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

I rise to speak about the difference between voices and actions. Actions speak louder than any voice. The Albanese Labor government has been in power now for over a year, and there is so much that this government could have done to improve the lives of First Peoples across this country by now, but it has chosen not to. There is so much that it could do today, yet it seems that any major reforms on policy impacting First Nations peoples is on hold until after the referendum. Despite all Labor's rhetoric and commitments to closing gaps and how better outcomes are achieved when First Peoples have a say in decisions that affect them, there is no proof that Labor has any intention of ending the war against First Peoples.

Despite having an opportunity to make real change in this country, we are yet to see any signs that the government might be willing to address the contempt that successive governments have shown to our people and the ongoing racism that plagues this country. Racism is everywhere, and the violence it inflicts upon the bodies of First Peoples continues to show in our ongoing health gaps, in our suicide rates and in our overrepresentation in the prisons and police cells. It is in our streets, in our governments, in our courts and embedded in the policies that the current Labor government refuses to address. Instead, all we see are broken promises and continued silencing of the voices of those First Peoples who hold the solutions.

Last year environment minister Tanya Plibersek said that the destruction of Juukan Gorge was shameful and that the government must do better. Then she went on to ignore First Peoples' voices and approved destruction of the Murujuga rock art sites on the Burrup Peninsula—some of the oldest archives of our peoples' stories and some of the most ancient rock art sites in the world—all to make way for a $6 billion gas-guzzling and climate-wrecking Perdaman fertiliser plant, which will only continue to destroy our cultural heritage.

This government has committed to introducing new standalone cultural heritage legislation. Yet we have word that consultations and work on this has been stalled until after the referendum. Meanwhile, every day our cultural meeting places are being destroyed—our sacred sites, our songlines that are the fabric of our culture and our livelihoods—along with our lands, waters and skies. They are being plundered, destroyed and polluted. Labor say they are committed to implementing the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which has been gathering dust for over 30 years now.

Rather than deferring responsibility to the states and territories, this government could show national leadership and implement the recommendations that fall under federal jurisdiction. This includes—Labor, listen; write this down—improving health care in prisons by providing access to Medicare in prisons, to the PBS and the NDIS to people in prisons; raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility for federal crimes to 14; supporting and extending Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services, which are suffering from years of neglect and underfunding; and establishing an independent body to oversee and monitor the implementation of the royal commission's recommendations. This could be done by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, which was what this role was originally intended to do.

While our babies continue to be stripped from their families and culture, the genocide against our people and the Stolen Generation continues. This government could: implement the recommendations of the Bringing them home report; develop a national intergenerational healing strategy; develop a national framework for all legislation to comply with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle; and support and extend community controlled wraparound services that are designed by and for our people. You could do this—this week—if you had any go in you, and if you believe in black people in this— (Time expired)