Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have seen over recent weeks, as a result of the murder of George Floyd in the United States, rallies and demonstrations around the world. We saw them here in Australia last weekend, where people were voluble about their concerns about First Australians and, in particular, First Australians and the justice system. It is important, I think, that we reflect on what that really means.

In 2019, Indigenous prisoners, First Nations prisoners, accounted for over a quarter, 28 per cent, of the Australian total prison population, while First Nations people represent only two per cent of the population. There have, as we know, now been 347 deaths in custody since 1991, since the royal commission report. In 2016, 30 per cent of all incarcerated women and 26.7 per cent of incarcerated men were First Nations people. Aboriginal women are more than 20 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Aboriginal women. Aboriginal people across Australia are 15 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Aboriginal people. An Aboriginal dependent is 11 times more likely to be refused bail by courts. In 1992, one in seven prisoners was Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. By 2020 that ratio had risen to one in four.

The anger and concern being expressed in the community around these issues need to be properly understood and put in context. It is about us needing to understand, acknowledge and learn from this nation's history, to have proper truth-telling, to understand the dispossession, alienation, oppression, subjugation, the racism that has been the lot of First Nations people in this country.

Of course, despite what the Prime Minister thinks, there has been slavery in this country certainly since 1833. I might just refer the House to an article which appeared in The Guardian today by Thalia Anthony and Stephen Gray. They talk about what is slavery. They define slavery. They point out the history of slavery in this country, including of course the seizure of the 62,000 Melanesian people who were brought here as slave labour between 1863 and 1904. They go to the issue of the Aboriginal men and women who were indentured to pastoral properties in this country during the 19th and early 20th century. Let's be in no doubt about what has happened in this country and let's start to understand and appreciate why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people believe that we need to do a great deal more if we are to actually come to terms with our past.

I would say to the Prime Minister: I understand the intent of what you said today, but please, please go and look at Australia's history, understand Australian history, understand the context in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are now asking for recognition in the Constitution, are asking for a voice to this parliament, are asking for truth-telling, are asking for a makarrata and for treaties. These things are of fundamental importance yet, sadly, governments of both political persuasions have in this place since Federation effectively disregarded the concerns and aspirations of our First Nations people. Yes, we've passed laws in this place that we hoped, and we thought, would benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. That does not explain why we're in the parlous state that we're in in terms of all the social indicators, whether it's health, justice, education, housing, general evidence of poverty, nutrition—all these descriptors which show the gap that exists between First Nations people and the rest of this country. It's now time for us to properly take notice. It's now time for us to properly give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a voice in this parliament. It's now time for us to amend the Constitution to ensure that our First Nations people are properly recognised within it.