Tracking the Intervention
Shocked at the depth and extent of abuse in Australian Aboriginal communities, the government ordered the Army to intervene. With what success?
Sending in soldiers and the police to 'stabilise' indigenous communities and check children for sexual abuse was always going to be controversial. But months after Australia's Government seized control of 73 bush townships, banned alcohol and porn and overhauled welfare payments, what impact are their actions having? This high quality report from ABC's acclaimed 4 Corner's strand investigates.
Night time in the Aboriginal community of Maningrida. Gangs of "lost children" roam about unsupervised. "Nobody cares for them and they've got nothing". Some don't look older than eight or nine. "Parents are not taking control because some fathers are on drugs, alcohol, smoking ganja. These kids are learning violence and drug use from their parents".
Last summer, an inquiry uncovered horrific levels of child sex abuse in every aboriginal community inspected. Declaring the situation a "national emergency", the Australian government took back control of land given over to Indigenous rule. The army was sent in and new leaders imposed on communities with sweeping powers to seize the assets of Aboriginal organisations and expel anyone.
These decisions have "put the Northern Territory in a turmoil". Many Aboriginal people only learnt about the changes from the media. They regard it as a racist policy, imposed upon them by Canberra. In Maningrida, everyone is worried about what will happen. "We don't know where we're heading. We don't know what our future's going to be like".
Under the new rules, people won't even be able to decide how to spend their welfare payments themselves. Money is now sent directly to grocery stores to make sure it's spent on food. But the system has "changed too quickly for people", complains one grocer. A woman trying to buy food is turned away because the shop hasn't received her welfare payment yet. "It doesn't seem to register that they don't get a payment until after we receive their money" from the government. Some even imply that the Intervention, as it's been dubbed, could encourage domestic violence. A few permanent jobs have been created but these have gone mainly to women. Men "feel ashamed" of having to ask their wives for money. "You take proud, dignified men, remove three quarters of their income and send them home to an overcrowded house that may well have children in it. How on earth can those children be safer than they formerly were?"
"The Prime Minister has the view that if you squeeze a black fellow tightly enough, a white fellow's going to pop out", complains Ian Munro. "Indigenous Australians are not white Australians. They have different value systems and a different culture, that can't be extinguished overnight by tampering with people's livelihoods".
FULL SYNOPSIS
These decisions have "put the Northern Territory in a turmoil". Many Aboriginal people only learnt about the changes from the media. They regard it as a racist policy, imposed upon them by Canberra. In Maningrida, everyone is worried about what will happen. "We don't know where we're heading. We don't know what our future's going to be like".
Under the new rules, people won't even be able to decide how to spend their welfare payments themselves. Money is now sent directly to grocery stores to make sure it's spent on food. But the system has "changed too quickly for people", complains one grocer. A woman trying to buy food is turned away because the shop hasn't received her welfare payment yet. "It doesn't seem to register that they don't get a payment until after we receive their money" from the government. Some even imply that the Intervention, as it's been dubbed, could encourage domestic violence. A few permanent jobs have been created but these have gone mainly to women. Men "feel ashamed" of having to ask their wives for money. "You take proud, dignified men, remove three quarters of their income and send them home to an overcrowded house that may well have children in it. How on earth can those children be safer than they formerly were?"
"The Prime Minister has the view that if you squeeze a black fellow tightly enough, a white fellow's going to pop out", complains Ian Munro. "Indigenous Australians are not white Australians. They have different value systems and a different culture, that can't be extinguished overnight by tampering with people's livelihoods".