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Articles on NT Intervention

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The targets relating to Year 12 attainment, preschool enrolment, and childhood mortality are on track to be closed, according to the 2018 Closing the Gap report. AAP/Marianna Massey

Three reasons why the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aren’t closing

Care needs to be taken in interpreting progress on closing the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and ascribing it to actual policy change.
Children representing the diversity of contemporary multicultural Australia stand near a sign depicting an ‘idealised’ white Australia. Blackwood Recreation Centre, South Australia, 2015. Photo: C. Smith

The markers of everyday racism in Australia

How might an Aboriginal person in the Northern Territory experience racism? There are many material signs that can make a person feel excluded from society.
What do Ceduna and the other trial sites for the Healthy Welfare Card have in common? All are country towns with a mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents. Wikimedia Commons/Nachoman-au

Healthy Welfare Card begins here … where next?

Income management was first applied to Indigenous communities before being implemented more widely. The Healthy Welfare Card policy appears to be on this same path.
The Northern Territory’s ‘paperless arrest’ powers are at odds with recommendations by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Shutterstock/Igor Golovniov

Paperless arrests are a sure-fire trigger for more deaths in custody

Northern Territory police powers to make ‘paperless arrests’ are completely contrary to recommendations by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and now the inevitable has happened.
Since the NT Intervention a large body of evidence has built up showing that income management does not achieve its stated goals. So why does it continue? AAP/Dean Lewins

A $147m budget saving missed: income management has failed

Various studies, culminating in the final evaluation report of income management in the Northern Territory, have found such programs don’t achieve the claimed benefits. Why did the budget extend them?
In the seven years since the Northern Territory Intervention, a large body of evidence has been built up showing few if any benefits from compulsory - as distinct from voluntary - income management. AAP/Terry Trewin

Government that ignores evidence sets up welfare policies to fail

The mess of federal budget negotiations has taken over the limited space for social policy debates. However, we are due to get final reports on a range of inquiries. These include the McClure report on…
It seems the Coalition will expand the compulsory income management scheme, which has little evidence backing up its worth. AAP/Dan Peled

Income management: more evidence-free policymaking?

For a brief moment, it looked as though the Coalition would be better than the ALP on welfare policy. It appeared that the new government would listen to evidence for policy changes in its newly retitled…
Neither party should lose sight of Indigenous issues ahead of the federal election. AAP

Explainer: Indigenous policy and the 2013 federal election

With the federal election in our sights, we are reminded of the long journey ahead in addressing past wrongs and present challenges for Australia’s Indigenous peoples. Historically, the similarities outweigh…
Terry Mills has been sworn in as new chief minister of the Northern Territory. AAP Image

Was the NT election outcome a shockwave or a regional ripple?

The recent Northern Territory election attracted an unusual amount of media attention amongst the “politically informed public”, especially in the south-eastern states of Australia. Media reporting saw…
Country Liberal government leader and Chief Minister Terry Mills has pledged to visit Northern Territory’s remote communities. AAP

Arrogant Indigenous policies that toppled NT Labor is a lesson for Feds

The remarkable feature of the Country Liberal Party’s win in the Northern Territory is how it presents two completely opposing aspects, with dramatically contrasting results between the towns and remote…
Indigenous policy takes a generation to change … what will the next 30 years hold for communities? yaruman

The 30-year cycle: Indigenous policy and the tide of public opinion

Last week, the Stronger Futures legislation passed through the senate - laws which extend the Northern Territory Intervention for another 10 years. The relative merits and faults of the legislation aside…
Alcohol restrictions will stay in place until 2022. librarianidol

Northern Territory Intervention extended … but is it working?

The last sitting week of parliament before the winter recess may well be remembered for the historic senate vote made late into the night. This legislation, with bipartisan support, agreed to the extension…
The Intervention was meant to help Indigenous children, but how much difference has it made? Rusty Stewart/Flickr

Indigenous programs: protecting the vulnerable and promoting well-being?

AFTER THE INTERVENTION: Peter Billings from the University of Queensland interrogates the legal basis for the Intervention and suggests some new approaches. The belated release of a 2010 review of Government…

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