Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Joyce for the question. We have been over some of these questions, but for the benefit of the senator I will go over the two aspects. The first is the present consultation. I think you were referring not to consultation right now but to the consultation leading up to the interdiction. I understand what you are asking. There was a large process of consultation that, as a consequence of a whole range of government inquiries over many years, was effective. Senator Heffernan was referring to a substantive report he chaired on the matter some years ago. We could all recognise that this has been an issue for a number of years and, in the media, this government has been roundly criticised for what it has done in 11 years.

In relation to the consultation and recognition of the crisis of child abuse that is occurring in some Indigenous communities, the Little children are sacred report indicated very clearly that the sexual abuse of children was not only happening but happening across a whole range of communities and was largely underreported. When we have gone into the communities, we have been welcomed. As we move into the communities, we are providing an education package to ensure that people understand exactly what we are trying to achieve and to explain what the legislative changes will mean to them, including particular aspects of the requirements—it might be alcohol or pornography; it might be a whole range of things. It is very important that the intervention teams have a good network and are able to communicate to the communities what their roles are and exactly what is going to happen. This has been happening and, I have to say, I am very heartened by the reports back from the intervention teams that they have been very welcomed in the communities.

For the future, for all the changes in the community, we now know that we have to have an education package that is consistent with every aspect of the interdiction. As people become more aware of the interdiction, we will have a sharper package and we will have a package that, I suspect, becomes more and more effective. At the moment, every aspect of the package that we are rolling out comes with an education system, ensuring that everybody in the community understands what we are on about and particularly understands some technical aspects of the law in what we are trying to achieve. They can then have an understanding, for example, of what the 1,350 millilitres of alcohol means. It is very important that we can explain it in ways that people understand. We can talk about personal penalty points, but we have to explain exactly what that means, so part of the role of the intervention team is an education role. We have been rolling that out and it is a fundamental plank of the intervention. We will continue to ensure that people are as completely informed of the intervention as they can be.