The miraculous survival of German backpacker Carolina Wilga in the West Australian outback was met with joy and relief across the country. But for families of missing Aboriginal men who are still searching for answers, it’s prompted uncomfortable questions.
“It sounds cruel to say, but when an Aboriginal male goes missing, most of the public don’t care,” says private investigator Robyn Cottman, who is representing the families of the missing men.
Clinton Lockyer’s aunty, Annalee Lockyer, says the perceived indifference adds to their grief.
“Of course we’re all glad the backpacker is alive, but it did hurt to see all the coverage,” she says.
“You think, does anyone care about our boys the same way? It’s not nice to feel like their lives don’t even matter — it really hurts.”
Blame the media, I didn’t even know they were missing and I live in Perth.
I’m not sure the comparison with a missing tourist is the right one to make in this case. The German backpacker scenario appeals more to us because we feel like we have a responsibility as locals to look after this person who has come to our country as a guest and has run into trouble. I hope that people in other countries feel similarly about Australians in their countries too.
But I definitely agree that there is obvious negative bias against Indigenous and non-white men if we are comparing the way their cases are handled and covered (or not) compared to those of other missing Australians here.
If a young Aboriginal man was driving around Germany in the wilderness and got lost, I’m extremely sure that the authorities would conduct a search to find him.
I imagine that the number of missing persons in Germany is a pretty sizable figure. They don’t conduct a search for all of those people.
And if a young Turkish man went missing?
Well, a young American dude went missing in the desert in WA in the 90’s and that had wall-to-wall coverage in the news for weeks until he was found also.
I think @DiaDeLosMuertos is right - the driving factor in the interest was that he was a tourist, not that he was any particular nationality/gender. So yes: I think a young Turkish bloke going missing would get just as much coverage.
Straight to jail…well when they find him.
Why?
Because sexism and racism. Nobody is safer in the world than a white woman, and no one has it worse than a PoC man.
