Are they safer?: Overview : SBS Insight

Overview

Is the radical government intervention in the Northern Territory working?

The Coalition response last year to child sex abuse in indigenous communities was dramatic and contentious. Army and doctor teams were sent in, welfare payments were quarantined and new alcohol bans imposed.

Eight months on, are indigenous kids any safer?

In a television first, new Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, comes face to face with indigenous Australians from the Territory who voice their ideas and concerns.

Some call the intervention a 'racist invasion', but others are keen to make it work. Jenny Macklin tackles tricky questions from Race Discrimination Commissioner, Tom Calma, who says key elements of the policy are racist and should be overturned.

So can the new government recast the intervention without losing impetus and the gains that have been made?

Meet the Guests

Jenny Macklin

Jenny Macklin is the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott is the Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector.

Tom Calma

Tom Calma is an Aboriginal elder from the Kungarakan tribal group. Working with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, he is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, and acting Race Discrimination Commissioner.

Mildred Inkamala

Mildred Inkamala is a community leader from the Aboriginal community of Hermannsburg in Central Australia, a prescribed area under the intervention. Mildred and her husband Carl have been involved in establishing community programs including Rel-aka (Families Together Against Violence), an elders program at Alice Springs Prison, and a domestic violence program with post release prisoners. Mildred’s home in Hermannsburg is a Safe House for women and children trying to escape violence.

Joe Rawson

Joe Rawson is a traditional owner of Titjikala. He sits on the Titjikala Council and manages the community’s tourism venture, Gunya Titjikala.

Dr Sue Gordon AM

Dr Sue Gordon AM Is the Chair of the Taskforce over seeing the Northern Territory Intervention. She is also a Magistrate in the Perth Children’s Court, and was Chair of the Australian Government’s National Indigenous Council (2004-2007). Dr Gordon chaired the Inquiry into Response by Government Agencies to Complaints of Family Violence and Child Abuse in Aboriginal Communities, in Western Australia in 2002.