‘Failed state crisis’ of remote Australia
Bernard Lane; 26/7/08
Remote Australia is a failed state, bereft of government that works, its permanent population giving way to mining companies and their “mercenary” fly-in, fly-out workforces, according to former West Australian governor John Sanderson. Lieutenant General Sanderson said the lack of governance, people, services, economic diversity and infrastructure throughout vast areas of the continent posed a serious problem for national security. “Australia’s defence against possible threats and breaches of security, including biosecurity, emanating from Southeast Asia and the south Pacific is made all the more difficult when remote Australia itself is gripped by social and economic crisis,” General Sanderson told a Murdoch University audience in Perth this week. He told The Weekend Australian he thought the description of remote Australia as a failed state was “pretty apt”. One reason for his conclusion was his experience as peacekeeping commander in post-civil war Cambodia. General Sanderson cited a thinktank definition of failed states based on poverty, violence, the lack of health and education services, and a perceived lack of government legitimacy.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24079566-5013172,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights, Reconciliation