26 June 2007
26 June 2007
Open letter to The Hon. Mal Brough MP
Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600
Dear Minister Brough
The undersigned organisations write this joint and open letter in order to convey our views on action required to stop the abuse of children in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, and our concerns about aspects of the Australian Government’s response to this problem as outlined in your statement of 21 June 2007.
The safety and well-being of Indigenous children is paramount. We welcome your commitment to tackling violence and abuse in certain Indigenous communities. We are deeply concerned at the severity and widespread nature of the problems of child sexual abuse and community breakdown in Indigenous communities in the NT, catalogued in the Little Children are Sacred Report.
We wish to work collaboratively with Governments and the communities affected to ensure that children are protected. We would like to see greater investment in the services that support Indigenous families and communities, the active involvement of these communities in finding solutions to these problems and greater Federal Government engagement in delivering basic health, housing and education services to remote communities.
There is general agreement among the communities affected, Governments and service providers and in the wider Australian community that urgent action is required to address the abuse and neglect of children and to assist those affected by it.
We note that the services which most Australians take for granted are often not delivered to remote Indigenous communities, including adequately resourced schools, health services, child protection and family support services, as well as police who are trained to deal with domestic violence in the communities affected. We endorse the call in the Little Children are Sacred Report for the Australian and Territory Governments to work together urgently to fill these gaps in services.
There is also a need for a longer term plan to address the underlying causes of the problem, including community breakdown, joblessness, overcrowding and low levels of education.
Successfully tackling these problems requires sustainable solutions, which must be worked out with the communities, not prescribed from Canberra.
We are committed to working with the Government to ensure that in developing and introducing the proposed measures, support is provided to Indigenous communities’ efforts to resolve these problems. The proposals go well beyond an ‘emergency response’, and will have profound effects on people’s incomes, land ownership, and their ability to decide the kind of medical treatment they receive. Some of the measures will weaken communities and families by taking from them the ability to make basic decisions about their lives, thus removing responsibility instead of empowering them.
In their present form the proposals miss the mark and are unlikely to be effective. There is an over-reliance on top-down and punitive measures, and insufficient indication that additional resources will be mobilised where they are urgently needed; to improve housing, child protection and domestic violence supports, schools, health services, alcohol and drug rehab programs. These issues have been raised by many Indigenous leaders over many years.
We offer our support to Indigenous communities and the Government in:
• developing programs that will strengthen families and communities to empower them to confront the problems they face;
• consulting adequately with the communities and NT Government, and community service, health and education providers;
• developing a long term plan to address and resolve the causes of child abuse including joblessness, poor housing, education and commit the necessary resources to this.
Yours sincerely
Mick Dodson
Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser and Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue
Co-Chairs, Stolen Generation Alliance
Mary Buckskin
Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia
Darryl Kickett
Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia
Bernie Dwyer
Amity Community Services
David Evans
Amoonguna Health Service
Alice Springs Urban Housing
Alice Springs Youth Accommodation & Support Services (ASYASS)
Jeff Warner & Barbara Shaw
Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation
Arrernte Council
Garry Highland
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR)
Mark Wenitong
Australian Indigenous Doctors Association
Michael Green
Bahtabah Local Aboriginal Land Council
Abdul Khan
Central Australian Aboriginal Alcohol Program Unit (CAAAPU)
Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service
Central Australian Aboriginal Congress
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association
Britt Puschak, Gonam Pillay, Jan Burgess, Natalie Colmer
Central Australian Division of Primary Health Care
Central Australian Stolen Generations & Families Aboriginal Corporation
Central Land Council
Andrea Rabone
Council for Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services
Regina Bennett
Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women's Shelter
Caitlin Perry
Darwin Community Legal Service Inc
Susan Crane
Dawn House Inc
Lester Adams
Darumbal Community Youth Service Inc
Anita O’Callaghan
Foster Care NT
Footprints Forward
Ingkerreke Outstations Resource Services.
Neville Perkins
Institute for Aboriginal Development
Pat Brahim
Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation
Larissa Behrendt
Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning
David Scholz
Kakadu Health Service
Barbara Quirk
Katherine Crisis Accommodation and Support Program
Sean Heffernan
Katherine West Aboriginal Health Board
Barayuwa Mununggurr
Laynhapuy Homelands Association
Lhere Artepe
Brooke Whitaker
Local Community Services Association
Reggie Wundjal
Malabam Health Board
Laurencia Grant
Mental Health Association of Central Australian (MHACA)
Eddie Mulholland
Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
Dea Thiele
National Aboriginal Controlled Health Organisation (NACHO)
National Indigenous Youth Movement of Australia
National Indigenous Television Ltd
Priscilla Collins
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency
Toni Vine Bromley
Northern Territory Shelter
NSW Reconciliation Council
Northern Territory Branch of the Australian Association of Social Workers
Caitlin Perry
NT Association of Community Legal Centres Inc
NT Youth Affairs Network (NTYAN)
Jeff Hulcombe
Pintupi Homelands Health Service
Muriel Bamblett
SNAICC
Walter Shaw
Tangentyere Council
Georgina Bracken
Tennant Creek Women's Refuge Inc.
Revd Sealin Garlett
Uniting Aboriginal & Islander Christian Congress
Muriel Bamblett
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA)
Jill Gallagher
Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO)
Frank E. Guivarra
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
Sharijn King
Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Association
Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation
Andrew Johnson
Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS)
Lin Hatfield Dodds
ACOSS
Olga Havnen
ACOSS
Ara Cresswell
ACT Council of Social Service
Licia Kokocinski
Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities</SPAN>< P>
Ray Cleary
Anglicare Australia
Anglicare Central Queensland Ltd
Anglicare NT
Karine Sheelshear
Association to Resource Cooperative Housing, Sydney
Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies
Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work (ACHSSW)
Don Baxter
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations
Gordon Melsom
Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations
Deane Welsh
Australian Institute of Welfare and Community Workers
Simeon Beckett
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights
Gerardine (Ged) Kearney
Australian Nursing Federation
Mark Beach and Percy Neal
Bama Ngappi Ngappi Aboriginal Corporation
Rev Dr Ji Zhang
Bentleigh Uniting Church
Sandie de Wolf
Berry Street Victoria
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Canberra Rape Crisis Centre
Jack de Groot
Caritas Australia
Central Australian Remote Health Development Services (CARHDS)
Tony Pietropiccolo
CentreCare Western Australia
Rev Rod Benson
Centre for Christian Ethics
Coleen Clare
Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare
Community Child Care Association Victoria
Keith Lyons
Congregational Federation of Australia and Aotearoa
Angela Forbes
Connections – an agency of UnitingCare
Mary Bergin
Council of Australian Humanist Societies
Sue Hendy
Council of the Ageing Victoria
Nicole Lawder
Deafness Forum of Australia
Tim Woodruff
Doctors Reform Society
Fiona McCormack
Domestic Violence Victoria
Family Planning Tasmania
Tony O’Hare
Family Services Australia
Federation of Community Legal Centres (Victoria)
Helen Egan
General Practice and Primary Health Care NT
Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand
Good Shepherd Social Justice Network
Good Shepherd Youth and Family Service
Jeff McMullen
Ian Thorpe’s Fountain for Youth
Julie Edwards
Jesuit Social Services
David Thomspson
Jobs Australia
Brett Collings
Justice Action
Poul Bottern
Kildonan UnitingCare
Meredith Carter
Kindergarten Parents Victoria
Liberty Victoria
Paul Linossier
MacKillop Family Services
MAYA CIFALI Consultancies
Micah Projects
Tom Miller
Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council
Barbara Romeril
National Association of Community BasedChildren's Services (NACBCS)
Elizabeth O’Brien
National Association of Community Legal Centres
National Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social WorkersAssociation (NCATSISWA)
The Revd John Henderson
National Council of Churches in Australia
Richard Menteith AOM
National Council of Churches of Christ in Australia
Elspeth McInnes
National Council of Single Mothers and their Children
Dr John Wakerman
National Rural Health Alliance
Adrian Pisarski
National Shelter
Kate Beamount
National Welfare Rights Network
Geoff Scott
New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council
Wendy Morton
Northern Territory Council of Social Service
Stephen Banks
NSW Council of Civil Liberties
NSW Council of Social Service
NSW Federation of Housing Associations
Gregory Phillips
Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit, University of Melbourne
Andrew Hewett
Oxfam Australia
Alastair McEwin
People with Disabilities Australia
Quinn Pawson
Prahran Mission
Michael Cassar
Psychiatric Disability Services ofVictoria (Vicserv)
Public Health Association of Australia
Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council
Jill Lang
Queensland Council of Social Service
Di Sisely
Reconciliation Victoria
Mary Mertin-Ryan
Relationships Australia
Lin Davidson
St David’s UnitingCare
David Pugh
St Luke’s Anglicare
Alex Huntir
St Michaels Association Inc
Society of St Vincent de Paul National Council
Barbara Hocking
SANE Australia
Mary Perkins
Shelter NSW
Vicki O'Halloran
Somerville Community Services Incorporated
Karen Grogan
South Australian Council of Social Service
Mary-Anne Johnson
Tasmanian Catholic Justice and Peace Commission
Tom Muller
Tasmanian Council of Social Service
The Fred Hollows Foundation
Lyn Larkin
Uniting Care Australia
Rev. Gregor Henderson
Uniting Church in Australia
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Rev Allan Thompson
Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia
Robert Watson
Uniting Church – WA Synod
Anne Cross
UnitingCare Queensland
Rev Raoul Spackman-Williams
UnitingCare
Victorian Council of Churhces
Carolyn Aitkins
Victorian Council of Social Service
Judy Leitch
Wesley Mission
Deb Bryant
West Centre Against Sexual Assault
Lisa Baker
Western Australian Council of Social Service
Marilyn Beaumont
Women’s Health Victoria
Angela Hartwig
Women's Council for Domestic & Family Violence Services (WA)
Carolyn Frohmander
Women With Disabilities Australia
Siyavash Doostkhah
Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ)
Manja Visschedijk
YWCA of Canberra