Northern Territory National Emergency Response: Difference between revisions

The Northern Territory National Emergency Response (also referred to as "the intervention") is a package of changes to welfare provision, law enforcement, land tenure and other measures, introduced by the Australian federal government under John Howard in 2007, nominally to address claims of rampant child sexual abuse and neglect in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities. Operation Outreach, the intervention's main logistical operation conducted by a force of 600 soldiers and detachments from the ADF (including NORFORCE) concluded October 21, 2008.^[1]

The package was the Federal government's response to the Territory government's publication of Little Children are Sacred, but implemented almost none of the report's recommendations. The response has been criticised, but also received bipartisan parliamentary support. The current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has and continues to support the response, though he did make some adjustments to its implementation.

The legislation introduced as part of the package included:

• the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Bill 2007;
• the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Bill 2007;
• the Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment ( Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Bill 2007;
• the Appropriation (Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 1) 2007-2008; and
• the Appropriation (Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 2) 2007-2008.

The $587 million package came into effect with the passage of the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 by the Australian Parliament in August 2007. The nine measures contained therein were as follows:

• Deployment of additional police to affected communities.
• New restrictions on alcohol and kava
• Pornography filters on publicly funded computers
• Compulsory acquisition of townships currently held under the title provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 through five year leases with compensation on a basis other than just terms. (The number of settlements involved remains unclear.)
• Commonwealth funding for provision of community services
• Removal of customary law and cultural practice considerations from bail applications and sentencing within criminal proceedings
• Suspension of the permit system
• Quarantining of a proportion of welfare benefits to all recipients in the designated communities and of all benefits of those who neglect their children
• The abolition of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP).

The response was introduced during the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, at which the incumbent Coalition government led by John Howard, in office since 1996, was defeated. The policy was criticised as rushed and poll-driven[1], although it gained the broad support of the ALP opposition and some Aboriginal leaders.

The response also came at a time of increasing debate over the future of federalism in Australia, in particular the proper extent of federal power into areas of government traditionally managed by the states and territories. It was one of a number of federal interventions enacted in 2007. Other state responsibilities targeted by the Australian Government at the time included seaports, workplace relations, the Murray-Darling river system and public hospitals.

The policy was initially insulated from criticism because of the sensitive nature of the issue and the fact that the national Parliament faces no constitutional barriers to overruling the Northern Territory government, unlike the governments of Australia's states.

The plan has been attacked by the Northern Territory government, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission^[2] and by several Aboriginal leaders and community spokespeople.

The measures of the response which have attracted most criticism comprise the exemption from the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the compulsory acquisition of an unspecified number of prescribed communities (Measure 5) and the partial abolition of the permit system (Measure 10). These have been interpreted as undermining important principles and parameters established as part of the legal recognition of indigenous land rights in Australia.

More generally, a lack of consultation with Aboriginal community leaders is often cited by critics of the response, alongside the fact that the action addresses very few of the specific recommendations contained in the Little Children are Sacred Report, while introducing many measures not suggested in the Report.

Some Aboriginal commentators and activists, such as Noel Pearson, have offered qualified support, criticising aspects of the response while nevertheless believing it to be necessary and worthwhile.^[3][4][5][6] The Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu initially opposed the response, but eventually changed his position to one of support.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

• Emergency management
• Sustainable tourism

• ANTaR
• Federal intervention
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Submission of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee on the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Legislation, 10 August 2007
• LISTENup! to Aboriginal and Islander voices
• Minister's announcement
• National Aboriginal Alliance
• “National Emergency” and Land Rights Reform: Separating fact from fiction
• Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (No. 129, 2007)
• Women for Wik; Monitoring the federal action in the Northern Territory

• Altman, Jon C., & others Coercive reconciliation; stabilise, normalise, exit Aboriginal Australia (North Carlton: Arena, 2007).
• Coercive reconciliation; public lecture, ANU, 9 October 2007.