Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I rise to speak to the Prime Minister's Closing the Gap address in the other place. Before I do that, I'd like to acknowledge that we are all on stolen land. That's right: it's stolen land. There's been no treaty; it's still stolen. There have been no agreements; it's still stolen. So I'd like to acknowledge all of those survivors, our First Peoples, right across this country, who have maintained resistance and who have survived the mass murders and complete destruction of country, who remain here today to share their country, culture, song and dance with us all. I'd like to also acknowledge the black politicians in this colonisers' place. We know how hard it is to walk inside that building as First Nations people as well as politicians. So I acknowledge you all, and I acknowledge how difficult it can be sometimes to walk in two worlds.

The recently released Closing the gap report includes data on the progress made on seven of the 18 targets set out in the Closing the Gap agreement. It is hard to call it progress when three of these targets—the overimprisonment rates of our people, child removals and suicide rates—are going up. This report is telling us that the government's strategy isn't working. Our people know that. We've always known that. Mr Morrison isn't just failing in his leadership vacuum; things are getting worse. Over the last eight years of Liberal government, most key indicators have gone backwards.

What's more, the target to reduce imprisonment of First Nations people by at least 15 per cent by 2031 in the Closing the Gap plan is completely inadequate. If we were to follow this trajectory, parity on imprisonment will not be achieved until 2093. We'll be dead. None of us here today will see this happen in our lifetime. The Morrison government can't even succeed in working towards this extremely inadequate target. What the Morrison government have done is put the bar on the floor, walked over it and called this progress. That's just how they operate: smoke and mirrors. The Morrison government are pushing our people backwards. Every month more and more of our people are dying in police and prison custody. Thousands of our people, our women in particular, are being warehoused in jails on remand. That's right: they haven't even been convicted of a crime but they remain in prison. My heart goes out to every black woman in prison right now.

This Morrison government is taking our lives away, as our people are also at higher risk of dying in police custody. There have been almost 500 First Nations deaths in custody—two, I'm related to—since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its recommendations 30 years ago. We're not immune; no-one is immune. I want to stop and take a moment to honour their lives. Each and every one of them is loved and missed every day. So I'm going to request that the Senate please take a moment's silence for all the Aboriginal people who've died in custody. Thank you.

It's devastating that our young ones don't get to live the promise of their full potential, because the suicide rates of our young mob are astronomical, and it's devastating. Under the Morrison government, more First Nations people are dying by suicide; our people are more than twice as likely to die by suicide as others. What country do we live in where so many of our people don't see a future for themselves?

To all mob, particularly young mob, watching this today, know that you are strong, know that you are loved and know that you come from a very, very, very long line of warriors and country defenders. Your ancestors and the stories of your connection to country, culture, song, dance run through your veins. You are powerful and you are loved and you are needed. You are needed by your mob, by your culture and by your communities. And you are definitely needed to take up seats in this place. Look at it! Look at this place! There are the ancestors right there: they just smashed a glass behind this screen, because they are here with us too.

It's shameful that the targets on life expectancy are failing and falling so short. Our people are being killed by a system that tries to choke their potential from the moment they open their eyes. I cannot tell you how many funerals I attend each year. Our community hurts and it deserves better. We are strong and capable, despite current injustices. We carry with us over 65,000 years of wisdom and leadership. Our boys, on average, have a life expectancy 8.6 years less than non-First Nations boys; our girls, 7.8 years less. Come on!

Do you in there have a conscience? So many of our boys won't live to the age of 67—that's the age when plenty of you fellas in there are starting to enjoy the pleasures of your retirement. I hope you feel good about that, particularly those of you that are just there for your retirement and not there for the people anymore. We live in one of the richest countries in the world, but our boys in the Northern Territory and Western Australia have a shorter life expectancy than boys in conflict affected areas. How do you explain that to anybody? The report also showed that more First Nations babies are being stolen from their families. What you call 'out-of-home care' is too often, in fact, the forceful removal of our children. The stolen generations are not over. They continue to happen, right here, day by day. To this day, you take our children away from us to try and diminish our people and our culture.

Finally, the Morrison government have announced a compensation scheme for survivors of the stolen generations. The stolen generations compensation scheme that was announced is a much welcomed and very overdue move but, in practice, it falls way short of what we need. We Greens have done our research, we have done genuine consultation—not the tick-a-box, pick-a-blackfella, pick-a-box consultation that both major parties use; genuine consultation with members of the stolen gen—on what compensation should look like. We have arrived at $200,000 per survivor, but this is a starting point, because no amount of money can compensate for the pain caused by a series of racist, harmful government actions. Does the Prime Minister really believe you can make good with a measly $75,000, after ripping a child from their mother's arms and taking them away from their family and community, from country and culture, from language, song and dance?

The $75,000 offered to stolen gen members in the territories falls way short of what people need, and it comes way too late. The announcement doesn't include any provisions for the ongoing health needs of survivors. How much of the compensation money will have to be used to pay for health care and, in particular, access to mental health services? We know First Nations people who have been ripped from their families suffer from increased transgenerational trauma. Too many of our people have passed into the Dreamtime already and never saw any attempt at justice. For them, sadly, this comes too late.

The solutions to all of these problems—that we did not create—have been with us all along: when our people are in the driver's seat, we all prosper. We are hurt by the Morrison government imposing top-down policies and making decisions for us, thinking that they know best. This separates us from our culture and connection to country—things that are central to our health and wellbeing—making us sicker and die younger. Our people have been managing our own affairs for thousands of years. We must be in charge of our own destiny again. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we led the way in keeping our communities safe. But the Northern Territory government sent us body bags before they sent us PPE, assuming we would fail.

When decisions are in our hands, our solutions work and we take care of our communities. First Nations culture is about caring for everyone. We modelled this in setting up First Nations legal services and community health services back in the late sixties. Imagine a better society, where Aboriginal values and leadership are at the heart of decision-making. We can only be our best and create a country where everyone can thrive when we listen and acknowledge the truth of our past and present. Together, we can work to undo the damage that still causes First Nations people harm today. There is a beautiful tomorrow where we all can thrive and where First Nations people make decisions about the future of our country. This government cannot deliver this, and this is why it must be voted out. It was legal for Rio Tinto to destroy the Juukan Gorge site. This never would have happened if blackfellas had a say on their own country. Treaties provide a way to acknowledge past injustices, resolve differences and work out how to create a shared future. As a nation, we have an opportunity to create a 21st-century treaty which we can all be a part of and celebrate together.