Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a short contribution on this occasion marking the anniversary of the national apology. Far too many First Nations peoples are attending funerals in this country. I attend so many meetings where somebody's giving an apology because they have to be at a funeral. The apology brought such hope, and it was very important, but, unless we back it up, where are we heading in this country in closing the gap? While so many First Nations peoples are attending funerals for loved ones and friends who have passed away all too soon, and far too many children are still going into care, including in my home state of Western Australia, our appalling record shows the failures in our system.

In January, a First Nations mother in a regional town in Western Australia made a from-the-heart, emotional video about the situation affecting her son. It had to do with the interaction with the justice system, the discriminatory nature of policing, and the failure of the justice system to provide services and support for not only her son but also for her family after years of trying. This, for me, was unfortunately a perfect example of what I hear time and time again—that the services aren't there and that we haven't backed up the apology with a commitment to the sorts of services that we need. Why is it that far too many First Nations young people are ending up in care and ending up interacting with the justice system?

I have a bit of a list from my home state of Western Australia that talks about just some of the issues that First Nations mothers have raised in conversation when we're trying to look at how to move forward. They point out the fact that Western Australia performs incredibly poorly when it comes to appropriate First Nations child protection services and that other jurisdictions are ahead of us, particularly those overseas. The current structure does not support families trying to support their loved ones and it does not support reunification of families. This was actually backed up a number of years ago by the Senate inquiry into out-of-home care, where it was clearly pointed out that the reunification of families is not funded or given proper attention. The department does not respond adequately when concerns are raised about the sexualised behaviour of children in care. They pointed out that it's time for a change to legislation so that there is a more therapeutic and restorative justice approach. Adequate funding is not available in Western Australia, including for the Family Matters campaign, and advocacy is therefore hampered by not having a clear community voice that politicians can listen to. Family and domestic violence services are not adequately funded. This is a national issue, not just a Western Australian issue. Competitive tendering creates distrust and undermines collaboration. The strong families project, which was a positive project, has been abolished. They pointed out that there are no Aboriginal community services and women's peaks. The involvement of Aboriginal people in policymaking must include lived experience. With a high percentage of children in care also having a parent or grandparent from the stolen generations, this is not given adequate attention. There need to be amendments to the Children and Community Services Act, and we need a human rights approach, human rights framing and co-design with First Nations communities. The issues around the therapeutic court need to be extended and resourced properly and trialled more in regional areas. There needs to be support for children with complex needs and their parents when they're interacting in that situation, and we need to ensure we're supporting kinship care and family care properly.

They also talked about the issues caused by intergenerational trauma, the issues around the need for provision of more services and the recognition of intergenerational trauma. They talked about the need for a justice system that meets the needs of First Nations peoples. These are the sorts of things that we still need to address, and we're talking about the anniversary of the apology, which happened 13 years ago. Surely I shouldn't have to stand in this place and raise these issues again. First Nations peoples should not have to continue to raise these issues. It's absolutely essential that these issues are addressed. The issues that I've just articulated are issues in my home state of Western Australia, but they occur all over this country. This system is still discriminatory. It is a racist system and we need to call it out for what it is: discriminatory and racist. Our services are still discriminatory. They do not meet the needs of Aboriginal people. So, next year, when we're standing in this chamber talking about the anniversary of the apology, let's be able to be more positive that these issues are starting to be addressed, because, if not, in 10 years time we'll be here again saying the same things. I don't want to see my replacement standing in this chamber having to say the same things in 10 years time.