Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee on Missing and murdered First Nations women and children, together with accompanying documents, and I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

At the outset, I note that this inquiry was established following a motion moved by Senator Cox. This motion was supported by both the government and the opposition. Hence, this issue has received the scrutiny it has only because of that initial motion moved by Senator Cox. Senator Cox's passionate advocacy in relation to this issue should be greatly respected and admired.

At the conclusion of its two-year inquiry, the committee is humbled, and indebted to the families who relived their experiences and discussed the abuse, violence and trauma they have suffered, and the failure of institutions and systems tasked with protecting them. Their strength and resilience, as well as their fight for justice—in some cases, over decades—are inspiring.

For many First Nations women and children who have been murdered or disappeared, there has been little, if any, justice. In too many instances, perpetrators have not been held to account for their shocking crimes. In the cases considered by the committee, what happened to these women and children was reprehensible. Often, it was predictable and preventable.

The committee, following its deliberations, makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1

The committee recommends that federal, state and territory governments codesign with First Nations families and communities, and on behalf of all Australians, a culturally appropriate and nationally significant way in which to recognise and remember the First Nations women and children who have been murdered or disappeared.

Recommendation 2

The committee recommends that the Attorney-General tasks the Police Ministers Council to review existing police practices in each jurisdiction, consider the learnings from each jurisdiction and aim to implement and harmonise best police practices across Australia by no later than 31 December 2025, with the goal of ensuring all interactions with First Nations people are consistent and of a high standard, including standards of cultural awareness and safety.

The report lists particular matters which should be considered in this regard.

For recommendation 3, the committee recommends that a parliamentary committee, 'or such other appropriate body, monitors progress in meeting recommendation 2 and the progress of measures' adopted by the government to address 'discernible data gaps' in this area.

It continues:

Recommendation 4

The committee recommends that the Australian government appoints a First Nations person with specific responsibility for advocating on behalf of and addressing violence against First Nations women and children within the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission. Detailed consideration should be given to the way in which the position is created within the … Commission … the powers of such position and the necessary funding for such position to maximise effectiveness.

Recommendation 5

The committee recommends that the Australian government urgently gives effect to the relevant recommendations in the Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership 2020-2025 … and specifically addresses the need to increase the geographic spread and capacity of Family Violence Prevention Legal Services.

For recommendation 6, the committee recommends that the government develop:

… for implementation, a sustainable funding mechanism to provide ongoing support services for First Nations people, including women and children, experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence. This funding must prioritise service and program delivery by Aboriginal community-controlled organisations who demonstrate evidence-based primary prevention initiatives that are independently evaluated for efficacy, including for delivery in regional and remote areas.

The report continues:

Recommendation 7

The committee recommends that the Australian government empowers First Nations women to lead the design and implementation of services and supports that address violence in their communities … reflecting the principles contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Recommendation 8

The committee recommends that:

the government—

(noting the independence of the ANAO), as part of its Annual Audit Work Program 2025-2026, to assess whether the department is effectively delivering on the commitments agreed by the Australian government under the:

It also recommends 'not later than six months after the conclusion of any ANAO audit' that the Senate directs a parliamentary committee to consider the findings of such audit and assess the response to the audit.

It continues:

In the event that—

given its independence—

the ANAO declines to undertake the audit, then another independent body should be tasked with conducting the audit on the basis referred to above.

Recommendation 9

The committee recommends that the Australian Press Council considers and reflects on the evidence given in this inquiry, with regard to how the media portrays cases of murdered and disappeared First Nations women and children, and considers how the concerns of First Nations communities and families can be positively addressed, including through the introduction of additional Standards or Advisory Guidelines or amendment of the existing Standards and Advisory Guidelines.

Recommendation 10

The committee recommends that the Australian government systematically considers the many recommendations and suggestions made to this inquiry. This includes recommendations relating to:

In closing, I deeply acknowledge the work of all senators on the committee. I deeply acknowledge the contribution made by those persons who made submissions to the inquiry and those who appeared as witnesses. I also deeply acknowledge the contribution made by the secretariat and Broadcasting to the conduct of the inquiry. I'll be making a further contribution in this place to place on the record the names of those involved from both Broadcasting and Hansard.

I commend the report to the Senate.

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

Today the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee report is being tabled here in the Senate, which is 2½ years in the making and the result of Australia's first federal inquiry that sought to address violence against First Nations women and children and to identify its systemic causes. My hope always in this process was that this report would honour the lives lost and those still missing or disappeared and, in particular, their loved ones and the communities impacted by the serious crimes due to the systematic failures. This report could elevate the solutions from the community level to the Senate—the place that reviews all the laws of this country—and finally expose to the Australian public the magnitude of this issue and understand the consequences of these lived experiences.

We've heard from loved ones who felt silenced and forgotten and of the losses of dignity and humanity and, in too many cases, the loss of life. This report is about deliberate actions and failures of a system that has at its heart racially and gendered violence. It is in fact a form of genocide when the system doesn't properly respond to save the lives of First Nations people, and there must continue to be outrage about this happening in a modern-day country like Australia.

In 1967, this nation voted for us to be counted, but as it stands, when we are murdered, missing or disappeared, we are not. People shared with us the most painful experiences of their lives with some hope that something could be done to prevent suffering in the future. I feel immense love and respect for the people who have spoken to us, and all I can do is thank you for giving us your time and your generosity in sharing your experiences.

I talked about triggering this inquiry in the first speech that I made in this place, and, many months later, I want to thank Senator Anne Ruston and former minister Ken Wyatt who helped the Senate motion to be co-sponsored by me and my former colleague Senator Thorpe, which made way for this inquiry. I always believed that First Nations communities, loved ones and families needed a formal mechanism to share with the nation the loss, grief and suffering that needed to be told. I want to be very clear that this report does not, in fact, go far enough. I'll talk about that in a moment. I want to acknowledge all of the families that gave evidence to us and, in fact, all of the families of missing and murdered First Nations women and children across this country. We have an evolving pattern which now involves our men.

The inquiry was conducted by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References group made up of three Liberal senators, two Labor senators and two Greens senators. Senator Paul Scarr, I'd like to thank you for your work as the chair. Senator Nita Green is the deputy chair, and, despite what's been said in the media, I did not chair or co-chair this inquiry. I'm not even a standing member of that committee. In fact, I was subbed into that committee for this inquiry. The standing member is my friend and colleague Senator David Shoebridge.

I would like to acknowledge him for his unwavering support for me, both personally and professionally, and acknowledge many others who have provided individual support. I don't have enough time in this short 10 minutes to acknowledge and name all of them but I am grateful, because this time has been trying and, at moments, very painful.

People were and are still suffering the losses of loved ones, without support from the institutions that are supposed to help people when they are in need. This situation must not be allowed to continue. There is a moral duty for people in this place who make the laws to make institutions work for everyone in the way that they're actually supposed to.

I brought my own lived experience into this committee's process. In fact, I travelled to Canada and talked directly to the Native Women's Association, who triggered their own inquiry with nearly 500 media articles. I want to respectfully acknowledge their journey in this speech here today, within the Australian Senate. They are still working through some of those systemic challenges.

I also shared, during my short speech on the motion that was moved to commence this inquiry, that my own cousin was murdered by a man in her home town in regional Western Australia. There was an atrocious response to her murder by the police. The department, the director of public prosecutions and the justice system had a profound impact on my life and also that of my family. I know many others within my communities, and across Australia more broadly, have had and continue to have a lack of response and worse experiences, which we heard as part of this inquiry and which brought me to tears and still stay with me.

At the start of this process, the committee prepared for its work ahead by meeting with some of the Canadian commissioners from their inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous First Nations women and girls. We also met with many First Nations academics and subject matter experts, and I want to thank them for their guidance; they provided some vital information to us.

Acknowledging the work that has been put into the committee's inquiry, it has to be said that the outcome in the majority report is not what I, my team and the Greens expected. We are extremely concerned that the report's recommendations are not reflective of the urgent change and investment that is actually required. Problems have, in fact, been identified, but the recommendations don't contain many solutions. Where solutions are presented, they are presented far too broadly and are open to interpretation. They are not connected to any outcomes. There are no performance indicators to make sure that progress can actually be measured.

Speaking of measurement, the glaring omission is the targets for improving data gathering. Even though this Labor government had a budget allocation to do this, there is no direction provided in the recommendation to address this. We simply don't know how many First Nations women and children have been murdered and continue to be missing, because we don't capture any of that necessary data. The majority report does provide some suggestions, but there will be no targets and no performance indicators to hold anyone to account if this important data cannot be gathered, collated and shared across jurisdictions.

I take this opportunity to thank a dear friend of mine, Paul Girrawah House, who provided ceremony for us here in the grounds of Parliament House. He gave me a very special word, dhulabin: to walk straight and talk straight. At this moment, I want to acknowledge the cultural load that was placed upon me as a committee member and on other First Nations people who have contributed to this process, which has been immense. There are no First Nations people on this committee apart from me, and this leaves us in a position of constantly having to explain the cultural factors that contribute to the institutional failure. It's possible that this has contributed to some of the omissions in the recommendations. In fact, today I met with the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, and asked if she was provided any information or sought any advice. Her response was that she had no idea. That was an unacceptable and damn negligent response from this government.

The committee received 87 submissions and conducted 10 public hearings over the 2½-year period. There was no shortage of people willing to contribute and tell their stories. In fact, people were aching to tell their stories because no-one wanted to listen, and we heard shocking stories of people being ignored, ridiculed, dismissed—all when they wanted some help and for someone to care about the fate of their family members.

Much has been written about the harrowing nature of the stories heard during the inquiry. And it's important that we hear about the suffering. It's our job to stop the suffering. It won't happen until we get frontline government services to care, and sometimes the message we get is that some people don't care. I'd like to continue to point out that in my own jurisdiction the WA police did not even have the decency to turn up to the inquiry.

Senator Shoebridge and I have added our own additional comments to the end of the report, and these comments contain some of the additional recommendations we'd like to put forward to flesh out what's actually required in the future. Put some real targets in place. Get some clear data so that we can actually hold people to account, particularly to do their job. We want to see Closing the Gap target 13 attached to this. Powerful people in this place do not want change, and I see this through this report.

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee report for the inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children. This inquiry was referred on 20 November 2021, and that means this report has been nearly three years in the making.

Today is significant, and this report is significant. But, in terms of the real change that must come in the form of action, that has to come after this report is tabled. There are many in the community who have been waiting for this report, and I want to acknowledge all the people watching this who have been and will continue to protect First Nations women and children.

I didn't come to this inquiry with lived experience, but I acknowledge those who did—and I thank you for sharing it with us. From observing the conduct of all committee members of this inquiry, I think it is clear that all of us came to this inquiry with a real desire to find real solutions to one of our country's most shameful problems. I want to take the opportunity to thank and acknowledge Senator Cox for her work and leadership. I want to thank the chair, who I think was entirely hardworking and decent in the way that he went about the conduct of this inquiry. Deputy President, I think you were also incredibly helpful. It wasn't an easy inquiry to conduct.

The report that has been tabled today is a significant piece of work. This is reflected in 10 significant recommendations made by the committee to help governments make positive steps forward towards protecting First Nations women and children. I want to make clear that these are recommendations to the government, and yet Labor senators who are part of this committee support each of these recommendations. Key to these recommendations is the principle that we need to deeply involve those impacted by this violence in the work being done by governments to stop it. This report also recognises the need for and recommends continued scrutiny over governments to ensure that the implementation of their commitment to keep First Nations women and children safe are kept.

Perhaps the most critical, for those on the front line, a number of recommendations deal with the need for greater support and funding for family violence prevention and support services. I'm from a regional area myself. I know how hard these services work. I thank them for coming and giving us evidence, and I know how difficult it is for them, given the areas they operate in. I am sure that they will see these recommendations, which call for sustainable funding mechanisms for support services for First Nations people experiencing domestic family and sexual violence, including those that operate in regional and remote areas. Similarly, I know the recommendation calling for the Australian government to increase geographic spread and capacity of family violence prevention legal services will be welcomed across regional and remote areas, where accessing these services is not just hard; it is impossible.

I can't understate how important these frontline services are, and these recommendations recognise that they will be a key part of any solution that keeps First Nations women and children safe. These recommendations are important, and we owe it to the families of those who have loved ones who have been murdered or disappeared to deliver real change to protect First Nations women and children. We must ensure that the focus on the safety of First Nations women and children does not end with this committee report today; it should start.

As many members of the committee have today, I acknowledge all those who provided evidence and testimony. We heard from families right across the country about the loved ones they have lost and the experience these families faced of unsurmountable, unbearable grief. Hearing directly from these families was a humbling and important reminder of the very real human pain that comes from losing a loved one. But that loss was made worse by the actions of our institutions and systems. No-one and no family should ever have to go through the loss that these families experienced, and no family should ever have to go through the double loss of experiencing loss in such an undignified way. It's even more distressing to know that in many cases witnesses felt silenced, ignored or even further traumatised after their experiences with government services. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to share your grief with committee members who were strangers, and I am profoundly grateful for the experience that you provided the committee to help us shape this report.

The committee received 87 submissions in the course of this inquiry, with many more providing testimony directly to the committee during our numerous hearings. As a committee, we travelled across the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Victoria to hear firsthand at 10 public hearings the true scale and number of disappeared First Nations women and children, which is horrifying. Throughout this inquiry we were confronted with truly horrific information on the disappeared and murdered First Nations women and children across the country.

The gross overrepresentation of First Nations women and children in the number of people who have disappeared or been murdered is an issue that no government can turn away from. The data already suggest that First Nations women are four times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be hospitalised due to violence, and they are six times more likely to die as a result of family violence. These are statistics we should be ashamed of. The picture painted by the data is even more scary when you consider inconsistencies in the collection and underreporting that may be masking just how bad the true statistics really are. These deeply disturbing statistics show exactly how dangerous it is in our country for First Nations women and children. Thankfully, there have been ongoing efforts to improve that collection, and I acknowledge some of the work that's being done now.

We can't hide from this issue, nor from the issue of gendered violence. Problems like these don't not disappear if we keep them hidden in the shadows. If we don't talk about this, if we don't talk about disappeared First Nations women and children, then we give permission for those who have inflicted pain on them to do more harm. The only way that we can really stop this is by making sure that there is as much attention on this issue as possible. Governments, the media and the wider Australian community need to reckon with these statistics and what they mean in terms of actual human loss and suffering. That is exactly why the committee has its first recommendation focus on urging federal, state and territory governments to co-design a culturally appropriate and nationally significant way in which to recognise and remember the First Nations women and children who have been murdered or disappeared.

All of the women and children whom we heard of through this inquiry were loved, and there are, sadly, countless more who are missing and disappeared who are being mourned and remembered by their loved ones. All of their loved ones deserve an opportunity to have their loss recognised and remembered. It is critical that we continue to push for real solutions to end the violence against women and children and in particular First Nations women and children. We need to make sure that this report is not the end of action on this issue but merely a step towards a future where women and children are not regularly subjected to violence, abuse and even death.

Our work as a government and as a parliament is not over today. We have an obligation to the families who came forward and shared their trauma to ensure that this report is not the end of an important inquiry but the start of important work to make things better. We need to act on the significant recommendations in this report together. Above all, we need to stop the violence against First Nations women and children, who deserve better. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.