Probe call on NT Government cash for Aborigines
Natasha Robinson and Amanda O’Brien; 18/7/08
A key adviser to the federal Government’s intervention review board has called for a royal commission to investigate the Northern Territory Government’s spending on Aboriginal affairs, following claims commonwealth grants were being deliberately mismanaged for political ends. The concerns about the Territory Government’s spending on indigenous services come as parents in the Perth suburb of Cannington prepare to face similar welfare penalties to those to be applied under the intervention to parents in five Aboriginal communities in the Territory should their children fail to attend school. Federal Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said about 1000 parents in Cannington could lose welfare payments for up to three months next year if their children skipped school. But she said authorities would first work with the parents to try to resolve truancy issues, and payments would be stopped only if all else failed.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24037653-2702,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Reconciliation