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

I firstly want to acknowledge the lands and the people of these lands past and present. I stand here today with great sadness but not any surprise. Today feels like groundhog day, with the same old conversations and the weak commitments. Every year, we hear the same: 'We must do better.' The report's findings are an affirmation. The sad thing about this report is that it is about people's lives—what they are living every single day. This report continues to tell the story that most of the mob out there already know and, in fact, experience daily. This report reveals that, while 11 of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are seeing improvements on outcomes, only five are on track to be met. Australia is failing all Australians, not just First Nations people, on this. We deserve to be a healed and equitable nation, and this is completely unacceptable.

I listened to the Prime Minister in the other place and his remarks that these must be reminders to learn from our injustices, the mistakes of the past. Here's the news flash, Prime Minister: this isn't about our past; these mistakes are still happening today. This is our lived reality, and this must be the way that we rewrite our history. The reality is what I hear daily about the experiences of community. There is the lack of housing, especially in regional communities, which means they are off country. There is the food insecurity, starting in vulnerability communities, which face huge costs. Yes, listing 30 essential items is a start, but we need to look at how we remove the systemic duopoly that currently exists and reduce those prices not just in remote communities but across the whole of Australia, because Australians are doing it tough. There are the deaths in custody and the locking up of our children, our babies. There is the lack of access to water clean enough even to swim in, let alone to drink. Power is regularly disconnected—up to twice a week in northern Australia. And if you've got aircon or a fridge you can't afford to keep those things connected. You're unable to see a doctor because either there isn't one or you can't afford to see one, and you in fact become so ill that your condition becomes terminal. We are seeing this for so many First Nations communities across Australia, and there is so much sorry business that is attached to that, which has reduced our lifespans.

We are running out of time. The loss of our languages and knowledge from our elders is heartbreaking and in fact quite profound. I welcome the recognition of First Nations women—our matriarchs, the hearts of our families and communities—who are carrying the load. They often manage the lack of food, trying to get kids to school and the need to leave their kids to give birth to children on country. They also experience the absolutely horrific and unacceptable rates of family and domestic violence in this country. We know that First Nations women are 33 times more likely to experience family and domestic and sexual violence. I've listened to the loved ones and stakeholders who told us those stories during the missing and murdered First Nations women and children inquiry. These are in the report that the Greens put additional comments into, which that this government still haven't responded to. It's a wonder that that target is not on track! And it's shameful.

We are experiencing and suffering the continuation of intergenerational trauma. Mr Dutton mentioned 1970, when those kids stopped being removed. I was born in 1976, which wasn't that much later. This is still the profound trauma that exists, and I'm not going to listen to people say, 'Get over it.' There is no justice for our people, and this report just reaffirms this. This has been even worse and will be worse under a coalition government. We have seen the remarks that show how they feel about First Nations people in this country. One of the examples is removing our flags. This week, we will be at the 17th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations breakfast, and yet I'm sure that this place is truly sorry and say that they are learning! Are we, as the PM said, facing up to what is not working and learning from what is? If you ask mob in community these days, they will confirm that what they have been saying for a long time is not being listened to.

The gaps are not closing. We must take a different approach to the way we put in place and support self-determination in our communities. We want to thrive in this country by spirit, by connection to our country and our sea and by preservation of our language and cultural ways. If we do it for other cultures in this country, we should do it for First Peoples. If we don't work together to change those things, it is collusion with the genocide of First Nations people in this country, which will cause further deaths. It will cause the destruction of our country, our cultural heritage and our 65,000-years-old connection to this place. If Australians want equity, then this is the fair go we speak of too.

At the moment, we are not valued, respected or heard for our First Peoples' knowledge and self-determination in decisions that impact us—and it's a wonder the gap is in fact not closing! This report is a necessary aspect of truth-telling in this country, but now we must be prepared to be open to listening, and I'm unsure whether this government is even listening. This government must not continue to paint the picture that government knows best in its approach of doing to communities. There is a clear need to change the system. It is a proud, rich and deeply remarkable story—a story of hope, achievement and survival against the odds—that we must share and that comes from First Peoples. Yet the government is still continuing not to put their absolute support behind formal truth-telling in this country, their commitment to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.

When this Prime Minister talks about giving us a stake in the economy, absolutely, the Greens are continuously advocating for that real, genuine benefits-sharing, stopping black cladding and knowing that that involves shared ownership on our country. It involves free, prior and informed consent. Communities that will see the brunt of fossil fuel extraction and already do in my home state of Western Australia, in the Pilbara, still have such a low OECD rating of poverty when they're less than 10 kilometres away. It is a disgrace, so level up the playing field.

The Prime Minister's hope will not carry First Nations people through, nor will goodwill. A fair go for all is what Australians expect, and I respect that, but what this report shows is that the current form of implementation is not working and has not worked for the successive governments of the Liberal and Labor parties. This is why the Greens have introduced a select Senate committee, which I will be chairing, on measuring the outcomes and reviewing those targets that are going backwards. It includes ensuring that wellness is viewed through the proper lens, an Indigenous lens, and is about mental, physical and spiritual health and wellbeing.

As the portfolio holder of the Australian Greens and the chair of that committee, I will make sure that I am asking all the relevant questions about how we can strengthen the accountability, but I will also make sure that we get these targets back on track. What we know today is they are not being met—they are not even on track to being met—but the attitudes to them are what underpin the criticisms that the Productivity Commission are actually making. We know that, if we continue this trajectory, we will end up with another generation of First Nations children who are locked out of schools, hospitals, universities and workplaces in this country. These are the things that this government could do, but are not doing, to improve the lives of First Nations people: having Medicare in prisons, raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 and supporting our bill that will form Australia's first federal truth and justice commission.

First Nations people have the solutions. They keep saying that. They keep telling governments; it's that the governments are not listening. Every government department, every minister in this place and every member has a role to play. Root causes need to be addressed. Youth need to be in communities, not in prisons, and, without urgent action and without this government doing more, Closing the Gap risks becoming another broken promise to First Nations people. But it's bigger than just another broken promise. This is life or death for many First Nations people across Australia. It is now beyond time to change that and to get the job done.