Aborigine patrol curbs violence in Australian outback

ALICE SPRINGS, Australia, July 10 (Reuters) Five times a week the ''Night Patrol'' winds through the darkness of the 18 squalid aboriginal camps in Alice Springs trying to prevent the alcohol-fuelled violence that is destroying lives.

On the night Reuters joins the patrol, two women emerge from the darkness of the Karnte camp, seeking help for a friend stabbed by her drunken husband in a jealous rage.

The headlights quickly spot the woman sitting on the track, blood running down her arm and into the dirt, another cut bleeds on her neck and her shoulders are bruised.

She is given first aid, taken to hospital and police are called.

The patrol has no power of arrest. It aims to talk people out of trouble and offer a ride to safety or hospital.

''We do have some fear but if it is out of our control we call the cops,'' said patrol leader Aborigine Ros Forrester. ''The police lockup is the last resort.'' ''If we stop someone from getting hurt and keep people out of the justice system, that is our reward -- you are saving lives,'' said Forrester, who lives in Larapinta camp.

A recent report found a ''river of grog'' or alcohol was destroying aboriginal communities in the outback Northern Territory and fuelling violence.

Prime Minister John Howard has declared a national emergency and sent police and troops to end the binge drinking, violence and sexual abuse against women and children.

He plans to take over 60 aboriginal communities, but many Aborigines fear that the government just wants their land and that there is no long-term plan to improve their lives.

They say many aboriginal communities are already working hard to stop the violence and abuse through programmes such as the ''Night Patrol'', restricting welfare payments, issuing food vouchers, running sexual awareness campaigns and abuse shelters.

''If you take all control away from people, and you also eliminate all opportunities for them to take responsibility for their own lives, then you will create the worst welfare,'' said William Tilmouth, head of Tangentyere Council.

The council manages the camps around Alice Springs, which are home to some 3,000 people. The volunteer patrols will keep operating despite the government crackdown.

Australia's 460,000 Aborigines make up 2 percent of the 20 million population. They have a life expectancy 17 years lower than white Australians and have far higher rates of unemployment, imprisonment, alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence.

NIGHT PATROLS, RIVER RUNS The ''Night Patrol'' consists of two women and two men, each speaking a different aboriginal language. The team comes from the camps and can often sense when trouble is brewing.

''Aboriginal people have to help aboriginal people, you can bring in all the police and soldiers you like but they don't know anyone, who is going to trust them,'' said Forrester.

In 2006, the ''Night Patrol'' helped 5,474 people --- driving drunks home, finding mothers of abandoned children, and settling domestic disputes before they ended in violence.

At 5.30 a.m. the ''Day Patrol'' begins the river run along Alice Spring's dry Todd River for illegal camps where Aborigines may have collapsed drunk or fled camp violence.

The truck's two spotlights pierce the long grass on the dry river bed and make the gum trees look ghostly. Like spotting for kangaroos at night, the patrol is searching for a hint of a camp -- the glint in a person's eye as the light hits, a bundle of blankets or the barking of a pack of mangy dogs.

''Some like drinking and camping here. It's their backyard, it's their land, like it was their grandfather's land,'' said no-nonsense former nurse Christina Jack, as she drove her 4WD caged truck through the river's sandy bed.

''A lot of the people don't drink. They come here to get away from the drinking and fighting,'' said Jack.

FOOD VOUCHERS The Australian government plans to quarantine aboriginal welfare payments so money is spent on food, not alcohol, as a way of reducing binge drinking and violence.

But hundreds of Aborigines in Alice Springs have been voluntarily doing this since 1994. In 2006, the Tangentyere Council's bank exchanged welfare payments worth 1.9 million Australian dollars into food vouchers for 860 Aborigines.

On a busy Friday payday, the tiny one-room bank can issue up to 17,000 Australian dollars in food vouchers, which are only redeemable at the Foodtown Supermarket which is 50 per cent owned by the council.

The supermarket has a strict policy prohibiting the purchase of alcohol with food vouchers and will not give cash change, instead offering a hot pie for the bus ride home.

''It is a good system because it means I can put food on the table for my kids and the money is not spent on alcohol,'' said Rosemary Rubuntja as she shops for kangaroo tails for dinner.

Kangaroo tails, which retail for 6.50 Australian dollars each, are a favourite among Aborigines who cook them whole in earthen ovens. The supermarket sells about 300 tails a week.

SAFE HOUSES Aboriginal leaders admit there is a problem with child sexual abuse in their communities, with girls as young as 12 becoming mothers, but stress they are working hard to end the abuse.

Scattered around Alice Springs are street signs pointing to ''Safe Houses'' to use in the case of violence. Tangentyere Council runs a safe house which has helped 130 children since it opened three years ago, but not all children here have been abused.

''This programme focuses on vulnerable families. Young people can come here if the family is struggling,'' said John Adams, who runs the council's family and youth services.

The sign on the wire fence around the Larapinta camp school is clear: ''No Drunks, no (petrol) sniffers allowed near school''. The school also acts as a safe house for children.

Larapinta case worker Astri Baker says some sexual abuse is consensual, with girls unaware of their rights. Baker stages bush camps with girls and women to talk about sexual awareness.

''Young girls don't know their rights and are not in control of their bodies and are easily manipulated,'' said Baker.

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