Megan Saunders The Australian 23/10/2000

The debate over indigenous welfare dependency gained momentum yesterday with key Aboriginal leaders backing Noel Pearson's argument that handouts were poisoning communities. The chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, Evelyn Scott, claimed that welfare had "almost totally destroyed Aboriginal culture". Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commercial Development Corporation chairman, Joseph Elu, also said that dole cheques were as damaging as alcohol in indigenous communities.

"Noel was right in saying it is poisoning," Mr Elu said. Mr Pearson sparked controversy in May last year when he claimed welfare was a "poison" that turned many Aborigines into "drunken parasites". Yesterday's comments are a significant intervention in the debate ahead of a round-table meeting between indigenous and federal Government representatives in Canberra tomorrow. They contrast with earlier criticism of Mr Pearson's position by other indigenous leaders who argued it entrenched racist stereotypes.

Ms Scott and Mr Elu will be among 20 delegates at the round-table where a working party will be formed to continue advising the Government. Mr Elu said the focus of bodies such as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and the Indigenous Land Corporation was "just to survive". Instead, they needed to concentrate more on "commercial outcomes" through investing government funds and generating employment, he said. "If Aboriginal people can jump on the commercial gravy train rather than the welfare gravy train we can head off into the sunset and be happy," he said.

Ms Scott said welfare -- labelled by one elder as "sit down money" -- added to problems including alcoholism, family violence and child sexual abuse. "People are off their faces and wives get bashed up because they are drunk and ... you know the interference of children. It all happens. "There has got to be an educational process to say the world won't collapse around us if we don't get the welfare system."

Topping Ms Scott's agenda at the round-table will be the issue of child sexual abuse which she said was common but not talked about. Ms Scott said she knew of children as young as three who had contracted gonorrhoea. "It's a wall of silence," she said. "I don't think it would be too far wrong to say it's very widely spread." Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Herron, who organised the round-table with Community Services Minister Jocelyn Newman, said he was confident concrete proposals would come out of the gathering.

The Government has set aside $20 million to help address social problems in indigenous communities. But Senator Herron said Aboriginal leaders also needed to do more to combat reliance on welfare. "I would say, in general terms, Aboriginal leaders have not thought enough about the future and how to get off welfare dependency," he said.