Jessica Rose, Adelaide
Indigenous people in Port Augusta, 300km north of Adelaide, are facing increased harassment following a decision by the local council and police to call in extra police, including the "elite" STAR group, to crack down on "antisocial behaviour".
The crackdown was announced after a February 11 crisis meeting between police, local authorities, Aboriginal community representatives and welfare groups. The council and police actions have been enthusiastically endorsed by Mayor Joy Baluch, who is notorious for making anti-Aboriginal and anti-refugee comments in the media.
In the eight days following the meeting, more than 50 arrests took place, according to the February 20 Sunday Mail. Most of these were on the town's foreshore, a traditional gathering place for local Aboriginal people. Port Augusta city manager John Stevens was quoted as saying the extra police presence was aimed at "itinerants coming down from the north, displaying antisocial behaviour". He denied that the council and police actions were racist. This has been disputed by local community members, who say that the actions are aimed at all Aboriginal people, whether residents or visitors to the town.
An eyewitness to the arrests, who did not want to give her name, told Green Left Weekly that police were targeting Indigenous people, particularly youth. "They were telling Aboriginal people to move on, then saying to white people, 'it's ok, you can stay'. They had a group of young Aboriginal boys sitting on the footpath for half an hour until they decided what to do with them."
David Wright, a minister with the Uniting Church Aboriginal and Islander Congress, told Green Left Weekly that the meeting had been called following local media criticism of Port Augusta police for "inaction" in dealing with incidents involving Indigenous people. "There was an incident in November last year where there was a fight in a local street involving about 50 people. The police strategy then was to defuse the situation, and then tell people to go home. No arrests were made, and they were criticised for that.
"There was another incident in December, after a concert on the foreshore, when there was a dispute between two Aboriginal families. The police were criticised again for not going in hard enough. Both of these incidents involved local Aboriginal people, not anyone from outside."
Wright explained that the early months of the year many people from the Pitjanjara lands come to Port Augusta to take part in religious and cultural rituals. Others visit the town to use services such as hospitals, and often camp near the foreshore. There have also been a number of people who have moved to Port Augusta because of the lack of resources in the Pitjanjara lands, and are now part of the local community.
On February 9, Wright was driving near an area known as the Roundhouse, which is used by a group of local Aboriginal people to meet and drink. It is land belonging to the railways, on the outskirts of town and away from any major thoroughfare, but there have been calls in the corporate media to "close it down". Wright saw a number of police cars and police "acting roughly" toward the group there. He went to speak to police, telling them that their actions were inappropriate, and was told to "fuck off and mind your own business". Wright sat down with a group of Aboriginal people, who were then told to move on or they would be arrested. The others moved away but Wright refused to. The police, who knew him, were reluctant to arrest him but Wright eventually demanded that they do so. He will appear in court on March 7.
Wright is concerned that bail conditions being set for those arrested in the latest crackdown breach the recommendations of the Royal Commission Into Deaths in Custody, because anyone arrested who does not live in Port Augusta is being bailed on condition that they return home. "Many of them won't be able to afford to travel back to Port Augusta for their court appearance, so they will end up being arrested and jailed for breaching bail conditions, which is totally against the commission's recommendations."
Wright says that the actions of the council and police have created an extremely tense situation in Port Augusta. There have been reports of white "vigilante" groups harrassing and assaulting Aboriginal people, particularly youth. A young Aboriginal woman leaving a nightclub recently was followed by two white men who shouted racist abuse then sexually assaulted her.
A meeting of the Indigenous community on February 21 resolved to send a delegation to Adelaide to meet with state Aboriginal affairs minister Terry Roberts and South Australian Premier Mike Rann.
Wright sees the problems in Port Augusta as a direct result of local, state and federal government policies. "The Aboriginal community in Port Augusta has come up with proposals and plans to address problems such as homelessness and alcohol abuse, but they have all been either rejected by council or caught up in the state government bureaucracy. There is great potential for Port Augusta to become a centre of tourism, based on the art and culture of the Indigenous community, but the mayor and council have no respect for Indigenous culture. We have a situation where attacks on Indigenous people are being carried out at the federal and state level, such as the abolition of ATSIC and defunding of Indigenous organisations. These actions are creating a climate where racist individuals feel encouraged to express their racism."
From Green Left Weekly, March 2, 2005.
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