Facts & Info
Myths and Facts
Reality check on the NT intervention:
1. Myth - The intervention is improving the lives of Aboriginal people in the NT.
Fact:
In the 16 months since it was imposed by the now unseated Mal Brough and John Howard, the intervention has created chaos, increased poverty and racism for Aboriginal communities living in "proscribed areas":
"My name is Dianne Stokes, I'm a Warumungu - Warlmanpa woman, I'm one of the responsible people that's spokesperson for my community. I live in a community called Kalumpurlpa. I wanted to talk about this intervention because intervention is the biggest problem in Tennant Creek"
Yuendumu statement to Jenny Macklin signed by 236 people in 24 hours:
"We don't want this intervention! Children are worse off under this legislation... This is our land. We want the Government to give it back to us. We want the Government to stop blackmailing us. We want houses, but we will not sign any leases over our land, because we want to keep control of our country, our houses, and our property".
2. Myth - The intervention is designed to address child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities:
The sensational claims of rampant pedophillia and child sexual abuse that spurred the NT intervention have not been bourn out. There have been no paedophilia rings uncovered, and there haven't even been any child sexual abuse prosecutions as a result of the intervention.
The "Little Children are Sacred" Report was cited as the catalyst for the "Emergency Response" Brough launched, yet over a year later only 2 of the 97 recommendations in that report have been implemented.
The government has funded only 20 child protection workers to cover the whole Territory, and currently only 1 is actually employed! Not one person has been prosecuted for child sex abuse since the intervention was rolled out, clearly revealing what a farce this excuse was.
3. Myth - Successive governments have "thrown money" at the remote communities, and yet conditions continue to worsen.
Fact:
"The vast majority (of prescribed areas) are substantially deficient across the entire range of selected services." This cannot be explained by size and geographic isolation, as John Taylor, Deputy Director at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) says, "even the largest of the remote communities do not have the full range of services and infrastructure".
The government spends less than half the amount on education per child in Wadeye, one of the major Aboriginal communities, than on equivalent areas in the "mainstream" NT. 94 per cent of Aboriginal communities in the NT have no preschool and 56 per cent have no secondary school.
Ninety nine per cent of all Aboriginal communities in the NT have no substance abuse service and 99 per cent have no dental service. Only 54 per cent have state funded primary care services and 47 per cent have an Aboriginal primary health care service more than 50km away. The Australian Medical Association has estimated that $700 million is needed to bring up to minimum standard the basic infrastructure needed to maintain health, such as water and sewage. These statistics have not improved under the intervention. Communities have the strength and will to administer themselves, but have long required the funds to improve their situation.
It costs tax-payers $7000 per person to administer the welfare quarantine (according to HREOC) which has seen people going hungry trying to access the most meagre Centrelink payments.
4. Myth - Evidence shows children are eating better since the intervention:
The only "research" into food provision under the Intervention has consisted of 20 to 45 minute interviews with store managers. Even the taskforce reports admits that their research is "based on the operators' subjective observations and perceptions of the situation within their communities, and did not include any examination of financial records or direct field reports".
Yet Jenny Macklin continues to assert that welfare quarantining is improving the diets of Aboriginal children, and ignoring the many outrageous stories of people going hungry because of the new system. Jimmy, a man who has worked his whole life in communities around Ti Tree spoke about disaster of the "bush orders" system instigated under the intervention:
"We are getting food delivered which has been packed with detergent so can't be eaten. The meat has often gone green. People are actually going hungry there now because they've had their rights taken away from them. They want to do their own shopping"
5. Myth
Racial discrimination is ok because the Rudd Government wants to "Close the Gap":
Fact: The suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act has been necessary in the introduction of policies which have seen a level of Federal Government control over the Aboriginal communities in the NT not seen since the shameful days of protectionism.
The Racial Discrimination Act would make it illegal for the Federal Government to
- force communities to sign over control of Aboriginal land in 5 year leases,
- prohibit alcohol consumption and distribution in Aboriginal communities,
- control spending patterns through income management and store cards
- take-over Aboriginal service-providers
The capacity of Indigenous people to control the affairs of their community is the only road to improvements in quality of life. For example, a study from the University of British Columbia by Michael Chandler shows that rates of youth suicide amongst Aboriginal people in Canada are dramatically lower where there is secure title to traditional lands, structures of self-government, community-directed education, health and fire services and resources for practice of traditional culture.
"Everything is coming from the outside, from the top down. The government is abusing us with this intervention. We want to be re-empowered to make our own decisions and control our own affairs. We want self-determination. We want support, funding and resources for things coming from our community, from the inside" (Yuendamu petition to Jenny Macklin October 2008).
6. Myth - Aboriginal women in the NT support the Intervention:
Fact: When 100 ‘prescribed area' people met together in Alice Springs on 29th September, the women met together and released a statement:
"We don't want the intervention. We want to manage our communities the proper way, the way we want it, this is our community, we are the ones that live there, listen to us and our cultural ways... There's no new houses, schools or anything for communities. They've only built new houses for the new intervention staff. We had programs created by the community for our community. We wanted more support for them. Community programs have been taken away. They've taken away our night patrol, community bus and women's centres... For old people the intervention is bringing up bad memories of the past, the old days, the ration days, the dog tag days and the mission days".
For the full text of the statement see http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com
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