2009 16 Months and Counting - Australias Racist Intervention Continues

8/6/2019 2009 16 Months and Counting - Australias Racist Intervention Continues

1/6

http://intercontinentalcry.org/16-months-and-counting-australias-

racist-intervention-continues/

16 Months and counting: Australias racistintervention continues

By John Schertow May 21, 2009

Indigenous People in the Northern

Territory of Australia have struggled for

the past 16 months to roll back the

Northern Territory Emergency Response(NTER) legislation, more commonly

known as the intervention, which the

government introduced in 2007.

None of the 73 communities it impacted

were consulted before NTER began; but

more to the point, it was introduced under a false pretence that we

wont forget any time soon.

When it first went public, the government told us that NTER was a

result of the Little Children Are Sacredreport, which examined in depth

the needs and challenges facing indigenous and non-indigenous

children in Australia. The report also suggested there was wide-spread

abuse of indigenous children, and offered a set of 97 recommendations

on how the health and well-being of all children in Australia could be

improved.
http://intercontinentalcry.org/16-months-and-counting-australias-racist-intervention-continues/http://intercontinentalcry.org/16-months-and-counting-australias-racist-intervention-continues/http://intercontinentalcry.org/16-months-and-counting-australias-racist-intervention-continues/http://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/military-officer-standing-over-aboriginal-women.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/federal-intervention-shames-australia.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/map-of-all-73-nter-communities.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/military-officer-standing-over-aboriginal-women.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/federal-intervention-shames-australia.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/map-of-all-73-nter-communities.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/military-officer-standing-over-aboriginal-women.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/federal-intervention-shames-australia.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/map-of-all-73-nter-communities.jpghttp://intercontinentalcry.org/16-months-and-counting-australias-racist-intervention-continues/http://intercontinentalcry.org/16-months-and-counting-australias-racist-intervention-continues/


2/6

However, the reality of NTER soon set in: childrenfar from being

viewed as sacredwere being used as scapegoats for a plan that

should have been met with wide-spread revulsion from the

government, instead of near-unanimous support.

Emma Murphy, a co-editor for Green Left Weekly, spoke about the

reality at the World at a Crossroads conference last month in Sydney,

Australia.

In her presentation, which can beread on the Socialist Voicewebsite,

Murphy described the key aggressions the NTER has brought forward:

Giving the federal government the power to seize land which wasgranted to Indigenous people in 1976, and convert freehold title

into five-year leases.

Removal of Indigenous peoples right to control who enters theirland, a right that had been protected through a widely supported

permit system.

Withholding 50% of the welfare payments due to Indigenouspeople in proscribed areas. The money is granted as store

vouchers. Widespread bans on consumption of alcohol and pornography.

The legislation further suspended the Racial Discrimination Act

(because the intervention was racist); empowered a (non-aggressive)

military invasion; barred Community meetings unless an official

government appointee was available; shut down several community-

based services; allowed for surprise raids; and made health checks

mandatory for all indigenous children, to ensure they were not beingabused.

Child abuse, remember, was the whole point of the intervention.
http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=392http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=392http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=392http://savageminds.org/2007/11/06/stabilize-normalize-exitit-has-a-nice-ring-to-it/http://savageminds.org/2007/11/06/stabilize-normalize-exitit-has-a-nice-ring-to-it/http://savageminds.org/2007/11/06/stabilize-normalize-exitit-has-a-nice-ring-to-it/http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=392


3/6

Incidentally, 5 months after the legislation was enacted, word came in

that they werent coming across any signs of rampant abuse. In fact,

they werent finding any signs whatsoever. About the only thing they

did find, according to one article, was gingivitis.

As for the people themselves, Murphy recalls, the themes of shame,

humiliation and dis-empowerment were constants among the people

we spoke to in the NT during our visit last year.

Anger and frustration are also quite common, as numerous community

members have shown at protests and gatherings, in various interviews,

and videos published on websites like Youtube.

The government has regularly ignored each and every one of their

concerns or has otherwise brushed them off as misinformed gibberish.

The Great White Champion Government

The Great White Champion Government of Australia knows whats

best.

For the record, this is just as true with Kevin Rudd, as when JohnHoward was Prime Minister. In fact, despite Kevin Rudds gentle-

sounding voice and pleasant demeanour, theres scarcely a difference

between the two.

The proof is in the policy, which Murphy also explored in her

presentation:

In February 2008, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people travelled toCanberra from around Australia particularly from proscribed areas in

the NT to protest the Intervention and demand it be repealed. But

that protest was overshadowed by the historical apology to the Stolen

Generations, delivered by Rudd on the opening day of Parliament of

the new government, February 13, 2008. It was a beautifully crafted


4/6

speech promising a new era in race relations in this country. It raised

the hopes of quite a few people.

The Rudd government followed up with ratification this year of the

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. UnderHoward, Australia was one of four countries that refused to ratify the

Declaration in 2007.

But these symbolic measures sound very hollow to the people who

continue to live under the racist policies of the Intervention. While the

rhetoric of the Rudd government is different from that of Howard

there are no explicit attacks on self-determination the substance of

Aboriginal policy has not changed.

If anything, Rudd has managed to take some of Howards attacks

further than Howard himself had time to. For example, Labor is now

pressuring NT communities to sign their land over to the government as

40- or 99-year leases in return for basic infrastructure funding such as

public housing. Some communities have succumbed, but others are

standing strong and refusing to sign their land over.

The government plans to extend this bullying tactic and land grab

across Australia. In March of this year, it announced that no more

public funds were to be released to Aboriginal communities unless they

sign their land over to 40-year leases.

The federal government has also talked about extending welfare

quarantining into other parts of Australia.

The Rudd government commissioned an inquiry into the Intervention. Itheard many moving submissions from Indigenous people talking about

how they felt theyd been taken back to the rations days and how the

men had been branded pedophiles and child abusers. The inquirys

report recommended that would have removed the most punitive


5/6

sections of the Intervention, for example, it said welfare quarantining

should be voluntary and only enforced in proven cases of child abuse.

The government has ignored the inquiry, saying that the Intervention

has now stabilized and will continue until at least 2012.

Murphy goes on to discuss the governments attack on bilingual

education and their yearning to drag indigenous communities into the

real economya plan for which, incidentally, wasannounced on May

20, 2009.

Resistance. Solidarity. Unity.

With the amount of propaganda that Australias corporate media

produces, it has been difficult to get a full and accurate picture of

whats happening to our Brothers and Sisters in Australia, the land of

fire.

Rest assured, since day one they have done everything in their power

to rally together, support one another, and to resist the social, political,

religious, cultural, and economic molestation that is the intervention.

As a result, several Aboriginal Rights coalitions have emerged across

the country, says Murphy: We are seeing a cohering of a national

leadership the likes of which weve not seen for a few decades.

Many communities are also independently refusing to sign their land

over to the government. Aswell, the Proscribed Area Peoples

Alliance has formally taken the government to the United Nations,

charging that the Intervention breaks numerous conventions. AmnestyInternational is pursuing similar avenues. Theres also a common

awareness among many Indigenous people that the campaign to end

the Intervention must broaden out to win support from the trade

unionsand, of course, among every day Australians who, if they
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2575742.htmhttp://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2575742.htmhttp://www.theage.com.au/opinion/outstations-policy-a-fresh-attempt-at-assimilation-20090520-bfnt.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/opinion/outstations-policy-a-fresh-attempt-at-assimilation-20090520-bfnt.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/opinion/outstations-policy-a-fresh-attempt-at-assimilation-20090520-bfnt.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/opinion/outstations-policy-a-fresh-attempt-at-assimilation-20090520-bfnt.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/opinion/outstations-policy-a-fresh-attempt-at-assimilation-20090520-bfnt.htmlhttp://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2575742.htm


6/6

were informed and given the choice, would not want to support the

current government.

After all, they are systematically, undermining the lives of Men,

Women, and of course, Children All because the government is eitherunwilling or incapable of seeing their own reflection in the tears of the

those who only ever just wanted to be left alone.

For more information or to learn how you can help, visit any of the

following sites:www.stoptheintervention.org,

www.rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com,

www.womenforwik.org/, www.federalintervention.info/ .
http://stoptheintervention.org/http://stoptheintervention.org/http://stoptheintervention.org/http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/http://www.womenforwik.org/http://www.womenforwik.org/http://federalintervention.info/http://federalintervention.info/http://federalintervention.info/http://www.womenforwik.org/http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/http://stoptheintervention.org/

Documents

2009 16 Months and Counting - Australias Racist Intervention Continues