|
 |
"..this is the most dramatic policy change affecting Aboriginal Australians, since the policies of the Stolen Generations," prominent Australian journalist Jeff McMullen. |
Intervention policies most dramatic since Stolen Gen
ISSUE 180 - 25 Jun 2009
By Amy McQuire
NATIONAL
ISSUE 180, June 25, 2009: The controversial Northern Territory intervention is the most dramatic policy change since the thinking that gave birth to the Stolen Generations, prominent Australian journalist Jeff McMullen says.
And he says Australians have an obligation to be informed of the repercussions of the intervention, which was announced during Prime Minister John Howard's 2007 election campaign and continued by the government that succeeded him.
Mr McMullen, who is now the CEO of Ian Thorpe's Fountain for Youth foundation, moderated a public forum on the NT intervention and its consequences in south Sydney earlier this month.
He presided over an expert panel made up of Northern Territory Emergency Response Review member Marcia Ella-Duncan, Illawarra Land Council chair Dootch Kennedy and CEO of the Native Title Services Corporation Warren Mundine.
Mr McMullen said leading up to the forum that the aim was to inform the Australian public on the intervention since the ALP booted the Howard government out of office in 2007.
"The proposal was that as we approach the second anniversary of the intervention that we take a close look at the impact and hear from a range of opinions about whether the government's stated goals are being achieved and what is likely in the Northern Territory in the immediate future," Mr McMullen told NIT.
"The events have changed so rapidly in the Northern Territory since the election of the Rudd government, the review of the intervention and then the subsequent announcement by the NT government of a proposal to channel most funding into 20 Territory growth towns... these combined events have brought enormous confusion to many of the NT communities."
And it has confused the Australian public as well, Mr McMullen says.
"I think this is true of the Australian public at large, the first month of the intervention brought a large amount of media coverage, [but] after the first year the coverage slowly dropped off and the country is quite puzzled at what is going on," Mr McMullen says.
"...My own view working very closely with many communities is that this is the most dramatic policy change affecting Aboriginal Australians, since the policies of the Stolen Generations.
"I believe that it is most important [that] people around the country become informed about what the intervention legislation really means to the long term future [of those affected]."
The forum was hosted by the Sutherland Shire Citizens for Native Title and Reconciliation (SSCNTaR).
SSCNTaR Deputy Chair Stuart Hills says that although Sydney is far away from the Territory, Australians had an obligation to become informed on the intervention.
"Respectful, broad-based dialogue needs to occur if there is to be a way forward," Mr Hills told NIT.
"... I want people to act and I want action to be informed action.
"I think there is good moral and ethical reasons in taking an interest and concern in the welfare of other Australians, and across the world who are less well off and who are in need and suffering... whether or not this affects us directly is irrelevant."
 
|
|