Aboriginal families and Elders feel powerless to discipline children for fear of intervention by child protection services or reprisals from other families, the Coronial inquest after the Rolfe trial heard. Giving evidence, Sergeant Smith told the court that after break-ins to both shops, after which the community had had enough, the offenders were lined up, and their responsible adult smacked them. After such one incident, a complaint of child abuse was made. Elders felt “the government took away the power to discipline their children” during the Intervention. The Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation filed a complaint
against the Elders. Physical correction of a child is, within limits, lawful. The practice in Yuendumu was a mixture of physical punishment and shaming. Sergeant Hand said the combination of community-controlled councils into “super shires” at about the same time as the Intervention had also disempowered Elders. “I think that’s got a lot to do with it, but also society, mobile phones and social media, YouTube, TikTok, they’re moving towards what you would call an American-style society in many of these communities. It’s moving away from culture, from that traditional culture, but you’re right, the Elders also are feeling a little bit disempowered because they don’t have that local control anymore.”
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