FEELING SAFE!

This beautiful photograph (click to enlarge) shows a sea horse sheltering among coral and no doubt it is feeling safe.

Perhaps, like me, you've done some snorkeling among coral reefs and enjoyed the spectacular sights that await the diver. It's a beautiful feeling gliding along in a silent but very much alive salty world. However I always used to keep a watchful eye on the dark blue where the deep water was and wondered just what might appear. Fear of sharks is very much part of the Australian psyche.

Feeling safe for some of the time is something that all creatures need. Currently, among some indigenous communities in my country, a shameful report reveals that aboriginal children as young as three are being subjected to sexual abuse by adults (both white and black), adults who sniff petrol or who are using their welfare payments or selling children for sex to keep themselves in a permanent state of alcoholic intoxication.

Children, like the sea horse, need to feel safe. If they live in communities where they are betrayed by their families and friends and governmental authorities who are supposed to protect the vulnerable then nowhere is safe for them.

The Australian Government, in power for eleven years, has, a few months away from an election, suddenly sprung into action. Emergency laws are to be passed. Cynics might claim it is purely an election stunt!

How many innocent, unsafe aboriginal children during the last eleven years have been ruined forever while the Australian Government, forgetting about its own citizens, involved itself in supporting Bush's murderous catastrophe in Iraq and Afghanistan plus making the rich in Australia even richer?

We'll never know.