Australia: orthern Territory intervention Manipulating social tragedies for political gain

A key element in the Howard governments preparations for its long-planned NT intervention was a series of sensationalised news reports in 2006 about child sex abuse in Aboriginal communities. Indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough, working with the corporate media and programs such as ABC televisions Lateline, claimed that pedophiles were running rampant in Aboriginal communities.

None of these allegations was ever substantiated. In fact the evidence for one lurid story came from Greg Andrews, a senior official in Mal Broughs department of indigenous affairs, who appeared on Lateline in May 2006 claiming to be a social worker. Andrews, whose face was blacked out during the interview, insisted he had hard evidence of organised pedophile activity in Mutitjulu, a remote community adjoining Uluru (Ayers Rock). His evidence, it appears, was not presented to police, nor was anyone charged.