ABORIGINAL & INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS: A work in progress

The intervention is on track, but has a long way to go, says The Australian.

IN June last year, when controversy over the newly announced Northern Territory intervention was at its height, lawyer Noel Pearson slayed its critics with a powerful argument: "Ask the terrified kid huddling in the corner, when there's a binge-drinking party going on down the hall, ask them if they want a bit of paternalism," he said. "Ask them if they want a bit of intervention, because these people who continue to bleat without looking at the facts, without facing up to the terrible things that are going on in our remote communities, these people are prescribing no intervention, they are prescribing a perpetual hell for our children."

Twelve months after former prime minister John Howard announced the emergency intervention, following revelations of horrific and widespread child abuse, the difficult and painstaking process is advancing slowly. The former and current governments both deserve credit for abandoning failed, decades-old approaches. A start has been made, with 9000 health checks, more police, a drop in gambling, drug-taking and alcohol abuse, and improvements in school attendance and fresh food consumption. Aust 21 Jun 2008