Second Barkly child tragedy highlights need for urgent action

Consider this: the alleged offender in this case is 16 years old and the alleged victim is a four year old.
In 2007 the teenager in this case was a five year old. That was the year The Intervention was launched by the Federal Government (then Coalition under PM John Howard) in response to the crisis afflicting children on remote communities, initiated to a large extent by reports on the ABC’s Lateline program that triggered the investigation leading to the “Little Children are Sacred” report.
A major part of The Intervention’s effort was an attempt to deal with the proliferation of pornography in remote communities – which again has been highlighted in recent media coverage.
The NT Government at the time was Labor, led by Chief Minister Clare Martin, the Member for Fannie Bay.
Once again the NT Government is Labor, led by CM Michael Gunner who succeeded Ms Martin as Member for Fannie Bay.
The current Federal Government is again the Coalition; and we still have the same CLP Senator for the NT, Nigel Scullion.
The Intervention involved many millions of taxpayers’s dollars being spent, and lots of disruption, controversy and debate.
What has been achieved? What have we learned?
Maybe there is need again for an Intervention but this time in our system of government, bureaucracy and the mainstream media.
George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has got nothing on us – his novel is a work of fiction, ours is the reality.

Ali Curung has an inadequate medical clinic let alone any family support services.
The need is huge because alcohol abuse is rife.
Kieran has written a poignant account of the death of a woman near Ali Curung; well worth a read to get a sense of real life in the community.
https://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2013/05/31/trouble-at-the-turn-off/
‘Paradise’ is the local name for the nearest alcohol takeaway on the Stuart Highway.
There is a missing generation in the community, victims of alcohol abuse and their kids are looked after by their grandparents.
They are old and most are sick so of course the kids are not supervised as well as the grandparents would like.
Down the road there is Nturiya (Station) and Wilora (Stirling), allegedly serviced from Ti Tree.
Nturiya has the worst housing and services I have seen anywhere in the Territory and remote Pilbara.
Camps are common, families living under corrugated iron.
The community has no store or clinic.
Wilora is another victim of Ti Tree under servicing.
There are visiting nurses but no one counts on them.
Family support services are a distant dream.
The entire region is a national disgrace.

In case anyone feels I’m unfairly critical of the Federal Coalition and NT Labor, here are some quotes from a feature report “The scourge of child abuse” from an earlier time.
“Child abuse is running rife in our community.
“In Alice Springs and the Barkly region 53 cases were reported to welfare authorities last year, compared to 108 in the Darwin region.
“But authorities believe these figures represent only the tip of an iceberg.
“Statistics are not available to show whether Alice Springs has a higher incidence of child abuse than other towns of similar size, but authorities agree the potential for abuse in Central Australia is ‘probably greater’.”
Further: “Reporting of child abuse has increased dramatically since the Community Welfare Act – the Act covering the area of child abuse – was introduced in the Territory in 1982.”
Under the heading of “The four types of abuse” (physical abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse), it was stated: “Reports of sexual abuse have risen sharply in the past few years with the number of proven cases in 1987 amounting to five times more than that of three years ago.
“Police statistics show that one in four girls and one in 10 boys under 18 have been sexually abused.”
Under the title “Action urged on child abuse” comes the following: “Child abuse must be dealt with in the same open and honest manner as AIDS, [the] Health and Community Services Minister said last week.
“[The Minister] said nearly 400 allegations of child abuse were reported to the Health and Community Services Department in the last financial year.
“Investigations showed that in 253 cases the reports were found to be true.”
So now let’s put all this into perspective. This feature report was published on March 9, 1988 – exactly 30 years ago this month.
The Federal Government at the time was the Hawke Labor Government, and the Member for the Northern Territory was Warren Snowdon, only eight months into his Parliamentary career.
The NT Government was CLP led by Chief Minister Steve Hatton.
The Minister for Health and Community Services? None other than Don Dale.

Well founded and accurate and, I am sure, a true representations of the undeniably ongoing, seemingly impossible to resolve problems that present in so-called communities.
But where do the millions of tax payer dollars that have been provided to encourage a solution go? Twenty years of throwing money at the problem has achieved nothing.
Now a call for more millions based on a convoluted intellectual platform makes front page. Perhaps those in air-conditioned offices driving one of the hundreds of free vehicles with personalised number plates could do some hard yards on the ground and spend a week or a month mentoring one on one in these neglected communities.

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), which often includes a degree of cognitive disability, and easy access to the rankest type of online pornography means that the issues outlined in this article will not be going away anytime soon.
And like many I have absolutely no idea how to address this.

One of the issues that bedevils communities in the Barkly region and which negatively affects many residents is the gutlessness of the housing agency to management properties effectively.
There might be one occupant in a three bedroom house and a family with six kids in a one bedroom house or even with no house at all so crammed into a relatives house.
Eight people living in one room.
Housing will not intervene to remedy this.
That’s how the ownership of houses had been allowed to happen irrespective of needs.
Families will own a number of houses and if one is vacant they will put a single individual in that house to maintain their ownership.
Large families in overcrowded houses see this happen and complain about it but no action is taken.
There is certainly overcrowding in the Barkly but there would be a lot less if families were assigned houses according to their needs.

The only one making sense here tragically is Alex Nelson. Who said if you don’t learn from history you are set to repeat it?
And it it looks we are doing it again and again, albeit with different players. Same show, different actors.

Well said, Alex. As usual every department is blaming each other rather than looking in their own back yard.
Don’t keep asking for more hand outs, get in there and do the job properly that you are already getting paid to do. Go into the places, talk to the people who are affected.

Community problems will continue until the Commonwealth provided personal and corporate exemptions from responsibilities ends.
Commonwealth racist support for apartheid is not a valid reason for ongoing exemption from responsibilities as land-owners or lease-holders.
Expectations are that governments must provide public monies to provide and maintain improvements in these privately owned apartheid fiefdom lands. This significantly contributes to current problems.
When these tenants’ and landlords’ responsibilities and accountability become simpler then most issues will be resolved.

This can’t be fixed by simply hiring more public servants …

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The majority of the NT’s problems whether black or white are based on alcohol.
Let’s draw a line in the sand and just ban alcohol in the Territory.
I’m not a prude, I don’t mind a social drink but I’d be prepared to not consume for the greater good. It’s the only thing that will start the healing from a disease handed down over generations.

Bit simplistic and unrealistic to ban all alcohol, Phil.
The government gets tax from the sale of alcohol, where is the money going to come from to reimburse hotels, pubs and bottleshops that would be shut down.
Not to mention all the people put out of work in the pubs and delivery drivers, warehouse staff.
And the impact to the tourism industry would be horrific Territory wide.
It would only start up convoys of cars going interstate empty and coming back loaded with grog to sell on the black market.
Prohibition didn’t work before and it wouldn’t work again, just like the BDR.

Michael Dean, I don’t necessarily disagree with you about it being simplistic but alcohol is the root of all this evil and that’s my suggestion.
With respect, what’s your answer? If you just remove it from the Indigenous you’re branded a racist (even though my father is a Murri Man).

Phil you said: “The majority of the NT’s problems whether black or white are based on alcohol.” Alcohol only exposes the true reality of how many are suffering in our country, especially in the NT.
People use drugs and alcohol for many reasons – to relax, have fun, socialise, cope with problems, escape life or dull emotional, physical pain.
A drunk who has self esteem will be happy, stupid, but not violent.
In many cases, self-esteem and domestic violence go hand in hand.
The less in control an offender feels, the more they want to hurt others, and domestic violence offenders tend to prey on women who have low self-esteem, realising that the victim will want and need them no matter what they do.
Of course, using substances to cope doesn’t make problems go away, and can make them worse or add new problems to the mix as we can witness in Alice Springs.

Agreed, Phil.

Am I the only one who thinks another 1800 number is ridiculous? We already have a single number for emergency services (and child abuse is without doubt an emergency), why not spend the money on expanding and training the existing emergency call centres to more effectively deal with reporting?
Banning grog on the highway won’t help anyone, all it does is move the problem drinkers to a town where they have no housing, their children are not enrolled in school and they are left to run amok with even less care or oversight than they had in their own community. Just ask Mount Isa how the Tennant Creek restrictions are going for them.

@ Jones: It is also worth pointing out that Nturiya had a health centre built some years ago. It was burned to the ground not long after construction was completed.

To everyone who criticises my stance on alcohol and other drugs, especially those who mention the jobs involved in supplying such: We are talking about child abuse and rape, murder and critical injuries here, not you mention foetal alcohol syndrome. You people are up there with America’s National Rifle Association.

Re Phil, Posted April 6, 2018 at 12:44 pm: I doubt if everyone critical of your stand re alcohol, including myself, thinks prohibition is impractical and considers prohibition would fail.
Contributions from alcohol to other offenses long recognised, while previous excuses of intoxication with alcohol mostly now fail.
Many are aware of FASD. It is essential ALL children and all persons facing custodial orders be tested for disability indicators. There must be suitable support programs.
The NT statistical results need to be regularly published.

@ Another Local: It’s interesting that you say that Nturiya had a health centre built some years ago and it was burned to the ground.
In the white administrative enclave of Ti Tree that is exactly the reason given for the neglect of the community, it is also claimed that 15 years ago the store was burned down.
Nturiya is pariah community where a few incidents long ago are used to justify the horrific neglect.
Docker River store was burned down many years ago as was Kintore school etc etc but these communities have stores and schools and clinics.
I personally have found the people of Nturiya hospitable and peaceful.
Heard of any Willowra style riots or major family disputes?
People at Yuendumu were actually compensated by the NT Government when they torched houses and cars.
About time to stop making excuses and blaming the victims. Put services into these neglected communities.