AP Features, June 26th, 2007
An Aboriginal town threatened to ban tourists from scaling giant Ayers Rock in central Australia to protest a heavy-handed government crackdown on child abuse in Aboriginal areas, a local leader said Tuesday.
The threat came from the leaders of Mutitjulu, the Aboriginal township in the shadow of the red monolith where media reports last year of child prostitution and children using sex to get gasoline for sniffing prompted a government inquiry.
Last week, the federal government announced a plan to ban alcohol and pornography in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory and reduce welfare payments of parents who do not adequately care for their children. Medical checks were also ordered for children living on Aboriginal lands.
In addition, the government plans to send extra police to Aboriginal communities, with the military providing logistical support.
Mutitjulu elder Vince Forrester said Tuesday that local families are terrified of losing their children. The traditional owners of Mutitjulu and Uluru _ the Aboriginal name of Ayers Rock _ are considering a civil disobedience campaign in response to the crackdown that would include a ban on climbing the rock _ which draws some 500,000 visitors a year.
"The tourist industry brings a lot of dollars into the territory and tourists all come to Uluru," Forrester told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
"Obviously, civil disobedience can come in protest form," he said. "The community are bewildered as to why there is a military operation against the most poverty stricken members of Australia."
The traditional owners have always been uneasy about anyone walking on Ayers Rock, which they regard as a sacred site, and occasionally ban climbing at important ceremonial times such as funerals. However, thousands of tourists snake their way up the 1,115-foot-high rock each year anyway, pulling themselves up using a simple chain fence.
