Northern Territory Emergence Response (NTER) - "The Intervention"

In August 2006 the Northern Territory government commissioned research into allegations of serious sexual abuse of children in Aboriginal communities. An inquiry was established to find better ways to protect Aboriginal children from sexual abuse. On 15 June 2007 the commission released its report, called 'Little Children are Sacred'.

Less than a fortnight after its publication, on 23 June 2007, the federal government staged a massive intervention in the Northern Territory where the commission had collected its data. They called it the 'Northern Territory Emergence Response (NTER)'. Indigenous and non-Indigenous people however were quick in labeling it 'the intervention'.

Intervention changes and critique

Legislation passed by both major parties (Labour and Liberal)

removed the permit system for access to Aboriginal land,
abolished Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP),
subjected Aboriginal children to be taught in a language they don't speak for the first four hours at school,
quarantined 50% of welfare payments,
suspended the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA),
expected Aboriginal people to lease property to the government in return for basic services,
compulsorily acquired Aboriginal land and
subjected Aboriginal children to mandatory health checks.

Critics of the 'invasion' point out that the word 'child' or 'children' does not appear once in the hundreds of pages of the legislative documents and that it was impossible to draft them in the short time between the report's publication and the intervention's announcement.

Others suspect that the intervention was part of "a real tradition in Australian culture of blaming the victim when it comes to Indigenous people" [1]. "People want to do something so they jump in and make all sorts of top-down decisions. But this 'solution' compounds the problem and sends a very powerful message to Indigenous people which says that 'you are no good, you can't sort out your problems, you need us to do it'." If reiterated many times, Aboriginal people take on this victim position voluntarily.

Everywhere we went, everyone complained. Both men and women complained about pornography. —Pat Anderson, co-author of the 'Little Children are Sacred' report [3]

Response of an Aboriginal elder

I write because the so-called intervention in the Northern Territory is not working and there is a desperate need for another review.

I am a Senior Elder of the Liya-dhalinymirr clan of the Djambarrpuyrju People (Eastern Arnhem Land) and I also lecture in Yolngu Studies at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory.

As far as I am concerned, the intervention has only created problems in my communities as well as remote homeland centres. It has made our people more frustrated and confused.

The white man's way of thinking is being forced on us, and is forcing us to abandon our culture.

We desperately need the white authorities, Federal as well as Northern Territory, to come and talk to us at the community level.

There has not been enough consultation. Many in my community and others I speak to think the same way.

This whole process has been a huge waste of money that has left our people scared.

In fact, the intervention has led to the further destruction of our culture, ceremony and a loss of discipline among our people.

The white authorities don't know what is best for us. They only think they do.

Governments class all Aborigines as the same, but they are wrong.

These white people and the bureaucrats do not go out to the East Arnhem Land communities where my people live, where there has never been alcohol, and there is no child abuse. There are Aboriginal people living on remote communities of Arnhem Land, in homeland centres, away from towns, away from the binge drinking areas, poker machine and gambling venues. These are people who are able to manage their funds and work, or want to work.

Quarantining of Centrelink payments should be optional – not compulsory. Quarantining might be okay for people living in town camps and cities, where alcohol and gambling is a problem, but it doesn't work for my people living on remote Arnhem Land homelands where there is no gambling, no alcohol and no child abuse.

We are asking simply for understanding that in life there needs to be an understanding between two cultures. There needs to be respect between cultures.

Yingiya Guyula, Darwin, NT [5]

Did the intervention succeed?

Six months after the intervention began [2]

no new charges had been laid in connection with child sexual abuse,
no new community-based services to ensure the safety of children had been established,
$88 million had been spent on bureaucrats to control Aboriginal welfare payments.

Worse still, after 12 months [4],

convictions for child sex abuse were just a few cases higher than before the intervention,
reports of substance abuse were rising and
school attendance remained static.

You cannot drive change into a community and unload it off the back of a truck. That is the lesson of the Intervention. —NTER Review Report, 13 October 2008, p58

Northern Territory Intervention timeline

2006

15 May: An ABCTV Lateline program reports on the abuse of Aboriginal children in NT communities.

22 June: In response to the Lateline program the Chief Minister of the NT announces the government will establish an inquiry into child sexual abuse in NT Aboriginal communities.
2007

16 June: Little Children Are Sacred report is presented to the NT Parliament.

21 June: Howard government introduces the NTER.

24 November: Kevin Rudd becomes Prime Minister.
2008

31 March: Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, releases his Ten Point Action Plan proposal as a way forward for the Australian Government's NTER.

21 June: One year since the NTER began. Jenny Macklin, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FAHCSIA), announces a new $17.6 million trial over three years. Parents who fail to enroll their children or get them to school regularly will have their income support payments suspended until they fulfil their obligations.

24 July: Rudd Government announces BasicsCard to manage the income of all Aboriginal Centrelink recipients in the NT.

8 September: Centrelink begins distributing BasicsCard in the NT.

13 October: NTER Review Board provides independent review of the first 12 months of the NT Intervention to the Australian Government.
2009

3 April: Australia supports UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration states that, among other rights, all Aboriginal people have the right to self-determination. The NTER has not given Aboriginal people their right to self-determination. In fact, the Government has told Aboriginal people how to run aspects of their lives.

21 May: Federal and NT governments respond to the NTER Review Board recommendations.

25 May: Federal Government announces proposal to compulsorily acquire Alice Springs town camps.

June–August: Consultations and workshops run by FaHCSIA with Aboriginal people in the NT about future directions of the NTER.

21 June: Two years since the NTER began. Protests against the NTER held around Australia.

3 July: Australian Productivity Commission report reiterates two key points: 1) the need for reliable statistics measuring the effects of government measures, and 2) the importance of community ownership of projects and close consultation between community and government.

The things that work generally work because of co-operative approaches between government and communities. —Australian Productivity Commissioner

14 July: People from the Ampilatwatja community walk off their land in protest against the NTER ensuring they are no longer subject to the NTER legislation. In August they seek refugee status from the UN as people displaced from their country.

27 August: UN Rapporteur's statement on the NTER released.

1 November: The Australian government misses the self-imposed deadline to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

It is a simple matter to restore the RDA. Where the [Indigenous Affairs] Minister [Jenny Macklin] appears to be stuck is in trying to find a way to reconcile her desire to over-ride the fundamental human rights of Aboriginal Australians in the NT through compulsory welfare quarantining and mandatory leases with our international obligations not to discriminate on the basis of race. —Rachel Siewert, Greens senator [4]
2010

24 February: The final report of the UN's special rapporteur on Indigenous rights, Professor James Anaya, finds the intervention limits the rights and freedoms of Indigenous people in breach of Australia's international obligations.

Intervention resources

Explore the government's website about the Northern Territory intervention at www.nterreview.gov.au.

Movie: The Intervention: Katherine, NT

This movie traces over one year the impact of the emergency intervention. Shot over an 8-month period, it features the lives of community residents and government and business workers implementing it.

One year after the intervention, the filmmakers asked: What new evidence of sexual abuse has been uncovered? Is life better for children and their parents? What did the Intervention deliver? More details

Out of respect for Aboriginal culture I use Indigenous sources as much as possible.
[1] 'When hearing the message is critical', NIT 14/5/2009 p.31 [2] 'Sea of black faces bound for Canberra', Koori Mail 417, p.7 [3] 'Innocence lost', Koori Mail 417, p.22 [4] 'Intervention protests as deadline missed', Koori Mail 463 p.7 [5] 'NT intervention review needed', Koori Mail 467 p.23 Timeline source: www.antar.org.au/abetterway/about/events