Little Children are Sacred is the name of the report on Aboriginal sexual abuse in the Northern Territory. It sums up the reason behind the intervention in that it is aimed at preventing the abuse of Aboriginal children and helping those who need it. The most common form of maltreatment in Indigenous children is neglect 36%, followed by emotional abuse 31%, physical abuse 23% and then sexual abuse 10%. (AIHW, 2005) There is also a significant difference between the number of reports on abuse in Indigenous children than non-Indigenous children. (Healey, 2008) In each state a ratio of Indigenous to non-Indigenous maltreatment has been recorded by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Victoria has the highest ratio of 10.8:1 followed by South Australia of 10.2:1 with Tasmania and ACT being the lowest at 0.8:1 and 1:1. (AIHW, 2005)
These kind of statistics are alarming but why is there so much more child abuse in Indigenous communities than in non-Indigenous? There are different theories to this question, however there is a common reason that can relate to the others. This seeming to be a loss of Identity and and reason for Aboriginal people. (Pearson, 2000) From 'stolen generations' to assimilation policies, Indigenous culture has been 'traumatised' over generations and gives a good indication of why this destructive behaviour in the community exists. (Cunneen & Libesman, 2000)
To sum up my last blog, I feel that an Intervention was needed within these Indigenous communities as the protection of children should be a number one priority. We need to see more being done though as abuse still continues. I personally think that education is a major key into fixing the issues, also the use of alcohol and illicit drugs has to be eliminated in order for the Aboriginal people to repair the damage already done to children and communities.
We need to protect these children as they are our future and will continue the cycle of abuse with future generations unless something is done to help.

The Report

I have looked into he government report of the Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse 2007. The inquiry was created to research and report the findings into sexual abuse within the Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

Rex Wild, former Northern Territory Director of public prosecutions, and Pat Anderson, an experienced worker in Indigenous health were chosen to find out what was happening within these communities and make a report on their findings to the government. (Summary of the Report, 2007)This began on the 8th of August 2006. (Summary of the Report, 2007)

They were required to;
· Find out why Aboriginal children were being abused and how.
· Figure out where the government was going wrong in helping these children.
· Finding ways that the government can better protect these children.
· Find out what the best ways were to educate and help the communities and ensure this does not happen any more. (Media Release, 2007)

The team began by listening and learning inside these communities. (Summary of the Report, 2007)They travelled all over the Territory visiting 45 communities, had 260 meetings with individuals and organisations and received 65 written submissions. (Summary of the Report, 2007)
The things they discovered were;
· The abuse is widespread and regularly not reported to authorities.
· The Aboriginal people, in majority, wanted to better their education and work at helping the children in their communities.
· Aboriginal people were not the only offenders.
· The problems are caused by long running social problems within the communities.
· A loss of identity for Aboriginals has seen an escalate in poor health, alcohol, drug abuse, unemployment, gambling, poor education and housing.
· The current government programs in helping these communities just were not working.
· More money needs to go into newer and better programs. (Summary of the Report, 2007)

The team found a range of issues that needed to be addressed. The first and most importantly, in their eyes, is to educate the children and whole communities. (Summary of the Report, 2007) Children need to go to school in order to be educated. School will be a safe environment, a place for them to confide with their teachers and a place to be educated about sexual abuse and anything else they need to learn in order to overcome social barriers. (Summary of the Report, 2007) Teaching the whole communities is the next step in fighting the abuse.

The second issue they think needs to be address is the alcohol abuse as there is a clear link between that, violence and sexual abuse. (Summary of the Report, 2007)
The other issues needing attention are;
I. Police and communities coming together.
II. Better family support services
III. More action and empowerment from the Aboriginal communities
IV. A formal commissioner to be appointed for Aboriginal children and young people. (Summary of the Report, 2007)

Here is a statement from the report on the Inquiry by the co-chairs:

“Education is the key to helping children and communities nurture safe, well-adjusted families. Getting children to school is essential because they are safe at school, education provides a way to escape the social and economical problems that contribute to violence, and children can confide in their teachers when they are at school.” (Media Release, 2007)

“There is a strong association between alcohol abuse, violence and sexual abuse of children. Alcohol is destroying communities” (Media Release, 2007)

After reading a little more on this issue I have found out that this is a very controversial issue within Australia. Many people think that the intervention was a matter of urgency, while others think that it was a political ploy. I read through some articles by proffesor Marcia Langton who is a leading scholar and advocate for indigenous Australians (Fora.tv, 2008). Marcia is in favour of the intervention however is worried that the government isn't taking a clear policy direction on the issue and playing both sides of the debate (The Australian, 2009). Marcia explains in an article that the intervention is not a new concept for the Aboriginal population as the problems being addressed have been going on for decades (Sydney Morning Herald, 2007).

Many Aboriginal elders are angry that this intervention has taken place, believing that it is violating their human rights (The Australian, 2009). Reading another article written by a publishing place called Green Left Weekly, it gives a lot of facts against the intervention and why the policy isn't working. The article explains that the policy has many flaws and the way the intervention cant fix everything going on, eg helping abused children, improving services to Aboriginal communities, welfare benefits and allowed entry into Aboriginal communities(greenleaf.org, 2008)

Initial thoughts on the issue

Without knowing much about the topic to begin with, I can only offer a very basic understanding in my opinion. As far as I know, the Howard government, at the very end of his leadership, sent troups to the Northern Territory in order to offer much needed assistance to women and children suffering from sexual and physical abuse within the Aboriginal communities.