First published in the Sydney Morning Herald

AUSTRALIA'S 43 Catholic bishops have attacked the unequal application of welfare payment restrictions to Aboriginal parents as racially discriminatory and counterproductive.

Cabinet's in-principle support for the plan to link welfare payments to school attendances and children's wellbeing for all Aborigines, but only for those non-indigenous families regarded by authorities as negligent, probably breached Australia's own laws and its international obligations, they said.

The bishops' criticisms form part of a rising tide of opposition to the detail of the Federal Government's emergency plan to crack down on child abuse in the Northern Territory. The Uniting Church, Wesley Mission and the National Council of Churches have also criticised it.

The bishops welcomed the Government's high priority to child abuse, but said much more than a "law and order response" was needed to address the "shameful state of affairs" in Aboriginal communities. Effective solutions could not simply be imposed from above and solutions to child poverty, child abuse and homelessness required long-term and adequate funding.

Any provision of services to address indigenous disadvantage in the same way that it addresses disadvantage in the general population smacked of ethnocentricity and could lead to a form of cultural annihilation or ethnocide.

The Health Minister, Tony Abbott, revealed health checks for indigenous children in the Northern Territory would be voluntary and performed only with the consent of parents or carers.

However, he refused to rule out financial incentives or withholding welfare payments to parents whose children did not undergo the examinations.

Health checks would include a standard physical examination, a full personal and family history and a finger prick test for anaemia and glucose levels, he said.

They would not include examinations for sexual abuse, but tests would be carried out if there were physical signs or the child said they had been abused. The first health care team is expected to enter Aboriginal communities in the Territory next week and all health professionals will undergo police checks before beginning their work.

The president of the Australian Medical Association, Rosanna Capolingua, said more than 600 doctors had volunteered to perform the checks.

The Federal Government seized control of more than 60 remote communities two weeks ago, declaring indigenous child abuse a national emergency.