Should he become Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd would need to sit down with critics of the Northern Territory intervention if he’s to have any hope of stamping out child abuse in Aboriginal communities, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) said today.

ANTaR National Director, Gary Highland said it was ill informed of Mr Rudd to suggest that critics of the intervention were “political purists” and not concerned with results.

"Contrary to what Mr Rudd would have us believe, much of the criticism of the intervention has come from Aboriginal leaders with demonstrated track records in successfully tackling abuse and violence," Mr Highland said.

"Ironically, the angry rebuke that Mr Rudd gave to Territory Minister, Marion Scrymgour over her opposition to the intervention confirms her comments about the ‘new McCarthyism’ that has characterised this debate."

Mr Highland said that if the nation was to successfully protect Aboriginal children, political leaders would need to rise above their simplistic and divisive claims that anyone who dares question the intervention is in denial of, or worse, an apologist for, child abuse.

"It may not suit Mr Rudd's pre-election spin, but there are legitimate questions about the intervention that will need to be answered if children are to be adequately protected," he said.

These questions include:

• Why hasn't the intervention so far included the additional child protection workers and services so essential to ensuring long term success?
• Would the $88 million spent over one year on blanket welfare quarantining be better targeted towards specifically targeting victims and offenders of abuse rather than the whole community?
• Would expansion of the voluntary Centrepay system be better way of improving financial management than removing any personal responsibility by blanket welfare quarantining?
• Why is removing the permit system part of the intervention, when leading experts on child abuse in Aboriginal communities and the police consider that this will make it harder to crack down on child abuse and grog running?

"Mr Rudd is fond of quoting Little Children are Sacred, but even a cursory reading of this report would show him that the current intervention is sharply at odds with its recommendations," Mr Highland said.

"Mr Rudd will need to grapple with these issues if he becomes Prime Minister. He will also need to draw on the expertise of many of the intervention's critics if his government is to ensure a child centred, evidence based approach to overcoming abuse and violence," Mr Highland said.

ANTaR has worked extensively to support Aboriginal people who are overcoming violence and child abuse. In 2006 it organized a forum in Parliament House, Canberra bringing Aboriginal leaders who have successfully tackled abuse and violence together with politicians and public servants to discuss strategies to overcome these problems. ANTaR is currently campaigning to urge the NSW Government to properly fund its response to the abuse of Aboriginal children in that state. Its Success Stories in Indigenous Health booklet released earlier this year also profiles a number of successful programs that are tackling child abuse and its effects.

Media contact: Gary Highland on 0418 476 940