” The sexual abuse of any Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal children has got to stop.
It is not acceptable and in no way can our communities, the Australian community at large or Governments at all levels condone this continuing.
I welcome a thorough investigation by the Northern Territory Child Abuse Taskforce and Children’s Commissioner into this grave allegation.”
The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation(NACCHO ) Chair John Singer said he is deeply concerned that some of our children are being sexually interfered with.
“According to media reports last this week, a four-year-old boy from the community of Ali Curung in the Northern Territory has been taken to Alice Springs for medical care after he was allegedly sexually assaulted on the weekend and police are investigating.”
See The Guardian article Part 2 Below
” High levels of disadvantage, alongside “vulnerable and very impoverished” communities, was putting children at risk.
What’s really tragic is that we’ve known about them [problems] for well over a decade and more, and there’s been very little sustained, concerted effort to deal with them,
What’s absolutely needed are more of the early intervention and prevention programs, better parenting programs, and a better level of education and awareness about child.”
Chief executive of the Danila Dilba Aboriginal Medical Service, Olga Havnen, is unsurprised by the most recent incident : Interview ABC
” The community was devastated, but not surprised by the latest allegations, and there had been a feeling of “absolute hopelessness” as community leaders beared witness to social dysfunction, alcohol abuse and child protection problems.
They are issues which are attribute to overcrowded public housing.
Resourcing across all sectors and services is what’s needed to support vulnerable families,
I think it’s just been a build-up of years and years of neglect and limited resources.”
At least 40 extra houses were needed in the area to reduce overcrowding, and reduce the risk for children.
It just allows for an explosion, if you like, to further dysfunction of Aboriginal families.
[It] just leads to total hopelessness… creating such incidents as what’s happening now where our children are being harmed.”
Barb Shaw, the chief executive of the Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation, which takes in Ali Curung.
Photo: Children in the Barkly region have been calling for change. (ABC News: Jane Bardon
NACCHO Aboriginal Health Media Alert March 20
#WeHaveTheSolutions :Government must take off the blinkers over these issues, show leadership and take the actions outlined.
1.Immediate Government action to assist families to keep their children safe. We know these are complex issues requiring urgent responses but the abuse still continues.
2.We need a comprehensive approach to child and community safety with a focus on prevention and community education.
3. Establishing a Confidential Child Help Line within Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services by regions which is a no-brainer for any government to fund and implement in this budget cycle.
In getting better rates of disclosure, we can respond to both victims and offenders. This is particularly important when young people are perpetrators so that they can be held to account for their behaviour and receive appropriate rehabilitation and behavioural change programs.
4.Extra resources should also be made immediately available for wrap around Families and Children Support services to work with traumatised children and their families. This requires a multi-disciplinary professional team to provide full assessment and treatment programs in our local communities. A health-led therapeutic model will deliver much better outcomes for our people.
Often as the academic evidence now suggests, perpetrators have themselves often been abused and they too require treatment not punitive punishment regimes or they will not be rehabilitated and will re-offend.
5.National plan to redress the Social Determinants of Health in Aboriginal communities throughout Australia.[1]
6.Liquor licenses :The NT Government needs to take a good hard look at the total number of liquor licenses granted and curtail them to stop the flow of alcohol. People must come before profits. The grog is killing our people and our children are exposed to the results of that every day.
Those dry communities are to be commended for their efforts to control alcohol consumption, but the sheer number of liquor outlets at Roadhouses on the Highway and in the closest towns undermines their efforts to live safe and peacefully in their local community. Government must take off the blinkers over these issues, show leadership and take the actions outlined,” said Mr Singer.
Part 2 Boy, 16, charged with rape of four-year-old boy in remote Northern Territory community
Helen Davidson in The Guardian
Noting NACCHO press release was published in online article
A 16-year-old boy has been charged over the alleged rape of a four-year-old boy in a remote Northern Territory community.It is at least the second such incident in the Barkly region, after a two-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in Tennant Creek last month.
The 16-year-old is scheduled to appear in the Alice Springs youth court on Tuesday, to face one charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
The NT police child abuse taskforce was investigating the alleged attack, which reportedly occurred on Sunday, and said it was not seeking anyone else in relation to the matter.
The territory families minister, Dale Wakefield, said a full team of staff was on the ground as part of the child abuse taskforce.
“They are working alongside police and engaging with the family and the community,” she said.
“We have also spoken to the children’s commissioner and will keep her informed of any developments.
“It is heartbreaking for any child anywhere to be harmed. Every child deserves a childhood where they are safe and given pathways to reach their full potential.”
A 24-year-old charged with sexually assaulting a two-year-old in Tennant Creek is scheduled to appear in court in April.
That alleged incident prompted emergency measures by NT authorities, including the immediate deployment of extra Territory Families department staff and the implementation of strict alcohol restrictions on Tennant Creek.
The community where the latest alleged assault happened is one of about 100 in the NT with restrictions or bans on drinking alcohol.
Steve Edgington, the mayor of Tennant Creek, said there had been “immediate learnings” after the alleged assault in his town.
Edgington said there was a clear need to decentralise government resources and divert them to identified hotspots of disadvantage.
“What needs to be done is a full audit of where these particular incidents are happening,” he said.
“I’m sure they’re happening elsewhere. We need to allocate resources to where these incidents are, tackling issues from the ground up. It’s just critical – children need to be safe in our communities.”
Edgington said most resources in the Barkly region were based in Tennant Creek and there were a number of small remote communities nearby where governments could look at what resources were allocated for child protection and welfare, housing, and other areas.
On Monday the NT chief minister, Michael Gunner, said extra Territory Families staff had been deployed to the community and the incident would also be referred to the children’s commissioner.
“This is an extremely disturbing incident,” he told the ABC. “Every child, no matter where they live, deserves to be in a safe environment.”
[1] http://www.who.int/violenceprevention/publications/en/index.html and Canadian Red Cross, Ten Steps to Creating Safe Environments, 2nd Edition How organizations and communities can prevent, mitigate and respond to interpersonal violence 2011