Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] In continuation, when I first spoke on this issue, I mentioned to the House that First Nations people are still far more likely to be jailed, die by suicide or have their children removed than non-Indigenous Australians. I also paid tribute to the survivors of the stolen generations and welcomed the funding that the federal government have announced for the survivors. I quoted Eileen Cummings from the Northern Territory Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation in my electorate and I'll finish my contribution this afternoon by going back to Eileen.

Going to deaths in custody—something that we still need to fix—so many of these Closing the Gap targets are not met. The rates of Indigenous incarceration and deaths in custody are appalling. In the NT, almost 90 per cent of the adult prison population and about 100 per cent of the juvenile detention population are First Nations people. I've been out to the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, and that is indeed true and stark. The NT government, to its great credit, signed a groundbreaking Aboriginal justice agreement with Aboriginal and community leaders in Darwin this week. That's a first of its kind in the Northern Territory. It's a seven-year agreement to reduce reoffending and imprisonment rates of Aboriginal Territorians, to reduce crime, to engage and support Aboriginal leadership and to improve justice responses and services for Territorians. Federally, Labor also has a plan to turn this sad tide around, building on successful justice reinvestment programs by tackling the root causes of crime and reoffending. The plan includes rehabilitation services, improving family and domestic violence support, offering support for the homeless and developing school retention initiatives. We'll make sure that coronial inquests into deaths in custody are properly resourced and include the voices of family members and First Nations communities. We'll improve funding for legal services and ensure that deaths in custody are nationally reported in real time.

Next, I go directly to what I think is a key aspect of improving the wellbeing of First Nations people, and that's in employment. Labor will close the gap on employment in part by doubling the number of Indigenous rangers by 2030. We've already seen tangible success of the Indigenous rangers program. It provides valuable employment for Indigenous people in regional and rural communities all across the Territory. It also maintains crucial connection to country at the same time as growing local economies, and, of course, it protects and restores the environment.

In my electorate of Solomon we have the Larrakia rangers doing terrific work in our city's coastal reserve, the Casuarina Coastal Reserve, and in other places, protecting nesting turtles and migratory birds. There are also groups all over the Top End caring for country in a variety of ways. For example, the Warddeken rangers are using traditional fire management in Arnhem Land, and the Dhimurru rangers out near Yirrkala are protecting that coastal country in Arnhem Land and fighting sea pollution washing up on our beaches. When it comes to reconciliation, it was Labor, of course, that made the historic apology. And it is Labor which remains the only party to support the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full: voice, treaty and truth.

As I've said, I warmly welcome the funding committed to the NT and ACT members of the stolen generation. I want to acknowledge everyone who's worked so hard on that for so long. I've spoken with Eileen Cummings since that announcement was made, and I think there's a sense of relief that the day's finally come. But, as Eileen reminded all of us, we're not getting any younger. We're between 70 and 90 years old, and, as the stats tell us, it's quite extraordinary for First Nations elders to be still going strong like Eileen at that age. So we can't delay it any longer. There has been talk about next year, but I encourage the government to bring those compensation payments forward as quickly as possible. Eileen said that there are organisations like hers and the Northern Territory Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation that are ready and willing. They have the list. Let's work together with The Healing Foundation and get it done. It will be a wonderful sense of healing for those survivors of the stolen generations, and that will be a really good thing for our nation to do when we have so much still to do.

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