Two famous quotes are worth repeating here, (to paraphrase)  the one about the more things change they stay the same, and the other one about the first victim if war is truth.

Nothing much has changed and this latest one from Frank leaves us reeling, not so much in shock, but just the utter dispiriting banality of “the occupation”. 

Not Ukraine, not Myanmar, not Afghanistan, but right here in the middle of the country. The central bit not yet land-banked by developers for further suburban expansion. 

 

Frank writes; 

 

Greetings again (sorry but I’ve got to get it off my chest)

What does the hapless population of Ukraine (and Syria and Myanmar and far too many other places) and Yuendumu Health Clinic personnel have in common? They have all had occasion to flee in terror.

Letter to the Editor (The Australian) by former Northern Territory Chief Minister, Paul Everingham:

I read that angry residents of Yuendumu are demanding reform.
Reform needs to start with those right there at Yuendumu.
The nurses are not withdrawn from a community like Yuendumu because the locals are treating them well. They are withdrawn because they fear for their safety.
And that was the case at Yuendumu…..

Paul’s intellectual piece has another 110 words which I’ll spare you from (full text forwarded on request)

This from someone who led a government that spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money on fighting Aboriginal Land Right claims. Paul’s direct involvement in Northern Territory politics ceased in 1987. Not sure when he moved to Queensland.

We Yuendumu residents are exhausted in fighting the stigmas, stereotypes, assumptions and lies we are subjected to.

I’ll tackle just one of Paul’s assertions: The flight of the nurses:

On the day that Kumanjayi Walker was shot, the Yuendumu Clinic was unattended.
This fact was used in a campaign to depict Yuendumu as a violent community, and Kumanjayi as a dangerous and criminal individual. You know that saying “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t necessarily mean no one is out to get you”. Well, I reckon the campaign was coordinated and deliberate, and sadly successful.

A small cohort of children and youths were responsible for a series of break-ins which were exasperating the community. When the Clinic manager’s house got broken into, Department of Health officials in Alice Springs decided enough is enough. The community had to be taught a lesson, and Clinic personnel were instructed to evacuate and services were withdrawn.
It is important to note that the withdrawal of services, in a classic “them and us” scenario, was instigated by Alice Springs officials and not by Yuendumu clinic personnel.
Rumors started to spread. The clinic had been trashed, Kumanjayi was responsible for this, none of which was true. Kumanjayi was implicated in the break-in. Our local police stated that only fingerprints of small children were found, but this was ignored.
“Nurses flee in fear” was the headline on an article based on an interview with the head of the Nurses Federation. I attended the clinic a few days later, I saw no one cringing in fear. It was all lies.

Am currently reading Claire Coleman’s ‘Lies Damned Lies’ Yet another ‘must read’. The next edition she could easily add a chapter on the court case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS2sIv0ab0k (Lies- The Knickerbockers’ one hit wonder)

So when researching for this Dispatch, what do I find?

Yuendumu nurses’ terror: Walker ‘a very scary man’

A spate of terrifying break-ins to nurses’ accommodation forced them to flee Yuendumu in November just hours before police fatally shot Kumanjayi Walker.

 

Together with an invitation to subscribe for award winning journalism!

Can you believe it? Yesterday’s Australian. There is no let-up.

I won’t be taking up their invitation.

Cheers,

Frank