Analysis Of The Inquiry And Subsequent Intervention Of- The Little Children Are Sacred Report: Northern Territory Board Of Inquiry Into The Protection Of Aboriginal Children From Sexual Abuse.
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Report this essayANALYSIS OF THE INQUIRY AND SUBSEQUENT INTERVENTION OF:Ampe akelyernemane meke mekarle: “little children are sacred”. Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse.
The 2007 inquiry into The Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse was prompted after a number of allegations were made relating to the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. Also known as the Little Children are Sacred, the purpose of the inquiry was to investigate child sexual abuse allegations in Aboriginal communities and identify improved means to protect Aboriginal children from such abuse.
Summary of вЂ?The Terms of Reference for the Inquiry’(Please see Appendix 1 for the full Terns of Reference for the Inquiry)The inquiry was solicited to:•Examine cases of sexual abuse of Aboriginal children, focusing on unreported cases.•Study the factors contributing to abuse.•Investigate the ineffective reactions to Aboriginal child sexual abuse, seen as resulting from: isolation, language barriers, inadequate reporting systems and the fact that Aboriginal families and communities to not understand the reporting system.
•To consider the effectiveness of government responses to and efforts protecting Aboriginal children from sexual abuse.•Establish why cases of child sexual abuse are not being reported.•Identify how both government and non government agencies might work together to construct a more effective system of child protection•Discover how the NT Government could better support Aboriginal communities to better prevent and manage child sexual abuse.•Establish ways the government could assist in the education and support of Aboriginal people to prevent the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children.Due to the myriad of contributing factors associated with child abuse, some have said the terms of reference were not wide enough (James, 2006) however, rather than being overwhelmed by volume, the terms of reference included the most relevant issues (Anderson, 2006).
The inquiry visited 45 Northern Territory communities, held 262 meetings and received 65 written submissions from individuals and organisations. From this, the inquiry gathered a large amount of information which was assembled into 97 recommendations. The landmark report exposed a deeply disturbing environment of sexual abuse across the Northern Territory requiring an urgent but multidimensional long-term response to a very complex problem.
The report was released in the middle of 2007, with a great deal of surrounding political attention. Irrespective of the reports �integrity and worthiness’, it is regarded by many as merely another to add to the alarmingly large number of reports whose recommendations relating to the ill health and clear disadvantage of Indigenous Australians have been largely ignored (Brown & Brown, 2007). The terms of reference in the report were supposedly guided by and �the impetus for the federal government’s intervention’, however ironically only a small number of the reports terms of reference have been considered or put into practice (Brown & Brown, 2007).
According to the inquiry, sexual abuse of Indigenous children is alarmingly rife and often unreported in Northern Territory Indigenous communities. The inquiry suggests that the sexual abuse of Indigenous children is occurring largely due to the combined consequences of alcohol and drug abuse, unemployment, pornography, and poor health, education and housing; the collapse of Aboriginal culture and society (Highland, 2007/2008). The inquiry specified that alcohol prevailed as the most serious danger to the health and safety of Indigenous children (Highland, 2007/2008).
The report made a total of 97 recommendations to attempt to overcome Indigenous child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory. Recommendations included working on: educational services; strengthening support services; building greater trust in communities between Government departments, the police and Aboriginal communities; reducing alcohol consumption; and empowering Indigenous communities through inclusion and ownership of future directions; and reducing alcohol and drug consumption (Anderson, 2007).
In response to the report, the Liberal Prime Minister John Howard and the Minister for Indigenous Affairs Mal Brough declared that the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory was a matter of �national emergency’ (Anderson, 2007). The government response entailed: sending police and army personnel to inflict law and order; alcohol prohibition; banning the sale and possession of hardcore pornography; restricting welfare payments; medical examinations of children under the age of 16; enforcing school attendance; and basically seizing control of a large number of Aboriginal communities in an effort to battle Indigenous child abuse in the Northern Territory (Anderson, 2007; Highland, 2007/2008). Figures 1, 2 and 3 below show some scenes with government professionals in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.
Figures 1, 2, 3Figures 1, 2 3:Local children with army medics/taskforce chair and a health check professional in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities (Australian Government: FaHCSIA, 2007).
Eight months have now passed since the Liberal government announced the federal assault on sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. Despite the intense national attention the report roused, health workers sent in by the government have checked fewer than half of the children in their target group (Peatling & Metherall, 2008). According to the Australian Medical Association, Northern Territory president Dr Peter Beaumont, there are still “nowhere near enough doctors in the territory” to conduct the medical checks (Hart, 2007). Dr Beaumont suggests that the governments strategy was not planned sufficiently, that вЂ?you can’t just bring people in and train them in a few days and expect
The Aboriginal government and private funding to improve the health of Aboriginal children and children’s communities is inadequate. Aboriginal health systems need to be better funded, and for those services that are already available, those benefits must be reestablished. Unfortunately, the health problems associated with residential treatment, which includes psychiatric hospitalization and death, among others, are far from being addressed. The public health impact of residential treatment is substantial when compared with those in the general population (Harlow % Hart, 2006). In 2007, for example, health providers in nine Aboriginal communities across northern and eastern Australia received $32 million. The public health impact of residential treatment is even greater when compared with those in the general population (Harlow % Hart, 2006).
The Commonwealth and states have also had to develop interventions to reduce children’s mental health problems, such as providing counselling and support (Hart, 2006). In a new report to the High Court (Hart, 2006:14), the Court concluded that, when one’s mental health is affected by a problem, it could not be improved by social institutions or by one’s primary care team—both of which are not the primary care of Aboriginal people. This should not mean that they should be held responsible for Aboriginal mental health issues but rather that these need to be addressed using the appropriate treatment programs.
In light of the new report and some of the recent recommendations, including the funding of public health workers, government ministers now have to rethink their approaches.
Funding of social care resources should be funded as a part of any government-funded work. Under the Federal Government’s new $622 million Health Outpatient Services Network payment scheme, the government is seeking to reduce the cost for primary care in order to pay for the delivery of care so people have access to higher quality health care. The payments will only cover care for children who are aged between 11 and 14 years—or, in the worst case, for children whose services meet the minimum eligibility level.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDI) has created a system within the Children’s Health Benefits Scheme which protects children against disability and costs the government up to $2.3 billion over five years. The new scheme’s funding is intended to be targeted at those who are living with a mental health condition. There has been little debate about this point. But critics of the scheme argue that it is not adequate and that it is too little, too late to deal with the need for mental health care among younger children with a mental health condition (Hart, 2006).
While the funding of social services to care for children who are mentally ill is appropriate, those children who are living with a psychiatric condition could also benefit from it. Currently, only