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Australian Prime Minister John Howard has indicated his drastic measures to stamp out child neglect in Aboriginal communities may be used in the wider community, including fining families whose children fail to attend school.
Howard spent yesterday defending his plan to tackle child sexual abuse and other problems in Australia's indigenous community saying the Government had been overwhelmed by the public support.
Speaking after the opening of his Eastwood campaign office, in Sydney, Howard said the Department of Aboriginal Affairs had been swamped by offers of help from the public to assist in the implementation of his plan to stamp out abuse in Northern Territory remote communities.
He announced the wide-ranging plan on Thursday, which includes bans on alcohol and pornography and compulsory health checks for children.
"There has been an extraordinary response from Australians who see the need, recognise it as a national emergency, and they are volunteering their services in a number of ways," he said.
The Prime Minister said he expected further practical details of the plan to start emerging this week.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that parents across Australia would have to account for their children's school attendance and wellbeing or face government agency Centrelink seizing control of their family assistance payments to ensure they were spent responsibly.
"It has got nothing to do with race," Howard was reported as saying. "It's got everything to do with responsibility of the parents. And it's just that the worst examples in Australia are to be found in many of these Aboriginal communities, but that is not to say that in other cases you won't get this occurring."
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Mal Brough added: "There are dysfunctional families across borders and across cultural divides in this country who do not use what we provide as tax breaks to them for their children."
Howard defended the plan, which has been criticised for being heavy handed. ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope branded the Aboriginal community measures "racist".
