Open letter to The Hon. Mal Brough MP
Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Minister Brough

The undersigned organisations write this joint and open letter in order to convey our views on action required to stop the abuse of children in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, and our concerns about aspects of the Australian Government’s response to this problem as outlined in your statement of 21 June 2007.

The safety and well-being of Indigenous children is paramount. We welcome your commitment to tackling violence and abuse in certain Indigenous communities. We are deeply concerned at the severity and widespread nature of the problems of child sexual abuse and community breakdown in Indigenous communities in the NT, catalogued in the Little Children are Sacred Report.

We wish to work collaboratively with Governments and the communities affected to ensure that children are protected. We would like to see greater investment in the services that support Indigenous families and communities, the active involvement of these communities in finding solutions to these problems and greater Federal Government engagement in delivering basic health, housing and education services to remote communities.

There is general agreement among the communities affected, Governments and service providers and in the wider Australian community that urgent action is required to address the abuse and neglect of children and to assist those affected by it.

We note that the services which most Australians take for granted are often not delivered to remote Indigenous communities, including adequately resourced schools, health services, child protection and family support services, as well as police who are trained to deal with domestic violence in the communities affected. We endorse the call in the Little Children are Sacred Report for the Australian and Territory Governments to work together urgently to fill these gaps in services.

There is also a need for a longer term plan to address the underlying causes of the problem, including community breakdown, joblessness, overcrowding and low levels of education.

Successfully tackling these problems requires sustainable solutions, which must be worked out with the communities, not prescribed from Canberra.

We are committed to working with the Government to ensure that in developing and introducing the proposed measures, support is provided to Indigenous communities’ efforts to resolve these problems. The proposals go well beyond an ‘emergency response’, and will have profound effects on people’s incomes, land ownership, and their ability to decide the kind of medical treatment they receive. Some of the measures will weaken communities and families by taking from them the ability to make basic decisions about their lives, thus removing responsibility instead of empowering them.

In their present form the proposals miss the mark and are unlikely to be effective. There is an over-reliance on top-down and punitive measures, and insufficient indication that additional resources will be mobilised where they are urgently needed; to improve housing, child protection and domestic violence supports, schools, health services, alcohol and drug rehab programs. These issues have been raised by many Indigenous leaders over many years.

We offer our support to Indigenous communities and the Government in:

• developing programs that will strengthen families and communities to empower them to confront the problems they face;
• consulting adequately with the communities and NT Government, and community service, health and education providers;
• developing a long term plan to address and resolve the causes of child abuse including joblessness, poor housing, education and commit the necessary resources to this.

Yours sincerely

Mick Dodson

Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser and Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue
Co-Chairs, Sorry Day Alliance

Stan Grant and Tracey Holmes

Mary Buckskin
Aboriginal Health Council of Australia

Darryl Kickett
Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia

Bernie Dwyer
Amity Community Services

David Evans
Amoonguna Health Service

Alice Springs Urban Housing

Jeff Warner & Barbara Shaw
Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation

Arrernte Council

Gary Highland
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR)

Mark Wenitong
Australian Indigenous Doctors Association

Michael Green
Bahtabah Local Aboriginal Land Council

Abdul Khan
Central Australian Aboriginal Alcohol Program Unit (CAAAPU)

Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service

Central Australian Aboriginal Congress

Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association

Central Australian Stolen Generations & Families Aboriginal Corporation

Central Land Council

Andrea Rabone
Council for Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services

Regina Bennett
Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women's Shelter

Caitlin Perry
Darwin Community Legal Service Inc

Susan Crane
Dawn House Inc

Cherrie McLennan
Danila Dilba Health Service

Lester Adams
Darumbal Community Youth Service Inc

Anita O’Callaghan
Foster Care NT

Footprints Forward

Ingkerreke Outstations Resource Services.

Neville Perkins
Institute for Aboriginal Development, Alice Springs

Pat Brahim
Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation

Larissa Behrendt
Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning

David Scholz
Kakadu Health Service

Barbara Quirk
Katherine Crisis Accommodation and Support Program

Sean Heffernan
Katherine West Aboriginal Health Board

Barayuwa Mununggurr
Laynhapuy Homelands Association

Lhere Artepe

Brooke Whitaker
Local Community Services Association

Reggie Wundjal
Malabam Health Board

Laurencia Grant
Mental Association of Central Australia

Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation

Dea Thiele
National Aboriginal Controlled Health Organisation (NACHO)

National Indigenous Youth Movement of Australia

National Indigenous Television Ltd

Priscilla Collins
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency

Toni Vine Bromley
Northern Territory Shelter

Caitlin Perry
NT Association of Community Legal Centres Inc

Jeff Hulcombe
Pintupi Homelands Health Service

Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council

Muriel Bamblett
SNAICC

Walter Shaw
Tangentyere Council

Revd Sealin Garlett
Uniting Aboriginal & Islander Christian Congress

Muriel Bamblett
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA)

Jill Gallagher
Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO)

Frank E. Guivarra
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service

Sharijn King
Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Association

Andrew Johnson, Lin Hatfield Dodds & Olga Havnen
ACOSS

Ara Cresswell
ACT Council of Social Service

Licia Kokocinski
Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities Inc

Ray Cleary
Anglicare Australia

Anglicare Central Queensland Ltd

Karine Sheelshear
Association to Resource Cooperative Housing, Sydney

Don Baxter
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations

Gordon Melsom
Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations

Deane Welsh
Australian Institute of Welfare and Community Workers

Simeon Beckett
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights

Gerardine (Ged) Kearney
Australian Nursing Federation

Rev Ron Benson
Baptist Union of NSW

Sandie de Wolf
Berry Street Victoria

Canberra Rape Crisis Centre

Jack de Groot
Caritas Australia

Central Australian Remote Health Development Services (CARHDS)

Tony Pietropiccolo
CentreCare Western Australia

Coleen Clare
Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare

Community Child Care Association Victoria

Keith Lyons
Congregational Federation of Australia and Aotearoa

Mary Bergin
Council of Australian Humanist Societies

Sue Hendy
Council of the Ageing Victoria

Nicole Lawder
Deafness Forum of Australia

Tim Woodruff
Doctors Reform Society

Fiona McCormack
Domestic Violence Victoria

Tony O’Hare
Family Services Australia

Helen Egan
General Practice and Primary Health Care NT

Good Shepherd Australia

Good Shepherd Social Justice Network

Good Shepherd Youth and Family Service

Jeff McMullen
Ian Thorpe’s Fountain for Youth

Julie Edwards
Jesuit Social Services

David Thomspson
Jobs Australia

Brett Collings
Justice Action

Meredith Carter
Kindergarten Parents Victoria

Paul Linossier
MacKillop Family Services

Micah Projects

Barbara Romeril
National Association of Community Based Children's Services (NACBCS)

Elizabeth O’Brien
National Association of Community Legal Centres

The Revd John Henderson
National Council of Churches in Australia

Richard Menteith AOM
National Council of Churches of Christ in Australia

Elspeth McInnes
National Council of Single Mothers and their Children

Dr John Wakerman
National Rural Health Alliance

Adrian Pisarski
National Shelter

Kate Beamount
National Welfare Rights Network

Geoff Scott
New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council

Stephen Banks
NSW Council of Civil Liberties

Wendy Morton
Northern Territory Council of Social Service

Andrew Hewett
Oxfam Australia

Alastair McEwin
People with Disabilities Australia

Michael Cassar
Psychiatric Disability Services of Victoria (Vicserv)

Public Health Association of Australia

Jill Lang
Queensland Council of Social Service

Rhonda Lawson Street
Relationships Australia

David Pugh
St Luke’s Anglicare

Alex Huntir
St Michaels Association Inc

Barbara Hocking
SANE Australia

Mary Perkins
Shelter NSW

Karen Grogan
South Australian Council of Social Service

Mary-Anne Johnson
Tasmanian Catholic Justice and Peace Commission

Tom Muller
Tasmanian Council of Social Service

Lyn Larkin
Uniting Care Australia

Rev. Gregor Henderson
Uniting Church in Australia

Rev Allan Thompson
Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia

Robert Watson
Uniting Church – WA Synod

Anne Cross
UnitingCare Queensland

Rev Raoul Spackman-Williams
Uniting Care Victoria and Tasmania

Carolyn Aitkins
Victorian Council of Social Service

Judy Leitch
Wesley Mission

Deb Bryant
West Centre Against Sexual Assault

Lisa Baker
Western Australian Council of Social Service

Marilyn Beaumont
Women’s Health Victoria

Carolyn Frohmander
Women With Disabilities Australia

Siyavash Doostkhah
Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ)

Manja Visschedijk
YWCA of Canberra

Marianne McLaughlin

Dr Maria Harries

Paul Watson

Stephen Hall

James McDougall

Helen Bishop

Dr Bob Lonne

Dr Keely Macarow

Jessie Wells
OxfamUQ - Oxfam Australia at the University of Queensland

Margaret-Anne Martin

Marlysse Medina
Addison Road Action Group

Meredith Hunter
Youth Coalition of the ACT

Suzie Miller
Youth and Childrens Rights Lawyer

John and Trish Highfield

Andrew Hall

Kevin Dance
Passionists International

Suzette Mitchell
International Women's Development Agency

Sarah Maddison
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales

Tarni Wilson
Disability SA

Merrindahl Andrew

Ms Terry Dunbar

Assoc. Prof Indigenous Research and Ethics Charles Darwin University

Jan Anderson
Central Coast Reconciliation Group NSW

Marie Butcher
NSW Mercy Aboriginal network

Anne Kellas
The Write Stuff

Andrew Fernandez

Julianne Beel

Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis O.A.M.

Patrick Devlin

Lesley Goldacre

Christina Mc.Glynn

Jean Cameron
Women's Domestic Violence Crisis Service of Victoria

Steve Bradbury
TEAR Australia

Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds Consulting

Nicole Leggett
Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services

Michael Brull

Teena Forrest-Benavides
Wongatha Management Business Services

Dr. Katie Thomas
Curtin University

Melissa Lewis

Ruth Harvey

Dr Mahala Buckley

Hrimnir Benediktsson

Nerida White
Central Coast Reconciliation Group NSW

james houston
leonora aboriginal corporation

Katie Pearce

Louise Snowdon

Michelle Tolson
Anglicare WA

Astrid Reinke
Eora College

Rusli Fikri

Simone Sloan

Maura Hopkins

Liz Rothe
NSW Mercy Aboriginal Network

Lorraine Bridger

Oishee Alam
UTS Womyn's Action Collective

Kathryn Russell

kevin hardwick

Dr Katja Mikhailovich
University of Canberra

Melissa Lovell

Bora Kanra
Australian National University

Peter Lewis

Sue Lovell

Frances Duffy

Philip Minchin

Loki Carbis

Bob Maguire

Marian Dalton
La Trobe University Pagan Awareness Network

David Hollingworth

Heather Walker

Kathy Andison

Samantha Smith

Keith Ealanta

Catherine McLean

Jessie Cran

Andrew McLean

hilda buckley & helen bennett
Port Phillip Citizens for Reconciliation

James D Pashley

Liz O'Brien
National Association of Community Legal Centres

Celestine Pooley
Sisters of Mercy, North Sydney

Felicity Mkhize
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency

Kate Bonnor

Frennie Beytagh
MOSMAN RECONCILIATION

Redfern Residents for Reconciliation

Fiona McAllan
Macquarie University

rachel routley
UNSW

James Marshall

Daniel Tout

Graham and Monique Bond
ANTaR Qld Association Inc

Gail Willett

Laurelle Keough

Russell Fletcher

Dr Lara Hopkins

Angus Sampson

M.C. Dechant

Francis Greenslade

Tom Healey

Yanthe McIntyre

Joseph Kennedy
Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union

Bronwyn Lin
The Barefoot Doctors

Devon LaSalle

Margaret & Michael Waddington

Andrea Meacham

Angela Kyriakopoulos

WAYNE CARROLL

Dr Alan Outhred

Deb Holloman

Dianne Lucas

Alexandra Campbell
amnesty student group

Colleen Keenan

Joy Smith

Susanne Provis

Pamela Meredith

Jack Frawley

Justin Ferby

Alexandra Burgess

mark mcalpine

Greg Thomas

Ian Westbrook

Susan McDonald

trish cerminara
Woomera Aboriginal Ccrporation

Peter Sutherland & Jenny Gall
SoftLaw Community Projects

Michelle Krauer
Krauer Plastering

Cathie Egan

Kathryn Baker

judith martich-osterman

Karen Lee

Annie Stanton

Peter Hall

Joanna Lathan

Julie Spies & John Butcher

Csaba Kézér

Jacqueline Phillips
ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS)

Roselene Best
Sisters Inside Inc.

Mr Joe Mithiran