Mutitjulu Strikes Back

Mutitjulu has now started legal action, following the media scandal that resulted in their loss of autonomy. Read more about this in my article Aboriginal Media Hoax.

Mutitjulu once had big problems with things like petrol sniffing and rampant violence, until they took charge of their own internal governance. The problems disappeared, and Mutitjulu started looking like a success story - proving that Aboriginal autonomy is the only way forward.

Naturally, the government panicked. So they "treated" a known paedophile (not a permanent resident of the community) who had lost his sex drive. Three different doctors at the local clinic prescribed Viagara to cure this man's loss of libido. Following this he allegedly attacked some young girls.

The Minister for Indigenous Affairs then sent one of his underlings to appear on television (face obscured of course, supposedly for fear of the violent Aborigines!) posing as a youth worker from the community. His false identity was not the only lie. He claimed there was a paedophile ring in the community (a one man ring?) and the program showed old footage of petrol sniffers in the community from several years before the community had gained autonomy in local government.

This was part of a massive nationwide media campaign to paint Aboriginal communities the same way, and the results for Mutitjulu were disastrous. The greatest blow came when the minister appointed a non-Aboriginal administrator to take over the running of the community. This was clearly the aim all along.

The ensuing "scandal" (when the plot was revealed) was not covered much in the mainstream media. Nobody seems concerned about the minister telling lies about Indigenous people. If it were any other issue than Aboriginal rights, the public would be howling for blood and the minister would be handing in his resignation.