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A mounting case of intervention failure
Issue 174 - 02 Apr 2009
ISSUE 174, April 2, 2009: The evidence that key aspects of the NT intervention are failing is overwhelming. But don't just take our word for it - the failures have been widely reported from Aboriginal people on the ground in communities, from doctors and nurses, even from police and occasionally politicians. Still, the intervention continues unchanged.
ALCOHOL BANS:
• In its submission to the NTER review, the Australian Indigenous Doctor's Association (AIDA) noted there had been no evidence that alcohol bans had been effective.
• Last week, Senior Sergeant David Chalker from the NT police told media that the NT intervention alcohol bans had failed to stop grog running in dry communities.
• In November 2008, NT Attorney-General Chris Burns told the ABC that the alcohol bans had simply pushed problem drinkers into regional centres. "I believe our problems in our regional centres and our major centres have been exacerbated by the intervention," Dr Burns said.
• Alcohol bans and restrictions were simply fuelling the use of illegal drugs in one NT Aboriginal community, researchers at the Menzies School of Health Research said in a paper. The paper was released in March 2008 after a six-year study on cannabis use in one Arnhem Land community.
HEALTH (child health checks etc):
• AIDA said in its submission that the intervention had caused widespread disempowerment in Aboriginal communities and had hardened distrust towards governments and the dominant western culture.
• AIDA also found that the intervention had caused "immediate and lasting harm to Indigenous people". It said in its submission that the intervention had harmed Indigenous people culturally, which had led to poor health outcomes because culture is an "important determinant of health".
• The Child Health Checks had been largely "ineffective" in addressing child abuse, the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory (AMSANT) said in its submission to the NTER review.
• AMSANT found that the cost of the Child Health Checks were "deeply-concerning" and could have been greatly reduced, saying that the government had spent up to 12 times more than necessary by flying in health workers instead of using existing services.
• Remote area nurse Chris Wilson, writing for online website crikey.com.au in August 2008, also backed AMSANT's criticisms, saying that there had been a "huge waste of resources" with the Child Health Checks. "The point is that an incredibly expensive intervention has really achieved very little."
• In December 2008 that the federal Department of Health released the results of the Child Health Checks in December 2008. The report does not mention any instances of child sexual abuse actually being discovered. The results also revealed that 89 percent of children who were checked were referred on for some sort of specialist treatment, but a year down the track, 40 percent of these children were still waiting for the follow-up treatment.
• The Menzies School of Health Research raised concerns in May last year that workers conducting the health checks were not taking the social problems afflicting Aboriginal children into consideration. The study found that while primary healthcare was accessible to these children, the follow-up services were generally poor.
HOUSING:
• In its submission to the NTER review, AIDA raised doubts the NT intervention's promise of additional housing for remote communities would be delivered.
• The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR)'s Jon Altman said in July last year that their had been little evidence anything had changed in relation to housing in the community of Maningrida. "Maningrida is one of the largest Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. There [are] about 3,000 people out there living in about 200 houses - 15 per house. "I certainly didn't see a new house built in the last 12 months," Dr Altman told the ABC.
• AMSANT raised concerns about staff housing in its submission to the review, saying the NTER had failed to pay attention to the issue and said it had been a "significant barrier" in attracting additional staff.
INCOME MANAGEMENT:
• The Rudd government's NTER review recommended the income management scheme to be offered on a voluntary basis and that it should not be connected to behaviour triggers like child protection and school enrolment. The review found compulsory welfare quarantines had led to "widespread disillusionment, resentment and anger".
• This sentiment was reflected in AIDA's submission to the review, which included two anecdotes that claimed the income management had led to starvation: "'It is foreign law and it has meant we have no money, no food. We have pay and it's good for one week and then myself and my family are starving."
"Self and family starving. We have no help and no support. We're not allowed to share."
• A complaint to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in March this year by members of prescribed communities claimed that there was no evidence that the scheme had benefited women, despite the Rudd government claiming that was the reason for keeping it in its compulsory form.
• The complaint said that instead, many Aboriginal residents had to travel long distances just to purchase basic necessities, due to the system being restricted to specific stores. This was adding to financial stress due to travel costs.
• The Intervention Rollback Action Group (IRAG) has also raised several instances where Aboriginal residents were not able to access their welfare money at stores due to a glitch in the system over the past year. In January this year, a glitch meant that several Aboriginal residents were not able to obtain goods over a weekend.
For more information, please see THE BIG READ: Body of Evidence at the following link.
http://www.nit.com.au/story.aspx?id=17479
 
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