National Emergency Intervention in the Northern Territory

A series of reports about levels of child-sex abuse in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory (most notably the June 2007 Little Children are Sacred) prompted the Commonwealth to announce, then legislate for a series of emergency measures.

The measures included financial and non-legislative measures, such as child-health checks and additional child-protection workers, and legislative measures such as:

• removing the permit system governing access to Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory
• creating five-year Commonwealth leases, and enabling the Commonwealth to acquire certain rights, titles and interests in certain town camps
• introducing an Income Management Regime, which might involve many Indigenous people having some or all of their welfare payment diverted
• discouraging the use of alcohol in Aboriginal communities by using various penalty provisions
• providing that the Commonwealth can retain an interest in buildings and infrastructure that it funded on Aboriginal land
• banning the possession of pornography within ‘prescribed areas’, and requiring the installation of filters on publicly funded computers
• extending the mandate of the Australian Crime Commission to include ‘Indigenous violence and child abuse’
• removing customary law as a consideration in sentencing or setting bail, but requiring the impact on victims and witnesses to be taken into account, and
• providing for Commonwealth management of ‘business management areas’ and closer management by the Commonwealth of community stores.

Many people welcomed the intervention as offering a long-overdue injection of resources and attention to a chronic problem. However, others raised questions, including:

whether it was necessary to go beyond the recommendations in the Little Children are Sacred report (which the Howard Government acknowledged it was doing)

• whether the lack of consultation might produce counter-productive disempowerment
• whether measures regarding communal land ownership and the permit system were related to the Howard Government’s desire to make changes in this area from the time of the Reeves report, Building on Land Rights for the Next Generation, and
• whether a ‘real jobs’ plan, such as Work for the Dole and the Strategic Training Employment Program (STEP), could support the employment and environmental management that the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) had been supporting.

In addition, the legislation itself gave rise to a number of controversies.

First, the Australian Labor Party, minor parties and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission raised concerns about the manner in which the legislative package overrode the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. If affected communities had enjoyed appropriate consultation, the package could have been seen as a ‘special measure’ under both the International Convention on Race Discrimination (CERD) and the Racial Discrimination Act. As it stands, the legislation is likely to breach the provisions of the CERD.

Second, it has been claimed in a High Court action (Wurridjal v Commonwealth, set down for a directions hearing on 3 December 2007) that the legislation provides for the acquisition of native-title rights other than on ‘just terms’ as required by section  51(xxxi) of the Constitution.

Third, the alcohol provisions have had unexpected consequences both in the Northern Territory major population centres and in Aboriginal communities. (See, for example, Paige Taylor, ‘Grog ban leaves people hungry’, in The Australian, which describes higher prices and hunger in communities.) A Northern Territory parliamentary inquiry has suggested other ways forward.

There is sure to be much more debate on this intervention as elements are reviewed and evaluated.

Library documents
‘Northern Territory National Emergency Response Bill 2007’, Bills Digest, no. 28, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2007–08.
‘Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Bill 2007’, Bills Digest, no. 27, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2007–08.
‘Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Bill 2007’, Bills Digest, no. 21, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2007–08.
‘Appropriation (Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 1) 2007-2008’, Bills Digest, no. 24, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2007–08.
‘Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Township Leasing) Bill 2007’, Bills Digest, no. 165, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2006–07.

Documentation
Jon Altman and Melinda Hinkson (eds), Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia, Arena Publications, Melbourne, 2007.
Jon Altman, The 'National Emergency' and Land Rights Reform: Separating fact from fiction. An assessment of the proposed amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU, 2007, briefing paper for Oxfam Australia.
A proposed Emergency Response and Development Plan to protect Aboriginal Children in the Northern Territory: a preliminary response to the Australian Government’s proposals, Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory, 2007.