Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Fraser for this motion. It is my honour and privilege to chair the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. I tabled the Doing time–time for doing report in June 2011 in this place. That report is the result of 110 submissions; hearings across the length and breadth of the country; and 18 public hearings, including a visit to New Zealand to see what has happened in respect of the Maori population. Statistics are damning in relation to this. We have seen a 59 per cent increase in Indigenous juvenile detention over the last 10 or 15 years. The prisoner census data shows a 55 per cent increase in the number of men and a 47 per cent increase in women of Indigenous background in our jails and detention centres between 2000 and 2010. Indigenous women are 35 times more likely to be hospitalised by partner abuse than non-Indigenous women. ABS data from 2008 showed that 40 per cent of all Indigenous men had been charged with a criminal offence by the age of 25.

These figures are damning. This is a national shame, a national disgrace and a national tragedy. The standing committee made 40 recommendations to the federal government. I note the Attorney-General's recent favourable comment in a speech he made in relation to those recommendations and I look forward to his consideration and action on these matters. The report set out two high-level recommendations that seek to address the void in COAG's Closing the Gap strategy by setting justice targets and including a national partnership agreement under the safe communities building block. These things have been absent for quite some time and we need to take action in relation to them.

For too long both sides of politics have been tough on crime, but not tough enough on the causes of crime. The main thrust of our report was that prevention and early intervention are of utmost importance. The report recommended that we need to develop positive social norms, such as parenting skill, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, increasing engagement in education, initiatives to assist families—as well as young people and older people—in the transition to employment and increasing participation in sporting, cultural and recreational activities. The value of Indigenous mentors was also highlighted as role models and the report recommended that these positions be funded accordingly. We also need to enhance police awareness and cultural training.

We further recommended that the language barriers be overcome and hearing impairments be looked at for young people, particularly from Indigenous background schools. Subsequent to this report we have undertaken a report into language learning in Indigenous communities, competency in English—which is so essential for good educational outcome and vocational attainment—and an examination into the loss of Indigenous language. The impact of the loss of Indigenous language has had a very bad effect on Indigenous awareness, identity and self-esteem. At the time of white settlement there were 250 Indigenous languages across this country; now we have no more than 30 viable languages. I hope that when this committee finishes its hearings there will be some strong recommendations, because we know—as the great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said—that without one's language one is 'lost, hopelessly lonely'. We believe this will have an impact not only on our Indigenous incarceration rates, but also for better educational outcomes.

The focus on mental health is particularly important. I am pleased to see that the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs will look into the issue of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. This was a recommendation from the Doing time report. There is good work being done on this issue in terms of assessment and diagnoses in a study in Fitzroy Crossing. We think that this is important and that it is a major problem that has gone undiagnosed and uncommented upon. Diagnosis, intervention and prevention are crucial for Indigenous communities, otherwise this stops good educational outcomes and good financial security for Indigenous individuals and families. We made recommendations in relation to hearing impairment and many other matters— (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.

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