Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the …

1 Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from Sexual Abuse2007 Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle Little children are Sacred In our Law children are very sacred because they carry the two spring wells of water from our country within themTitleThe title Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle is derived from the Arrandic languages of the Central Desert Region of the Northern Territory . It is pronounced Ump-ah Ah-kil-yurn-a-man title quote In our Law children are very sacred because they carry the two spring wells of water from our country within them reflects the traditional Aboriginal law of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory , and was provided by a senior Yolngu lawman. Cover DesignThe cover design was painted by Heather Laughton, an Eastern Arrente (Central Australia) woman. The core design came out of a workshop discussion at the Board of Inquiry s Alice Springs Regional Forum held on 7 March 2007.

2 The design represents the coming together of different people to help tackle the problem of child sexual abuse : mothers, children , grandmothers at a safe place, fathers and grandfathers at a safe place, and in the middle a resource centre with a mentor/counsellor/educator and family members and other support people. The resource centre represents a place where people can come together to work out their problems as a family or as a community, and also to learn how the mainstream law system and Aboriginal law are both strong ways of protecting 978-0-9803874-1-4 Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from Sexual abuse 2007 Northern Territory GOVERNMENTBOARD OF Inquiry INTO THE protection OF ABORIGINAL children FROM SEXUAL abuse Inquiry MEMBERS EXECUTIVE OFFICER Rex Wild QC Julie Nicholson Patricia Anderson 30 April 2007 The Hon Clare Martin MLA Chief Minister of the Northern Territory GPO Box 3146 DARWIN NT 0801 Dear Chief MinisterWe are pleased to provide you with the Report of the Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from Sexual appointment as the Board of Inquiry pursuant to the Northern Territory Inquiries Act was dated 8 August 2006.

3 The Inquiry has been conducted in accordance with the Terms of Reference as set out in the instrument of appointment. We commend the Report to you and thank you for the opportunity of providing it. We sincerely hope our Report assists the Government to successfully tackle the most serious issue of Aboriginal child abuse in the Northern sincerelyREX WILD and PAT ANDERSON Inquiry CO-CHAIRS Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle Little children are Sacred Instrument of Appointment and Board of Inquiry s Task 4 Foreword 5 Acknowledgements 8 Definitions and Acronyms 10 Overview 12 Organisation of this Report 20 Recommendations 21 PART I: BACKGROUND 391. Introduction 402. Reforming the response to child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities 483. Rules of engagement 504. The nature of child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory 575.

4 Reporting sexual abuse of Aboriginal children 746. Leadership 827. Government responses 838. Family and children s Services 949. Health crisis intervention 10610. Police, FACS, prosecutions and the victim 10911. Bail 12412. Offender rehabilitation 12713. Prevention is better than cure 13514. Health a role in prevention 13615. Family Support Services 14116. Education 14717. Community education and awareness 15718. Alcohol 16119. Other substance abuse 173 Table of contentsReport of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from Sexual abuse 2007 20. Community justice 17521. The role of communities 18922. Employment 19323. Housing 19524. Pornography 19925. Gambling 20126. Cross-cultural practice 20227. Implementation of the Report 204 PART II: SUPPORTING RESEARCH 2071. Introduction 2082. Child sexual abuse : the nature of the problem 2093.

5 The perpetrators of sexual abuse 2114. The effects of sexual abuse 2185. Causes of child sexual abuse 2206. Explaining and responding to sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities 2227. Setting the scene: the NT context 2318. Determining the extent of child sexual abuse 2349. Child protection systems: an overview 25510 References 279 APPENDICES 291 Appendix 1: Call for submissions 292 Appendix 2: Inquiry processes 293 Appendix 3: List of submissions received 306 Appendix 4: List of meetings held 308 Appendix 5:List of sex offences used in offender data analysis 313 Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle Little children are Sacred Instrument of Appointment and Board of Inquiry s TaskNORTHERN Territory OF AUSTRALIAI nquiries ActAPPOINTMENT OF Board OF INQUIRYI, CLARE MAJELLA MARTIN, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory , exercise the following powers under the Inquiries Act:(a) appoint Rex Stephen Leslie Wild QC and Patricia Anderson to be a Board of Inquiry to inquire into and Report to me on the matters involved in carrying out the Board of Inquiry s task as stated in the Schedule.

6 (b) specify that either member may constitute a quorum of the Board ; and(c) appoint both the members as Co-chairmen of the 8 August Martin Chief MinisterSCHEDULETHE Board OF Inquiry S TASKE xamine the extent, nature and factors contributing to sexual abuse of Aboriginal children , with a particular focus on unreported incidents of such barriers and issues associated with the provision of effective responses to and protection against sexual abuse for Aboriginal practices, procedures and resources of NT Government agencies with direct responsibilities in this area (Family & children Services and Police), and also consider how all tiers of government and non-government agencies might contribute to a more effective protection and response how the NT Government can help support communities to effectively prevent and tackle child sexual of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from Sexual abuse 2007 We submitted an interim Report to the Chief Minister by way of letter dated 10 October 2006 in which we said: 1.

7 There is nothing new or extraordinary in the allegations of sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory . What is new, perhaps, is the publicity given to them and the raising of awareness of the wider community of the Sexual abuse of children is not restricted to those of Aboriginal descent, nor committed only by those of Aboriginal descent, nor to just the Northern Territory . The phenomenon knows no racial, age or gender borders. It is a national and international The classic indicia of children likely to suffer neglect, abuse and/or sexual abuse are, unfortunately, particularly apparent in Aboriginal communities. Family dysfunctionality, as a catch-all phrase, reflects and encompasses problems of alcohol and drug abuse , poverty, housing shortages, unemployment and the like. All of these issues exist in many Aboriginal The problems are such that significant government inquiries have already been completed in Western Australia (Gordon Report 2002), Queensland (Protecting children Inquiry 2004), Victoria (The Report into Sex Offences by the Victorian Law Reform Commission 2004) and New South Wales (Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce 2006).

8 In addition, the Federal Parliament, through Democrat Senator Andrew Bartlett, has resolved to develop a national child sexual assault strategy; and the Federal Government has recently announced the establishment of a national Indigenous child abuse task force consisting of representatives of all the State, Territory and Federal police forces and based in Alice Springs. 5. In the Northern Territory , government agencies have been aware of the allegations over a long period. They do what they can with the resources they have and the level of (or lack of) cooperation from communities. There are many inhibitions, however, in this area. Your first task for us addresses this issue by directing us to focus on unreported incidences of such It is noteworthy that the NSW Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce 2006 referred to above did not embark on an investigation, as such, of the incidence of sexual abuse .

9 The Attorney-General in that State relied upon a Report that indicated 70% of all female Aboriginal prisoners in New South Wales jails had suffered from sexual abuse as children , as a sufficient catalyst to start the In the Northern Territory , a significant research project has just been completed into sexual abuse in Aboriginal families and communities. This was a project funded by the Top End Women s Legal Service and had the support of government agencies. It dealt specifically with Groote Eylandt communities. The introduction to the overview contains the following:This project was not designed to prove that sexual abuse existed or was a problem in Aboriginal families and communities. As Aboriginal women, we know that it exists and that the problems that are created by sexual abuse will continue to have devastating impacts until we all take an active role in stopping the sexual assault and sexual abuse of our women and our We have been struck by the enormous number of agencies (both government and non-government) and community and other groups, which have an interest in, or responsibility for, this topic.

10 They include those with legal, medical, social, cultural and structural viewpoints. We have started to tap into that experience and were appointed as the Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from Sexual abuse on 8 August 2006. Initially, it was thought that we could Report back on our findings by the end of the year. It soon became obvious this would not be possible and it was agreed with the Chief Minister that we would provide this Report by the end of April 2007. We are pleased that we have been able to do so. Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle Little children are Sacred 9. Of course, as we have already noted, it is a very important point and one which we have made during the course of many of our public discussions of the issues that the problems do not just relate to Aboriginal communities. The number of perpetrators is small and there are some communities, it must be thought, where there are no problems at all.