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pages 46-47). The police presence increases the reluctance of Indigenous people to attendmeetings and contributes to a non-communicative atmosphere for those Aboriginal youthwho do attend (WA Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council submission 343, Exhibit 1 page44; see also Crime Research Centre 1995 page 28). The process may degenerate intofurther stigmatising of Indigenous young people and their families.The problem is accentuated if conferencing supplants other social justice and crimeprevention strategies. White (1991) noted that blaming parents for juvenile offending hasdeveloped a particular currency which serves to displace other structural explanations ofjuvenile crime such as poverty, unemployment and racism.The ‘criminalisation of inadequate parenting’ has particular significance forIndigenous families. Welfare intervention during the assimilationist period was partiallyjustified by pathologising Indigenous family structures and parenting styles. Indigenouschildren were removed because Indigenous families could not provide a ‘proper’ homeenvironment on welfare grounds. The same type of ‘blaming’ Indigenous families couldresult in future interventions and removals.The available theoretical, observational and empirical evidence strongly suggeststhat family group conferencing as currently administered, far from being a panacea foroffending by Indigenous young people, is likely to lead to harsher outcomes. It is a modelthat, by and large, has been imposed on Indigenous communities without consideration ofIndigenous cultural values and without consideration of how communities might wish todevelop their own Indigenous approaches to the issue. Even in new proposals forconferencing such as those in NSW and Tasmania where the police role in referral issomewhat circumscribed, there is no provision for Indigenous organisations andcommunities to make decisions about whether their children would be best served byattending a conference. The best provision among the new proposals requires only that anelder or other community representative be invited to a conference involving anIndigenous young person. 12In submissions to the Inquiry some governments identified this problem. Noneoffered an appropriate solution.The organisation, systems and delivery of service have evolved from non-Aboriginalframeworks, and are based on a Western system of thought, culture and values that is verydifferent to Aboriginal traditions and culture. Aboriginal people are, therefore, inevitablyalienated to some degree from the systems and structures that exist to provide them with services(SA Government interim submission page 42).The solution proposed by the SA Government is essentially one of greaterAboriginal involvement in service delivery – in making the existing framework of lawsand policies culturally appropriate. ‘The development of culturally appropriate models ofservice delivery, and fostering the self-determination of Aboriginal people, is an ongoingchallenge’ (interim submission page 42). Yet the solutions proposed aim in essence tomake the existing non-Indigenous system ‘work’ for Aboriginal people. 13