Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy President, I too would like to join the chorus of congratulations to you on becoming Deputy President of the chamber.

I rise tonight to talk about Aboriginal disadvantage in this country. But before beginning I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we are meeting and on which we stand every time this Senate meets. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Earlier today, I and many of our colleagues in this place and the other place had the privilege of attending a smoking ceremony organised by the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, and it was a brilliant way to start the 45th Parliament. It is important, I think, to send a very clear signal at the beginning of the 45th Parliament that there are significant issues and unfinished business that we need to address.

Members of the congress were calling on us, as politicians, to support the Redfern Statement. This Redfern Statement came out during the election. It is a very important and comprehensive statement about the issues that urgently need to be addressed if we are to ensure that Aboriginal people are no longer incarcerated at appalling rates across this country, are not living in poverty and can access education and many other services that broader Australia takes for granted.

The Redfern Statement is an urgent call for action and should be essential reading for every Australian—but particularly for every senator and every member of the House of Representatives in looking at what action by this place is needed in order to address Aboriginal disadvantage in this country and making sure that we close the gap. The statement covers a comprehensive set of issues in terms of accessing education, employment, housing and health. It talks about reforming services and reforming the Indigenous advancement strategy and returning funding for that. Importantly, it talks about justice and access to justice and setting justice targets. It talks about properly funding and refunding Aboriginal legal services. It talks about changing the record, in terms of those appalling incarceration rates I was talking about, and implementing recommendations that have already been made—for example, those made 25 years ago in the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report. It talks about meaningful engagement. It talks about implementing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in domestic law in this country. And it talks about funding Aboriginal organisations and returning funding to the national congress. Meaningful engagement means actually making sure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have representative bodies and that they are funded and that there is meaningful community engagement in decision-making, ensuring that we have Aboriginal owned, managed and delivered services. They are critical elements in making sure we are closing the gap in this country.

This month—in fact, just a couple of weeks ago—I had the privilege of being able to visit the Northern Territory, and I can tell you: the feeling of concern about the direction of policy in this country is palpable when you talk to people in the Northern Territory, and particularly, of course, when you talk to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Of course, it comes on the heels of the devastating reports in the Four Corners program of the way young people have been treated in the Don Dale facility in the Northern Territory. The message that I received when talking to people about that issue was really clear, and that is: we need to look not only at those issues of abuse that happened in Don Dale and, in fact, across the country, but also at what the underlying reasons for young people ending up in incarceration are. They want to look at prevention, early intervention and also the early childhood years, because they know that is imperative. One of the challenges we need to face is how we put services in place that adequately address those underlying causes of disadvantage.

While I was there I also had the great privilege of attending the 50th anniversary of the Kalkarindji walk-off. It was, as I said, a privilege to be able to attend and learn more of the history of this country. Again, I think it is imperative that this place and the other place and broader Australia properly understand those issues and properly understand the momentous occasion that that was. It was firstly about wage justice—and I am going to come back to that issue—but it was, of course, much bigger than that in terms of the issues around land rights and reconciliation in this country. It was a critical moment in our history and it was extremely important that it was celebrated.

One of the key issues I want to come back to is around this issue that I raised about wage justice. We know that Vincent Lingiari walked off with 200 other Aboriginal people because of wage injustice in this country. They were absolutely sick of, basically, having to work for rations on their own land. And we celebrate that occasion now in this country as a momentous occasion, as we should. But, if we think wage injustice in this country is over, we are mistaken. During the celebrations, we talked about current Aboriginal policy, and one of the issues that came up was the continuing injustice in this country when it comes to Aboriginal people and wages.

The government currently has a plan on the table called the Community Development Program, CDP. That is basically Work for the Dole. I have spoken in this place many times about the failures of Work for the Dole, but it gets worse on this issue. If you are living in a remote community—and predominantly of course that is Aboriginal people—you have to work 25 hours a week for Work for the Dole, when broader Australia only has to do 15 hours a week and do it in six-month lots. Aboriginal people have to do it all the time. In fact, at the time it was first proposed, there was no consideration of public holidays or holidays or breaks. That is discriminatory. It is unfair. That is not wage justice. So, 50 years on, we are still talking about wage injustice for Aboriginal people. That sort of wage injustice does not address issues around disadvantage.

I am pleased to see that the minister for Aboriginal issues announced yesterday that he is going to hold a workshop with Aboriginal leaders to talk with them about their future approach around the Redfern Statement. The government have the opportunity to reset their agenda, to work—to genuinely and meaningfully engage, as the Redfern Statement says—with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across this nation. But it is absolutely urgent that they do, and that the minister and the government actually listen, because the agenda absolutely needs to be reset. They need to commit to issues around Aboriginal justice, around justice targets, which Aboriginal people are calling for in the Redfern Statement. Reform IAS, because that has been a complete disaster, and you do not have to go very far or talk to too many people to get the sense that there is great outrage. I have spoken to many, many people about that. That issue needs to be reset.

Most importantly, they need to really and meaningfully engage people in the decision making, making sure services are owned, delivered and developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Redfern Statement is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples setting the agenda. The government needs to listen properly to that and implement it. I support the government's approach to the workshop and hope that they use that to reset the agenda.