The NT Emergency Response (or NT Intervention) was announced on June 21 2007 in a supposed response by the Howard government to the Little Children Are Sacred (Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle) report. The report highlighted concerns about the abuse of children in remote Indigenous communities and made 97 separate recommendations to the government, aimed at protecting children as well as empowering and aiding community development. Although there have been some successful aspects of the intervention, the rushed¹, racially discriminatory, blanketed ‘emergency response’ has not made the issues of child safety its prime concern, instead diverting focus onto other areas such as unassessed welfare management² and the implementation of policies that are ultimately disempowering for communities. Fundamentally the policies that have been imposed have not addressed the main issue of child abuse that the intervention set out to tackle and the sustainability of these measures without community consultation is in under question.

Below you’ll find some more information about some of the major issues that have arisen from the NT Intervention: