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Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin. |
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Top End legal aid calls for RDA
Issue 189 - 29 Oct 2009
By Amy McQuire
NORTHERN TERRITORY
ISSUE 189, October 29, 2009: Aboriginal people under the Northern Territory intervention are overwhelmingly confused and uncertain, a top end Aboriginal legal aid organisation says as the Rudd government reportedly steps closer to reinstating the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA).
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) says that the NT intervention has only taken away Aboriginal rights and has called on the Rudd government to urgently fulfil their promise to reinstate the RDA.
The act was bypassed in order to get the laws underpinning the NT intervention through Parliament. The ALP is expected to introduce draft legislation into Parliament this month to reinstate the act.
The intervention was launched by the Howard government in July 2007 in response to the Little Children Are Sacred report, which detailed cases of child sexual abuse in NT Aboriginal communities.
But the laws were passed with barely any consultation with those affected, which includes the majority of Aboriginal people living in the Territory.
The Rudd government's promised review into the intervention has since been released but NAAJA's chair Norman George says nothing has been done.
"Twelve months on and Aboriginal people are still dealing with the same problems," Mr George said.
"From the outset what we have seen as a result of this intervention is not protecting children and making communities safe and creating a better future for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory but simply discrimination and taking away Aboriginal peoples' rights to make day to day decisions on their lives."
The organisation says in particular, the controversial income management scheme, where Aboriginal people in prescribed areas have part of their welfare payments quarantined to be used on essential items, is "still a major concern".
"At the individual and family level, many people are deeply offended and upset about the compulsory, blanket nature of the quarantining," the organisation says.
"We have experienced Aboriginal people feeling that their self worth has deteriorated and income management to be an insulting and degrading experience. Some Aboriginal people feel they have returned to a previous welfare system."
The review into the intervention found that while in some cases income management was worthwhile, it should be implemented on a voluntary, rather than compulsory scale.
Mr George said that the RDA had to be reinstated now and that the racially discriminatory aspects of the intervention be made to fit with the act, rather than simply being tagged as a "special measure".
His calls were backed by Amnesty International, which said that reinstating the RDA would be hollow if the racial discriminatory aspects of the intervention aren't removed.
Under the intervention, schemes like the welfare quarantines are classified as a "special measure", which is a form of affirmative action meant to be beneficial to those affected.
But Amnesty's Australia campaign coordinator Sarah Marland says that this is far from the case.
"Protecting the rights of women and children to live free from violence and abuse is vital, and a key responsibility for all levels of government... however, this doesn't mean that people in the Northern Territory have to have fewer rights, less money and less control of their own lives," Ms Marland said.
"The Racial Discrimination Act must be fully reinstated without any loopholes. There is no need and no excuse for racial discrimination.
"The discriminatory nature of the Northern Territory Emergency Response has undermined benefits and has for many people actually deepened insecurity and deprivation in affected communities."
 
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