Friday June 22, 06:01 AM
Politicians may be called back from their winter break after the federal government announced plans for nprecedented action to stamp out child abuse in indigenous communities.
Alcohol and pornography will be banned in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory as part of a plan of federal intervention aimed at stamping out widespread child abuse.
In the wake of a damning report on abuse of indigenous youngsters in the region, Prime Minister John Howard announced his intention to override territory laws to deal with the crisis.
If necessary, he will recall parliament - which on Thursday night retired for a six-week winter break - to push through laws, including reforms to ensure welfare money is spent on essentials like food, instead of drugs and alcohol.
Mr Howard also announced an increase in police numbers, compulsory health checks for Aboriginal children and changes to the permit system which restricts non-Aboriginal access to indigenous land.
He said the government was intervening because of the NT government's failure to act on evidence of systemic child abuse, the sex trade and juvenile prostitution in Aboriginal communities.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin confirmed that she'd had no prior warning of the commonwealth's plan.
Despite the lack of consultation, she indicated her government would continue to work in partnership with the Commonwealth.
"We will use for back up and logistic purposes, we will use Norforce, which is part of the army in the Northern Territory," Mr Howard said."The actual policing must be done by police and not by army people."
Mr Howard said the intervention program would be one of the biggest social policy measures he had taken in 11 years of government.
"We are certainly suspending certain practices and certain approaches in the name of saving the children," he said.
"There is nothing worse than to see little children denied just a few years of childhood innocence and that is essentially what has happened in these communities."
Mr Howard believes there is the will in the communities to make this initiative work.
"I believe this will be seen in the communities themselves as a first genuine attempt to fix the problem and for the first time a message of hope and reassurance is being sent," he said.
He also flagged a six-month ban on alcohol in the communities could be extended.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070213/2/12emp.html
