The Paper reports on a review by the AIC for the Northern Territory Justice department of the latter's 'campaign strategy' regarding a "media classification awareness and education campaign for Indigenous communities". The campaign dates from 2007, following strong expressions of concern regarding sexual abuse of children in Indigenous communities within the Territory, the exposure of Indigenous children to adult content and suggestions that there were links between consumption of pornography and sexual abuse of children. The Justice Department undertook a series of "consultations", in particular with Indigenous men, that were envisaged as providing -
input into the messages to be delivered through the campaign, the appropriate target audiences, critical success factors, risks and sensitivities, and the development of a communications strategy.The campaign? It featured "workshops, flipcharts and facilitated discussions" - fortunately people seem to have resisted lingo such as "iterative discourse" - to communicate three key messages to Indigenous communities -
• It is important to know and understand the classification system that operates in Australia for film and literature and responsibilities under that system.Workshops also sought to raise parental awareness of responsibility to protect children from exposure to pornography, "empower participants to enact these responsibilities through information and awareness", provide an opportunity for discussion of "issues regarding access to pornography and its potential harms, including problematic sexual behaviours that might occur in communities as a result of children’s exposure to pornography" and share strategies regarding exposure of children to adult content.
• It is illegal for persons under 18 years to have access to or view any R18+ or X18+ rated film or printed material that has a restricted classification and there are penalties for illegal access. This material is considered harmful for people under the age of 18 years.
• X18+ rated material and Category 1 and Category 2 Restricted publications are banned in proscribed communities (as declared by the Federal Minister for Family & Community Services).
When read between the lines the Paper is deeply depressing. The authors note that its principal purpose is -
to examine the process through which NT Justice developed the education campaign, engaged with Indigenous communities and to consider whether the campaign had the capacity to meet its objectives and was in accordance with existing good practice guidelines. The review does not evaluate the effectiveness of the program to achieve educational outcomes, or attempt to explain if this program has contributed to behavioural changes with respect to the regulation of pornography or other sexual behaviours. Rather it provides an opportunity to examine how an education campaign might be developed and delivered in the context of remote Indigenous communities and how future community-oriented campaigns might benefit from the NT Justice experience.Changing behaviour in Indigenous communities will be more difficult than appraising NT Justice's methodology for creation of an education campaign.
