20 January 2006

Trachoma increase shows Government failure

The increased trachoma rates being experienced by children in the Western Desert Aboriginal community of Mulan show the failure of the Federal Government’s Shared Responsibility Agreement program, according to Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR).

A report in today’s Australian newspaper said the trachoma rate in Mulan had increased from 16 percent to 58 percent in the past year.

ANTaR national spokesperson, Dr David Cooper, said the return of trachoma was a tragedy for the children of Mulan and a major disappointment for the community which had worked hard to eradicate the disease.

“The increased rates of trachoma are also an indictment of the Government’s shared responsibility program. The return of trachoma to Mulan shows the folly of trying to solve complex problems with quick fix, ill thought out solutions,” Dr Cooper said.

Dr Cooper said that Indigenous Affairs Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone was wrong to link rates of trachoma to a Government agreement to supply a petrol bowser in return for local parents washing their children’s faces.

“The Minister’s explanation of why trachoma has increased appears confused and ill-informed,” he said.

The agreement was made public in December 2004. However, the community had commenced the face washing program by its own initiative 18 months earlier. The Government’s promised petrol bowser didn’t arrive in the community until two weeks ago.

“The Minister seems to be suggesting that local parents may not have been washing their children’s faces because the petrol bowser hadn’t arrived,” Dr Cooper said.

“Once again, Aboriginal people are being blamed to try and get the Government off the hook. The community originally brought trachoma down by its own initiative – not the Government’s.

“The increased rates this year are a result of the amount of extra dust in the air caused by dry weather. The non arrival of the petrol bowser has nothing to do with it,” he said.

Dr Cooper said that while the Government was quick to falsely claim credit for bringing the rates down, it was unwilling to take responsibility for trachoma increasing.

“If the Government was serious about eliminated trachoma and the many other health problems experienced by Aboriginal people, it would fund the basic infrastructure needed to turn this situation around,” he said.

Media contact: Gary Highland on 0418 476 940