Indigenous Affairs

Timothy Rowse

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    John Howard took until his fourth term to actualise his preferred approach to Indigenous affairs. As he says in his autobiography Lazarus Rising: our last year in government finally saw a paradigm change. It was as if the dam had finally burst and much of the approach which had held sway for a generation, or more was swept away. Howard is referring to taking over Indigenous affairs in the Northern Territory known as the Northern Territory Intervention. This package, announced on 21 June 2007 by Mal Brough, the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, included the following items: alcohol restrictions on Northern Territory Aboriginal land; controls on welfare recipients expenditure (Basics Card); linking welfare payments to parental performance in getting their children to school; compulsory health checks for Aboriginal children; acquiring certain townships on Aboriginal land through five-year leases; increasing police presence in certain communities; new rent and tenancy arrangements for households; additional funds for housing; banning X-rated pornography in prescribed communities; ending the permit system for defined areas within Aboriginal lands; phasing out the Community Employment Development Projects (CDEP) scheme, to encourage people into mainstream employment; appointing managers of all government business in certain communities. I will not revisit the debate about the Intervention. I will instead locate it in its party-political context and point to five legacies of Howards approach to Indigenous policy.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Desire for Change, 2004-2007: The Howard Government, Volume IV
    EditorsTom Frame
    Place of PublicationSydney Australia
    PublisherNewSouth Publishing
    Pages127-141
    Volume4
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Print)9781742235837
    Publication statusPublished - 2021

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