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March 15th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Indigenous and welfare groups have attacked the findings of a Senate inquiry into a 10-year extension of the Northern Territory intervention.
Labor legislation before the upper house continues the Howard government’s initial intervention in 2007.
The draft laws include alcohol restrictions and a controversial program that cuts the welfare payments of parents whose kids skip school.
National Congress of Australia’s First People spokeswoman Jody Broun said many submissions to the inquiry had been ignored and disrespected in the inquiry’s report.
“Unfortunately, in some cases it appears submissions have been cherry-picked to build the case for the intervention to continue,” she said in a statement.
The congress was disappointed the inquiry did not address human rights criticisms of the draft laws.
Congress has called for a new parliamentary human rights watchdog committee to check if the measures comply with international obligations.
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation said the committee’s recommendations substantially failed to address underlying concerns raised by communities.
National director Jacqueline Phillips welcomed the softening of alcohol penalties but said it did not go far enough.
She criticised the short time frame of the inquiry and the limited detail in the final report.
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT said the inquiry had failed to get to “the guts” of what was needed.
“What we needed were assurances and recommendations about resourcing the next 10 years,” chief executive John Paterson said.
“We didn’t get it.”
Welfare groups are also disappointed.
Uniting Church spokesman Peter Jones said the inquiry offered a chance to reset the relationship between the government and Australia’s first people.
“It appears that it is now a wasted opportunity,” he said.
“Indigenous people in the NT attended the consultation meetings in good faith, believing that their calls for real change would be answered.”
Without sweeping changes Aboriginal communities would only get more of the same – ineffective short-term fixes, Mr Jones said.
Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said the inquiry’s recommendations did not go far enough and said the onus was now on the Senate to amend the legislation.
“The report should have gone further to get the legislation to comply with human rights standards,” he told AAP.
Mr Gooda also backed calls for the new parliamentary human rights watchdog committee to scrutinise the bills.
The Australian Council of Social Service said submissions to the inquiry had overwhelmingly urged the government to scrap its plans.
“There’s no doubt that opposition is mounting,” ACOSS head Cassandra Goldie said.
“The stakes are high, we’re talking about the wellbeing of very vulnerable children and families.”
Central Australian Aboriginal Congress chief executive Stephanie Bell told AAP the government had an uphill battle to regain community trust and needed to put more effort into increasing understanding about the laws at the grass roots level.
“There’s absolute confusion,” she said.
“When you disempower a community and categorise them with direct and discriminatory policies, that traumatises people.”
She was disappointed the report didn’t address resourcing levels attached to the policy plans.
The intervention policies had “brought investment in little patches here and there”.
“The shortsightedness is that investment that has been made hasn’t been equitable across the NT,” she said, citing the lack of resources homelands communities suffer compared to hub towns which have experienced a huge services boost.
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