Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Our prisons are sites of public health crisis. People in prisons face higher rates of blood-borne viruses, mental illnesses, disability and chronic disease. In fact, many of our people with disabilities and complex needs, especially our children, are being locked up because they are being criminalised rather than receiving proper support. These harms extend beyond prison walls. Families, communities and health systems all bear the cost. That's why I've introduced an amendment to list health care in custodial settings as a public health matter, which would also require the CDC to consult with bodies providing health care to people in custody.

One preventable death in custody is one too many, yet the last two years have seen some of the highest numbers of deaths in custody, and many of these were entirely preventable. Thirty-three years on from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, it is about time we had national leadership on health care for people in custody. If public health means protecting people from disease and harm, then it must include those that states lock away.

Finally, my amendment introduces Indigenous data sovereignty principles. For generations our data has been collected, stored and used without our consent. We have been studied, measured and defined by others, particularly the colonisers. Data has been used to control us, rather than empower us. The CDC will hold vast amounts of health information. First Nations health data must be governed in partnership with First Nations people. My amendment requires the director-general to establish a framework that ensures the CDC's data governance aligns with Indigenous data sovereignty principles to protect Indigenous ownership, control and access to our own health data.