NT wakes to sad news after Intervention laws pass the Senate

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The Government and Coalition have united to push the Stronger Futures legislation package, expanding the NT Intervention, through the Senate.

Senator Rachel Siewert said today that it will be a sad day for Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory waking up to the news.

"The continued commitment to the interventionist approach in the Northern Territory is a commitment to punitive and largely unproven measures, developed on the back of a flawed consultation process.

"When we failed in our attempt to vote down this legislation, the Greens sought to remove some of the most harmful aspects of this Bill, such as Income Management and SEAM, but we did not receive the support of the other parties.

"We also moved to ensure better consultation in the future by adding provisions to the legislation. The consultation process used in the development of this legislation has been heavily criticised, and our amendments were designed to make a positive contribution to the bill.

"We also acted to reduce the length of the legislation from ten year to five years, but again, the Government and Coalition turned their backs.

"The body of evidence from individuals, communities, welfare organisations, health services and academics gives us the basis for a better, smarter and fairer approach to improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but the other parties remain sadly unwilling to take this path.

"A minor concession from this debate has been the adoption of a review after three year, rather than seven years.

"The Greens will not let a day pass without closely scrutinising the operation of this legislation and we will continue talking to communities about how best to deliver the outcomes they want," Senator Siewert concluded.