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)