youth in our streets at night - give 'em a fair go!

Complexity is the key word when considering the social environment in Alice Springs streets at night. Here's my spat about the 'lock-em-up" attitude towards youth in the streets of Alice Springs - most are just hanging around as far as I can see, with a few commiting offenses.

My list of issues to think about:

*We need to preserve our diverse services to reflect the needs of the community.
*Kids need activities in the early evening which make them tired enough to go home and sleep at night.
*They need a safe haven in times of trouble and a safe place to sleep at night.
*They need boundaries to be identified and a social model to work towards.
*How does a kid with a dysfunctional family build a life for themselves?
*How do we equip kids to look out for the mental health of their mates?
*How do we equip kids to stand up to bullying and survival of the fittest mentality?
*How do we instill hope and spiritual succour for the people who are lost and struggling in our region?
*Alice goes to sleep at 8pm apart from alcohol venues - what's that all about?

I use the term ‘we’ because calling out to the government is clearly not useful – they can fund program after program but often this ends up with public servants pinning their hopes on one swooping action like the intervention, full time English in all schools and the stolen generations.

I’m sure there’s a litany of NGO’s who could say they provide the above services. So if you could find a service providing the issue you see as important, why not give them a hand? Even just a hand shake?

In terms of all types of dysfunction whether it’s addiction, violence, lack of direction, petty crime, vandalism or whatever, I always look at the solution from one perspective. That is, what’s available to this person if they decide to change their life? Do we have the structures readily available for the many years of work it takes for any person, no matter what stage of life they are at, to negotiate their recovery? And if the services are available, is the person easily able to access them?

The only way our community will ever thrive is if we adopt a solutions model with each individual expanding their own compassion levels. Alice Springs jail, which was envisioned never to be filled, is busting at the seams. Whereas I believe, if we got things right, it could be half empty.

Sign The Greens Petition - 5% is not enough! -

On Monday, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd raised the white flag of surrender on climate change when he announced an emissions reduction target for Australia of just 5% below 2000 levels (4% below 1990 levels).

Sign The Greens Petition:

http://greensmps.org.au/content/petition/5-emission-target-not-enough




------- 5% is not enough! -----------

Roll Back the NT Intervention

Major General Chalmers is Canberra's 'man on the ground' reporting back to the highest level of Government regarding the intervention.

Last week, LGANT held it's first General Meeting since the shires amalgamations. Major Gen Chalmers addressed the meeting and publicly said that there is no statistical data to prove that there are more displaced, homeless people living in the streets of Alice Springs or other municipalities across the Territory since the intervention troops rolled in. I disagree. I believe the Federal and NT Governments have a duty to provide services for youth and homeless people in our towns and that they need to report comprehensively on the impact the intervention has had on the lives of many across the Territory.

His words stand in the way of Local Government being able to access appropriate funding and services for the large number of needy people in Alice Springs and other towns across the Territory.

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Climate Change

"What the Government doesn't understand is that when it comes to climate you are not dealing with social or economic policy, but you're actually dealing with the laws of physics and chemistry, and trying to negotiate with the laws of physics is a really dumb idea,"

- David Spratt, Co-author of "Climate Code Red"




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