Doctors group says Australian Indigenous intervention caused harm

29/08/2008 18:17:59

The Australian Indigenous Doctors Association says the federal intervention in the Northern Territory has caused an immediate and lasting harm to indigenous people.

The initiative introduced by the former Howard government includes the quarantining of welfare payments for those living in prescribed areas and alcohol restrictions.

It's aim is to reduce child abuse and bridge the life expectancy gap between non indigenous and indigenous Australians.

In an eighteen page report handed to the Northern Territory emergency response review board, the association says people living in remote communities have been left with a feeling of mistrust and anger towards western culture in Australia.

The organisation says it doesn't consider the child health checks brought in as part of the intervention anything more than a right of all Australians to have access to health care.

The study urges the federal government to consult more broadly with individual Indigenous communities in the future because the blanket approach to aboriginal policy was failing.

The paper also found communities had a mixed response to the government's welfare quarantining with some people now being able to save money under the scheme.

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