Intervention Stories from the inside : a film

Streaming video - 2014

On 21 June 2007, the Howard Federal Government introduced the Northern Territory Emergency Response legislation commonly known as 'The Intervention' - one of the most dramatic policy shifts in Aboriginal affairs in Australia's history. Relentless media attention generally focuses on ideological arguments for or against the Intervention put forward by 'experts' far removed from its everyday realities. Ironically, the voices of those affected by the policy are rarely heard beyond their own communities. This film bypasses ideology and instead asks those living inside the Intervention day-in-day-out the simple question - Is it working? For this film, more than forty Alice Springs town-camp residents were interviewed... at length about the impact of the Intervention on their lives, whether positive or negative. Breaking with journalistic tradition, the interviews were conducted by a research team made up of Aboriginal town-camp residents themselves, who were able to transcend barriers of language and cultural dynamics, resulting in the type of candid and emotional responses that mainstream media often struggles to achieve. more