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Police unite against NT permit plan

By Simon Kearney

13 August 2007 - POLICE in all states and territories have rallied to reject the federal Government's
planned abolition of the permit system controlling access to Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

Police have also criticised the legislation banning alcohol in the crackdown on child abuse as unwieldy, saying the laws will create confusion about how officers in Aboriginal communities treat offenders and are open to challenge.

Police Federation of Australia chief executive Mark Burgess said officers supported the move to address dysfunction in Aboriginal communities with a particular focus on law and order.

But in a submission to the Senate committee examining the Northern Territory Emergency Response Bill 2007 -- one of three bills enabling the Howard Government's takeover of remote Aboriginal communities -- Mr Burgess said there were flaws in the commonwealth's approach.

"The Australian Government has failed to make the case that there is any connection between the permit system and child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities. Therefore, changes to the permit system are unwarranted," he told the committee, which sat for only one day -- Friday -- to examine the legislation set to
pass the Senate this week.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough has argued that the permit system has failed to protect children and should be abolished in community common areas.

Indigenous communities argue it is necessary to maintain their security.

"Operational police on the ground in the Northern Territory believe that the permit system is a useful tool in policing the communities, particularly in policing alcohol and drug-related crime," Mr Burgess said. "It would be most unfortunate if by opening up the permit system in the larger public townships and the connecting road corridors as the Government intends, law enforcement efforts to address the 'rivers of grog', the distribution of pornography and the drug running and petrol sniffing were made more difficult."

There are also concerns that even more police will be required to implement the new laws.

"Given the multiplicity of new offences contained in the overall package of bills which make up the government's Northern Territory National Emergency Response, it is not at all clear that the additional level of police resources provided to date will be adequate for the challenge of delivering the new level of law and order expected in Aboriginal communities in the Territory and enforcing the newly introduced laws," Mr Burgess said.

The NT Police Association's annual conference begins today in Darwin, where president Vince Kelly will tell the federal Government that their intervention -- to cost $500 million a year -- is reminiscent of Monty Python.

"The more cynical might compare the plan or operation to date to sketches from Monty Python's quest for the Holy Grail," Senior Sergeant Kelly says in a copy of his speech obtained yesterday. He will call for the hard work of Territory officers in Aboriginal communities to be recognised.

"If there is blame or responsibility to be apportioned, that rests with government -- federal, territory and state, Labor and Liberal," he will tell the conference.

"Our members for decades have done all in our power to stand against the overwhelming tide of poverty, neglect and despair that has engulfed these communities in crisis and to protect their most vulnerable with the limited resources at our disposal. We should be commended, not condemned."

Sergeant Kelly will also raise concerns about the veracity of child sexual abuse cases raised in the Little Children are Sacred report, by Rex Wild QC and Pat Anderson, which sparked the intervention.

"Many of the stories in the report were not rigorously examined and, to be fair to the authors, they were perhaps neither resourced nor had the remit to carry out that process," he will say.

"The other failing of the Wild/Anderson report is that many of the 97 recommendations made are broad statements that provide no clear direction to government in many areas."

Source: The Australian

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