Carol Berry (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands across Australia, and I pay my respects to their elders past and present. I acknowledge and celebrate that First Nations Australians are the custodians of the oldest living culture in the world. As an Australian, I am deeply proud of our 65,000 years of First Nations history.

As a young lawyer, my first case was representing the Sandon Point Aboriginal Tent Embassy in the Land and Environment Court, supporting their fight for recognition of important First Nations history on local Illawarra land that went on to become a housing development. I saw firsthand how local elders felt about their history being undervalued and unrecognised. I felt their desire for self-determination and the deep pride they felt in their culture.

As CEO of the Illawarra Women's Health Centre, I was proud to lead consultation and engagement with Aboriginal women in the community of Warilla and in my electorate of Whitlam. Creating culturally safe spaces and recognition and valuing culture is critical for the wellbeing of First Nations Australians, and I was proud to support their work and honoured to work with local First Nations women who were advocating for stronger recognition of culture, for better services, for economic opportunities and for better support in the community.

Earlier this week, I was proud to rise in parliament to recognise Aunty Lindy Lawler, an Aboriginal elder, Yuin woman and survivor of the stolen generations. Aunty Lindy was stolen from her family when she was just five months old. Aunty Lindy is highly respected across the Illawarra, including in my electorate of Whitlam, for her wonderful work across many areas, including mental health, cultural education and mentorship. I met Aunty Lindy while working at the Illawarra Women's Health Centre, and I saw firsthand the value of her work in defending, valuing and celebrating her people and her culture.

Today I'm proud to support the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2026, which deliver on the Albanese government's commitment to establish a legislated, independent and empowered national commissioner and national commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. The Prime Minister announced the establishment of the national commissioner in 2024, and the national commission commenced its operations on 13 January 2025.

The inaugural national commissioner, Sue-Anne Hunter, began her term on 1 September 2025, and since her appointment she's held many meetings with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisations and leaders and with state and territory and national commissioners, guardians and advocates to build strong relationships and identify opportunities for collaboration and change. She has been providing advice to government on policy reform that affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and she's been developing systems and policies such as establishing a child-safe framework for the national commission to properly engage with children and young people in a safe, culturally appropriate and trauma informed way. As the current and ongoing national commissioner, Sue-Anne Hunter has been consulted in relation to these bills, one of which will transition the office of the national commission from an interim executive agency to a permanent statutory agency that is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led and independent from government.

In 2019, over 70 organisations united to call for a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander commissioner to hold systems and services accountable, and there remains strong stakeholder engagement and support for these bills. They've been informed and shaped by in-depth consultations which began in 2023 and have included state and territory children's commissioners, guardians, advocates, peak organisations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth advisory groups, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisations. Consultation has also taken place with the National Indigenous Australians Agency, numerous government departments, the Australian Public Service Commission and the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

These bills support the Albanese government's ongoing commitment to improving life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. The national commissioner established by these bills fills a gap and will ensure the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are strongly reflected in advice to government. This is critically important. I note the bills make it clear that the national commissioner will always be an Aboriginal person or a Torres Strait Islander and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are involved in designing a merit based process for the selection of the national commissioner that has regard to the interests and needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

This is a strategic, nationally coordinated initiative that is critically important, because the scale and urgency of system failures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people is profound. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people face high and persistent levels of disadvantage. They are 11 times more likely to be in out-of-home care and 27 times more likely to be in youth detention than non-Indigenous children. This bill will provide an independent, dedicated agency focused on the systemic failures affecting outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people across Australia. The National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People will drive accountability to support all governments to better achieve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The national commissioner has the potential to make a significant and lasting impact on the lives of more than 400,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people across Australia.

These bills will enable the national commissioner to: (1) promote the rights, interests, development, safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and acknowledge and build on their strengths; (2) improve development, safety and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people; (3) identify systemic issues and barriers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people's development, safety and wellbeing; (4) support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people to assert their own rights and interests and to raise awareness of their views, needs and experiences; (5) increase awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people's rights, interests, views, needs and experiences, and the importance of these factors in developing and delivering policies, programs and services that affect their lives; and (6) drive greater accountability to improve government policies, programs and services to deliver better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

The bills enable specific functions and powers for the national commissioner to promote and enhance the coordination of effort among Australian government entities and officials; provide advice to the Commonwealth on the development and delivery of relevant policies, programs and services that affect children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent; undertake research into systemic issues and barriers that affect the rights, interests, development, safety or wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people; provide educational programs for young people and children to empower them to promote and advocate for their views, needs and experiences on the matters that affect them; publicly advocate to promote the rights, interests, development, safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and to amplify their voices and strengths; engage with a broad range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people to support them to assert their own rights, agency and leadership; conduct research and inquire into matters and to make recommendations; accept referrals; refer matters to another entity; contribute to inquiries; provide advisory services; collaborate with the Australian Human Rights Commission and other organisations and entities; and, importantly, engage with international human rights mechanisms, including relevant United Nations bodies and processes.

Importantly, these bills support Closing the Gap targets related to children and young people. The national commissioner will have the functions and powers required to drive accountability and influence issues that disproportionately impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, such as out-of-home care and youth detention. An empowered, independent commissioner at the Commonwealth level that is solely focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people will drive national coordination and accountability to address these important systemic issues. The role will work with relevant counterparts, including all state and territory children's commissioners, guardians and advocates as well as other Commonwealth roles like the National Children's Commissioner and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. I note the national commissioner will not duplicate other existing roles. They can make and receive referrals where required, to ensure issues raised are addressed by the most appropriate bodies. So why is this standalone legislation needed? It is needed to ensure the national commission is an independent voice to drive accountability and better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, to advocate for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and to drive important systemic change.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocates have long called for the establishment of a legislated national commissioner, and, as I mentioned earlier, there is very strong stakeholder support for a national commissioner right across Australia. The Albanese Labor government is focused on improving the lives of First Nations peoples through economic empowerment, job creation, health improvements and housing. We are resolutely committed to reconciliation and celebrating the profound contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make to our nation.

This morning at Parliament House, I joined the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Minister for Social Services, the member for Lingiari and many other members of parliament and representatives from the First Nations community for the launch of Australia's first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander national plan to end family, domestic and sexual violence. The plan is entitled 'Our Ways—Strong Ways—Our Voices', and it has been developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and state and territory governments to address the disproportionately high rates of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.

The plan is backed by $218 million in funding over four years, with an immediate investment in a national network of up to 40 Aboriginal community controlled organisations to deliver community led support services that help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and families who are experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence. This new funding is in addition to the record $262 million the Albanese government has already invested in addressing immediate family, domestic and sexual violence safety needs, particularly in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan and our investment of $367 million to more than double funding for the family violence prevention legal services, as part of the National Access to Justice Partnership 2025-30. We are making this significant investment to address family, domestic and sexual violence, because it is a crisis in our nation. Our government recognises this, and we are investing in action plans to ensure that we start to address these issues in a very profound way.

There is so much more work that needs to be done to improve the lives of First Nations people in this country, but the 'Our ways—Strong Ways—Our Voices' plan is yet another example of the Albanese government's action to close the gap. It was almost 18 years ago, on 13 February 2008, that the Labor government, led by Kevin Rudd, made a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation. Today, through these bills, the Albanese Labor government is delivering on its commitment to establish a legislated, independent and empowered national commissioner and national commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. I commend these bills to the House.

See this speech in context