Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with Kade Ellis from the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT). I met with him in my office and we had a great chat, both having spent some time in Darwin—he living there most of his life and me having taught there in the past. We had a terrific chat about Indigenous life in this country. But the point of the visit was about the Custody Notification Service and preventing Aboriginal deaths in custody.

I am old enough to remember the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. I am old enough to remember the impact that had on my classroom when we studied newspaper articles related to the calling for the royal commission, to the findings of the royal commission and to the recommendations of the royal commission. I want to raise this issue today because I believe that this service needs continuous funding. It needs to be funded into the future. It needs $526,000 a year, every year. I call on this government to ensure that this service that saves lives, that saves Aboriginal lives, continues. It is more than a phone line; it is a lifeline. What price a life in this country? I call on the government to ensure its funding into the future and beyond the next six months.