'A+National+Emergency'+says+PM

1. What is the problem as far as you can see? (Summarised into one sentence)
Alcohol and pornography in the Northern Territory are causing child abuse in aboriginal communities. Mahammd & Jamie That there was sexual abuse of Aboriginal children so the government banned alcohol and other things which aboriginal adults disagree. Tim

John Howard's Government to stop sexual abuse of indigenous people because of alcohol and pornography. Abdullah

In the indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, alcohol and pornography is being banned because the government thinks aboriginal children are being abused. Rachel

The alcohol and pornography is banned because of the child abuse in the Northern Territory. Donna

==**2. List the main causes of the problem:**
 * Pornography
 * Too much alcohol
 * Abusive behaviour
 * Parents welfare not spent on children
 * Poor school attendance Amina/Lachy

**3. Outline of the Commonwealth Government's solution to the problem:**
The government solution is to; ban alcohol for 6 months. To ban X-rated pornography, Also to make sure aboriginal children attend school. Make sure that 50% of the welfare money that they earn is spent on necessities such as food. Health checks on the Aboriginal children, to increase police numbers at the Northern Territory, To clean up the community, Pursue the NT sexual abusers and to Scrap the permit system for common areas, road corridors and airstrips on Aboriginal land.

(Three pictures from AGE 22/6/07)

**4. Different views on the Commonwealth Government's plan of attack: Mr Kevin Rudd (Leader of the Opposition/Labour):**
‘I will do whatever I can to work with him (The Prime Minister) to address this response.’

**Ms Clare Martin (Northern Territory Chief Minister):**
‘To say that this Government was sitting on its hands about this issue; well, we weren’t’

**Mr Michael Mansell (Aboriginal Activist/ Legal Director Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre):**
‘This is Howard at his best, he is directing his venom at one race and one race only.’

**Ms Lyn Allison (Democrats Leader):**
‘This is an outrageous authoritarian crackdown – it’s a jackboot approach’

‘I’m actually surprised that they have moved so loudly in the respect of it but I don’t think that’s a bad thing”
 * Mr Rex Wild (QC - Little Children are Sacred Report):**

‘Sexual Assault doesn’t have a black face, it has a social face.’

‘It is interventionist, it does push aside the role the territory to some degree. But what matters more: the constitutional niceties, or the care and protection of young children?'

‘I think it may be a knee-jerk reaction, but I think it demonstrates to the Territory that at least someone is really serious about saving these children”

Ms Boni Robertson (Professor at Griffith University):
Lachy ===
 * 5. What are the issues you can see in the proposed solution? (Will the Commonwealth Government's solution be successful?)

6. If there are similar problems in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales why doesn't the Commonwealth Government's implement its proposed solution in all of these states?

7. Explain what cartoonist Mark Knight is suggesting in his drawing**

I think that Mark Knight is trying to say that all things are sacred and so we need treat them with care.by: Tim Hollaway

The picture is a rock spider, and in jail rock spider's are the lowest kind of people they are pedophiles who abuse little children. The cartoon suggests there are aboriginals who are rockspiders and the size of the spider shows it is a big problem. Jasmine

It's a picture of a rock spider which is the jail term for a pedophile who abuses little children. This is the lowest person who traps others. The rock spider is under Uluru suggesting that some aboriginals are preying on little children and are pedophiles. It is a big problem and too disgusting.


 * 8. Letters to the Editor (max 80 words)**

Mr Paul Keating, Australian Prime Minister, Redfern Address 1992
 * 9. Who is responsible? Respond to the following quote:**
 * "It was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discriminaltion and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things being done to us."**