On 21 June last year the then-Prime Minister, John Howard and Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough announced the Federal Government was seizing control of 60 remote Aboriginal communities in an attempt to overcome child abuse in the Northern Territory.
So dramatic was the Federal Government's intervention, that it prompted the Weekend Australian's Nicholas Rothwell to say that it ranks with the referendum of 1967, or the passage of land rights in the NT, as a turning point in Australian history.
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) agrees with the Prime Minister that child abuse in Aboriginal communities is a national emergency requiring urgent action from Government. All fair minded Australians would hope that the Government's intervention succeeds in overcoming this problem.
However, ANTaR is concerned that unless changes are made to the Government's approach, its attempt to stop child abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities will fail. We are worried that some of the measures being proposed will in fact add to the suffering of Indigenous children rather than overcome it.
For a range of perspectives on the Federal Government's intervention, including the Prime Minister's speech to the Sydney Institute, go to All Things Considered.
Little Children are Sacred
The Government has justified its actions on the basis of the Little Children are Sacred report, commissioned by the Northern Territory Government and written by former Northern Territory Director of Public Prosecutions, Rex Wild QC and senior Aboriginal health worker, Pat Anderson.
Little Children are Sacred found that the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the NT is serious, widespread and often unreported; Aboriginal people are not the only victims and not the only perpetrators of sexual abuse; and most Aboriginal people are willing and committed to solving problems and helping their children.
According to the Inquiry, sexual abuse of Aboriginal children is happening largely because of the breakdown of Aboriginal culture and society and the combined effects of poor health, alcohol and drug abuse, unemployment, gambling, pornography, as well as poor education and housing. Of these factors, the Inquiry considered that alcohol remains the gravest and fastest growing threat to the safety of Aboriginal children.
The Inquiry made 97 recommendations. These include action to: improve school attendance; provide education campaigns on child sexual abuse and how to stop it; reduce alcohol consumption in Aboriginal communities; build greater trust between Government departments, the police and Aboriginal communities; strengthen family support services; empower Aboriginal communities to take more control and make decisions about the future; and appoint a senior, independent person who can focus on the interests and wellbeing of children and young people, review issues and report to Parliament.
Although the Federal Government said Little Children are Sacred had prompted its actions, the emergency measures announced by the Prime Minister do not reflect the recommendations of the report.
ANTaR is particularly concerned with the following aspects of the Federal Government response:
Compulsory health checks for all Aboriginal children to examine for signs of abuse. Following criticisms by ANTaR and a range of other organisations that these checks could add to the trauma of children, the government changed its approach to make the health checks voluntary and comprehensive rather than forensic. We hope this is a sign that the Government is prepared to amend other elements of its response that are unlikely to succeed in stopping abuse.
Banning alcohol in affected communities for 6 months. Nearly all Territory Aboriginal communities have been 'dry' for some years. However, this has not prevented the availability of alcohol from towns surrounding the communities or the illicit trade in 'grog running.' Unless these sources are also tackled, a ban is unlikely to be effective. Any ban would also need to be accompanied by rehabilitation services for people coming off alcohol and other substances.
The Federal Government to acquire five year leases over townships, resume leases on town camps and appoint administrators to manage all government programs. This risks undermining the local Aboriginal leadership and initiative essential to overcoming the problem. It also threatens to weaken the capacity of communities to deal with abuse and its causes. The Government has yet to provide any evidence demonstrating how changing land tenure arrangements will help overcome child abuse.
Quarantining welfare payments of all Aboriginal people from the communities who are long term social security recipients. Although the Minister says this is inspired by the Cape York Welfare Reform Project, the two approaches differ markedly. While the Northern Territory proposal is a blanket one, the Cape York program only targets those communities that have agreed to participate and those parents who have neglected children. The Cape York program depends on the involvement of respected Aboriginal community representatives to determine whether welfare payments should be quarantined. This Aboriginal leadership is missing from the NT approach. The Cape York Project is also in its infancy and a proposed trial in four communities has not yet commenced. No evidence is yet available to determine its level of success or whether its introduction will lead to unintended consequences. ANTaR does not believe changes to welfare payments should be extended to other areas before a proper evaluation of the Cape York Project has taken place. Find out more about the Cape York Project.
Scrapping the permit system for access to townships, main roads and airstrips on Aboriginal lands. The Government has not provided any evidence to support its claims that scrapping the permit system will help overcome child abuse. In fact, Australia's leading expert on child abuse in Aboriginal communities, Professor Judy Atkinson considers that scrapping the permit system may actually increase the risk of child abuse by restricting the ability of communities to remove suspected pedophiles from Aboriginal land. Fears have also been expressed that removing the permit system will make communities more vulnerable to grog running.
An Alternative Approach
The Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory have released an alternative Emergency Response and Development Plan to protect Aboriginal children.
The plan is a comprehensive approach that gives priority to protection from immediate physical or emotional harm but also addresses underlying issues including housing, health care and education.
Unlike the current Government approach the Combined Aboriginal Organisations' plan builds on the recommendations of the Little Children are Sacred report and programs that are already working in Aboriginal communities. It adopts a partnership approach between Government and Aboriginal people and would strengthen the governance and capacity of Aboriginal communities.
It envisages the creation of a national lead agency to implement the plan and an independent monitoring and evaluation body to report on progress.
There are 68 actions in the plan ranging from developing an emergency response in conjunction with Aboriginal community representatives, boosting child protection services, proper training of a permanent police presence in communities, tackling alcohol take away sales and buyback of existing hotel licenses and improved schooling strategies to trauma counseling for victims of abuse.
ANTaR considers that this plan has a far greater chance of success than the current Government approach. We urge the Federal Government and Opposition to adopt the plan in a bipartisan manner.
