What's really behind all this Mr Howard?

[ppyenews]

Welcome to ‘Talkback Topic’ – I’m Phillip Pye.

Last week Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough unveiled a task force to implement the Government's new crackdown on child abuse in Aboriginal communities across the Northern Territory. Prime Minister John Howard said extra police officers would be on the ground in Indigenous communities across the Northern Territory within 10 days. New South Wales and Victoria have pledged to commit police officers to the scheme and Mr Howard is urging other states to do the same. He claims that the extra officers will be able to hit the ground running and are to be sworn in as officers of the Northern Territory police force and begin enforcing the State’s laws alongside their Northern Territory colleagues..

Prime Minister John Howard's plan includes bans on pornography and alcohol, and compulsory health checks for all Indigenous children under the age of sixteen years. Health Minister Abbott says health services in remote NT Aboriginal communities are to be permanently improved as a result of the Commonwealth's plan to take control. The Government admits there is a shortage of permanent doctors in rural areas but says it will fly in medical teams to check Aboriginal children for signs of sexual abuse and many other health problems are also expected to be uncovered, however Indigenous Doctors' Association president Dr Mark Wenitong has raised concerns about the plans for compulsory health checks for Indigenous children. Dr Wenitong says doctors will not perform a check-up on any child under the age of sixteen years unless the parent has given consent and that more details of the Government's plans are needed.

The Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) says the Government has to be careful it does not create another Stolen Generation as the crackdown on Aboriginal child abuse gets underway, although a member of the Federal Government's Indigenous task force says removing children from their communities would be a last resort. Residents at Mutitjulu in central Australia say women and children are so terrified about the Government's plans to deploy police and troops to remote parts of the Northern Territory that they are thinking of leaving home, and Elders say the locals are worried the authorities will take their children away. At the end of the day one wonders what on earth John Howard is attempting to achieve. He has succeeded in portraying the majority of Australia’s Aboriginal Community as nothing more than Drug and Alcohol abusers, Paedophiles, and child abusers. This is of course; far from the truth in fact there are a hell of a lot more of such people in Australia’s white community. What’s really behind all this Mr Howard?

I’m Phillip Pye.

[lennie]

PM happy to meet premiers over Indigenous plan
from ABC Online


Mr Howard has agreed to hold talks with Queensland Premier Peter Beattie and the Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin this week.

But Mr Howard still insists there is no need for a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on the issue.

"If any premier wants to see me individually or any chief minister, I'm happy to do so," he said.

"I did incidentally say several days ago I'd talk to Clare Martin and I'm seeing her in Queensland later this week, so my position has always been yes, I'm happy to talk to them individually, but I don't see any need for another COAG meeting."

Mr Howard has also welcomed Queensland's pledge to contribute 10 police officers to his NT plan.

Mr Beattie made the commitment today after Mr Howard agreed to a meeting on Thursday.

The Prime Minister says he would like to see all the states fall in line.

"I hope that those states that thus far have not provided police join Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania in this cooperative Australian effort that is needed to meet this serious problem," he said.


20-year plan received

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough has also defended the intervention plan after confirming Ms Martin sent him a proposed 20-year action plan for Indigenous communities in June last year.

Mr Brough says his reform strategy is necessary to adequately address the problem of child sex abuse straight away.

"A 20-year plan is not going to cut the mustard for the children that are going to get hurt tonight," he said.

"This is a plan that was going to be considered in COAG but I remind you that the Federal Government put $130 million on the table in new money to assist with this issue, this time last year.

"So I would say to the Chief Minister, 'Let us work together to overcome this issue'."

Federal Police, the military, health and Centrelink workers will be rolled out to remote NT communities tomorrow as part of the Commonwealth's plan.

The teams will report back to the Federal Government at the end of the week, before permanent teams are deployed.


Permit system to be scrapped

Mr Brough also says the Government intends to scrap the permit system for 56 NT Aboriginal communities as part of the intervention.

The Minister has identified the communities, which stretch from Croker Island in the north to the Finke community near the South Australian border.

He has also moved to dismiss concerns that the abolition of permits will put communities at greater risk.

"In removing the permit system, it will free up the roads. It will free up the towns that have public facilities currently in them," he said.

"It will not disturb the arrangements which currently are part of traditional lands, of sacred sites and homelands."

[lennie]

Indigenous community casts doubt over child abuse campaign


An outback Aboriginal community in South Australia says it fears the Federal Government's moves to tackle child abuse in Northern Territory communities will result in an increase of sexual and drug abuse.

The Umoona Community Council is located near Coober Pedy in the state's far north.

Councillor George Cooley says the report that sparked the moves makes 97 recommendations, none of which are reflected in the Prime Minister's plan.

"He [Prime Minister John Howard] is not following the sound advice in that report about how to engage with Aboriginal people and the Prime Minister's actions are also making Aboriginal people right across Australia feel like ... we are all criminals and ... generally most of us are loving parents and good community members," he said.

The Mayor of Port Augusta, in SA's north, Joy Baluch says the Federal Government's initiatives will put increased demands on Government agencies in the north of the state.

Mrs Baluch says as pressure increases in the Northern Territory, more people will move to South Australia and bring their problems with them, so the State Government needs to be ready.

"Once the Government does put into effect these measures which the Prime Minister has spoken about and I fully endorse, I believe there will be an exodus from the Northern Territory possibly into the APY [Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara]lands and possibly a flow-on effect into Port Augusta," she said.

[lennie]

Groups offer alternative to Indigenous intervention
from ABC Online


About 50 groups have met at Parliament House to offer an alternative to the NT intervention plan offered by the Govt.
About 50 groups have met at Parliament House in Canberra to discuss the Government's strategy.

Olga Havnen, from the Northern Land Council, says the coalition will recommend the Commonwealth use programs already set up in some communities to address child abuse, school attendance, health and welfare.

Ms Havnen says the interventionist approach that is under way is unlikely to work.

"I'm not entirely confident about where these things are headed," she said.

"They seem to be rolling on with these initiatives to have a rapid assessment, there seems to be a proposal to start in certain communities in central Australia and then expand it.

"Having this enormous attention and the commitment and the resources to do it is probably not a bad idea, but what guarantees do we have that what they're doing is going to work."


Abbott looks to SA

Meanwhile, the federal Health Minister says progress in South Australian Aboriginal communities should help guide the Government's plan to improve Indigenous communities in the NT.

Tony Abbott has just spent two nights in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) communities, examining the progress of a Council of Australian Governments trial.

He says while they are not yet model communities, it is encouraging that petrol sniffing has been almost wiped out, and there is improvement on other fronts.

"In some of the communities, school attendance is up to about 85 per cent, which is still not really good enough, but it's a hell of a lot better than it's been for many, many years," he said.

"I think the mood of the people is much more optimistic than it's been for a long time.

"I think I can report that there is some encouraging progress in the APY country, and I think there are obviously some lessons to be learnt by all agencies for things that we hope might be happening soon in the Northern Territory."

Today, a group of 11 Federal Police (AFP) officers landed in Darwin ready for deployment as part of the Commonwealth's takeover of the NT's remote Indigenous communities.

The officers had been hand-picked for their experience in the world's trouble spots.

The AFP officers flew in on two charter flights from Canberra.

They will be sworn in and face a week of training as NT police officers before they are sent to one of the 56 Indigenous communities affected by the Federal Government's intervention.

Senior Constable Peter Kowal says it is not his first remote deployment to a challenging region.

"I've had two deployments in East Timor previously, and last year I had eight months in Sudan," he said.

Federal Agent Tracey Duck is expecting conditions on a par with Papua New Guinea.

"From the briefing we had I think it would be very similar to the issues we were facing in Port Moresby," she said.

Their first deployment is for 10 weeks.

[lennie]

Aboriginal leaders involved in abuse: Mundine
from ABC Online

Warren Mundine has lashed out at Aboriginal leaders who he says are involved in child abuse.
Mr Mundine made the claim as he slammed critics of the Commonwealth's plan to curb child abuse in the Northern Territory.

Mr Mundine says strong intervention is needed and he is not concerned about an apparent lack of consultation with Aboriginal leaders.

He says some Indigenous leaders speaking out against the plan are protecting their own interests.

"How do you think these people got away with it for years and years and years?" he asked.

"It's because some of these people in the leadership and some of these people in these communities are the perpetrators.

"So they've been protecting their arses for so long now ... we've got to be very mindful of that as well."


Troops on the ground

Meanwhile the Federal Government will be assessing more remote communities in central Australia today as it rolls out the first stage of its intervention.

Yesterday an assessment team made up of Norforce troops, police and public servants visited the Mutitjulu community near Uluru and held a meeting with community members.

Government representatives told those gathered the first step of the plan would be to make Mutitjulu safe.

They said community services would then be rolled out and medical teams would be brought in to provide health checks for children, with Norforce setting up temporary accommodation for any extra people. The team will move onto other communities today.


'Use alcohol taxes'

In other developments, the co-author of the report on Aboriginal child sex abuse in the Northern Territory has suggested Federal alcohol taxes be used to pay for solutions to the problem.

Rex Wild QC has criticised the Federal Government's emergency response, saying it will get the backs of Aboriginal people up because it involves sending in teams of strangers to communities.

He has questioned the need for the generous contributions made by private benefactors to addressing the problems in Aboriginal communities, saying it is a government responsibility.

"The alcohol taxes that are received by the Federal Government amount to something like $6 billion a year," he told ABC TV's Lateline Business program.

"Now they spend a miserly portion of that in education, in alcohol reform programs. Why not give that $6 billion to the problem that we're now addressing?"

[lennie]

Police ministers meeting to tackle Indigenous plan


A meeting of police ministers and the Federal Justice Minister will today discuss the Federal Government's moves to address Indigenous child abuse in the Northern Territory.

The Commonwealth's request for the states to contribute police officers to the child abuse crackdown in the Territory will also be discussed.

It is hoped the presence of Australian Federal Police Officers in Indigenous communities will encourage people to speak out about sexual abuse.

AFP officers who arrived in the territory yesterday will today start training to become community police officers.

Northern Territory Assistant Police Commissioner Graham Kelly says the first group should be ready to go to Aboriginal communities by next week.

"The primary function is to make sure that the communities are settled and safe and that people feel comfortable and have confidence in the police," he said.

"The second strand of that of course is to gain sufficient confidence from the people to encourage them to come forward."

At the meeting this morning, the ministers are scheduled to officially sign off on a national DNA database agreement to allow information to be shared between police forces around the country.

[lennie]

Imanpa community pleads for help


Members of the remote Indigenous community of Imanpa in central Australia have called on the Federal Government to help stamp out problems of alcohol and substance abuse in the Northern Territory.

A Federal Government assessment team made up of military, police and public servants spent yesterday in Imanpa.

The visit was part of the first phase of the Federal Government's intervention in remote communities.

Community elder Sandra Armstrong made a plea for help, telling the team there was too much drinking, petrol sniffing and substance abuse in Imanpa.

She said some residents did not feel safe at night and called on police to help stop people bringing illegal substances into the community.

More concerns have been raised by residents in remote Northern Territory communities that Federal Government intervention could see their children taken away.

Ms Armstrong also says she is worried the plan would see children taken out of the community.

The concern was also raised by residents in the Mutitjulu community on Wednesday, but Federal Government representative Steve Vaughan told Imanpa residents that was not the aim of the plan.

He said resources would be brought into Imanpa to help the community deal with its problems.

[lennie]

The chairwoman of the emergency response task force overseeing the Northern Territory intervention plan doubts many child sex abusers in Indigenous communities will be brought to justice.

Western Australian Children's Court magistrate Sue Gordon and her team met for the first time in Brisbane today to nut out the logistics of their plan to stamp out child sex abuse in the Northern Territory.

Dr Gordon says Aboriginal communities need to feel safe before offenders are caught.

"There's very grave doubt by myself that you'll get a lot of prosecutions up because that's normal and that's what I've found in Western Australia," she said.

"But we've just had recently in Kalumburu in Western Australia a lot of people coming forward, so the impetus will start after people get the feeling of security in their communities."

Prime Minister John Howard says positive steps have been made at the task force's meeting.

Mr Howard has announced Major General David Chalmers as executive director of the task force.

Maj Gen Chalmers replaces former Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner Shane Castles, who is withdrawing for family reasons.

Mr Howard says Maj Gen Chalmers brings a wealth of knowledge and talent to the task force.

"He led the task force that went into Aceh and I had a first hand opportunity of observing some of his work when I visited that area a couple of years ago," he said.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough is expected to announce further details of the plan later.

[lennie]

THE COORABIN
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WELFARE PENALTY FOR 'BAD' PARENTS Monday, July 02, 2007
By Patricia Karvelas
The Australian

ALL parents - black and white - who waste welfare money on alcohol, drugs or gambling, or do not send their children to school, will lose access to up to 40 per cent of their payments.

Cabinet will tomorrow discuss a plan to force parents across Australia to account for their children during school hours or face Centrelink taking control of their family assistance payments.

Children identified as at risk will be the first to be targeted, with Centrelink intervening to ensure essentials such as rent, food and medical expenses are paid.

It would allow the Government to quarantine 40 per cent of the family payment for 12 months.

The initiative is similar to the project about to be implemented in the Northern Territory as part of the Government's radical measures to tackle child abuse in remote communities.

But there is a key difference. Under the national plan, only "bad" parents will have their payments quarantined, whereas the NT welfare measures will apply to all Aboriginal parents in a targeted community, regardless of their abilities.

The plan relies on Centrelink getting accurate data from stategovernments on school attendance.

The first parents to be targeted will be those already identified by State Child Protection systems where there is a risk to the child but the child remains with their family.

As the Howard Government prepares to send an army of officials into seven communities in the Northern Territory this week, its plan to force white families to be accountable for their children will blunt accusations that its Aboriginal plan is racist.

Six government managers will be sent into Santa Teresa, Mutitjulu, Kintore on the West Australian border, Finke, Titjikala and Imanpa to take control of the intervention after the communities were visited by officials to assess their needs lastweek.

And 10 police will be dispatched to some communities, but not all, because the Government still does not have enough police to go around.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough yesterday said police would be given training about NT laws early this week before they were deployed.

He said he would take a proposal to cabinet to fund additional police, conceding that the NT Government could not afford them.

The first officers would be sent to communities in the south of the Territory later in the week.

Communities including Pupunya, Hermannsburg, Mt Liebig, Ikuntji, Areyonga, Kaltukatjara (Docker River) and Amoonguna will see the visiting teams this week for the first time.
The Government now says 73 communities will be surveyed overall, with seven to be surveyed this week.

Labor's Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin continued the bipartisanship yesterday, but left Labor open to objecting to parts of the plan if it failed a central test.

"The test for Labor will be, 'does this legislation deliver on making children safer?' ... We haven't seen it yet," she said.

Ms Macklin conceded that "Labor governments in the past have not acted as they should have". "The Prime Minster has had many reports that he too has ignored," she said.

"Let's put all of that to one side and recognise that now that action is finally happening, we all need to work to address it."

The plan to force children in indigenous communities to undergo health checks has been altered amid concerns that mandatory examinations could amount to assault.

The Government has also backed away from a claim by the architects of the plan that the aim of the checks was to uncover and treat cases of abuse in the Northern Territory's 22,000 indigenous children.

Mr Brough said the Government would assess whether the 47 officers committed by the Australian Federal Police and the states would be enough.

Asked if the Government might ask for more, Mr Brough said: "We may have to get additional police from somewhere, and that is certainly not something we are closing our mind to."

The Government's plan includes bans on alcohol and pornography, welfare restrictions and health checks for children.

Labor Leader Kevin Rudd announced his own plan to improve conditions in Territory indigenous communities yesterday, pledging $30 million to provide the 200 teachers needed to educate children not already enrolled in school.

Meanwhile, Mr Brough said it was "quite incorrect" to suggest former taskforce member Shane Castles had quit because he thought the Government's plan was not well thought out and was poorly resourced.

Mr Brough said the recently retired AFP assistant commissioner had decided not to lead the task force once he realised its magnitude. "I take responsibility, quite frankly, for him making this decision, because perhaps I didn't explain the magnitude of it," Mr Brough said.

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22001128-601,00.html



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