Media monitoring of NT Intervention by Working Group for Aboriginal Rights
WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
15 JUNE 2008: NORTHERN TERRITORY INTERVENTION
Contents:
Grassroots Research re NT Intervention
Media Releases
Opinion
News
GRASSROOTS RESEARCH Re NT INTERVENTION:
Submission of Darwin Aboriginal Rights Coalition to Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities
http://www.aph.gov.au/SENATE/committee/indig_ctte/submissions/sub05.pdf
30 May 08: "Summary:
It is evident to DARC that there is not widespread support for the Intervention changes. There is widespread support for improved and increased services and infrastructure. However these must be based on evidenced-based effective community development strategies, proper consultation and a philosophy of self-determination, not via imposed, racially discriminatory policies such as the Intervention.
Section One will outline the results and analysis of surveys relating to Income Management that were conducted with affected Aboriginal individuals. Overall, the vast majority of respondents disliked the Intervention changes, and reported significant difficulties with the Income Management system. ...
Numerous conversations and meetings were held with organizations and community associations as well as affected individuals across the Top End regarding the broader Intervention changes. Section Two is a discussion of the main concerns repeatedly raised, and will cover the following in more detail:
* Fear of making complaints due to fear of losing funding for infrastructure, housing, health etc;
* The Intervention has not addressed child sexual abuse or safety;
* Suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act and ongoing consequences of disempowerment, negative stereotyping and increased racism;
* Increase in urban drift and destabilisation of town communities;
* Lack of appropriate, evidence-based, community controlled support programs for people with drug and alcohol issues or victims/perpetrators of abuse in the enabling legislation
* Defunding and destruction of pre-existing programs;
* Ongoing lack of consultation;
* Efficiency and effectiveness of programs and funding allocations, specifically regarding governance and health (for example, child health checks);
* Further concerns regarding Income Management, for example lack of right of appeal to Centrelink and adverse effects on community stores;
* Lack of information to affected communities regarding implications of compulsory 5-year land leases. ... "
Central Land Council:
From the Grassroots: Feedback from Traditional Landowners and Community Members on the Australian Government Intervention: An initial briefing paper
http://www.clc.org.au/media/From_the_Grassroots_Briefing.pdf
19 Dec 07: "In the months since the intervention was introduced, the Director and Chairman of the Central Land Council (CLC) have begun a 'listening tour' around communities to discuss aspects of the intervention with community members. ... Overall, most Aboriginal people from remote communities are supportive of steps being taken to address child abuse in remote communities ... They also remain broadly supportive of efforts to increase policing in remote communities (although many communities have not received additional policing) and strongly supportive of the allocation of much needed housing resources.
However, most Aboriginal people who participated in consultations with the CLC remain opposed to many other intervention measures including: five year leases, changes to the permits system, welfare reform measures and the current changes to the operation of the Community Development Employment Project Scheme (CDEP). This opposition is clear but it may be, in part, due to the process followed in rolling out the intervention.
Aboriginal people remain overwhelmingly opposed to the process ... This largely stems from the lack of consultation around the intervention, and the lack of accurate information provided to people around the intervention measures."
MEDIA RELEASES:
MR: Community Review One Year After Intervention Announced - on June 21
http://womenforwik.freeforums.org/community-review-one-year-after-intervention-announced-t42.html#91
11 June 08: "One year after the previous federal government announced the Northern Territory Emergency Response, there will be a national day of action on June 21 in cities across the country. Rallies have been organized for Alice Springs, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Townsville, Wollongong, Adelaide, Perth, and Darwin. [and Canberra]“ The current federal government has continued to ignore the feedback from people on the ground affected by this intervention”, said Marlene Hodder, a spokesperson for the Alice Springs Intervention Rollback Working Group, “So we have decided to organize our own community review.” "
OPINION:
GLW: Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/755/39008
14 June 08: "The paternalistic Northern Territory intervention, started up under the Howard Coalition government, and continued by the Rudd Labor government, has reignited the push for Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs. ... The NT intervention has interrupted funding to Aboriginal community organisations and led to the commandeering of valuable resources and infrastructure. Although the government is now proposing to reinstate CDEP, this will not always be possible without the re-establishment of many Aboriginal organisations which have been shaken or destroyed under the earthquake of the NT intervention. These are yet more reasons to resist the government’s attempts to extend the racist and paternalistic intervention into other states." Pat Eatock
GLW: Northern Territory intervention: myths and facts
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/755/39009
14 June 08: "The minister for Indigenous affairs, Jenny Macklin, announced a review committee on June 6 for the federal intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. ... While around the country Indigenous activists and their supporters call for an immediate end to the intervention, the review will not consider whether it was right or wrong in the first place. ... Green Left Weekly looks at four myths about the intervention. This intervention is about saving children from sexual assault ... The intervention has improved services in remote Aboriginal communities ... The welfare quarantine is helping communities ... The permit system hides abuse" Peter Robson
NEWS:
ABC: NT intervention sparks 'new arrogance' in police
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/14/2274717.htm
15 June 08: "Thousands protested against the Commonwealth intervention at a rally in Canberra in February. The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) says there has been an increase in racial discrimination in communities since the Commonwealth Intervention was launched last year."
ABC: Qld 'should consider' NT-style intervention
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/14/2274678.htm
15 June 08: "A Queensland child rights advocacy group says it would support a Northern Territory-style intervention in Cape York."
ABC: Elderly 'without food' after pension cheques delayed
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/13/2274493.htm
15 June 08: "A store manager in the Northern Territory Aboriginal community of Yuendumu says more than 100 people will go the weekend without food because their pension cheques have not arrived in the mail. ... A Centrelink spokeswoman says the cheques did not arrive in the community because the delivery plane was delayed and says the issue is being investigated."
news.com.au: AMA opts out of intervention
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23864188-421,00.html?from=public_rss
14 June 08: "AUSTRALIA'S peak doctors' group will drop out of the Northern Territory intervention and has blasted the Federal Government for relying on altruism to prop up the initiative."
ABC: Horticulture projects at standstill following NT intervention
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200806/s2273717.htm
13 June 08: "There's a concern that horticultural plots in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities have come to a standstill under the Federal Government's intervention. Many schemes around Central Australia are underpinned by Community Development Employment Programs, known as CDEP or work-for-the-dole, which was removed under the intervention almost a year ago."
ABC: Burns not convinced by intervention
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/13/2273496.htm
13 June 08: "Northern Territory Attorney-General Chris Burns says he has mixed feelings about the impact of the federal intervention. ... he says in some ways the emergency response has missed the mark. He says the urban drift from remote communities into towns like Alice Springs has been detrimental."
Sydney Indymedia: Black Friday at Yuendumu, NT - Elderly without food and electricity-no cheques arrived
13 June 08: "Yuendumu community 270 Kms NW of Alice Springs has publically opposed the imposition of the NT Intervention and the take over of their community store. Now over 200 elderly members of the Yuendumu are without food and electricity for at least four days."
NIT: Aboriginal elders without food or power
http://www.nit.com.au/story.aspx?id=15164
13 June 08: "Elderly residents from a remote Aboriginal community have no money for food or electricity because their pension cheques failed to arrive in the mail, a local store worker says. ... Ms Thomas said it was not the first time pension cheques had failed to arrive in Yuendumu and she believed it was probably a Centrelink "slip-up" that was unrelated to the federal intervention."
NIT: The NT intervention's first year
http://www.nit.com.au/news/story.aspx?id=15161
13 June 08: "A lot has changed since the previous Howard government launched its dramatic and controversial intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities one year ago."
Age: Intervention slammed as police persecution
12 June 08: "SOME Aborigines have been subjected to extreme and discriminatory police powers as a result of the Commonwealth's intervention in the Northern Territory, say two legal aid groups. ... The Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency say the police response has been heavy handed. ... The legal aid organisations fear that incarceration rates of Aborigines in the Northern Territory — where 82% of the prison population is Aboriginal — could increase as a result of the intervention."
ABC: NLC getting mixed responses in review of intervention
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/11/2271316.htm
11 June 08: "The Northern Land Council is running a fresh round of consultation as part of the Rudd Government's 12 month review of the Northern Territory intervention. ... Kim Hill, the new chief executive of the Northern Land Council, says Aborigines are strongly supportive of some aspects of the Northern Territory intervention, but are also strongly opposed to others. ... "(As to) the acquisition of our communities, I think it is pretty obvious that people are quite upset. The traditional owners are quite upset." "
ABC: Taskforce chief says NT intervention working
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/11/2270944.htm
11 June 08: "The head of the Federal Government's Northern Territory Emergency Response Task Force says the intervention is making women and children feel safer and improving the education and health of Aboriginal communities."
SMH: Intervention changing women's lives
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/intervention-changing-womens-lives/2008/06/10/1212863646317.html
11 June 08: "FOUR days after the Government launched its promised 12-month review of the Northern Territory intervention, the program's chairwoman has declared the radical measures a popular success, especially with women in the Territory's indigenous communities."
NZ Herald: Sorry over Aborigines too easy: academic
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10515391&ref=facebook
10 June 08: "Saying sorry makes it easier for Australia to forget about their Government's Northern Territory military intervention, a visiting academic says. And indigenous people who question Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's continuing the previous Administration's policy which aimed to deal with widespread sexual abuse of children in Aboriginal communities are increasingly being "demonised", Dr Irene Watson believes."
ABC: Intervention credited as Alice murder rate plummets
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/10/2269539.htm
10 June 08: "Police say alcohol restrictions and the Commonwealth intervention in Aboriginal communities are responsible for a dramatic fall in murders in Alice Springs."
Australian: Tony Abbott slams review of Territory intervention
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23838835-5013172,00.html
10 June 08: "LABOR's review of the Northern Territory intervention is being held too early and will give the Government the excuses it is looking for to wind it back."
SMH: Intervention has missed mark: NT govt
http://news.smh.com.au/national/intervention-has-missed-mark-nt-govt-20080609-2nsk.html
9 June 08: "The Northern Territory government will tell those reviewing the Howard government's intervention into Aboriginal communities that scrapping permits and $100 grog caps have nothing to do with the protection of children."
ABC: Report assesses NT intervention, 1 year on
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2267734.htm
6 June 08: "As the first anniversary approaches, the journalist Paul Toohey of The Australian has written a piece in the Quarterly Essay series which says that the intervention is already effectively over. In a hard hitting series of personal stories he outlines reasons why he thinks some kind of action was necessary, but also describes ways in which the actual intervention was flawed."
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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
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