Dave Tollner (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week during a visit to my electorate, the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Mal Brough, and I met with refugees from the Belyuen community. It may seem inappropriate to use that term ‘refugees’, but it is an accurate one. Belyuen is an Aboriginal community just across the harbour from Darwin. It is the scene of an escalating level of violence, which has forced a number of families to flee that Aboriginal community out of fear for life and limb. Men, women and children—around 40 to 60 people—have now been forced to shelter in town camps in Darwin. Many of their homes in Belyuen have been destroyed or severely damaged and are now sitting vacant. Cars have been torched and threats of violence and death are daily occurrences, but there is a conspiracy of silence to keep the true facts hidden by the authorities concerned.

To date, the media cannot get land permits to enter the Belyuen area to film and report on the problems in the community. Telephone calls to the community and the Northern Land Council are not returned. Of course, the Northern Territory government refuses to acknowledge the problem exists and, in the words of the Belyuen refugees, have provided no useful assistance to them in their time of need. Police have intervened in the Belyuen community, but in small numbers, and seem powerless to stop the violence.

The Belyuen council as far back as 2003 in its annual report said that a major concern was the alcohol abuse. The sale of alcohol to Belyuen residents was subsequently prohibited. However, alcohol consumption is still a problem in the community, particularly among young people, who today are among the principal troublemakers.

The council acknowledges that from mid-2002 there was a noticeable increase in antisocial behaviour, assaults and domestic violence within the community. Community representatives subsequently met with council staff and police to set up a night patrol in the Belyuen community to combat crime. Since that time, the conflict within the community has worsened and disturbances are commonplace. During March and April this year, police visited the community several times and made some arrests of troublemakers for serious assaults, damage to houses and the burning of motor vehicles. While the police have made some visits these past months to liaise with community leaders to try to put strategies in place to minimise any future incidents and secure residents’ safety, the resources at their disposal are insufficient to bring all the troublemakers to account.

What the Belyuen refugees want is to relocate their families and rebuild their shattered lives. They want to register their group and secure a lease from the Northern Land Council for about 100 acres of land in the Wagait Reserve area, which is freehold Aboriginal land under the Larrakia land trust and is owned by the Larrakia, the traditional landowners. It is an area south of Belyuen and it is free of strife. They would like to build a boat ramp nearby, develop a fishing lodge, develop market gardens, send their kids to the local school and, most of all, live in peace. I fully support their efforts to build a viable community and start a new life. Together with Minister Mal Brough, I am working to help them reach that goal.

However, they have immediate needs that are not being met. They are living in town camps, on people’s patios and under trees in the long grass. Because of their lack of permanent shelter, the children are not going to school, and there are a number of children among them. This has been the case for some time now. All of these responsibilities are Northern Territory government responsibilities, but they seem to have washed their hands of any sort of effort to help these people. It is a shameful lack of action by the Northern Territory government and I call on them to take notice of this issue, to find something that can be done to meet the immediate needs of these people. It is a ridiculous situation that in a country like Australia we have refugees from a community not far at all from a major capital city. The Northern Territory government should do something and they should do it now. They should at least find some emergency accommodation for these people, help their kids find their way to school and give these people some hope for the future. I can see that if things continue, matters will only get worse. (Time expired).