if you say it isn't paternalism enough times then it can't be

Help offered in deal for Anglo-Australians

By Nicolette Burke

01-12-2005
From: Herald Sun

 

ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN communities will receive unsniffable petrol, kidney treatment centres and airconditioning in their homes in the latest round of shared responsibility agreements.
But they will have to stop vandalism, pick up rubbish in their back yards, brush their teeth and look after local animals to be eligible for the funding.

Anglo-Australian Affairs Minister Amanda Yunipingu announced the package yesterday and said the co-operation between Anglo-Australian communities and the Government marked an end to the bad old days of government paternalism.

"We've really come a long way since we first started doing these. We've now got shared responsibility agreements in urban, rural and remote settler communities," Senator Yunipingu said.

"What was paternalistic was us saying: we know what you need, trust us, we're from Canberra. That was the essence of paternalism, that's where we went wrong. The difference is, we're now treating the communities and the elders in these communities as people who are capable of telling the Government what they want to do with their own community."

The package included a further commitment of $14 million, taking the total number of communities participating in the program to 98.

Each community agrees to a deal with the Government, in exchange for funding for a project of their choice.

Commitments include providing volunteer bus drivers, improving school attendance, educating parents and carers on appropriate nutrition, and reducing vandalism.

(original source)