Pubdate: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 Source: Australian, The (Australia) Copyright: 2001 News Limited {YEAR} Contact: Box 339 GPO Adelaide, SA 5001 Fax: (08) 8206-3688 Website: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ Author: Mike Steketee JAIL DRUG DEALERS FOR LIFE: ANDERSON DRUG dealers are infiltrating Aboriginal communities and forcing children into prostitution to support their addiction, acting Prime Minister John Anderson has warned.In an interview with The Australian, the National Party leader yesterday backed a call by his Queensland branch for state governments to impose tougher penalties for drug dealing. These should range all the way up to life sentences for serious offences. "Where people are actually starting to generate a serious income out of the misery of children, maybe it is time we got very savage indeed on drug dealers," he said. "What sort of human being goes into a country town like Bourke (in western NSW) and starts peddling drugs so you end up with childhood prostitution so kids can support their habit?" Senior Aborigines in Bourke had told him in recent days that children would not be able to participate in society in future unless they had better education and were offered hope. Mr Anderson, who took over from John Howard yesterday while the Prime Minister is on holiday, was responding to the three challenges of Governor-General William Deane in his speech for the Centenary of Federation on Monday: environmental damage, the widening gap between rich and poor and the long distance to travel towards genuine reconciliation with indigenous people. Mr Anderson said he had no "major problem" with what he called Sir William's intervention. "He probably goes a little further than some governors-general but we know that is what this Governor-General does." He said the Government was doing a great deal to tackle these problems. The key to spreading economic opportunity more evenly was sufficiently high education levels to enable people to participate in the new economy. "We also have to be very blunt and say there's a group of kids out there who lack the encouragement and stimulation from the home to really take up the education opportunities that are there," Mr Anderson said. "I think that is actually the problem for a lot of our indigenous children. Unfortunately, I don't think that is a problem governments can solve on their own. "I really do worry that with the breakdown of some of our traditional family values and with the cycle of welfare dependence and sometimes the despair in Aboriginal communities, you have a certain proportion of young kids out there who are not going to be in a very strong position to achieve the Australian dream. "I think in some ways we are only just beginning that very important battle." But individual communities like Walgett and Moree in northern NSW, where white people had previously been reluctant to get involved, were now making real progress. "There are some good things happening, but by gee there's a long way to go yet," Mr Anderson said. The Howard Government's policy supported small schools such as an independent Christian school in Wellington in western NSW that sought out disadvantaged children and gave them special education, he said. "They've got single Aboriginal mums who are getting $10 a week taken out through bank debit because they think this is so important." - --- MAP posted-by: Terry F