The productivity commission’s report into aborigines is damning – but the reality of life for the children it talks about is unspeakable.

Its key finding is that substantiated child abuse cases in the indigenous community more than doubled from 16 per 1000 children in 1999-2000 to 35 per 1000 children in 2007-08.

The Rudd Government and the states are pumping an additional $4.6 billion into indigenous communities over the next six years as part of the “Closing the Gap” program, aimed at addressing what the government calls indigenous disadvantage.

The Prime Minister was asked about the report this morning.   He said it was devastating and that governments need to redouble their efforts to improve services.   The aborigine minister Jenny Macklin also says that governments need to do more.

They’re right of course.   We have a huge crime problem with a clearly identifiable group of suspects.   These poor little children must live in constant fear of being attacked – so much so that many of them think it’s normal.  

Let’s just pause and think about what’s going on here.   These statistics are just reports about individual decisions made by people.   Decisions to commit a crime.   I don’t for the life of me know why we are so focussed on the official line in the Productivity Commission’s report that “disadvantage limits the opportunities and choices of many Indigenous (sic) people.”   View PDF here.

Limits the choices?   There is no excuse for anyone committing the sorts of crimes that this report discloses.   If we had the rates of child abuse disclosed here in families in the suburbs of Brisbane there would be an outcry.   Why do we not have sufficient police and child welfare people to prosecute the offenders and remove the children to safety?

These increases coincide with the change to our policies of removing children from danger if they are aboriginal.   It’s clear that many children are in danger.   We know who they are and where they are.   We know that as we go to sleep with our children here peacefully, thousands of little children in these camps will be in danger tonight.

As well as the sexual crimes committed against them, many of these little tackers have to put up with pretty basic neglect - permanently snotty noses, ear infections leading to deafness, poor nutrition.   Mal Brough confirmed to me stories about little children suckling on the teats of dogs because they don’t get enough to eat.

If the parents won’t look after the children, we as a community have to remove them and make sure they’re cared for.   If children were being treated like that here in suburban Brisbane they would be removed.   Why do we accept a lesser standard for these little children just because they’re black?

The racism has to stop.   We’re all the same.   Lock up the crooks, take the children away from bad parents and give them a decent start in an integrated Australia.

Things have moved on a bit since January when I said that covering your face in places like banks or shops was offensive.   I was speaking about the Burkha.

My comments cause death threats to me and immense pain to my family.

Several people, egged on by A Current Affair complained to the Australian Communications and Media Authority.    A Current Affair’s website listed the story about my comments with the heading “Racist Radio Host”.

Well I think the debate has moved on a fair bit.   My comments resulted in front page newspaper stories and editorials here in Australia.   The issue is now front page news in both France and now the United Kingdom.   View front page here.

And the debate is now centred not on security – it’s about the broader question of whether the Burkha has any place at all in a civilised, western democracy.

It’s a big issue because of the amount of immigrants from Arab countries who want to come and enjoy our western way of life.   More and more women are appearing on our streets shrouded in the garb.   .

I was quite impressed by the thoughtful and forthright views of the ABC’s Canberra newsreader Virginia Haussegger in her blog of this Tuesday, 30 June 2009.     - View profile here.

She wrote “A ghostly figure walking towards me, clad from head to toe in a heavy black niqab, black gloves and dark shoes. She was trailing along behind her husband and four little children.

The sight of this hideously shrouded figure in an Australian shopping mall is confronting and offensive. And it makes me angry, very angry.

I wanted to stop and ask why she had such disrespect for herself and our culture that she would hide her face and body under all that black cloth, designed to render her shapeless and inhuman. But her husband shot me a glance, and I was silenced. Dumbfounded. “   View the post here

I wonder if Virginia, a leading feminist and recipient of the United Nations Association Media Prize will receive the same complaints that I did.

This is an important debate.   I want to see Australia join with France and Britain and proudly proclaim our western, civilised values that – amongst other things – proudly respect and celebrate women.   The Burkha has no place here.

The Australian Manufacturing Worker’s Union has held off its pay claims until now - 1 July, the start of the new Rudd Government’s Fair Work Act.

The AMWU is after at least a 4% rise for all its members and 6% for workers in 'businesses that can afford it.'

What about the businesses that can’t afford 4%?

The new system is designed to encourage collective bargaining. And unions will have the right of entry to workplaces to inspect the salary records of employees.

If the AMWU is successful in its move, there’s no doubt other unions will follow. And that will result in rises way beyond inflation - without any gains in productivity.

It’s very important that we understand what this is all about. Increased pay that follows increased output from the company is good. Increased pay that doesn’t come from increased economic output is bad.

A wages breakout will lead to inflation and misery.

I’ll get some expert analysis this afternoon.

The reality of how much the Emissions Trading Scheme is going to cost you is just starting to set in.

The only certain result of the new tax so far is that you and I will pay a lot more for electricity.   Stephen Robertson, Queensland’s Minister for Energy has told us how that extra cost will be worked out.

Stephen Robertson has the authority to set the electricity price.  He has passed on that authority to the Queensland Competition Authority.   His letter of 24 June this year to the Chairman of the QCA makes his position very clear. - Download pdf here.

I have a bit of experience in translating bureaucratese.   Here are the important bits of the letter.

“Customers need to see the impact of consumption decisions.”   That means we need to pay more for using electricity.

“It is the Australian Government’s intention to introduce a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme on 1 July 2011.  The CPRS will be Australia’s primary policy tool to deliver low emissions outcomes and put a price on carbon.    Central to the CPRS is an electricity pricing regime that leads to changes in consumer behaviour.”   That means we need to pay more for electricity.

“Noting the intent of the CPRS to internalise costs of carbon emission in consumption decisions, the Council of Australian Governments agreed that where retail prices were regulated (like Queensland) energy cost increases associated with the CPRS shall be passed through to end-use consumers.”   That means we need to pay more for electricity.

“The Australian Energy Market Commission noted that under current arrangements retailers will not be able to cope with potentially large and rapid changes in retail costs due to a number of factors including the CPRS.”   That means we will face large and rapid rises in electricity charges.

We have abundant reserves of cheap coal.   Our power stations burn it very efficiently – there is not soot, no carboniferous pollution, no particulate matter in the air.   It’s beautiful, clean, cheap power.   Why should we pay more, and more, and more, for the wonderful resource of electricity?

Surely it’s a government’s first responsibility to make sure that its own people are looked after.   This emissions tax will make not one jot of difference to the world’s climate or pollution.   Even the most ardent supporters of the ETS say that its benefits are symbolic – that we must be “seen to be doing something at home” before we ask the rest of the world to join in.

Well the positive side might be symbolic.   But the cost to households is very, very real.   Power bills that will double or triple over time.   And it’s starting now.

I am so far beyond believing things that most politicians say.

How good an example did Stephen Robertson make last week.   The government does a lousy job in managing water infrastructure – so they set up a board, SEQ Water – the same old problems happen – but Robertson gets the chance to say the board faces the sack if it doesn’t lift its game.

Isn’t that great if you’re Stephen Robertson?   What do we have ministers for?   What does he do?   Walk around with a knowing look saying “the board has to do much better.”

Well they did it again on the weekend.   We all know traffic’s congested.   Until this year’s budget we used to get figures that proved just how badly the government was performing.   The budget papers used to show a “congestion indicator”.

The system measured traffic speed on a certain number of roads in peak times.

10 years ago the average speed was 28 km/h slower than the posted speed limit during morning peak hours.

Today it’s 38 km/h slower.   That’s 10 km/h slower than 10 years ago.   It’s been steadily building, getting slower every year.   It’s slowed by 6 km/h in just the past 2 years.   The data show that just 40% of the state’s urban roads provide an acceptable standard of service according to the government’s own measures.

But because the picture those data paint is so bad, the government is dropping the measurements.   It will stop collecting and publishing the data.

There are 23 separate performance measures tucked away in the budget.  Craig Johnstone of the Courier Mail has done a great job in exposing this.   Next to each of the 23 measures is a note saying “this measure has been reviewed and it is considered that the measure should be either replaced with a more meaningful measure or discontinued.-View story here

The Minister Craig Wallace put out a statement about this.   “The Minister is committed to transparency in departmental reporting and that measures reported on are meaningful and effective.”  He said that he had no current replacement for the measures they’ve dropped, but the likely replacement would use “real-time data” and would be more relevant.

Well let’s help him out!   What are your real-time measures of congestion?   How do you feel about Brisbane’s roads?    How long does your trip take now?   Do you have a measure of the congestion on the roads?   I know I used to be able to leave Noosa at 6AM and get someone onto an 8.30 flight at Brisbane airport.   I wouldn’t dare risk that now with the Gateway.   What are you congestion measures?  

Anna Bligh is very keen to tell us that things are improving.   What do you have to tell Anna?