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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Minister Gallagher. Two weeks ago your government announced it will establish a National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People to help finally achieve progress under Closing the Gap. Target 12 under Closing the Gap concerns removal of First Nations children. The solutions on how to reduce child removals were presented in the 1997 Bringing them home report. Currently no entity holds responsibility for overviewing the implementation of the report recommendations. Is the new commissioner intended to be responsible for this overview?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Thorpe for the question. I will come back with further information if I'm not able to fully answer the question that you've asked. The commissioner's work will be focusing on reducing the number of children in out-of-home care, strengthening families and keeping children and young people safe. An interim commissioner will begin work midyear. Resourcing is obviously being provided for that. As you say, there have been a number of reports into child protection since the Bringing them home report in 2007. I think the feedback that the Minister for Indigenous Australians has is that First Nations people want action, not more reports. So this is a very significant announcement, to have a commissioner. Certainly in the years that I was involved in child protection and in out-of-home care—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat. Senator Thorpe?

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

Relevance.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is that your point of order?

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

Are the recommendations going to be used as part of the commissioner's role?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Thorpe. The minister is being relevant, and she also undertook, if she wasn't able to fully answer your question, to seek further information. But she is being relevant.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will come back to Senator Thorpe if there is more information than I am able to provide her today, but one of the points I made was that there have been a number of reports, including theBringing them home report, which have a number of recommendations, and certainly I would believe there's an expectation that the commissioner is looking at all of those recommendations, and that would inform the work that needs to be done. This is an area that has been fraught for a long time, the issue generally of child protection across the community but particularly for First Nations children in out-of-home care and how to provide appropriate support to them and their families and put in arrangements to support them as best as they can. I know that from experience, being a child protection minister for a few years. If there is more that I can provide, Senator Thorpe, in terms of how they would implement the recommendations, I will bring that back. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Thorpe, a first supplementary?

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

Has the government costed what is required to provide oversight and monitoring of the implementation of the Bringing them home recommendations?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Certainly there has been assessment of resourcing for this role that will be provided. The government will, of course, make sure that those resources are available for the commissioner to do their work and adequately resource them to do their work. That goes without saying.

In terms of the broader recommendations in Bringing them homeI'm not trying to shift responsibility here—there is work that is done across states and territories.

They do have responsibility for the child protection systems. The Commonwealth doesn't run those. But we want to work with them. We want to ensure that the commissioner's role is effective and that they are able to focus on the issues that First Nations people have raised—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Please resume your seat, Minister Gallagher. A point of order, Senator Thorpe?

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

The question was whether the government has costed what is required to provide oversight.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister has been relevant to your question. I'm not sure if she has anything more to add in the six seconds remaining, but I will invite her.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have assessed the costing for the commissioner. I said I would come back with further information, if I had it, about the resourcing for oversight of recommendations. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Thorpe, a second supplementary?

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

Which targets of Closing the Gap does the government seek to most urgently progress through this new commissioner role?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know that First Nations children are almost 11 times more likely to come into contact with child protection systems and that the proportion of First Nations children in out-of-home care is 43 per cent. This commissioner will have the ability to make decisions themselves, so we need to get the commissioner in place. The Minister for Indigenous Australians will work with that commissioner to ensure the scope of their responsibilities and to make sure that we are consulting with relevant stakeholders about it. This national commissioner has been called for. We are putting it in place. We want it to work. This is a whole-of-country issue that involves governments at every level. We remain committed to reducing the number of children in out-of-home care and supporting First Nations families, particularly those that have contact with the child protection system.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Your time has finished. The clock has wound down.