26 June 2007

Open letter to The Hon. Mal Brough MP

 

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