Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 620, standing in my name for today, relating to First Nations peoples.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate –

(a) notes that:

  (i) it is almost 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its recommendations,

  (ii) 437 First Nations people have died in custody since the Royal Commission,

  (iii) First Nations Women are 21 times more likely to end up in jail, and men 14 times more likely,

  (iv) First Nations people face discrimination in our justice, child protection, social security, health and education systems - as well as in society generally,

  (v) First Nations people continue to suffer poverty and poor social justice outcomes across Australia, and

  (vi) thousands of Australians peacefully rallied to support change in our justice system to reduce Indigenous incarceration and deaths, and that change:

(A) must be informed by First Nations people, and

(B) must include the aspirations of First Nations people as articulated in the Uluru Statement,

(b) condemns:

  (i) the unacceptably high rates of incarceration of First Nations people and the many preventable deaths in custody, and

  (ii) the unacceptably high rates of children in Out-of-Home-Care;

(c) calls on the Government – along with the states, territories – to commit to clear, ambitious and urgent targets to reduce rates of First Nations incarceration and child removal;

(d) calls on the Government to properly resource programs for justice re-investment, family support, social welfare and economic opportunity for First Nations Australians; and

(e) calls on the Government to commit to including action to reduce Indigenous incarceration as a priority action for the National Federation Reform Council (NFRC).

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's important to note that the nation has made progress in terms of reconciliation, but the government does acknowledge that there remain instances of discrimination, and government remains committed to addressing them. The government is committed to ending racial discrimination in all of its forms.

Question agreed to.