Home
About MAKO
Services
Contact
Prevention
MAKO/Files
Community Notification
Report
Referral
Profile's
Facts/ Stats
Online Dangers
Child Safety
MAKO Petitions
Research/ Resources
Books
DNA Info
Safety For Women
News/ Articles
Your Comments
Australian Politicians/ Contacts
Join
Sponsors
Donations
Links
|
FORMER Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer will head the Northern Territory's inquiry into Aboriginal child sex abuse. Mr Palmer, who led the recent inquiry into the wrongful detention of Australian resident Cornelia Rau, will co-chair the inquiry with indigenous health advocate Pat Anderson. NT Chief Minister Clare Martin announced the inquiry last week, amid revelations about a crisis of child abuse in remote Aboriginal communities. A summit on indigenous abuse was held in Canberra yesterday, after months of reports from whistleblowers and others claiming sexual abuse was rampant in many remote indigenous communities. The Commonwealth yesterday offered the states and territories $130 million over four years, but only if the funding was matched and the states and territories spent more money on law and order. But Ms Martin said it was unreasonable to link the funding to calls to abolish the role of customary law in the wider Australian legal system. As well as calling for the states to improve in law and order, the Federal Government also plans to remove from federal laws any provisions requiring courts to consider cultural backgrounds, under a "one law for all Australians" policy. The Commonwealth wants the states to do the same and the issue will be taken to the next meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General. Ms Martin downplayed the significance of the funding. "When it comes to the Federal Government and the words they are saying, there is a lot more money that should be spent - $130 million over 10 years is not a lot of money," Ms Martin said. "This is a big issue, every state admits it's a big issue and the Federal Government needs to dip into its very large surplus and assist. "I put to the Federal Government: `why don't you try $50 million a year for 10 years', now that's a sum I would like to see." Ms Martin said the role of customary law in the NT court system was "virtually ring-fenced", and applied only in a "minuscule" number of cases. "I don't believe the federal government really understands where it sits in territory law and we will continue to say it's appropriate," she said. "It's not appropriate to tie in additional funds for alcohol rehabilitation and police posts and police housing with an issue like that, we will be arguing the case very strongly. "If Minister Brough is serious about helping the states and territories in tackling these problems then he doesn't tie it in with a political issue like he's doing." The Palmer-Anderson inquiry will focus on unreported incidents of child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities and report back to the NT Government by the end of the year. Mr Palmer, who was also NT Police Commissioner between 1988 and 1994, indicated much of the inquiry would be held in private to enable people to speak candidly. Any specific allegations of child sex abuse raised would be referred to authorities, but he stressed the inquiry was "not a witchhunt". He acknowledged he faced a difficult task to break the code of silence on child sex abuse on Aboriginal communities, but said it was "not mission impossible". "I'm not suggesting there is any easy solutions, I understand that some of the barriers involved in this are going to be very difficult to change," he said. "But the world is full of examples of very strongly changed arrangements, you can change the way people think and act. "I think the momentum and the commitment at the moment is absolutely right to allow us to do things that we probably haven't had an opportunity to do before." AAP (27-06-2006) |
|
TERRITORY Police Commissioner Paul White has lashed out at Federal MP Mal Brough over his claims police officers ignored claims of pedophilia in a remote NT community. Commissioner White said Mr Brough, the Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, was wrong over alleged inaction against a suspected pedophile in Mutitjulu, Central Australia. "I reject Mr Brough's inference that Northern Territory Police has done nothing," Mr White said. During a live to air interview, Mr Brough said a report sent by his office to police in Alice Springs of sexual abuse in Mutitjulu, 450km southwest of the town, had been ignored. Mr Brough also alleged NT Police were "disconnected" from the community. But Mr White said the claims were followed up. "Although no evidence was forthcoming, Northern Territory Police carefully monitored the activities of the person in question who subsequently left the community," he said. Mr White said he rejected Mr Brough's inference that NT police had done nothing and he encouraged everybody to work in a collaborative fashion to improve outcomes for the Territory community. Meanwhile, Mr Brough has accused police of making comments that have identified a child abuse whistleblower. The whistleblower had information about drug use, petrol sniffing and sexual abuse in the Aboriginal Mutitjulu community near Uluru. Mr Brough says the man has had to take police security as a result of a statement by police. Northern Territory News (25-06-2006) Chris Carter |
|
THE Northern Territory Government has launched an inquiry into child sex abuse in indigenous communities. The ABC's Lateline program last night broadcast accusations that indigenous men in central Australia were keeping girls as young as five as sex slaves. An unnamed former youth worker at Mutitjulu, near Uluru, said some men were trading sex for petrol meant for sniffing. NT Chief Minister Clare Martin today said it was time to break through the silence shrouding the problem. "It's time to break through the fear, silence and shame about what's happening in the bush," she said in a statement. "Too many families are being destroyed by child abuse. We must draw a line in the sand and get all the facts and act on them." Ms Martin said the inquiry, which is expected to last for six months, would have the power to access any relevant documents, summon witnesses, and provide protection to those witnesses if needed. There had been four reports to police about sex abuse in Mutitjulu – one of which involved a child – in the last six years, she said. Meanwhile, NT police say they will form a taskforce to immediately travel to the central Australian community to investigate the allegations broadcast last night. The taskforce, which starts work today, includes detectives, public servants from the federal indigenous affairs department, and workers from the NT's child abuse taskforce, as well as an investigator from Alice Springs. AAP (22-06-2006) |
Australian News
About Child Pornography
Sex Offenders- Electronic Tagging
Chemical Castration
Community Notification
2005. All Rights Reserved.
Legal/Disclaimer/
Privacy/
Terms Of Use.