Sydney - The Australian government Thursday announced
drastic measures to tackle the child sex abuse in Aboriginal
communities in the country's far north identified in a recent report.
They include a six-month moratorium on the sale of alcohol in
remote Aboriginal communities, a ban on hard-core pornography and the
drafting in of police officers from outside the Northern Territory.
Howard said parents who kept their children off school would have
their welfare payments docked. Children under 16 would undergo a
compulsory medical examination and a permit system that kept
journalists out of Aboriginal communities would be scrapped.
Half of welfare payments, which most remote Aboriginal families
live on, would be quarantined for food and other essentials.
'We are dealing with children of the tenderest age who have been
exposed to the most terrible abuse from the time of their birth
virtually,' Howard told Parliament.
'Any semblance of maintaining the innocence of childhood is a myth
in so many of these communities and we feel very strongly that action
of this kind is needed.'
The report handed to the Northern Territory government earlier
this month noted that child sexual abuse was evident in all 45
Aboriginal communities that inspectors visited.
Around 500,000 of the 20 million Australians identify themselves
as Aborigines. Their life expectancy is 17 years shorter than other
Australians. Suicides are twice the national rate, murders are six
times as high and they are 11 times more likely to be imprisoned.
The Northern Territory has around 70,000 Aborigines - over a
quarter of the population. Its government doesn't have the powers of
states like Victoria and New South Wales so the federal government
can adopt what amounts to direct rule.
Howard was unapologetic about extending Canberra's powers. 'What
matters more - the Constitutional niceties or the care and protection
of young children?' he asked.
The prime minister appealed to the state governments to arrogate
to themselves the same powers and intercede in remote indigenous
communities where they know child sexual abuse is rife.
Sue Gordon, head of the National Indigenous Council, applauded
Howard's initiative. 'The nation cannot avert its eyes and close its
ears to the abuse and violence being suffered every day by children,
women and men in our communities,' she said in a statement.
But Aboriginal activist Bonnie Robertson slammed the emergency
powers, saying they robbed indigenous people of their dignity and
their civil rights.
'Sexual abuse does not have a black face,' Robertson said. 'There
are many perpetrators who are non-indigenous. If we are going to be
serious about sexual abuse in this country, let's do it across the
board.'
Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said the programme would
not discriminate between black and white in those remote Northern
Territory communities where it would operate. He estimated that one
in 10 in remote communities were not Aborigines.
'I want perpetrators brought to justice,' Brough said. 'Black
families and white families in those communities will be treated
equally.'
He promised that similar conditions would soon be set for all
recipients of welfare payments right across Australia.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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