KEY POINTS:
The Howard Government is facing protest against its intervention in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Aren't such protesters, like Mr Howard, "sickened and horrified" by the extent of sexual abuse of children revealed by the report Little Children are Sacred?
As public health doctors, we fear the interventions announced will further disempower Aboriginal communities and do nothing to reduce the abuse of children.
We have both worked in Australia as clinicians with Aboriginal communities. After arriving in remote Aboriginal communities, it doesn't take long to realise that health problems require much greater action than a single clinician or even the health system can achieve.
Addressing problems like sexual abuse and the 20-year life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians will require not only economic development of communities, improved housing and better governance, but also facing up to continuing colonialism and racism, reversing despair and rebuilding community structures.
That's not news. Neither are the problems revealed by the report on sexual abuse in the Northern Territory.
The devastation caused by alcohol and the demoralisation of many communities have been catalogued in a range of reports - and the recommendations have been systematically ignored.
Neither is it news that something needs to be done - although it's important to recognise that there are communities that are doing better and that offer lessons.
For example, building a pool at the Jigalong school (in Western Australia) with a "No School, No Pool" policy not only increased attendance but also reduced ear infection rates.
What is news is the Howard Government's response - sending in the military, abrogating Aboriginal property rights, dismantling local governance structures, introducing market rents for housing and exposing children to further harm.
Mr Howard says the report demands action and that he would do the same if a similar situation were exposed in leafy suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney.
This response is disingenuous. Sexual abuse of children occurs in all communities and all cultures. Such measures have never been suggested anywhere else in Australia. Property rights for other Australians are considered sacrosanct.
A cynic might suggest there isn't great mineral wealth under the backyards of major Australian cities.
Furthermore, Mr Howard couldn't enact such measures in Melbourne or Sydney because he wouldn't have the constitutional power to do so - it is only the territorial jurisdiction, subject to central government, that allows the current action.
Indeed, the Northern Territory Government is trying to legally challenge the interventions.
It is also false, as the report shows, that Aboriginal cultures tolerate sexual abuse more than European cultures.
Some of our worst clinical experiences involved the widespread community devastation following the diagnosis of sexual abuse in Aboriginal children, including vigilante responses.
Sexual abuse of children tears apart Aboriginal communities no less than New Zealand communities.
How much thought has been put into these rapid responses?
For instance, why are all these actions focused only on Aboriginal people, when we know that abuse of Aboriginal children is also committed by non-Aboriginal people?
Where is the focus on the bootleggers who breach voluntary community bans on alcohol?
The Howard Government has already backed down from the mandatory medical examination of all Aboriginal children for sexual abuse, possibly realising these invasive checks would cause harm and constitute assault without being able to identify abuse.
Action is required urgently. It's been required urgently for decades during which Aboriginal peoples have seen their land rights ignored, under-investment in social structures and lack of respect for their traditional governance.
Despite feeling that the report compelled him to action, Mr Howard doesn't seem to have read much of it. There are 97 recommendations in the report. None of them suggest sending in the Army or taking over Aboriginal communities.
Mr Howard has listened to the first recommendation to make "child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory an issue of urgent national significance". It's a shame that he didn't get to the equally urgent plea in the same paragraph that "governments commit to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities".
Working with communities to design solutions to difficult problems isn't just feel-good rhetoric. If you don't, the "solutions" don't work or last. Often, they just compound the existing harm.
Australia has tried top-down policies for Aboriginal children for decades with disastrous results. It's astounding that instead of listening to the report, the Howard Government has pulled out of the hat measures which demonise Aboriginal communities.
Why should we care as New Zealanders? Sexual abuse continues to harm our own children and the experience of our indigenous communities is nothing to be proud about. But if we care about human rights abuses in Fiji, surely we should speak out about similar abuses in Australia.
Many groups, especially Aboriginal peoples, are fighting these measures in Australia. We can and should support them in persuading the Howard Government that while protecting Aboriginal children and improving health and welfare are matters of national urgency, we need to work with Aboriginal peoples rather than against them.
* Kumanan Rasanathan and Alexandra Macmillan are public health doctors and members of the People's Health Movement Aotearoa New Zealand.
