Patrick Dodson (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I wish to take note of the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs on its inquiry into community safety support services and job opportunities in the Northern Territory. As chair of the committee, I tabled the report out of session last week.

I want to first thank those who engaged in this inquiry, specifically the community members, Aboriginal organisations and frontline service providers who gave evidence. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get across all communities in the Northern Territory, due to the time frames. However, we did visit Darwin and Alice Springs, and we had a delegation of Maningrida community members come to Canberra to put their concerns to us. We held virtual hearings with community members, peak organisations, Commonwealth and Northern Territory government departments, the alcohol industry and leading researchers. We also receive submissions and private briefings as part of the inquiry.

It was important to hear from all of these witnesses because they brought a breadth of perspective forward. There was not one witness who denied the social or economic difficulties being experienced by Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. However, almost all the witnesses came with practical, holistic and strength based solutions. I'm so grateful for their time, patience and generosity.

We were asked by this chamber to undertake an inquiry with particular reference to the preparation of the sunsetting of the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act, community safety and alcohol management, job opportunities and community development program reform, justice reinvestment community services and any related matters. This was important because these policy areas are all so interconnected. We heard consistent themes about the need for locally led initiatives, for more data sharing and for outcome focused efforts and investment. We heard that the status quo has not worked and change is required. As a committee, we made findings across each of these areas and made nine consensus recommendations to the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory governments. Many of these are about the importance of local, place based initiatives. They recognise that past attempts by governments through the Northern Territory National Emergency Response and the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act were ineffective. We commented that, in fact, the intervention and the stronger futures legislative packages:

… systemically disempowered communities—in their delivery, implementation and transition—causing immense trauma that now requires concerted effort by all levels of government to enable and invest in the re-empowerment of these communities.

In relation to alcohol management, under these past regimes, the Commonwealth government overrides the Northern Territory by exercising powers to legislate alcohol restrictions. The committee considers it is the appropriate role of the Northern Territory, rather than the Commonwealth, to make such legislative decisions. We also heard extensively about the ineffectiveness of focusing solely on reducing supply of alcohol and not properly supporting people at risk. Witnesses such as the Alice Springs Hospital personnel told us that, instead of focusing only on alcohol:

We really need to go back to looking at the social determinants of health. We really need to start looking at housing, meaningful employment, education, hope and despair.

That is why it's so important that the Commonwealth is supporting the Northern Territory government, by committing to a $250 million package under the title 'A Better, Safer Future for Central Australia', which intends to address service, community and infrastructure needs.

We also heard far too regularly about the failures and, in many cases, the entire lack of service accessibility in remote communities. Where you live should not determine the services or basic amenities you receive. And yet it does for people living in remote communities. As a committee, we all agreed that investment in services and support programs in remote communities is fundamental. We also considered that there needs to be a greater focus on the following: working with communities to determine that service investment; opportunities to enhance place based models of funding and support collaboration amongst local organisations; embedding holistic health approaches to service provision that focus on social, emotional and cultural wellbeing; and sharing real-time data with local communities as necessary. We know that governments need to transfer both power and resources to communities to improve the outcomes.

In terms of economic development, we heard a breadth of advice about the potential of a reformed CDP. We know that currently the CDP does not adequately consider what real job opportunities there are in remote communities. We also heard about the innovation in some organisations as part of a trial underway to give greater flexibility in the CDP. The report also makes recommendations to the government to consider how to stimulate economic activity outside of CDP.

In relation to justice reinvestment, we've heard about the benefits of justice reinvestment models and alternatives to custody initiatives. Many witnesses talked about their experiences and their hopes for this. The committee recommended that both Alice Springs and Katherine be sites as part of the Commonwealth government's landmark $81 million commitment to community led justice reinvestment programs.

It is clear that the Intervention and the Stronger Futures legislation failed to improve conditions for Aboriginal people living in remote Aboriginal communities. These acts did not work. In fact they did the opposite. Children born in 2007 and 2008, at the height of the Intervention, are the children at risk of causing harm today. I'm grateful to those young people who spoke with us in private briefings, because it is critical that their voices are central to this discussion. Too often they are talked about instead of engaged with in the solutions.

Overall, Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory are incredibly resilient, but they have been let down enormously by governments of all stripes. Yet they continue to show up with solutions and preparedness to work with governments in good faith. This is despite their right to self-determination being entirely denied. In response to that resilience, this report makes recommendations that seek to address the disempowering legacy from the top-down approaches of the past 15 years. There are additional comments to this report added by Senator Thorpe and Senator Liddle. I commend this report to the Senate.