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Australia protest over abuse plan Aborigines threaten tourist ban
(about 5 hours later)
Community, church and indigenous groups in Australia are meeting in Canberra to voice concern over a plan to curb child sex abuse in Aboriginal communities. Aboriginal elders are threatening to ban tourists from one of Australia's landmarks over a plan to curb child sex abuse in Aboriginal communities.
The radical plan was announced last week by Prime Minister John Howard. The threat to close Uluru, or Ayers Rock, comes amid growing alarm.
It includes a six-month ban on alcohol and pornography in communities in the Northern Territory, where paedophilia and juvenile prostitution are rife. Some 50 community, church and indigenous groups are meeting in Canberra to discuss the situation.
But many of those who have gathered in Canberra call the plan unnecessarily authoritarian and overbearing. The government's measures include a six-month ban on pornography and alcohol in the Northern Territory, where evidence of sex abuse was found.
Australia's 'Katrina' It also includes compulsory medical checks for Aboriginal children.
Some 50 community, church and indigenous leaders are meeting in the Australian capital. Growing fears
Mr Howard stands accused of riding roughshod over the very people he is trying to help, with critics of what are being called his shock and awe assault on child abuse criticising both his methods and his motivation. The Aboriginal backlash is growing in ferocity against what are increasingly being described as John Howard's shock-and-awe proposals, says the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney.
Although some Aboriginal leaders have welcomed the proposals, many call the prime minister's plan unnecessarily authoritarian and overbearing.
"What the prime minister and his minister, Mal Brough, are proposing is in the view of the combined Aboriginal organisations in Alice Springs totally unworkable," said their spokesman Pat Turner.
"We believe that this government is using child sexual abuse as the Trojan horse to resume total control of our lands."
CHILD ABUSE REPORT Abuse is serious, widespread and often unreportedAboriginal people not the only victims or perpetrators of sexual abuse Contributing factors include poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, gambling, pornographyHealth and social services desperately need improving
Full report [6500k] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here		CHILD ABUSE REPORT Abuse is serious, widespread and often unreportedAboriginal people not the only victims or perpetrators of sexual abuse Contributing factors include poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, gambling, pornographyHealth and social services desperately need improving
Full report [6500k] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here
There have already been reports from some aboriginal communities that mothers are fleeing with their children, fearful they are going to be taken into care. Some of the fiercest criticism has come from Mutitjulu, a township in the shadow of Uluru, the iconic red rock in central Australia visited by some half a million people each year.
But Mr Howard continues to defend his proposals, likening Australia's failure on indigenous child abuse to the Bush administration's botched response to Hurricane Katrina in the US in 2005. Mutitjulu leader Vince Forrester said Uluru's traditional owners are considering a civil disobedience campaign that would include a ban on climbing the rock.
Australians had been aghast at the crisis in New Orleans, he said, but a similar kind of lawlessness had taken hold at home. "The tourist industry brings a lot of dollars into the territory and tourists all come to Uluru," he told Australian radio.
"Obviously, civil disobedience can come in protest form."
Painful memories of the infamous stolen generation have been revived - dating back to discredited assimilation policies under which generations of Aboriginal children were forcibly sent to live with white Australian families, correspondents say.
There have been reports from some Aboriginal communities that mothers are fleeing with their children, fearful they are going to be taken into care.
But many Aboriginal leaders and academics have been supportive of the proposals, believing the scale of the child abuse problem justifies such radical action, our correspondent adds.
The government has said there is no need for women and children to flee Aboriginal townships, for they have nothing to fear from the federal authorities.
Australia's 'Katrina'
Mr Howard continues to defend his proposals, likening Australia's failure on indigenous child abuse to the Bush administration's botched response to Hurricane Katrina in the US in 2005.
Australians had been aghast at the crisis in New Orleans, but a similar kind of lawlessness had taken hold at home, he said.
"We should have been more humble. We have our Katrina here and now."We should have been more humble. We have our Katrina here and now.
"That it has unfolded more slowly and absent the hand of God should make us humbler still," Mr Howard said."That it has unfolded more slowly and absent the hand of God should make us humbler still," Mr Howard said.
The prime minister has also been accused of politicising the issue in an election year, especially since his proposed ban on alcohol and pornography lasts only six months. The prime minister has also been accused of politicising the issue in an election year, especially since his proposed ban on alcohol and pornography lasts only six months, our correspondent adds.
Many in the opposition Labor party have said his programme is a short-term political gesture rather than offering a long-term solution to the problem.Many in the opposition Labor party have said his programme is a short-term political gesture rather than offering a long-term solution to the problem.