Vol. 72/No. 7      February 18, 2008

Pat Turner, a leader of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory, stated, “We want proper changes that are constructive and are worked out in conjunction with Aboriginal people done before the end of this next calendar year.”

Starting last June, with Rudd’s bipartisan support, former Liberal prime minister John Howard sent federal officials, backed by cops and army personnel, to assert control over almost all Aboriginal communities on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory. While Howard claimed this was to deal with child abuse in the indigenous communities, the federal government’s actions were widely denounced by Aboriginal groups as an “invasion.”

Following gains in their land rights struggle in the 1970s, Aboriginal clans won ownership of almost half of the Northern Territory. A measure of self-government in the Aboriginal settlements was won as well, but, after decades of government neglect, these communities remain marked by lack of jobs, housing, health services, and schools. Many Aborigines hope the new measures will address this social crisis.

Rudd has declared his continued support for the intervention while promising to modify some of the measures being imposed, with a review next June. Without announcing details, the ALP government has promised to reintroduce a job creation scheme and permit system, both of which were abolished by the Howard government. The permit system allowed Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory to control who entered their land.

The Rudd government has, however, continued to implement a program to place under federal supervision the welfare payments of all Aborigines living in the communities. Federally appointed managers are now in charge of dozens of these communities, and the federal takeover of township leases remains in place. Measures to increase policing of alcohol consumption in these communities will also remain in place.

In mid-December a national controversy was sparked by judicial leniency for six juvenile and three adult Aboriginal males who pleaded guilty to gang rape of a 10-year old Aboriginal girl in the indigenous township of Aurukun in northern Queensland. The three men received suspended six-month sentences. The former ALP premier in Queensland, Peter Beattie, and new federal Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson were among those who called for extending the federal intervention being imposed in the Northern Territory to Aboriginal communities in Queensland.

Rallies and concerts in support of Aboriginal rights took place to protest the celebration of Australia Day in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Canberra on January 26, and in Launceston, Tasmania, January 28. At the annual Yabun concert in Sydney the February 12 national protest in Canberra was widely promoted, and there was an all-day forum on Aboriginal rights for the first time, organized by the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council.  
 
 
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