Grog Problems

Jack Frawley from Coogee, NSW writes to the Australian Newspaper

I LIVED on Bathurst Island for five years and drank at the Nguiu Social Club many times. I now live in Coogee, NSW. This is what I’ve seen and heard: binge drinking, violent brawls, shouts and screams all night long, vomit and piss in the streets, and even murder. Nguiu? No, Coogee! Grog problems are not just confined to Aboriginal Australia. Fair go, Paul Toohey, how about a good news Aboriginal story for once?

Jack, I’ve been to Aboriginal places/towns/camps too and have a different perspective. The greatest damage to the aboriginal community over the years has been from people like yourself saying there isn’t a problem. There is. The problem will exist while PC people refuse to allow discussion of the subject. I agree grog problems are not confined to Aboriginals, they have just perfected the tragedy. For your analogy to be relevant I would expect 80% of the people in my Brisbane suburb of Taigum to be drunk at any given time. This clearly is not the case. Let ATSIC etc develop their laws themselves because self recognition is the first answer and let us help where we can and when we are invited.