The more I learn about the NT intervention, the angrier I become. Last night I read The Emergency We Had To Have by Larissa Behrendt, the first chapter in Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia. The book is a critical view of the intervention, written by experts in the weeks following its announcement.
The title of the first chapter plays on Paul Keating’s The Recession We Had To Have in the context of 30 years of reports trying to get the government to act. Only when the Howard government thought it could use an intervention for political gain did it suddenly declare an emergency. The impetus was allegedly the Little Children Are Sacred report, which highlighted issues of abuse, lack of education and health facilities. It outlined a number of recommendations with the first being ‘the critical importance of governments committing to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities’.
The government then declared the national emergency, decided that there was no time to consult in an emergency situation and made their own plan that showed they hadn’t really read the report. The following paragraphs look at a few of the actions they took.
Education: Part of the welfare payment was made dependent on children’s attendance at school. Nothing was done to address the report’s claim that there were insufficient classrooms or teachers to service all Aboriginal children.
Health: Part of the welfare payment was made dependent on children undergoing monthly health checks. While providing health checks was commendable and provided a way of identifying cases of abuse, no provision was made for privacy concerns. Nor did it take into account the fact that there were not enough health staff to perform the mandatory checks.
Abuse: To reduce the inclination of Aboriginal men to abuse their children, alcohol and pornography were banned from their communities, but a large number of the cases of abuse came from outside the Aboriginal community. Nothing was done to address abuse by White men.
According to the book, most Aborigines would welcome the increased police presence, but for protection, not oppression. Once again, the Australian government (and the rest of us who support it) has chosen to take from the Aborigines in the name of giving.