Nobody goes looking for a ‘whitefella’ opinion that is supposed to represent what all ‘whitefellas’ think. Some people want to try to convince everybody that there is a ‘Yuendumu’ opinion. Nobody goes looking for an ‘Alice Springs’ or a ‘Sydney’ opinion. Nobody is giving Aboriginal people are real say in what they feel about all of this. Nobody seems to want us Aboriginal people to talk to each other to work it all out. Some will attack a government no matter what it tries to do for my people. I have been personally attacked and denigrated in a radio interview in my own language that was broadcast all over Central Australia. So I am worried about the ethics of Aboriginal broadcasting organisations as well as those of white journalists.
My opinion is simple. It’s the same as Sue Gordon’s, a member of the Stolen Generation and a magistrate. Nobody has come up with a better plan so far than what the Intervention is trying to do and we should give it a chance to work. It is not going to work unless grass roots Aboriginal people are given a chance to have a real say in how it should work. We don’t need a thought police to tell us what we should be saying. This is not about narrow politics, or journalists’ reputations, this is about giving our kids something better to live and hope for.
Oops… is this complicated or what? I can sympathise with Bess as I am well aware of the problems of alcohol and the problems caused by this. I am cynical of governments as I often have the job of trying to do something about this, but there are no resources provided to me to do so. For instance APY lands just got their rehab centre 20 years after promised. There is only one drug and alcohol worker for Port Augusta and everywhere north of there. There’s no rehab centre. The nursing home is full of people who are there because of alcohol. So sorry if I have little faith…! Communities are continuously burdened by illness, death, and violence (invariably alcohol related) but as far as I can tell governments do not appear to notice (even if this is pointed out to them), at least in my experience, so nothing changes.
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