Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I withdraw the amendment moved by Senator Dodson.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank those who have contributed to this debate. In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The declaration laid out a set of universal rights for first peoples from across the globe. It included first peoples' rights to self-determination and participation in decision-making processes. After the Howard Liberal government refused to ratify the declaration in 2007, it was the Labor government led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that chose to adopt its principles in 2009. The leadership by the Labor government to become a signatory ensured that governments to come would make efforts to give practical effect to the declaration. Under the Albanese Labor government, we are proud to be able to say that we are working hard to continue to uphold the values and the principles laid out in the declaration. It has formed our entire approach to our policies in relation to improving outcomes for First Nations people in this country.

The legislation proposed by Senator Thorpe, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Bill 2022, is modelled on legislation passed in Canada in 2021. This government acknowledges that much of Canada's work in relation to supporting and advancing the interests of their first peoples is world leading. However, this government also acknowledges that Indigenous Australians need legislation and policies that will be effective for Indigenous Australians.

Since last year, the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs have inquired into the application of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Australia. On 28 November the joint standing committee presented its report. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the fantastic work of my friend and colleague Senator Patrick Dodson, the chair of this committee.

I'd also like to join the chamber's sentiments in relation to praising Senator Dodson's incredible career and service to this place, as well as to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia. I wish him well in his forthcoming retirement.

The report that was presented to the Senate on 28 November includes contributions from experts, organisations and community members alike from across Australia and overseas. The report makes six recommendations. The recommendations seek to, firstly, ensure stronger alignment to the declaration in the government's policy development; secondly, gain agreement between jurisdictions to approach a further implementation; and, thirdly, develop civics education programs.

Let me be clear: there are no recommendations from the joint standing committee's report suggesting this government should adopt Canada's approach to the United Nations declaration, which is essentially what is in this bill today. What these recommendations do endorse is a renewed commitment from governments to ensuring that self-government and participation in decision-making remain at the heart of policy development and legislative change for matters of Indigenous affairs. It is what has underpinned this government's approach to Indigenous affairs and, in the spirit of those three principles, we as a government will ensure that we take time to engage and consult with First Nations people in a deliberate and meaningful manner. Our government will ensure that our response to those recommendations is determined in partnership and through meaningful consultation with First Peoples. To do otherwise would be entirely inconsistent with the very principles of UNDRIP. We must take the time to get this right.

This Labor government, like Labor governments before it, is proud to support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We believe in the right to self-determination and participation in decision-making. We know that, when First Peoples are meaningfully involved in the development of laws and policies about them, those laws and policies are more successful. We took to the last election an agenda centred on tackling disadvantage, supporting self-determination and empowering Indigenous communities. This included our commitment to hold a referendum on constitutional recognition. We, of course, respect the decision of the Australian people. We remain firmly committed to delivering a better future for Indigenous Australians, and we remain firmly committed to closing the gap.

Our priorities are the priorities Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders have themselves spoken about: health, education, jobs, housing and justice. We're getting on with the job, replacing the failed CDP with a program that is about real jobs, real wages and investing in the projects and services local communities need. We're improving water supply and treatment in remote communities, investing in basic services in the homelands for the first time in many years. There is justice reinvestment to keep people out of jail, reduce offending and change the path of people's lives for the better. We're getting on with the job of delivering a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, investing $164.3 million to refurbish and build critical health infrastructure for more than 17 Aboriginal community controlled health services. We are expanding renal services by investing $45 million to deliver up to 34 chair dialysis units to provide life-saving health care. Progress is underway at six dialysis sites, and a steering committee, through co-design with the sector, is progressing future locations. Over 1,000 bedrooms have been delivered in the Northern Territory through Commonwealth funding under the national partnership. This is in stark contrast to those opposite, who cut more than $500 million from Indigenous affairs in their first budget in 2014.

In relation to First Nations justice, we are investing $81.5 million in up to 30 community led justice reinvestment initiatives across Australia. We are establishing an independent National Justice Reinvestment unit, as recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission. This is the largest justice reinvestment package ever committed by the Commonwealth.

These projects will address the underlying socioeconomic drivers that increase First Nations people's risk of contact with the criminal justice system, working with local communities on local solutions.

We have heard from communities right around Australia—urban, regional and remote—in every state and territory about how to design a program that will work for them. We've been providing readiness support in several communities, including Katherine in the Northern Territory, the Pilbara in Western Australia, Townsville in Queensland, Port Augusta in South Australia and Circular Head in Tasmania, and we have delivered on our commitment to set up a justice reinvestment program in Alice Springs. This is part of a $99 million First Nations justice package that also includes unprecedented investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services to provide culturally appropriate legal assistance in coronial inquiries and real-time reporting of deaths in custody. The government is working closely with the states and territories on a proposal to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

But, of course, we acknowledge more can be done. As a signatory to the declaration, we commit to taking further steps to realise those international standards and to do so in the spirit of partnership and mutual respect. The United Nations declaration brings together existing human rights and applies them to specific contexts affecting Indigenous peoples. It provides a framework for countries to realise these rights but provides flexibility so the specifics can be determined at a domestic level. While we have structures in place to facilitate first people's perspectives, more can and should be done. As I mentioned earlier, the joint standing committee presented its report on 28 November. This government will take time to consider the report thoroughly and work with first peoples on how best to move forward. We will take this time because of the fact we have signed up to the declaration and because we are committed to working with local communities towards a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to 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.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Thorpe, please sum up the debate.

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

Well, it is another day in the colony. This is Australia, everybody. This is a government—the so-called progressive Labor government—that waves the Aboriginal flag, wears the Aboriginal earrings and says it's our friend. Yet it denies the rights of Indigenous people in this country. To vote down the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is an absolute disgrace. You should all hold your heads in shame, Labor. I'm surprised your Indigenous representatives aren't in the chamber to participate in this discussion. It shows that there's a real shame factor going on in your party. Despite Senator Dodson's legacy—all the contributions he's made whilst he's been here—you did not even have the decency or the respect to give Senator Dodson a legacy that we can never forget, and that is a legacy of giving us rights in this country.

We haven't had rights since the boats arrived 250 years ago. The colonial project is only about taking away those rights so that you can rape and pillage our country, our water, our women, our babies, our men. There have been 550 deaths in custody. There are over 20,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children not living with their families because your government continues the ongoing genocide against First Peoples in this country. You railroaded this inquiry, and you railroaded this bill, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Bill 2022. You hijacked it for your failed Voice, which, may I remind you, had no free, prior and informed consent, and it wasn't self-determined by the people. It was 'self-determined' by John Howard and the Liberal Party way back when.

So don't pretend that you're doing us a favour, Labor. You are complicit in the ongoing genocide by not implementing the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, by not implementing the recommendations of the Bringing them home report. Numbers are still skyrocketing in every community in this country. And, yes, there are blackfellas everywhere in this country. Even down south you might find us. You didn't wipe us out completely. We survived the massacres, the murders, the rapes, and I'm living proof of that, and I'm so glad I've got five years left in this place because I'm going to make your job hell for the next five years. I will not stop until we get justice in this country for First People.

I'm not here to make friends. Let's face it, it's a colonial project. You all bow to the Queen and bow to the King and bow to everybody in here and follow the processes of the colonial institution. Yes, I'm a part of this, but I'm only here to rattle and shake every one of you into understanding that you are complicit in genocide and that the genocide continues in the most sophisticated way in 2023.

The minister's speech was a beautiful example of that—the ongoing genocide, the ongoing denial, the ongoing 'let's pat the little blackfellas on the head and give them some money for their health service to shut that mob up'. Well, I don't subscribe to that. The black sovereign movement doesn't subscribe to that. Elders across this country don't subscribe to that. Yet you wield around your little power wand and your money train to our people. You suck them in and then, at the end of the day, you come to the chamber and deny our rights.

Where are the blackfellas in this place? Where are all the black people supporting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People? Is it not safe for our people to be in this chamber today because the Labor government have decided to not support our rights in this country? Minister, you talked about Kevin Rudd—deadly Rudd; deadly apology. Why has child removal increased since the apology? Why is it out of control right now? Why are we still dying younger? Why are black women like me still dying younger in this country, our own country? You're not closing the gap.

Labor, all you are good for is smoothing the dying pillow. That's all you're good for. Just keep the blacks happy while we slowly continue the legacy of the colonial project. Wipe them out. Keep them sick. Don't give them any rights to be able to determine their own destiny. If we keep smoothing that dying pillow, one day we won't have to worry about them anymore.

Minister, you say you uphold the principles. Where's free, prior and informed consent, as Senator Shoebridge points out, in regard to the Beetaloo basin? Why do you listen to some traditional owners and not others? Why are you hand-picking the blackfellas to talk to and the blackfellas not to talk to? Who are your advisers, because you're getting bad advice? You're hurting our people. You're denying our rights.

It's been 15 years since your deadly Prime Minister Rudd said sorry. We've got 20,000 kids in out-of-home care. In 15 years what have you done with UNDRIP? Come to the chamber today: 'Merry Christmas, blackfellas out there!' You think that we're going to let you get away with this?

When you have your own ministers giving money to the police and the prisons, and not the people to self-determine what the solutions are in their own communities, you're giving money to the police to be tougher on crime, particularly on young people in the Northern Territory. You're a joke! You talk about legal services, Minister. They're struggling. They're underfunded. Yes, you might have given them some small change. You get more money from your donors than you give to the legal services. Good luck sleeping with that at night. Obviously your pay packet and your power are more important than the rights of our people.

I'm going to read a quote from Professor Chelsea Watego, Mununjali Yugambeh woman and Executive Director of the Curumba Institute at Queensland University of Technology:

When we speak of Indigenous rights, we are speaking about Indigenous lives—

are you away wake over there or what?—

It is a call for a rethink of Indigenous affairs, away from the needs-based approach which operates as a self-fulfilling prophecy, keeping us trapped on the mouse wheel of misery - it is what keeps our kids in out of home care, kicks our kids out of schools, places our people in prisons, and leaves us grieving at gravesites for lives lost well before their time.

Enshrining UNDRIP into Australian law would’ve been a way of getting us off this miserable road to nowhere and realise real progress for our people.

The continued denial of our rights by those who have the most to gain reflects a steadfast commitment to the continuing violence of settler colonialism and absolute indifference to Indigenous lives and lands.

And another quote from a countryman of mine, Gunaikurnai and Wotjobaluk man, journalist and writer Benjamin Abbatangelo:

If the Albanese government had a modicum of decency, then it would have enthusiastically supported Senator Thorpe's bill - which is not only a bare minimum and uncontroversial piece of legislation that other comparable nations have already enshrined; but a logical next step in the wake of a failed referendum.

Over the last eighteen months, Labor ministers have written countless columns and used innumerable domestic and international press conferences, question times, senate estimates, television and radio interviews—

remember all that? Remember 12 months of the pain in your ears of the Labor government saying how great they are with the relationship with blackfellas in this country?—

sports and cultural events to prosecute the urgent need to address Indigenous marginalisation. Senator Thorpe's bill provides the government with an actionable and familiar framework that would not only radically improve our lives, but address the very marginalisation that they said can no longer be ignored.

After spending almost two decades delaying the implementation of UNDRIP, which has culminated in the rejection of this bill, the government should be removed as a signatory.

There you have it. There's a couple of voices for you.

I know our people have a little love for Labor because of Gough Whitlam—not because of Kevin Rudd or Albanese or any of the others, but because of a great man way back when I was a kid. He'd be rolling in his grave if he saw what was going on today with the denial of our rights. It's a sad day when you get a so-called progressive government denying the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country. It is another day in the colony. What you're seeing in Palestine right now is what happened to us 250 years ago. The genocide still happens here. I don't know how many ministers I've had to negotiate with in the last fortnight to get self-determination into the legislation and to get free, prior and informed consent into the legislation. I'm sick of begging your ministers for our rights. When are you going to stand up and truly be our friends and ensure that we have rights in this country? (Time expired)

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I put the question, I will let everyone in the chamber know that photos are not allowed on the floor of the Senate. The only photos shall be taken from up behind us, the press gallery, just so we're all clear. The question is that the motion moved by Senator Thorpe be agreed to.