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CANBERRA - Federal police and troops have begun moving into the Northern Territory as Prime Minister John Howard's takeover of Aboriginal life starts to take shape.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough told ABC radio about 20 defence personnel were in Alice Springs, ready to provide logistic and operational support to Australian Federal Police, who yesterday met NT government leaders and police ahead of deployment expected early next week.
The federal Government has also urged the nation's doctors to volunteer their services and join Army reserve medics in the national emergency declared over indigenous child sex abuse and the appalling Third World lives of tens of thousands of Aborigines.
Labor Leader Kevin Rudd has given his support for the tough package announced by Howard last week, ensuring a bipartisan approach. But despite overwhelming in-principle backing for his plans, and the commitment of extra police by the three big eastern states, Howard continues to face strong criticism and resistance to a number of the measures.
The tiny community of Mutitjulu near Uluru (Ayers Rock) - the first of more than 60 indigenous communities to be targeted under the emergency - has attacked the lack of consultation, the likely presence of troops, and mandatory medical checks for children under 16. Last week the community successfully appealed against the federal Government's appointment of an administrator to run its local council following allegations of fraud and reports of child sexual abuse.
Howard's declaration of a national emergency was prompted by a report detailing the extent of child sexual abuse in the NT, and by high levels of crime and poverty in indigenous communities ravaged by alcohol and drugs.
His response includes bans on alcohol and pornography on Aboriginal land, the end to Aborigines' rights to control access to their land, federal control of their communities, the quarantining of 50 per cent of welfare payments to ensure all is not spent on alcohol and drugs, welfare payments tied to attendance of children at school, school lunches compulsorily funded by parents, and medical examinations for every indigenous child under 16.
The welfare measures will later be extended to all beneficiaries.
But Aboriginal groups have rejected a number of the measures, especially those removing control over their land and have criticised the lack of plans and commitment for long-term infrastructure and social programmes.
The NT Police Association also said yesterday that important questions remained over the role and powers of extra federal and state police being drafted in for the emergency.
"I'm encouraged the federal Government wants to move so quickly, but there are some practical things that have to happen on the ground before you flood the Northern Territory with police," association president Vince Kelly told ABC radio.
Howard's critics include his one-time mentor, former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, who was a minister in the government that conducted the 1967 referendum ending constitutional discrimination against Aborigines and whose own Administration passed the nation's first land rights laws. Fraser said the package was a "throwback to paternalism" and criticised the lack of consultation with indigenous communities.
But Howard has made no apology for the severity of the measures. Yesterday he stuck to his much-applauded reasoning that the safety and welfare of children overrides all else and said that Aborigines would accept that the time for talking had past. "There can be no defence of the old order. The old order has failed and there are chronic levels of abuse, and what are we doing? We're arguing about whether the views of individual community leaders have been properly taken into account."
Howard also dismissed as "ludicrous" suggestions that the declaration of a national emergency was an election stunt.
While Western Australia has refused to heed Howard's call for 10 police officers, South Australia is considering the request and despite reservations Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria will contribute.
The Australian Medical Association is also working with Health Minister Tony Abbott to enlist doctors as volunteers to join Army reservists in a rolling programme that will start with the most desperate communities. In the long term, Abbott said, the federal Government would have to find and fund doctors and nurses for permanent positions throughout the NT.
