based on ‘municipal councils’ in the urban centres and regional ‘super shires’ across the remainder of the Northern Territory. The minimum size for sustainability was dictated to be 5,000 people. This meant there would be far fewer than the existing remote local governments scattered across the Territory. Unlike the previous generation of community government councils, the shires were not developed by remote-area Aboriginal people, even in some guided way. Instead, they were imposed from Darwin. Seven of the eight shires established offices outside their own boundaries in the urban centres of Darwin, Katherine or Alice Springs. The shires were effectively urban organisations employing urban managerial staff, often with only service centres in remote areas. Remote-area Aboriginal people had limited capacity to be directly involved in decisions, provide information based on first-hand experience of local conditions and issues, or engage in community policy or initiatives. It was possible to have ‘local boards’ under the shire councils and in many instances these were established in the areas previously covered by community councils. But they were only advisory and seen as tokenistic by people who were used to the executive power of the community councils. The shires found them hard to administer and keep active.29 From 1 January 2014, the shires became ‘regional councils’ with 63 ‘local authorities’ within them.30 However, the regional councils decide what powers would be delegated to local authorities and then nominate their membership rather than letting communities elect them. These arrangements fell well short of those enjoyed by the prior community councils.
The Intervention Following the Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle “Little Children are Sacred”: Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse (Little Children are Sacred report),31 the Commonwealth Government characterised the level of child abuse and neglect in the Northern Territory as a ‘national emergency’.32 The Intervention was announced soon after on 21 June 2007. The Intervention’s stated aims were to protect children, make communities safer and build a better future for people living in Aboriginal communities and town camps in the Northern Territory.33 It comprised a range of simultaneous measures including alcohol restrictions, welfare reforms – including the controversial compulsory income management – school attendance, comprehensive child health checks, pornography restrictions, increased policing, housing and tenancy reform, and acquisition of township leases.34 The Intervention initially targeted 73 Aboriginal communities and later expanded to include smaller outstation, homeland, pastoral and town camp communities.35 The timeframe for the Intervention measures was five years, 2007–2012, with the Government’s expressed intention being to ‘stabilise’, ‘normalise’ and then ‘exit’ the target communities.36 However, it was extended with some modifications until 2022 under the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act 2012 (Cth). To implement certain elements of the Intervention, the Commonwealth Government suspended the operation of the Racial Discrimination Act 1974 (Cth). Aboriginal people saw this as one of the most malevolent features of the Intervention and another example of how governments are able to treat Aboriginal people as though they are outsiders in their own country. Legislation meant to protect
Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory
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