Media Release from Kapululangu Aboriginal Women's Association Balgo


Balgo Safe House Goes Unfunded
Media Release 26 July 2007

From Kapululangu Women’s Centre, Balgo, near Halls Creek. WA

The Kapululangu Aboriginal Women’s Association of Balgo community received news today that it has not been granted government funding for the fiscal year 2007-2008.

This leaves the Balgo women’s organisation without funding to provide asafe environment and run its cultural programs for the children and women of their community.

The women’s organisation is still waiting on the release of promised funding for fiscal years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. These funds have been held up by ongoing difficulties with the administration of the community which is supposed to manage the grants for the women’s organisation. Kapululangu hasn’t received government funding for six years.

This news comes as a harsh blow to the women elders of Balgo who are trying to deal with the social problems in their community, not least of which is child sexual assault and violence against women.

Balgo’s women’s coordinator Dr Zohl de Ishtar said, “It is to our national shame that our governments are still asking questions when Balgo women elders’ repeated requests for a safe house have gone unheeded since 1999.

Providing a safe environment would seem a natural first step in any strategy to protect Aboriginal children and women. Women and children in Balgo need this service today.”

Dr de Ishtar said, “The decision not to fund Kapululangu for this fiscal year was not malicious, it was made by an impersonal bureaucratic system which didn’t consider what was at stake for Balgo’s women and children.

But it seems to contradict government claims that it wants to include the Indigenous residents in strategies to eradicate the problems in their community. Funding for women’s organisations – particularly for safe houses and cultural learning environments – should be a given in all Aboriginal communities.”

Last week some of the Balgo elders and other residents complained to Kapululangu about the Western Australian Police Taskforce investigating child sexual abuse in the Kimberley which had visited their community.

Dr de Ishtar explains, “By complaining, the concerned residents were alerting the government to the need to build community ownership of any strategies aimed at making their community a better place to live. They want the government to support their Indigenous initiatives, particularly those developed by the elders. They continue to welcome any inclusive, culturally sensitive intervention – and that includes by the Western Australian Police Taskforce.”

The women’s organisation is calling on the Western Australian and Federal governments to fund its programs as an essential ingredient in their package aimed at eradicating social problems in Balgo. This would include a safe environment for women and children, cultural programs for youth and children, and traditional women’s healing methods towards enhancing health and wellbeing.

As Dr de Ishtar said, “The solutions to Balgo’s problems already exist within Balgo, if local people were given the resources they so desperately need. To try to achieve change without the full involvement of the Indigenous community is to court failure at the outset.”

Dr Zohl de Ishtar Phone 0429 422 645
Coordinator, Kapululangu Aboriginal Women’s Association, Balgo

_________________________________________

Governments under fire over safe house funding rejection

Posted July 25, 2007

Women at a remote Aboriginal community in the Kimberley, in northern Western Australia, have criticised both the Commonwealth and state governments, saying they have failed to fund facilities that would have protected victims of domestic violence.

The women's association at Balgo, near Halls Creek, says it has been calling for funds for a safe house for years, which it says could well have mitigated the sexual abuse of children.

WA's police task force charged two Balgo teenagers earlier this month as part of its investigation into child sex abuse.

The association's Dr Zohl De Ishtar says there is much more governments could have done earlier to curb the problem.

"The Kapululanga Women's Association has not been funded for six years and I don't understand how any of the governments can expect us to deal with these problems if they're not prepared to fund the women's organisations in Aboriginal communities," Dr De Ishtar said.

The state and Commonwealth governments have been contacted for comment.

Meanwhile, community leaders at Bidyadanga, south of Broome, believe they have made significant progress in addressing the dysfunction and violence caused by alcohol abuse.

Leaders say since a permanent police presence was introduced two years ago, there have been fewer antisocial problems at the 800-strong community.

Unlike Halls Creek, there have been no recent allegations of child abuse.

Police estimate they are now able to intercept more than half of the alcohol that is brought into the dry community and sold illegally.

Senior Sergeant Peter Vale, who is based at Bidyadanga, says that is a dramatic improvement on previous years.

"It wasn't lawless because they had an Aboriginal police liaison officer here in the past but, yes, when we got here a couple of years ago, there were a lot of offences occurring, but since we've been here and working in with the community and the council we've noticed a dramatic reduction," he said.