Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I stand here today as a proud First Nations woman. I want to start this speech by saying the sovereignty of these lands and waters was never ceded, and it was certainly never ceded to the person that today's motion is about.

The devastating impacts of colonialism are still experienced by First Nations people across this continent every single day. The colonial project started more than 200 years ago, and for me it's never ended. It still continues in this country for all First Nations people. It has attacked the heart of what First Nations people have lived under for generations, an ancient culture that has five principles. There is the principle of language and the importance of that. We've seen eradication—350 languages existed pre-colonisation, and we are now down to about 143 languages. There is the land that is important to us. It is our mother—our boodjar, as we call her in Noongar culture. It was removed from us when we were herded into missions and reserves. There is our culture, where our old people were beaten for fraternising with their relatives. There is our kinship, our family groups, our disconnection—it's been heard about in this place, about the royal commission on the stolen generations that have existed here in Australia—and the constant removal of our children. In my state of Western Australia alone, I am 17 times more likely to have my children removed than any other woman in this country. The law that was administered by our old people was replaced by the Westminster law that so many have talked about here.

It is the greatest travesty that First Nations people on this continent are not treated equally in this country. We experience racism. We die decades earlier. And the trauma is intergenerational, is profound and is all caused by one foundational event—that is, the colonisation of this continent by the British Crown. It doesn't need to continue. This is not the end of this story. We know we cannot change the past but we can build a better future, and it starts with healing and bringing people together. But has to be grounded in humility and in seeking justice.

How do we do this? We achieve this together, and we achieve this, as has been so eloquently pointed out by my Australian Greens colleagues Senator Faruqi and Senator Steele-John, through a national treaty—an internationally recognised framework. Australia lags behind in relation to the way it treats its First Nations people but also in how it enters into these agreements, these treaties and a national treaty with First Nations people here.

As a recognised international leader, we have a significant role and responsibility to undertake this. Our journey to treaty involves truth-telling. This truth-telling will provide us with healing. We have to hear the stories and the lived experience of the generations of people who have been removed from country, who have been removed from their kinship connections and who have been removed from their language and culture. We have to hear that. We have to know that there is a black history attached to Australia's history and stop celebrating this facade. Our journey also involves making sure that we tackle the systemic discrimination and racism that exist in the system still, that are at the heart of colonialism.

The Australian Greens have already announced that we will begin this journey towards treaty by contributing $250 million to establish a national and independent truth and justice commission. This truth and justice commission will be an independent body that investigates and reveals past wrongdoings to resolve ongoing and historical conflict and to help us all heal from those things and continue this journey forward together. The commission will have the powers of a royal commission and will investigate and reveal wrongdoings and the human rights abuses perpetrated against First Nations people since colonisation and to this day.

This country needs to do better, because we know we can do better. We just need the courage and the political will to make that change. Together we need to explore, understand and reckon with our past and the impact it continues to have on First Nations people and their cultures so we can build that future together, walk that path together. The only way we can do that is to start here, in the Senate, the place of the people. And we can do it through a national treaty and treaties with First Nations people.