On the ABC today there were at least two news items that I believe may be starting to demonstrate how the government's 'policy on the run' to solve a variety of issues that exist for indigenous people in the Northern Territory is starting to unravel. These articles and comments from doctors, welfare agencies and elsewhere all seem to be commenting more and more about a heavy handed Federal government intervention into the way that individuals manage their lives and how State and Territory government manage their responsibilities.

Let's recap - a paper written for the Federal government, shows that there are a number of issues within indigenous communities, in the Northern Territory, including child sexual abuse, abuse of alcohol, petrol sniffing etc. 

These issues have been well known for at least ten years or more. 

All of sudden, in the lead up to an election, the Federal Government suddenly calls what's happening an "emergency" and sends in the Army, Federal Police, and a host of others -  to try and solve the problems they have actually known about for years. 

The fact that all of the State and Territory governments just happen to be of a different political flavour than the Federal government and the fact there is an election later this year is obviously merely a coincidence.

Readers can see my comments about this on Pete's Place as well as in these pages.

See ABC story 1 about Federal Cabinet deciding to withhold welfare payments if they are not spent 'appropriately'.  And NOW they are even thinking about extending this action to everyone!

See ABC story 2 about police allegedly bashing and pepper spraying an indigenous woman at an Aboriginal town camp.

I think it is outrageous to contemplate taking away someone's right to manage an income support payment, which is supposedly an 'entitlement' without due process at law.

 What's worse, is that a decision making intervention, no doubt envisaged to be undertaken by public servants in Centrelink, (among others) is likely to decide who is behaving appropriately or inappropriately and whose income should be affected.

Where is it going to end? 

Will the government start to decide and try to regulate how people live their lives by intruding into how they spend their income in other areas as well?

By all means investigate child sexual abuse, by all means use the existing laws to determine whether someone is or is not an abuser or indeed a fit and proper person to look after a child. 

If there is a well founded suspicion of this abuse happening, then by all means protect the child from further harm and investigate the allegations. 

If the case is sound then by all means use the full force of the law to try the alleged perpetrators in courts of law and if they are found guilty, punish them while protecting the children from further harm. 

The state and territory governments have the authority and the trained and qualified staff to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse. In my view it is not appropriate to even consider sending untrained and unqualified public servants into this mine field.

If some person with a historical memory then suggests that Centrelink is one agency that could assist, because it employs qualified social work staff who could undertake the work then that same person should cast their mind back to the days when the whole issue of Youth Homelessness hit the fan. How controversial THAT little Federal Government intervention proved to be. 

I can't comment, but ask anyone who might know, how much that policy cost to implement, and what incredible levels of coordination were required between state and federal agencies to try and make that policy work. 

Then ask whether it has worked or not. 

Extrapolate from that experience, and have a guess what this new proposed intervention would mean for all concerned, at what cost and with what likely outcomes.

What if anything have we learned from these experiences? I don't know. I guess only the future will tell!

On Saturday 7th July the following comment:
The latest from the ABC

The Combined Aboriginal Organisations (CAO) of Alice Springs says most of central Australia's Indigenous people have no idea about what federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough is really proposing to tackle child abuse.

The CAO is a peak Aboriginal body representing organisations such as CAAMA Radio, the Central Land Council, and the Aboriginal Congress in Alice Springs.

The CAO's Graeme Smith says community confusion is rife as the federal Government seeks to clarify its position on health checks for children and other issues.

"He [Mr Brough] said on one hand he's going to ban porn, ban substance abuse, ban alcohol from communities for six months and then the next couple of days he turns around and says, hang on maybe wet canteens is the way to go," he said.

"I mean, this is just policy on the run."