Lloyd, Jane --- "Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council Welcomes State and Territory Legislation that will Protect Aboriginal Children from Abuse" [2004] IndigLawB 30; (2004) 6(1) Indigenous Law Bulletin 28
Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council Welcomes State and Territory Legislation that will Protect Aboriginal Children from Abuse
by Jane Lloyd
The Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council[1] has, over the past twenty years, strongly advocated for a range of protective measures and responses to ensure that women and children living in remote communities of the cross border region of the NT, SA and WA are safe. The members of the NPY Women’s Council are women who are traditional owners of a vast area of land, 350,000 square kilometres held under various Aboriginal land titles.[2] The council’s members share strong family and cultural affiliations that are maintained and strengthened through marriage and the rich annual ceremonial activities involving men and women from across the cross border region, often extending to families and communities in distant linguistic regions.
Many of our members feel strongly bound by Aboriginal customary law and there are many aspects of customary law, beliefs and practices that underpin and shape their contemporary lives. Anangu women are confident in their management of Aboriginal customary law reflected at local and regional women’s law and culture gatherings, in the management and protection of sacred sites both within and outside their lands, and in their longstanding involvement in land and native title claims. They continue to assert and reaffirm their customary beliefs and practices through kinship and marriage links.
However many Anangu women struggle with contemporary social issues and situations which challenge traditional views about customary law and how they can be applied today. In addition to the impact of substance abuse they are struggling to deal with Aboriginal men’s perceptions and beliefs about gender relations and their demands to maintain their male privilege in defining how customary practices govern gender relationships.
It is particularly concerning issues of personal safety that our members seek protection from law enforcement agencies and State and Territory legislation. The Women’s Council welcomes the removal of the marriage defence from the NT criminal code to ensure that Aboriginal girls are afforded the same level of protection as all other girls in the NT. In 2003 the Women’s Council’s executive supported a Bill to amend the Sentencing Act that would remove customary law as a relevant or mitigating factor in the sentencing of cases involving sexual offences against minors. The Women’s Council wrote in support of the Bill saying that they
felt very strongly that the court should not have any regard to Aboriginal customary law where the victim is under 16 years of age. They are all too aware of the abuse that is inflicted on children and young girls in their communities.[3]
In May 2003 the NPY Women’s Council Executive stated in response to the NT Aboriginal Customary Law Inquiry that they want State and Territory laws to protect women and children and punish offenders who commit crimes such as rape and murder.[4] The women realise the difficulties and danger they face in challenging and dealing with these abuses on their own. This is particularly so as the women are bound by kinship and customary laws and relationships to the men who are committing the abuse. These customary barriers prevent them from standing up against the abuser and protecting the child. It is also makes it virtually impossible for many children to report abuses against them and identify the abusers; from birth the fundamental concept of family and belonging is taught and ingrained in children. As well, Western Desert Aboriginal men’s law is powerful and a source of fear for many women and young children. Many Aboriginal men exploit this fear and justify abuses against Aboriginal women and girls on the grounds that is a customary practice or they had a customary right to do so.
It has not been traditional practice for older men to marry much younger women in the Western Desert region. However the traditional practice of marriages continues where couples of similar ages are contracted or arranged through the annual initiation ceremonies that gather and link families across the western desert and central Australian region.
Women are deeply concerned at the growing trend over the past two or three decades of young girls having sexual relationships and falling pregnant in their early and mid teens. They are concerned that they are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse by older males. The women look to our criminal codes and justice system to protect these girls and to reflect their customary beliefs that children must be protected.
In addressing the Aboriginal Customary Law Inquiry in the NT in 2003, Mary Anderson from Finke said that
there is a lot of abuse to children – this must be dealt with by white man’s law. There is also the raping of young women by older traditional men.[5]
She described the way people in the community become aware that young women are being abused when asked if Aboriginal women feel comfortable going to the police. Her response reinforced the need for legislation and a justice response that focuses on the safety of females.
Sometimes in communities the women feel they have no support. They don’t know who to go to. After a while communities will notice that the young girl is not being involved in a lot of things. She won’t have the confidence to come out and tell but now that everyone knows about the women’s council and there is a domestic violence unit there, first contact is through women’s council.[6]
The NPY Women’s Council’s domestic violence service assists women to access police protection and advocates on their behalf to ensure an effective response from justice agencies for the protection of Aboriginal women and children from violence.
Jane Lloyd is the Manager of the Domestic Violence Service, NPY Women’s Council. She can be contacted on, 08 8950 5420.
[1] The NPY Women’s Council was established in 1980 by Anangu women who were dissatisfied that they had been excluded from the negotiations of the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act (1981). The women wanted a forum where they could articulate their concerns and interests and an organisation that would represent them and strongly advocate their interests. The Council’s name reflects the three major languages and Western Desert dialects in the NPY region.
[2] The members live on the Aboriginal freehold Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands in SA, the 99-year lease known as the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in WA and in the NT the communities that the NPY Women’s Council covers falls within the Imanpa, Uluru Kaata-Tjuta, Apatula and Peterman Land Trusts under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976.
[3] Letter from Yanyi Bandicha, then Deputy Chairwoman, NPY Women’s Council to Lorraine Braham, Member for Braitling, 23 January 2003.
[4] Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council Submission to “Towards Mutual Benefit”, Inquiry into the Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Law in the Northern Territory, May 2003.
[5] Notes of Interview with Northern Territory Law Reform Committee, Aboriginal Customary Law Inquiry, Thursday 15 May 2003, p 4.
[6] Ibid, p 5.