Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Heritage, the Arts and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to wholeheartedly support the motion moved by the member for Warringah. The opposition condemns the watering down of any elements of coalition policy or legislation concerning the Northern Territory intervention, because it would have the effect of diminishing the protection of Indigenous women and children who are subjected to sexual abuse and violence. The Kevin Rudd government has introduced a bill into this House which would certainly diminish that protection by reinstating, in particular, the old permit system, which ensured that the atrocious conditions of some Indigenous settlements were kept out of sight and, so, out of mind of mainstream Australia. The Labor government’s bill, the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Emergency Response Consolidation) Bill 2008, also seeks to water down our policy intent in relation to access to an avalanche of brutal and degrading pornography. This material is regularly seen by Indigenous children, given the overcrowding in many houses in the prescribed communities.

The John Howard government decided that it had to act when we received a copy of the report of the Northern Territory government’s board of inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse. The co-chairs called their report Little children are sacred. This report described the shocking nature of the sexual abuse—its extent, its prevalence, who the perpetrators were and the immediate, long-term and intergenerational effects of this abuse on the children in the community. The John Howard government decided not to wait interminably for a Northern Territory response; rather, we acted decisively and comprehensively—and in consultation with the Northern Territory government and Indigenous leadership.

The media brought to people’s attention the contents of the Little children are sacred report, which shocked and shamed ordinary Australians, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, across the country. People commonly asked how the dangerous and dysfunctional communities identified in the report could exist in a developed and caring country like ours, which boasts freedom of the press and freedom of movement for all, a fair go and a decent, peaceful life. Of course, one of the reasons that this crisis of abuse, fuelled by alcohol, drugs and pornography, persisted in the squalid ghettos of the remote Northern Territory was that the settlements in question were hidden from the view of the wider public. The permit system ensured that.

The grey nomads could not stop on their way up the highway to buy a can of Coke at the local store, they could not drop into the settlement art galleries to buy a painting from the locals, and they could not spend a night in the caravan park admiring the beautiful scenery and having conversations with the community because, with the exception of a few—who painstakingly charted their way through the confusing and ridiculous permit approval system—ordinary Australians were excluded from these settlements. It is hard to see how the squalid un-Australian standards of living would have been tolerated if their existence had been more regularly seen. The Northern Territory government’s inertia could not have persisted as it did.

The permit system did not protect dysfunctional Indigenous communities from exploitation by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous pushers of drugs, alcohol and pornography. I believe that locking the blighted settlements away from the public’s gaze ensured the appalling conditions of the houses, the neglected and vandalised schools, the packs of wandering dogs, the neglected and dirty kids sitting in the dust and not going to school, and the drunk and doped adults—all of these un-Australian circumstances—were perpetuated because few people beyond the victims knew it was happening, and so they could not care and complain. We decided that just 0.2 per cent of the areas previously covered by the permit system would be changed and the public would be allowed access to the usual places you visit when you drive through a town: places like the public store, other shops and perhaps galleries. People could stop at a public place. We had a lot of support from the women and children for this to happen. Unfortunately, the federal election approached, the member for Lingiari put about the myth that sacred places would be trampled on, that people would enter houses. How ridiculous. That was not our intention. We ask that the permit system for 0.2 per cent of the towns be reinstated.

Then there was the pornography. We said that it must be banned. The ridiculous proposed legislation says that it is okay for broadcasts containing 35 per cent R18+ pornography to be seen in these communities—unless the minister is satisfied that the community wants a ban to occur. I want to know how they are going to get that permission from the community when it is so abused and victimised, when the women and children are so afraid of standing up against those who want the pornography to be perpetuated in those communities—those who make money from it and those who groom children, in particular, for sexual abuse through the use of that pornography.

I say it is a shame to see these changes being brought into this House. I am wondering why the actual bill has been delayed now for two days. It looks like it will not get up tomorrow either. It should be brought on and we should deal with it properly. (Time expired)

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