Australia's indigenous affairs minister set on outright kava ban

Radio Australia - 20 February 2015

Claims that organised gangs of Pacific islanders are smuggling kava into Aboriginal communities in Australia's Northern Territory could see the traditional Pacific island drink banned.

Australia's indigenous affairs minister set on outright kava ban (Credit: ABC)

Federal Indigenous Affairs minister and Northern Territory Senator Nigel Scullion says Australia accepts people practising their culture, but when it is perverted, redirected, and harms First Australians, it isn't a right, it's a privilege.

He says in order to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, kava should be banned and he will continue pursuing it until it is banned.

Anthropologist Kirk Huffman says the government is going about this in entirely the wrong way.

Presenter: Bruce Hill

Speaker: Kirk Huffman, anthropologist and honorary curator of the Vanuatu Museum