David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

When we talk about Closing the Gap in this place, we often talk a lot about numbers, many of them extremely grim. We're clearly not seeing the progress that Australians would like to see. But today I want to talk about the people and stories behind those numbers. While many think the ACT is different, we're not immune from Indigenous disadvantage or the racism that is unfortunately still prevalent across this incredible continent that we call home. In fact, the ACT has the highest rate of Indigenous incarceration of any state or territory. Despite the royal commission, First Nations people in Canberra continue to die in custody, as they do in other states and territories across this country. This must stop.

We saw three deaths in six months, including two in a single week in February last year. There was huge pressure applied by community leaders, including Joe Hedger and Winnunga CEO, Julie Tongs. That eventually forced the ACT government to set up a board of inquiry into the deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. There are clearly systemic issues at AMC that must be addressed, but those systemic issues extend far beyond AMC's walls. In November last year, a 17-year-old First Nations Canberran was pulled at gunpoint from a bus by ACT police. He'd done nothing wrong. It was a case of mistaken identity but also one of alleged racial profiling. It was obviously deeply unsettling for the boy and his family. A 17-year-old pulled from a bus at gunpoint having no idea what it was about—the most egregious thing was that, after they recognised that they had got the wrong person, they still searched him. Under what powers, I've got no idea.

This is the experience of too many First Nations people. Being subjected to racial profiling is an allegation that comes up time and again in the more than 500 pages of review by the Jumbunna institute, handed down last year. It was a review that described the lived experience of too many First Nations people in the ACT and around the country—an experience of widespread racism in ACT government electorates, schools, courtrooms, the prison and police actions. First Nations people in the ACT talk about being targeted, racially profiled and discriminated against by systems, structures and people across the board. The review makes 99 recommendations, and the ACT government has delivered an interim response and started work on delivering some of them.

This work is clearly urgent. At Bimberi, the ACT's youth justice centre, we've seen huge concerns raised. I really want to acknowledge the work of independent MLA for Kurrajong, Mr Thomas Emerson, in pushing the government to have a long-term youth justice road map and to implement the recommendations of multiple reviews.

We have to change the way we think about dealing with young people who find themselves in trouble with the law. We need to be investing in programs to help get them back on their feet, to divert them away from a life of interactions with the criminal justice system. This is an urgent undertaking, particularly in a jurisdiction that has such a terrible record when it comes to recidivism. We are not doing enough. We're not doing enough to take young people, and even older people, who have offended and actually work with them, give them the skills they need for when they are released. They could actually be a good neighbour. They could go back into communities and contribute.

It's good to see some small progress in responding to the most recent recommendations of ACT Custodial Inspector Rebecca Minty, including reinstating contact with visitors so young people can hug their loved ones again. Since COVID, the ACT government has stopped young people in juvenile detention from hugging their loved ones. What kind of sick system is this, where we don't even acknowledge people's humanity? A young person—sure, they've done the wrong thing. They're doing their time—but to stop someone from hugging a loved one when they come to visit them?

Again, we talk about closing the gap—all these numbers, all these metrics—but this is the lived experience. This is what's actually happening on the ground. At a roundtable into the government's rushed hate speech laws I held recently—laws that we've already seen cause unnecessary harm here in Canberra—Ngunnawal elder Aunty Violet Sheridan spoke powerfully about the decades of racism she and other First Nations people have been subjected to, from vile comments on Facebook to insults in the street and even the racially motivated vandalism of Indigenous memorials like that of Nathan Booth. Despite this, Aunty Violet and Richie both came to the roundtable with a message of love, shared hurt, shared humanity and the need to stand together—a very generous message. In that message, there was a plea for us to actually take up that offer, that request to find a better way of doing things, because, clearly, what we're doing isn't working. It's not working for First Nations people in this country.

I would like to acknowledge the ongoing efforts of Minister McCarthy to engage right across this parliament and her commitment to offering regular Closing the Gap briefings for any and all parliamentarians and providing those personally. That's not a regular occurrence, and I really would like to recognise that she goes out of her way to engage and to be available to talk about issues. I sincerely hope that her government will continue to back up her efforts and do more in this area.

I think that, as a country, we've seen a real vacation of this space after the referendum. There hasn't been a lot from government in terms of ambition. We've heard plenty about 'jobs, jobs, jobs' and some of the programs that we've seen over many decades, but, from talking to many Canberrans, there is a recognition that we can't just keep doing the same old thing over and over. I know the government is scarred by the referendum result, but let's not see that as a message not to do anything here. I think there is a lot of goodwill to actually crack on and start working together to build a better future for First Nations people and for all Australians.