Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The protests sparked by the events in America have sent reverberations around the world and expressed hurt, anger, and disappointment about the systemic challenges faced by our black and First Nations communities. The coronavirus pandemic has been a tipping point for shining a light on the tragedy of race inequality around the world—that black lives matter. As Australians, we too need to look at our race relations. The Uluru Statement from the Heart, and our desire as a country to grapple with how to implement it, highlights that we are currently at an important milestone in our country's history with regard to Indigenous recognition and reconciliation. This is a time for us to rethink, to reassess, to reconsider. What can we do differently as a country to provide hope to those who have suffered from racial injustices—hope that their concerns will be taken seriously, hope that they do not need to suffer in silence, and hope that they, their families, their friends, and their communities can look forward to a better future?

One death in custody is one death too many. We must work to ensure that we do as much as we can to deal with these tragedies before they occur. To do that, it is imperative that we work to find the root causes of why Indigenous Australians are overrepresented in jails, in youth detention centres and in rehabilitation, and what we can do to right the wrongs of a community that is hurting and has been hurting for a long time.

In the 1980s, I travelled to the Northern Territory to work on a research project to try to understand why there was so much inequity in our First Peoples. I wanted to understand for myself what was going on, to understand better why Indigenous people continue to suffer. My time in Arnhem Land analysing the high rates of mortality among newborns in our Indigenous population shocked me. Here I saw outcomes that would not be out of place in countries like Kenya, where I had previously worked. I also saw well-meaning healthcare providers struggling to ensure that our Indigenous Australians were given the best health, public health and education services so that even our littlest Indigenous Australians would be given the best start in life.

Wind forward 30 years and we are still dealing with inequity in health and education. These two things underpin the closing the gap difficulties that we have as a nation. I commend the fact that the first Indigenous minister for Indigenous Australians has now been elevated to the cabinet. Minister Ken Wyatt is doing a wonderful job bringing Australians together, consulting widely and seeking to move forward in this important area.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:31

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