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

[by video link] We are all without exception affected by COVID-19 and we are all weathering the storm, but we are definitely not in the same boat. There are the haves and the have-nots. The ongoing impacts of colonisation, land dispossession and the theft of our children by the governments of this country mean that our people are already experiencing the worst impacts of an inequality that we did not create. We are not strangers to dealing with infectious diseases to which we have no immunity. When the pandemic hit we led the way in keeping our communities safe, but governments, both Labor and Liberal, sent us body bags before they sent PPE, assuming that we would fail.

Our people are always the ones hit the hardest. Our health, legal assistance and income support services were already under strain before the pandemic because of neglect by Labor and Liberal governments. Don't make out that you care when, when you are in government, you do exactly the opposite of what the people want. Our people were very clear at the start of the pandemic, and for decades before, that we demand homes for all, higher income-support payments so that our babies would not go hungry, the immediate and safe release of imprisoned First Nations people and more resourcing and public money for our health, social support, legal assistance and family violence prevention services. What did we get? We got what the old colonial system has always done to us. We were dismissed, ignored and not allowed self-determination to decide our own destiny as the First Peoples of these lands.

I want to pay my respects to my fellow First Nations senators who have spoken in support of this MPI, particularly Senator Dodson and Senator McCarthy. Too often our people get talked about or spoken for, but we don't get to speak for ourselves. When you've got to deal with black senators in 2021, times have changed, haven't they?

Our people know how to look after ourselves and each other, and we certainly know how to do it better than any Labor or Liberal government. How long have you fellas been here? Just 200 years. We've been doing this for thousands and thousands of generations. When decisions are in our hands, our solutions work and we take care of our communities. That's why we need treaties or a treaty. We are better off when we are free to make the choices that are best for us. But, today, Labor and Liberal governments around the country decide who gets to eat, who gets to be vaccinated and who gets access to a good hospital, based on the colour of your skin.

Our people and our cultures are strong and resilient, and, just like everyone else, we thrive when we can set our own course. We need your solidarity. Our people are dying and our babies are hungry because too many Labor and Liberal governments over decades have pushed— (Time expired)