We saw how terribly children were treated in prisons and promised ‘never again’. Now there is just bitter disappointment | Sophie Trevitt

There is no question about what needs to be done, only a question of who is prepared to do it

I left my job in Canberra and drove to Alice Springs with the graphic images of Aboriginal children being tear-gassed and spit-hooded still fresh in my mind. The nation had been shocked by the footage revealed on 4Corners. The prime minister had called a royal commission. Everyone declared “never again”.

One of the first things I worked on in the desert was compiling tens of thousands of harrowing words into submissions for the Royal Commission. I trawled through the evidence collected by the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service; compiling accounts of children being locked in cells for days on end, denied education and held in uninhabitable conditions.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/30QFaXO
via
0 Comments