Police are still investigating the death of an eight-year-old girl who was taken from a remote Aboriginal community by a known child abuser on New Year's Eve.
Her alleged abductor, Augustine "Gus" Winter Miller, 38, remains in hospital in a stable condition under police guard. Today he was charged with unlicensed firearm offences and officers are still waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination on the girl.
---Informal foster carer, this opposed to what?The girl's informal foster carer was believed to the de facto partner of Mr Miller, who had been living in the community for several months.
Is this our governments 'formal' disclaimer enabling Australian children at risk be abused by known convicted paedophiles, ie "What the government doesn't know about (Private foster care arrangement) cant hurt them, right? This or reflect badly on our Government who couldn't give a damn.Informal care is a private arrangement between the parent and another party, where there is no change to any form of legal responsibility. Informal carers will usually be grandparents, other relatives or family friends. In informal care situations, who is eligible to receive FTB for the children depends on whether there has been a change of care or a delegation of care.
Delegation of care in informal care situations
Where an individual delegates the care of their child to another individual, FTB is not payable to the other individual. Common examples of delegated care include a child attending child care (either formal child care or care by a relative/friend), attending boarding school or staying with a grandparent, other relative or family friend.
http://www.facs.gov.au/guides_acts/fag/ ... .1.85.html
The girl was reportedly found weighing only 20 kilograms, having lost weight due to hunger, dehydration and fatigue but police would not verify her weight or any other injuries she suffered.
An 8 year old girl weighing 20kg? If this happened in Sydney, it would make national headlines.
. EXCUSE ME????Now the girl has died police will have to speak to the community before Mr Miller could be released safely into the community because of tribal law issues
"The mood of the community is not good, understandably it's still very raw and they are very emotive," Inspector Munnee said.
Mr Miller was reportedly convicted of child sex offences in January 2006.
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/taken ... 1pjvi.html
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What was the governments response to the 'Little Kids are sacred' reports findings in 2006?
Are little children really sacred?Howard announced a seven point plan to address the problem. This included:
Restrictions on welfare so parents spend their money on food and other necessities and not alcohol. Family welfare payments would be linked to children's school attendance.
A six month ban on the sale of alcohol in most of the concerned Indigenous communities.
A ban on the sale and possession of hardcore pornography, which was seen as “rife in Aboriginal communities”.
Medical checks for sexual abuse for Indigenous children younger than 16. Whilst the checks are voluntary, Health Minister ,Tony Abbott has suggested that the welfare payments of parents might be reduced if their children are not examined. Around 11,000 children will be examined by the end of 2007.
A permit system restricting non-Aboriginal access to Indigenous land would be scrapped. Howard said made the permit system made it easier for abuse to go undiscovered.
Proposing leglisation to enable the government to acquire five year leases for over 64 Indigenous communities in return for compensation.
Extra police provided by the federal and state governments will investigate sexual abuse in the communities.
What was the response to the government's plan from other political parties and the community?
Federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd immediately pledged the broad cooperation of his party in addressing the problem, qualifying that Labor would scrutinise the details of any legislation. Rudd indicated that Labor’s response would focus on the origins of the problem, offering money to ensure that all Indigenous schoolchildren would attend school regularly.
Oh, and Labor pretended to close the gap and say sorry, so I guess that's something.
I'm sure the little girl who perished in the desert at the hands of a 38 year old child sex offender for several days appreciated Rudds sentiments.
http://www.actnow.com.au/Issues/Little_ ... acred.aspx
