The other intervention

The crises in White Australia:

According to new figures alcohol and drug use have reached record levels in White Australia along with dramatic increases in child abuse. Very similar conditions were highlighted in the Little Children are Sacred report that provoked an emergency response from the Australian government into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory last year.

Imagine if the government brought in a policy modelled exactly on the NT emergency response but turned it into a White Australia Intervention:

The Racial Discrimination Act would be suspended in order to intervene into White Australia but not in other sections of the community; citizens would have 50 per cent of their welfare benefits placed under the control of government; all White land would be leased by the government for a period of five years; and the government would decide who could enter your home and who couldn’t.

Sounds pretty extreme doesn’t it? Could you ever imagine Australia allowing such an intervention to take place? Could the intervention be continued against the wishes of many in the White Australian community?

The real intervention one year on:

It’s been just over a year since the Howard government launched the intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. When the Rudd Labor Government came to power in November last year, they honoured their election commitment to uphold the intervention, and recently (in June 2008) they handed down the report, Northern Territory Emergency Response: One Year On.

The negatives:

Unfortunately, according to Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, the recent Senate estimates (which examine government spending) revealed that the results are far from good. Only 35 of the 7500 Aboriginal children examined in the health checks have been referred to child protection authorities. However, the health checks did reveal a 40 per cent rate of infection in Trachoma, an eye disease that has been wiped out in every developed country except for one—Australia.

Important projects such as the Safe Families Program face massive funding and staffing problems due to budget cutbacks by the federal government. According to Senator Siewert, this is an effective program that ‘focuses on reducing family violence and preventing kids from needing to enter the child protection system.’ Ironically, this is one initiative that would be perfectly suited for intervention money and support but it receives neither.

ABC journalist Anne Barker reported that ‘there's broad agreement that more must be done to focus on the issue that forced the intervention in the first place: sexual abuse. Only a handful of perpetrators have been identified or caught, and there've been few programs that might keep young men from resorting to violence at all.’

Other serious problems continue, despite the fact they were documented even before the intervention. For example, in some communities the drinking fountains don’t even work. Russell Skelton of The Age reports that in Mulga Bore, ‘drinking water pumped from two bores is so severely contaminated with nitrates that young children, babies and pregnant mothers are at serious risk ... authorities have known about the problem for almost 10 years but have failed to act.’ Skelton says that medical teams examined Mulga Bore's children during the intervention but no results have been released.

Dr Peter Beaumont, head of the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Medical Association, has also said that the job of medical workers has been made difficult by poor management; and that some doctors who went into Territory communities did not have enough experience in remote and child health.

The intervention has also been condemned by the vast majority of the Aboriginal community and its leaders. On 23 July this year, Aboriginal elders from Arnhem Land presented a statement to Prime Minister Rudd signed by 53 elders who represent more than 8000 people. The statement not only called for an end to the intervention but also called for measures that were not included in it.

Pat Anderson who co-authored the Little Children are Sacred report said, ‘there is no relationship between the federal response and our recommendations. We feel betrayed and disappointed and hurt and angry and pretty pissed off at the same time’.

The positives:

On the plus side, according to the One Year On report released by the Rudd government:

• Many families report a greater feeling of safety.
• Women are finding that the new income-management arrangements give them confidence that they can buy essentials for their children.
• There is a small, encouraging increase in the school attendance rates in those communities where the School Nutrition Program is in place.
• The licensing of community stores has resulted in improvements in the quality and availability of food.

Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, has reported that ‘there's some evidence of children putting on weight, where previously they'd been underweight. So I think we are slowly seeing some improvements.’

The Northern Territory Emergency Response Taskforce Chief, Sue Gordon, has also said that there are now 51 extra police in the communities involved because of the intervention. She believes the response is working because members of the community ‘don't have to wait four days for a policeman to come, they don't have to wait for a week, the policeman lives in the community.’

The future:

For now the Rudd Government has promised to continue with the intervention whilst reviewing and amending it as they go. They say they are ‘determined to keep working towards closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.’ Whilst this goal is obviously noble and the efforts commendable, if someone asked you: “if the situation was reversed would you accept such a policy towards White Australia in order to ‘close the gap’?” What kind of answer would you come up with?

ABC Health and Wellbeing, 27 February 2003, http://www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2003/02/27/1831847.htm  

ABC Lateline, 20 June 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2007/s2281521.htm  

ABC Online Indigenous, ‘Commissioner calls on Govt to abandon NT intervention’ 20 June 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/20/2281473.htm?site=indigenous

ABC News, Taskforce heads reflect on intervention anniversary, 21 June 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/21/2281620.htm  

Graham C, “Senate paves the way for NT ‘emergency intervention’”, Crikey 14 August 2007, http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070816-Alice-anger-over-intervention-legislation-.html

Ring G, ‘Spin v reality: Alice anger over intervention legislation’, Crikey 16 August 2007, http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070814-Howard-governing-for-all-Australians-just-not-the-indigenous-ones.html

Sweet M, ‘Not a single voice in support of intervention’, Crikey 7 August 2007, http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070807-Not-a-single-voice-in-support-of-intervention.html

Early Childhood Australia, ‘Statistics show child abuse in Australia is getting worse’, January 2006, http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/early_childhood_
news/jan_2006_statistics_show_child_abuse_in_australia_
is_getting_worse.html  

Australian Government, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, viewed 14 September 2008, http://www.facs.gov.au/nter/docs/reports/one_year_on.htm

Federal Intervention, viewed 4 September 2008, http://federalintervention.info/

Robson P, ‘Northern Territory intervention: myths and facts’, Green Left Online 14 June 2008, http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/755/39009

News-Medical, ‘PM says binge drinking an epidemic across Australia’, 21 February 2008, http://www.news-medical.net/?id=35424

Rachel Siewert, the Australian Greens, ‘The Intervention, One Year On’, 26 June 2008, http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/content/opinion-editorial/the-intervention-one-year-on

Skelton R, ‘No water, blackouts: Mulga Bore’s students get a lesson in neglect’, 28 February 2008, http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/no-water-blackouts-mulga-bores-students-get-a-lesson-in-neglect/2008/02/27/1203788442683.html