Assault Expoited By Minister For Political Ends

Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs and Member for Lingiari Warren Snowdon today said the use by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs Mal Brough of the tragic sexual assault of a young man at Maningrida to argue for the removal of the permit system in the Northern Territory was disgraceful and in very bad taste.

Mr Brough told Parliament that the case had not been widely reported in the media because journalists were required to get a permit to go to Maningrida. He said it was time for the permits system to be removed.

'This is a complete fabrication by the Minister,' Mr Snowdon said.

'The only proceedings so far in this case, a bail hearing, have been heard by a Magistrate in Darwin and have been reported in the media nationally,' he said.

'In any event, these hearings would have been subject to the normal suppression orders on media reporting used in cases like this to protect the identity of the victim.

'I'm not aware of any reasonable request for a permit from a journalist for access to Aboriginal land being rejected,'

'And, the Northern Land Council has already written to the Chief Magistrate indicating that permits will be made available to journalists who wish to travel on Aboriginal land to report court proceedings,' Mr Snowdon said.

'So what's the point here? The Minister wants to play dog whistle politics and use a tragedy to undermine the permits system and the Aboriginal Land Rights Act,' he said.

Mr Snowdon said the Minister's exploitation of the case would hurt the Maningrida community.

'The community is already dealing with this tragic set of circumstances, the last thing they need is the intrusion of political games.

'If the Minister wants to have a debate about the permits system, he should be up front about it and not use the tragedy of a victim of a vile assault as an excuse,' Mr Snowdon said.

2006-09-12