The identity of an Aboriginal man: Codes 4 Life visits Tennant Creek

Codes 4 Life host­ed a work­shop in Ten­nant Creek dur­ing the last week of May fea­tur­ing 21 par­tic­i­pants, and three Elders of the Alyaw­erre, Warlpiri and War­ra­munga peo­ple. It was facil­i­tat­ed by Pro­gram Man­ag­er Michael Lid­dle, with the sup­port of Co-Facil­i­ta­tor Mar­tin Hagan.

The work­shop addressed impor­tant themes such as domes­tic and fam­i­ly vio­lence, and respon­si­bil­i­ty to one’s children.

The ses­sion explored under­stand­ing the pur­pose behind becom­ing fathers, and prompt­ed think­ing about why it’s impor­tant to be a good father. Michael addressed the group say­ing, ​“The only way to be a good father is to make sure we are a part of our children’s upbring­ing, and some­thing tells me that you men have not been doing that. Right now, we need to improve in this area.”

Above all, the ses­sion focused on the iden­ti­ty behind being an Abo­rig­i­nal man.

Michael urged dis­course on walk­ing the straight line. He said, ​“We spoke about the two laws: white­fel­la law and black­fel­la law. Peo­ple under­stood the pur­pose of try­ing to stay on the right track, and acknowl­edged the noise and dis­trac­tions pre­vent­ing them from under­stand­ing and learn­ing about their law.”

NT Police attend­ed the work­shop as guest speak­ers and prompt­ed open dia­logue between par­tic­i­pants. The group con­sid­ered the impact of alco­hol and sub­stance abuse on the com­mu­ni­ty and front­line respon­ders, as well as the path to becom­ing an Abo­rig­i­nal Com­mu­ni­ty Police Offi­cer (ACPO).

Response to the work­shop was high­ly pos­i­tive, with one client stat­ing that he ​“always feel(s) real­ly, real­ly hap­py and real­ly, real­ly good” when he comes to a Codes 4 Life work­shop. Anoth­er enquired about work­ing with the Codes 4 Life team to become a bet­ter ver­sion of him­self and help­ing oth­ers do the same.

DKA and Codes 4 Life acknowl­edge Vic­tims of Crime NT for their sup­port towards this work­shop and the program.