Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents.

This report was not a landmark achievement. It was a continuation of the very violence it claimed to address. It was a disgraceful performance by a colonial state that would rather conceal its sins than hold itself accountable. It refused to call the murders and disappearances of our women and girls for what they are—femicide and genocide. It ignored the government, state agent, police and media complicity in the disappearances and murders of our women, sister girls, daughters and mothers. This report did not uncover the current crisis; it buried it.

Amy McQuire, a proud Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman, speaks truth when she says, 'State behaviours create a culture where violence against Indigenous women is free of consequences.' Here, the police, media and state institutions got off scot-free, and the white perpetrators are painted as acts of random violence. This is creating a culture of impunity for the violence against First Nations women and girls. The worst part is the committee was explicitly warned by First Nations women who are experts in that field that their inquiry was gammon, that the terms of reference were not good enough and that, if they did not change them, they would retraumatise the families involved and deliver bad recommendations, and the murders and disappearances would continue. That is exactly what has happened.

The first recommendation was a call for a nationally significant way in which to recognise and remember those killed without even providing a pathway to end future murders—as if that will make a difference. We saw Kevin Rudd's apology back in 2011. 'Sorry' means you don't do it again, yet the Labor government is currently overseeing and creating a whole new stolen generation.

Professor Watego said:

Grieving families are not asking you to keep better count of our dead, or seeking commemorations and condolences for our losses … These families want justice for racial and gendered violence against Indigenous women. These families want accountability and safety for our communities now.

This inquiry betrayed grieving families. I was told that the committee failed to create safe spaces for the families to speak. I heard they were retraumatised, alienated and ignored. Many opted out, knowing their voices would be silenced in the deafening roar of colonial indifference.

The outcomes of this committee inquiry are in stark contrast to the Canadian inquiry, which the committee had the benefit of reviewing. The colony of Canada actually did some truth-telling. Fundamentally, the Canadian inquiry recognised the violence against First Nations women and girls for what it is—a genocide. The Canadian committee said that it's a genocide. This committee didn't go near genocide or femicide. The Canadian committee addressed the root causes rather than the surface level symptoms, centred First Nations voices and leadership and aimed for systemic transformation, not incremental reform.

The Canadian inquiry presented over 200 recommendations grounded in human rights and aimed to dismantle the structures enabling colonial violence.

It called for First Peoples' self-determination and emphasised that colonial structures must not dictate solutions, advocating for community led programs and funding controlled by First Peoples. It called for First Peoples led justice, including a complete overhaul of policing and justice systems. What does this government do? They fund the cops! They fund the prisons! We want First Peoples oversight of police services. It called for alternatives to incarceration that prioritise healing and community based approaches, for the need to address socio-economic inequalities and for ongoing support for the families of missing and murdered women, including access to legal aid, healing services and platforms for them to share their stories without retraumatisation.

But here in so-called Australia, after almost three years, the gammon legal and constitutional affairs committee inquiry managed to put forward just 10 recommendations. Canada do 200, with First Nations people at the helm making the decisions—self-determined by us—and this gammon lot do 10 recommendations. It's shameful! They are 10 mostly superficial, vague recommendations that include harmonising best police practices, cultural awareness training and more black cops, as if more prisons and harmonised cops will end the genocide. Are you going to try and make the cops better? What a joke! This lack of accountability creates a culture of impunity and gives the green light for the murders and disappearances to continue.

It is also important to point out how the media is part of the violence. I hear the minister talk about the role of the media and say that a letter has been written—great! I love those letters; keep them going! The media dehumanise us, criminalise us in their reporting, make us appear unworthy of protection, care or accountability and send a whistle to the violent racists out there that they do not have to be scared of consequences. The racial and gendered violence that is perpetrated against our women and girls today is the same systemic and colonial violence perpetrated since invasion and the frontier wars, where rape and murder of our women and girls was routine.

This is not just about the past; it is about our collective future. We will not wait for justice. We will organise, demand and create it. Liberation will not be given; it must be seized.