‘It’s not that simple’: Legal service boss hits back at McGowan’s youth crime finger-pointing

The boss of Aboriginal Legal Service WA has accused Premier Mark McGowan of oversimplifying and politicising the debate around spiralling youth crime after McGowan levelled the blame at parents.

Youth crime in regional towns such as Carnarvon, Laverton, Broome and Kununurra has become a hot-button issue for the McGowan government in the past 12 months with the opposition claiming it failed to provide enough police and community resources to address it.

On Thursday McGowan said he was annoyed that the government was blamed for not doing enough.

“Parents and families need to do what they’re required to do to raise their children. It’s not just the state, and it annoys me that we constantly get the finger pointed at our public servants, our community development officers or our police officers who are doing their bit,” he said.

“All I’m saying to you all is, and I’m gonna keep saying it because people like me sending these messages to families and communities is important, families and parents need to parent.”

Speaking to Radio 6PR’s Mornings Program on Friday ALSWA chief executive Dennis Eggington said he was “dumbfounded” by the comments.

“Once you use the blame game, then you’re admitting that you have lost control of the situation,” he said.

Eggington, a Noongar man from WA’s South West, said the situation in Aboriginal communities was more complex than the premier had presented thanks to the impacts of colonialism that were still being felt today.

“If your father was put in jail for breaches of fines and wasn’t around because he kept getting put in jail, and then his grandfather was put in jail, and his great grandfather and great great grandfather were put there for just being black and in the way, soon that ability to manage and run families breaks down,” he said.

“To just simply start blaming people for something that’s going on ... is a real indication that this government is throwing its hands up in the air and saying, ‘we can’t solve it’.”

“If I was premier, and I blamed the parents, and they were actually wards ... I’d resign tomorrow, but that’s me.”

ALSWA CEO Dennis Eggington

Eggington took particular aim at McGowan’s claim that the state was not a parent, given that in some cases it actually was the legal guardian of children.

“If any of those children are wards of the state, then he’s ultimately responsible for their well-being,” he said.

“I’ve seen premiers make the same mistake over and over, blame the parents when actually they’re wards of the state, he needs to be very, very careful about that.

“Because if I was premier, and I blamed the parents, and they were actually wards, and they were under my responsibility, I’d resign tomorrow, but that’s me.”

Eggington suggested more empowerment of Aboriginal people through things like a treaty with the state and more sharing of the wealth generated in the state by its mining industries would help address the root causes of the youth crime issues.

“WA is in a unique position, I think, of being able to actually talk to us about treaties and how we might go about sharing that wealth and how we might put the economics back into our Aboriginal communities where we’ll be able to get on top of these issues,” he said.

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