Australian government takes over remote communities

Prime Minister Howard has announced that the Federal government will take control of remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. The decision exercises Federal powers over the Territory, which isn’t a state, officially.

The issues have been fermenting for some time, and the catalyst for this very dramatic turn of events has been the recent reports of child abuse in remote Aboriginal communities, which have penetrated deep into the social psyche. (See previous article, grouped.) It has been known for years that the remote communities were in a serious state. They have suffered severely with chronic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and a hideous litany of incidents dripping into the news. The communities are under-resourced and under-supported to the point those terms are pure wishful thinking rather than descriptive. Despite the routine heroism of the Aboriginal people who work to save their people 24/7/365, they can’t work with what they don’t have. Their time and resources are also diluted by the number of issues they have to handle. The bureaucratic approach has never worked well, if at all, and although there have been many positive, and in some cases inspired, initiatives, a triumph of social justice and reconciliation it could not be considered. The political intervention is necessary, because the existing administrative machinery just does not do the job properly. A holistic approach to the problems is defintely required, (that being one of the few things all parties do agree about) and the Federal response appears to address that need. The Northern Territory, one of the jurisdictions responsible for the communities affected by the child abuse situation, is one of the economic pygmies of Australia. It has never had the facilities, the revenue, or the capacity to realistically cope with administering these communities in the condition they're in. Many of the communities are so remote that they're in contact with the outside world only by radio. Information may or may not be current. Physical access is difficult, and often useless, when people can be in Darwin one day, out in the bush somewhere between Darwin and Perth for the next few months, and in Perth a year later. Even basic policing, let alone social work, education, and case management, is no picnic for anyone. This is one of the great thorns of Australian politics, and it has now been grasped to the point of generating some real surprise among the community, both Aboriginal and the rest of the nation. Reactions to the new policy so far have varied between “paternalistic”, “racist”, “heavy handed”, and qualified approval of various kinds. The news services have been a bit more than surprised, too. This news first hit as a TV headline. Then the headline seems to have been overtaken by developments, and the pedigree of the stories has become a bit confused by the pace of those developments. Australian media is now trying to keep up with the stories, and making quite a mess of the sheer number of responses and further evolutions of the new approach. Public and parliamentary debate is practically overloading the reportage. Well, at least for once it’s not apathy as the sole result of an Aboriginal issues story. That’s new. Because of the sheer size and complexity of the issues, I’ve tried to find enough links to establish some sort of working overview, but no promises. The ABC tends to be a bit better overall, and has an in-house Aboriginal news system, which gets better quality information. There’s a real risk of turning this article into a very large book, and it wouldn't be large enough. Basic story: This is the report that started it all. This article was the concurrent news coverage at the time the initiative was announced. Responses to the report and the Federal move: Northern Territory administrative response to report. ABC re responses to new policy Northern Territory response to Federal takeover. Protest in Sydney. Note unfortunate turn of phrase that they’re protesting [i]against[/i] elimination of sexual abuse. Aboriginal comments. When researching anything Aboriginal, they are the only reliable source of any real insight into their views. SBS Living Black is an Aboriginal TV show. Additional info re Aboriginal issues: See grouped article for Aboriginal-produced media coverage. Government site page dealing with “routine” indigenous issues.