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

I want to speak on the government response to the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs inquiry into community safety, support services and job opportunities in the Northern Territory. The foreword of this report talks about respecting the sovereignty and self-determination of Indigenous peoples in this country, First Nations peoples. It's something that First Nations people have been talking about for a really long time. Since the Yirrkala bark petitions in 1963, the Wave Hill walk-off at Kalkarindji in 1966 and the Barunga Statement in 1988, this has been at the heart of the things that First Nations people have been talking about. We have been calling for it for generations. In fact, when we talk about sovereignty—and I've heard that term, 'sovereignty of Australia', mentioned many times in this place—it is a spiritual notion for us First Nations people. It's the heart of who we are. It's the heart of the cultural responsibility that has been given to us First Nations people, as the first peoples of this country—a fact that I hope will be recognised very shortly.

One of the things that this report circles around in the foreword is the Northern Territory intervention, which I want to say was such a dark time in this nation's history. The Northern Territory intervention was a legislative way to disempower and destabilise First Nations people in this country.

Governments in this country found a legal way to do that—to try and break the spirit of First Peoples in the Northern Territory—in the way they sent the Army into remote communities. They talked about abuse, alcohol, violence and other things in our communities in such a way that it took away a lot of power. It took away power from those communities to depend on government. That legislation that was pulled together made sure that they were able to remove the power.

When we talk about self-determination and sovereignty, we can't remove power, because power is at the base of that. Without any accountability for the Northern Territory government and the federal government, who presided over what happened in the Northern Territory intervention, there were many, many things that could have been done better.

This report talks about the practical place- and strengths-based solutions that are designed by community for community, and I'm really pleased to see this in the report. What we know in community, and what I've heard many people say over many generations, is that the top-down approach of governments equals failure. That is not about self-determination at all. Unless we are going to put place-based, strengths-based, community-led solutions in place, we are not going to close the gap and we are not going to move forward and help to empower some of these communities.

Some people in this place will have you believe it was unique. During the debate that happened before this inquiry held its hearings, people talked about the uniqueness of what was happening in the Northern Territory. Well, it's not unique. There were other people, from the opposition, who talked about it happening in towns like Laverton and Leonora, in my home state of Western Australia, so it's not unique.

This is a symptom of trauma and this is a symptom of what happened 235 years ago as a process of colonisation. That is a process fixed in our history, that is truth telling and that is a thing that we need to have fair and square in the middle of the table when we talk about how we are going to work together in true partnership with moving forward in this country. We need to create some opportunities to heal that. If we do not do that, we will continue to fail. We will continue to fail with the government money that is being streamed into these areas, we will continue to fail with partnerships and relationships and we will continue to fail the very people that we are trying to help. We must ensure we are connecting people and leaving them on country, ensuring that these strategies, solutions and opportunities for healing are embedded in culture as well.

Other people might argue that we need to roll in the Army and we need to make sure we purchase more cops and send them out to remote communities. That's not the answer. It's not the answer. As a former police officer, I can tell you, standing here, it's not the answer. Intergenerational trauma has a specific role in that, too. Seeing those uniforms roll into remote communities across this country, people were traumatised just by seeing them. That was compounded by the government policies that have had First Nations people turn to alcohol in the first place. The removal of our children, the removal from our homelands and the removal from our kinship connections have been the reasons that has happened.

Prevention must be at the heart of what we do—and I'm glad to see it's featured in this report—around social and emotional wellbeing of First Peoples, particularly in the Northern Territory.

We must be listening, and we must be acting on what they say. It's really important. The nine recommendations of that report, particularly in relation to the sunsetting of the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act and making sure that the policies are developed around that, are critical. There must be a step to transition away from this top-down approach. We also have to make sure that we are outcome focused and we provide the flexibility, or nimbleness, that's mentioned in the report's recommendations.

Making sure that we embed holistic health approaches to service provision is about ensuring that's at the centre of the things that we work from. Stop criminalising what's happening in our communities and start thinking about this from a health, social and emotional wellbeing place, because that's our starting point. When our spirit's damaged, we too are damaged.

I want to quote from the foreword of this report, written by Senator Dodson, who is the chair of ATSIA committee, and I want to honour his work and the work of other committee members who have contributed to this inquiry:

In order to truly enable community-led solutions, governments need to transfer power and resources to communities. This requires investment based on outcomes, rather than outputs; ensuring data is available at the local level; and listening and acting on what communities say will work best.

I think Senator Dodson's extensive work, particularly in my home state of Western Australia, and his stewardship of this committee and the work within this report are reflective of that. But the contributions of other committee members, who I know were part of that and have contributed to that, are also important in ensuring that we all understand clearly what the issues are. That's the important role of the Senate—to ensure that we use our inquiries to build recommendations to help our communities. That's what we're elected for—to make sure that the heart of the things that we do is for the betterment of those communities, and not to cause any harm. Have you ever listened properly to a welcome to country? One of the most amazing things I've heard is an invitation for people to 'walk softly on this country' so as to cause no harm—no harm to the people, to country and to the spirituality that continues on through our culture and is handed down to successive generations. It's important that we continue to hold that. I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

Question agreed to.