THE APPALLING BEHAVIOUR OF THE SO-CALLED BALI BOY IS A SYMPTOM OF
MUCH WIDER ISSUE

The appalling behaviour of the so-called Bali Boy, the celebrity drug
user and massage parlour habitue from the NSW Central Coast attracted
the attention of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Therese Rein, the
wife of former prime minister, now Foreign Minister and political
gadfly, Kevin Rudd.

After two months spent in somewhat stressful conditions in Bali,
during which he was comforted by Gillard on the telephone and was
provided with "enormous support" by Ms Rein, he is home with his parents.

In a brief statement to the media delivered at the family's Morisset
Park home near Newcastle, his father said the 14-year-old is
"genuinely sorry and remorseful for his decisions and actions in Bali".

He said there had been previous issues with his son.

"But we believed at that time we had dealt with that and resolved
those issues, so it was a complete shock to us when this happened. We
will be looking forward to working as a family to address his issues,"
he said.

The young fool was caught with 3.6 grams of marijuana that he had
bought from a dealer on popular Kuta Beach and sentenced to two months
prison after being convicted on one count of drug use. Having spent
two months in custody since his October 4 arrest, he was released last
weekend to return to Australia.

His father's words are welcome but parents across the country are
still wondering how the boy came to be in the mess in the first place.

To find out how dysfunction develops in families we can look to the
innovative work of the NSW Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat.

The Auditor-General operates independent of government and cannot be
sacked, nor can he comment on policy or specific cases and events but
his work speaks for itself.

Each year he conducts two types of audits - fiscal audits on the 494
state government operations (ranging from the Wild Dog Destruction
Board to each department) - and a dozen performance audits he has the
discretion to conduct on a social basis.

To determine the subjects for the latter he looks at the questions
asked in parliament, the research conducted by MPs at the State
library, topics which emerge from coverage in newspapers, and requests
from the public.

Each February, the list of possibilities is filtered and a selection
is made, this cannabis abuse, homelessness and reckless driving were
investigated on a discretionary basis but, feeding into the general
social picture were statistics from his fiscal study of the education
department and a common theme emerged. As a society, we are sending
the wrong messages to our children.

Footballers, rock stars, the false celebrities who are famous for
being professionally famous, are the wrong role models for young
people and there is a cost to the public that results from this lack
of strong role models.

In the foreword to his November report on responses to domestic and
family violence, Achterstraat wrote: "As individuals, we often think
that 'other people' are responsible for addressing issues. But I would
suggest that we can all have a part to play in helping build respect
amongst the most vulnerable. We need to provide and support positive
role models in our communities and help others build respect for
themselves and others."

Last week, in his report on the Department of Education and
Communities, he found that 44 per cent of NSW teachers are over 50
years of age. When questioned about this, he pointed to statistics
which showed that in 1986, half the teachers were younger than 35
while now, just 20 per cent are younger than 35.

"Many school children would benefit by having a young teacher as a
role model," he told The Daily Telegraph's Kate Sikora.

"We are in danger at the moment of having the generation of young
school children who think the only young adult role models are film
celebrities, pop stars or football players."

Achterstraat's views parallel findings of research into mentoring
conducted by the Wesley Mission.

The report, Give Kids A Chance: Seeing A Better Future With
Mentoring, said that more than half of all young people have no real
clarity about what they want to do in life.

A third were "hungry" for more adult guidance and support than they
currently receive and between a half and two-thirds of those fortunate
enough to be mentored were positive about their educational
attainments, the quality of their relationships, employment prospects,
anti-social behaviour and had reduced smoking/drinking/drug use.

It seems obvious to many older Australians that there has been active
erosion of the traditional family by those on the Left of politics.

Gillard's spineless reversal of support for the Marriage Act at the
ALP's national conference last weekend and her tacit approval of the
Green-Left push for homosexual marriage is just the latest
manifestation of this corrosion.

The research overwhelmingly shows that dysfunctional children are more
likely to come from dysfunctional families, and while many single
parents beat the odds, and many homosexual couples do, too, research
shows children do stand a better chance of faring well if they are
raised in traditional families.

While teachers should not have to shoulder the responsibility for
providing the role models young people need, it would help if younger
teachers were in the system.

The Auditor-General's reports make it clear that most government
action comes after the fact, after the crime has been committed, after
the family has collapsed, after the child has been absent from school.

And it comes at a cost.

Domestic violence alone soaks up nine per cent of the NSW police force
budget.

We are yet to know what the bill was for the Bali Boy's escapade but
as it managed to distract the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia (who
was struggling to effect a resumption of live cattle exports cancelled
without warning by the Gillard government), and numerous other
high-level officials, right up to the prime minister, it will not be
cheap.

Australians are paying a heavy price for Labor's family policy
failures.