[Anthropgrad] CAEPR Seminar: Peter Stewart; Northern Territory Intervention phase one; WED 17 Sept; 12.30-2pm AD Hope

[Katarina Ferro]

CAEPR seminar
AD Hope Humanities Conference Rm
Wednesday 17 September;12.30-2pm

The Northern Territory Intervention phase one: Mission accomplished in 
Central Australia?

Peter Stewart (Doctoral Scholar, James Cook University)

*Abstract:* The intervention is the most expensive attempt to change the 
relationship between remote Aboriginal Australia and the white nation, 
launched with a budget of $1.5 billion dollars. The Commonwealth 
government sought to restructure community economies, undertake health 
check programs for children, increase school attendance, restrict 
alcohol sales and quarantine income. At the same time the Northern 
Territory government terminated community councils and began 
implementing shires, resulting in an absence of community governance.

This paper reflects on diverse opinions expressed by significant 
stakeholders in the Alice Springs region. The Intervention's first year 
of operation has closed on a confused note. The overarching objective of 
phase 1 was to 'stabilise' communities regarded as lawless, 
dysfunctional and most critically rampant with child sex abuse and so 
bring this 'moral tsunami' under control. The concept of stabilisation 
is seen as problematic in conception as it has been in realisation. This 
intervention, crudely conceived and implemented, retrofitted programs to 
policy. It is perceived by some as a qualified success, others disagree.

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