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Senate passes NT indigenous laws

17 August 2007 - Controversial laws for the Northern Territory's indigenous people have passed Federal Parliament.

The measures, which Prime Minister John Howard says are designed to stop child abuse, include welfare restrictions, alcohol and pornography bans, medical checks for children, and the commonwealth takeover of Aboriginal land on five-year leases.

The controversial measures, costing close to $600 million for the first year, passed the upper house with Labor's support during an extended sitting today that followed a marathon debate on the bills.

Australian Democrats and Greens senators opposed the five bills, which were approved without amendment, 56 votes to six.

During several days of parliamentary debate, Labor had tried to persuade the government to make the NT intervention measures subject to anti-discrimination laws.

However, Community Services Minister Nigel Scullion said yesterday the intervention could not proceed if anti-discrimination laws had to be followed.

"If we don't exempt some of these areas from the Racial Discrimination Act then they would be unlawful," he said.

Greens leader Bob Brown branded the laws racist and discriminatory, as they are specifically exempt from the provisions of the Racial Discrimination Act.

"Setting aside the Racial Discrimination Act was not necessary," he said.

"But it has been set aside comprehensively, in breach of international and domestic mores."

He condemned the use of the Australian Crime Commission's coercive powers to "invade" Aboriginal communities.

NT Labor senator Trish Crossin said she was greatly concerned about the abolition of Aboriginal employment programs, one of the many radical measures being taken.

While insisting the measures are designed to tackle child abuse, the laws allow the commonwealth to take over township leases of indigenous communities and scrap the Aboriginal land permit system.

The government insists these measures are needed to ensure open access to previously restricted communities and allow housing and community facilities to be built and repaired.

Survey and medical teams have already been deployed to the territory to assess the infrastructure needs of indigenous settlements and provide health checks for children.

The laws offer Aboriginal people "a reasonable amount" of compensation in return for losing control of their land, but not compensation on "just terms" as required by the constitution.

The government refused to amend the bills this week to enshrine the constitutional guarantee of compensation, amid warnings the laws could be the subject of a High Court challenge.

When announcing the intervention in June, Mr Howard described the child abuse in Aboriginal communities as a "national emergency".

He likened the crisis to Australia's version of Hurricane Katrina.

Mr Howard's intervention followed the Little Children Are Sacred report, by Rex Wild and Pat Anderson, which exposed the horrors of child abuse in Aboriginal settlements across the NT.

Critics charge the problem has been known for years and accuse Mr Howard of using the indigenous takeover as a re-election stunt. AAP

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

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