Northern Territory Intervention

Northern Territory Intervention 1
Northern Territory Intervention
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Northern Territory Intervention 2
Northern territory intervention
The northern territory intervention was the response by the Australian government
following a report on increased family violence and sexual abuse on the minors among the
Aboriginal communities. It is also referred to as the emergency response. A research conducted
on the aboriginal people from the northern territory revealed they were disadvantaged in terms of
health, employment, housing, and justice. This happened way back in June 2007 after a report of
Northern territory on the matter of the sexual abuse among aboriginal children than had become
rampant dubbed “little children are sacred.’ It led to an in-depth research and investigation by the
northern territory board of inquiry and the results were given to the chief minister before they
were released to the public. The plea for action in this report made it become widespread in the
social media and in the political arena and it elicited different opinions and even became a topic
of controversy. This topic enacted as a national emergency within two months after the release
(Weiss, 2018).
The announcements of the measures to be taken to actualize the intervention towards
protecting the indigenous children of the Northern Territory was the first step taken by the
government. Among the measures were; restriction of alcohol, welfare reform, good health by
conducting health checks, education reforms, employment, acquisition of a parcel of land and
restriction of pornography among others. These measures were implemented on seventy three
select communities. A task force of famous Australians, with Dr. Sue Gordon as their chair was
selected to oversee the implementation. This whole exercise was started two months following
the report by the Australian government emphasizing of the urgency of the matter, of increased
sexual abuse on indigenous children. It was however found out that the government had
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Northern Territory Intervention 3
challenges in the implementation as there was poor coordination between the government
departments and agencies which led to poor intervention. There was also a lack of enough
funding to successfully carry out the implementation.
To improve on the services, it was suggested both the Australian and the northern
territory government should consult with the aboriginal communities. They set out some
principles which were to be used for any policy formulation and implementation on the
aboriginal people of Australia. The principles included improving the governments’ service
provision to the indigenous people, address the culture and language gap the existed as many
aboriginals could not understand most of the mainstream law and concepts. Other principles that
were set aimed at improving community initiatives, maintain local focus while recognizing
diversity, acknowledge Aboriginal law and the people as well and appreciate their presence in
the society, and balance in gender and family representation among others.
The northern territory intervention brought more harm to the Aboriginal people despite
the fact that it was meant to help them. It robbed them of their freedom and power. The year
2008, was marked with a change of government from Howard to Rudd government which
brought about changes regarding the intervention. One of the changes was the introduction of
basic card which was used to manage income and prohibit the purchase of some commodities
like tobacco, alcohol, pornography and gambling products or services. Rudd governance
reinstated some of the legislation made like racial discrimination, the new legislation did not
obey the racial discrimination act. It discriminated against indigenous Australians through land
acquisition and compulsory income management. Rudd’s government changed the focus
completely from protecting the children against sexual abuse to reform of the welfare system. In
the year 2012, the northern territory national emergency response was replaced with the stronger
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