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Intervention Dollars Missing Their Target

26 October 2007 - Women for Wik Media Release - The grassroots organization Women for Wik, recently re-formed to monitor the Federal Action in the Northern Territory, responded to Galarrwuy Yunupingu's call for new ways to deal with disadvantage in Aboriginal communities, stating that Women for Wik are concerned that the intervention dollars are being spent on the wrong targets, and that this will hinder successful outcomes.

"We all agree that there is great need in Aboriginal communities. We've had decades of neglect, and disempowering and dispiriting empty promises from governments, both Labor and Liberal," said Eileen Cummings, former policy advisor to the Chief Minister of the NT. "We do need new ways of thinking, but we also need to hold on to what is working. We want to be careful of reinventing the wheel or fracturing existing services."

"While we recognise that this is an opportunity, it must be made into an opportunity to get it right. It is about doing the right thing, not just doing some thing", said Olga Havnen, CEO of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT.

"Too much money is being spent on the wrong things," said Ms Haven, "This is supposed to be about looking after children, but after 100 days, there are still no additional child protection services. Instead, we have 700 new public service positions, including 300 positions with Centrelink to manage the income quarantining of around 25,000 people, at a cost of $88 million for the first year alone."

"The implementation of this intervention is shaped by a mindset oriented towards managing dysfunction," said Associate Professor Claire Smith, a social scientist who has worked with remote communities in the NT for almost 20 years.

"This fails to recognise the many successes that exist in Aboriginal communities, much less reinforce, or extend, these successes. At the moment, functional communities are treated as if they are dysfunctional-and this is deeply offensive to the people involved."

With 1.3 billion dollars now committed to the intervention, the Women for Wik group expressed concern about a lack of planning, transparency, accountability or targeted, measurable outcomes. The whole of government approach to the funding of Indigenous affairs has been called into question by the recent findings from the Australian National Audit Office that could identify only one success out of eight trial areas, over a three year period.

Ms Cummings said "The approach being taken by the Federal government is the direct opposite to the six principles put forward by the Council of Australian Government in the National Framework for Preventing Violence and Child Abuse in Indigenous Communities, particularly that concerning the adoption of a partnership approach with communities."

"The only way the intervention can succeed-and the only way for the Australian government to achieve practical reconciliation-is through the voluntary and informed participation of the community. At the moment, many people in communities are bewildered, angry or frightened. This could have been prevented if there had been proper communication."

"If the intervention is going to earn the trust of Aboriginal people, they need proof that they are going to have good outcomes", said Ms Havnen, "The only tangible evidence on the ground so far is new houses for government officials".

Source: Women for Wik

Further information: NT Intervention issues page - includes news index and external links