Good news out of the NT Emergency Response Taskforce this morning — good news, of course, depending on your politics and the colour of your skin.

“The survey teams have discovered some common issues across the communities visited so far, such as the need for more policing, more activities for young people and improvements to housing,” says Major General Dave Chalmers, the Operational Commander of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Taskforce.

Wow, now there’s a revelation or two for you.

That said, Maj Gen Chalmers’ release wasn’t without some interesting and relevant claims: “Over 700 children have had health checks so far.”

But a government insider told NIT this morning that the number of health checks performed was actually between 400 and 500. The difference in figures, he explained, was the result of “double-counting” and “confusion”.

Even so, 400, 500 or 700 is a heck of a lot better than where we were eight weeks ago. Of course, the figure everyone wants to know ­and indeed the figure that the public has a right to know ­is how many referrals have been made as a result of suspicions of child abuse.

The short answer is the government is not entirely sure.

But the problem child abuse experts frequently encounter is the fact that a
12 or 13-year-old girl with an STD, for example, may have contracted it through consensual s-x with a boy of a similar age, who may have contracted it from another girl of similar age.

Even more problematic is because many Indigenous people have been forced to endure horrendous living conditions, such as over-crowded housing, you can contract some STDs simply through close contact.

Whatever the end result, the health checks are obviously welcome. But a little less spin and a little more fact might foster more public confidence. Assuming, of course, the public hasn’t already moved on to other more interesting issues.