Arabic version: كتاب لماكلولين يتناول إخفاقات سياسات الإقليم الشمالي
According to ABC News, former ABC current affairs journalist Murray McLaughlin’s new book, The Northern Territory: A Litany of Failure, argues that decades of Territory and federal policy have worsened outcomes for Aboriginal people.
McLaughlin, who later worked as an adviser to the Northern Land Council, writes that the federal government has been mostly passively complicit in declining welfare for the Territory’s Aboriginal citizens over five decades. He calls for Commonwealth intervention, writing that “the Territory will never right itself”.
The book traces disputes over Aboriginal land rights, including opposition to land claims under the 1978 administration of Country Liberal Party chief minister Paul Everingham and later efforts to shift control of federal land-rights laws. It also examines Labor-era decisions, including approval for the McArthur River Mine expansion and changes to bilingual education, remote local government and funding arrangements.
McLaughlin describes the 2007 Northern Territory Intervention as having a “cataclysmic” impact on Aboriginal people. He also reviews mandatory sentencing, youth detention practices exposed by the ABC, bail-law changes and policies affecting consultation and compensation for native title holders.
Patrick Dodson, who wrote the foreword, describes the Territory’s self-government since 1978 as “a failed experiment” but says there is a political opportunity for Commonwealth leadership. McLaughlin told the ABC that remote communities were “on their knees” and said federal action was needed.
