David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 September 2007. On that date, Australia was one of just four countries to oppose UNDRIP. We stood in a shameful group alongside Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Looking at the four countries who voted against UNDRIP at the time really tells you all you need to know about the declaration and about the power imbalances it's been seeking to right on this globe. Australia finally endorsed UNDRIP in 2009 but it hasn't really led anywhere. We have no framework—legislated or otherwise—no action plan and we don't have a clear picture of what UNDRIP could look like in the Australian context or how we would finally become not just a bare signatory of UNDRIP but a nation who embeds principles in our legislation and in our relationship with First Nations peoples.

I want to recognise the work of my colleague Senator Cox, who, since she came into this place, has pushed for the implementation of UNDRIP, pushed for legislation just like this and who did it working with First Nations peoples in her home state of WA and around the country. UNDRIP is a core part of the Greens' commitment to justice for First Nations people with truth, treaty and voice and it's a commitment that I hope the rest of this parliament shares; although this vote will tell.

As the report tabled last week shows, implementing UNDRIP is not as simple as just one bill or a couple of changes here and there. It's not an exercise in nip and tuck. It can look, and indeed does look, very different in different countries. We can't afford to have a half-baked approach. We need plans and time lines. We need to listen to First Nations peoples of this country about how they want the implementation of UNDRIP to look for them in their country. It will require a full audit of our existing laws, policies and practices to ensure they are UNDRIP compliant, which means consulting with first peoples about how these laws, policies and practices can become compliant with UNDRIP and then actually following that advice.

UNDRIP is about First Nations peoples having the final say on First Nations affairs. On this continent, First Nations peoples have 65,000 years of experience in managing their affairs, managing their families, managing their rivers and managing their culture. The Greens think that makes them more than qualified for the job.

We have a Labor government that was committed to holding a referendum on the Voice but, at the same time, is stubbornly refusing to listen to the voices of traditional owners and First Peoples in the Beetaloo, in Scarborough, in Narrabri and on the Tiwi Islands. They say that our cultural heritage protection laws are too weak, but then Labor are constantly kicking the can down the road on strengthening them. Labor say they're committed to closing the gap. We're not seeing progress. In fact, in many cases the gap's getting bigger. Finally, just as we heard from the minister then, Labor will say they are committed to First Nations justice and to improving the lives of First Nations peoples, but then they'll come in here and vote against this bill.

All the while, we see Labor, at state and federal levels—and, increasingly, in an ugly way at a federal level—participating in the law and order options that see more and more First Nations people locked up, seeming to accept that, on any given day in a juvenile detention facility in the Northern Territory, every kid will be a First Nations kid; seeming to accept that a Labor state government in WA will be jailing their kids in torture-like conditions in breach of multiple UN conventions, not least the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and refusing to do a thing about it; and accepting that in Queensland watchhouses there will be a couple of hundred First Nations kids in police jail cells in conditions that any fair observer would say amount to torture. This is under a Labor state government, and federal Labor will do nothing about it. Then they'll vote against this bill.

So, when we hear those words and those empty political commitments, the sheer hypocrisy of it is hard to keep hearing. It is, in fact, standing in the way of real progress in this country. Speeches like that stand in the way of real progress. Following the referendum result, we needed, as a nation, to be throwing our arms around First Nations peoples, showing our unqualified support after what was, frankly, a disgusting campaign when, on occasions, their very existence was up for debate. We've heard crickets from this government post referendum about what it's going to do to address the disadvantage and oppression that too many First Nations peoples face.

As we have this debate, First Nations peoples are still being racially targeted by police. They're still being locked up. First Nations people are still dying too young. First Nations communities are still scared when they see a white government car drive into their neighbourhood, because they think their kids are going to be stolen. First Nations peoples are still on the front line, trying to protect their cultural heritage from being destroyed for profit by a couple of big corporate donors to the Labor Party and the coalition.

UNDRIP is about empowering those people on the front line. UNDRIP is about empowering those First Nations elders, those knowledge keepers, and it's also about bringing the rest of the country on board. It's about bringing people together to build communities that are genuinely free from discrimination. In that regard, you can look at article 2. It's about ensuring that First Nations peoples have the right to full and effective participation at any and every stage of action that affects their lives. The concept of free, prior and informed consent is found throughout UNDRIP. That alone would completely change the way governments, developers, miners and pastoralists seek approval for projects that affect First Peoples' land, skies and waters. It would put an end to the coercion, manipulation and division that we currently see time and time again across all levels of government, and especially across the extractive industries—extractive industries that play a centuries-old playbook of seeking division amongst First Nations peoples, using economic coercion in order to get their outcome, which too often is the destruction of that land, the killing of the water and the ignorant obliteration of culture.

There are four key principles that are seen throughout the articles of UNDRIP: self-determination, participation in decision-making, respect for and protection of culture, and equality and nondiscrimination. How could we not vote that into law today? There's still a lot of work to be done, even if we pass this bill, to uphold these principles and rights. It's now time to start the work. To start, we need a plan on how exactly we're going to implement these vital rights for First Peoples in our laws, policies and practices. It's time for governments to stop the kinds of speeches we just heard from the minister, to stop the empty rhetoric. It's time to vote up action in this place to finally implement UNDRIP. It is a powerful tool, not just for First Nations peoples but for a sense of historic righting of wrongs in this country, a healing of the country, a bringing together of the country. UNDRIP is about fighting for the rights of First Peoples in this country. So let's legislate it.