The Northern Territory intervention into languishing Aboriginal communities will be dramatically altered, with the Government flagging moves to allow people to opt out of compulsory income management and the watering down of blanket alcohol and pornography rules. The Rudd Government said it was motivated by a desire to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act, which was controversially suspended to allow the intervention to occur and allow Aboriginal people to determine its future.
The future of blanket compulsory income management in remote Northern Territory communities hangs in the balance as the Rudd Government plots the future of the intervention. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin will introduce legislation into parliament in October to reactivate the Racial Discrimination Act, and take the intervention into its next phase. "The Australian Government wants to bring the achievements of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) into a framework that looks to the long term and respects human rights," she said.
Indigenous academic Marcia Langton said Ms Macklin's plan was a balanced approach that kept the core of the intervention but allowed Aborigines more control. But Professor Langton called for the intervention approach to be rolled out across the country. She said in some communities income quarantining and alcohol restrictions should be maintained. In a discussion paper on the next steps in the intervention, Ms Macklin offers two options: keeping income management as compulsory or allowing individuals to apply for an exemption.
Under the latter option, income management would still be compulsory for all welfare recipients but individuals could apply to Centrelink for an exemption. "Getting an exemption would require an assessment of the person's circumstances against set criteria," the paper says. "People who can show that they do not need income management would then be able to exit." Under the other option, income management would continue to be compulsory for all welfare recipients in areas where it applies at present.
Ms Macklin's paper suggests also watering down alcohol and pornography restrictions. Under the NTER, laws were introduced to ban drinking; possessing, supplying or transporting liquor in a prescribed area. The discussion paper says alcohol restrictions have led to a decrease in alcohol use in 24 per cent of Aboriginal communities. The minister has suggested the Government is prepared to consider modifying these restrictions to "better reflect the circumstances in individual communities as opposed to the current blanket restrictions that apply."
Under a new model, the level of alcohol restrictions in each community or region could be set by taking into account community views, evidence on the level of alcohol-related harm in individual communities or regions and the presence of community-developed alcohol restrictions. The federal Government proposes also to remove the requirement for a licensee to record the sale of takeaway liquor over the value of $100 or more than five litres of wine, because "this has proven to be impractical and has not been as effective as intended".
On the blanket restriction on pornography, the Government proposes to change present restrictions so they can continue only after requests from a resident in a prescribed area. The Indigenous Affairs minister would decide whether restrictions on prohibited material continued in a prescribed area. The decision would take into account the wellbeing of people in the area and whether sexual abuse or other problem sexual behaviour was suspected in the area in the previous 12 months. Current restrictions on prohibited material will remain for 12 months after the legislation is passed.
The Government has announced the five-year leases over 64 territory communities will expire in August 2012. It will introduce changes to ensure the acquisition no longer looks like a "land grab" and make the objectives of the five-year leases clearer. And it will no longer have the power to compulsorily acquire community stores. Currently the NTER legislation provides the Australian Government with the power to compulsorily acquire a community store in a prescribed community.
Trained interpreters will be available and the process will be independently monitored to make sure opinions of all groups in each community are accurately recorded, Ms Macklin said. Professor Langton said now that people understood income management there would be increasing pressure from women to keep quarantining. She said she did not think changes to alcohol laws were a "watering down" but an acknowledgment that community based plans might work better.
Society
Government initiates radical rethink on northern territory intervention
Source: Australian Prayer Network
Thursday, 25 June 2009, 8:23 (EST)
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