Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was in continuation earlier today for the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026, as well as the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2026, and I was making the point that the establishment of this commissioner, whilst it could be a positive thing, has some really disappointing gaps in it. One gap is the obligation on governments to actually respond to the recommendations made by the commissioner. The only thing compelling governments to comply with the requests is that they'll be named in the commissioner's annual report if they don't. That doesn't seem like much of an encouragement, in particular, if you look at the track record of this government and, frankly, any government in years gone by. This role is needed because successive governments have failed to do enough on the key issues that affect the health and wellbeing of First Nations kids. We know that, without an obligation to respond to recommendations of the commission, the government will have no impetus to actually take any of it seriously or take any action whatsoever, and we'll see more First Nations kids die in custody.

Earlier, I proposed an amendment to the bill. It's a committee-stage amendment to hold the government accountable for action. The amendment would require the government to formally respond to any recommendations made by the national commissioner. I understand that the government is not going to support that amendment. When I asked the government why it would not support a requirement to respond to recommendations, the reason the government gave was that it doesn't have to respond to recommendations from commissioners in the Human Rights Joint Committee either—as if that, somehow, was a plausible reason for having zero accountability. Perhaps it's the lack of such a requirement to respond that explains why we have an anti-racism framework that has been gathering dust, has not been implemented and has not been funded. And maybe it explains why, despite all of the evidence of harm to children in detention and all of the calls from national and international experts to raise the age of criminal responsibility, there has been no national leadership on this issue and on the consistent attacks on human rights led by many state and territory governments—Queensland, in particular, which is where I'm from, and the Northern Territory.

The commissioner's role is to undertake comprehensive reviews of key issues, to consult widely with communities about solutions and to provide practical recommendations for the government to consider. After communities have worked to collectively inform a report, where young people will have shared their often traumatic stories in the hope that it provokes changes, requiring the government to respond to the recommendations is the least that communities should expect. My amendment would make that happen, and I'll be looking forward to the vote on that. I hope that the government has a change of heart, shows some decency and supports it. Getting a response from government should not depend on how compelling the commissioner is, or whether or not she can attract media attention, or whether or not the issue is politically timely, or whether or not the solutions are politically palatable. The government should have a legislative obligation to respond. This doesn't bind them to adopt the recommendations, but it does require them to actively consider the recommendation and provide a justification for why they won't act.

This bill to create the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People has the potential to catalyse impactful actions to reverse the overrepresentation of First Nations kids in prison and out-of-home care. I urge the government not to squander this potential and to commit to responding when the commissioner screams for action. I'd like to take the chance to move my second reading amendment, which has been circulated in the chamber:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) incarceration of children causes long-term harm to their development, safety and wellbeing,

(ii) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are significantly over-represented in youth detention and are 20 times more likely to be in custody than non-Indigenous children due to a range of factors,

(iii) reducing over-representation of First Nations young people in the justice system is a key target of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap,

(iv) in response to the over-representation and long-term harm of detention for First Nations children, human rights experts, medical and legal bodies and 40 countries in the latest United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review, have called on Australia to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old; and

(b) calls on Commonwealth, State and Territory governments to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility for all children to at least 14 years of age".

This amendment is essentially to raise the age of criminal responsibility. We know that incarceration of children causes long-term harm to their development, their safety and their wellbeing. We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids are 20 times more likely to be in custody than non-Indigenous kids due to a range of factors, including systemic racism and over-policing.

The amendment notes the overrepresentation of First Nations people, and closing that gap is meant to be one of the key targets to Closing the Gap, which is yet another gap that is not closing thanks to the tepid commitment of this government. It notes that human rights experts, medical and legal bodies and over 40 countries in the latest UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review have all called on Australia to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14. My amendment calls on the Commonwealth, as well as states and territories, to commit to raising the age of criminal responsibility for all children to at least 14. I commend that second reading amendment to the chamber.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Choice in Childcare and Early Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the accompanying transitional provisions bill. Let me begin by saying this clearly: every child in this country deserves to be safe, to be supported and to have the opportunity to thrive. This is, of course, especially true of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young children, who continue to face some of the most complex challenges in our society.

As the shadow minister for child protection and the prevention of family violence and the shadow minister for choice in child care and early learning, I see firsthand the importance of getting policy right in these early and critical years. The truth is that the first years of a child's life shape everything that comes after. If we get those years right, if we support families, strengthen communities and intervene early, we can change the trajectory of a child's life—and by 'we' I mean the community, families and society itself. If we get it wrong, the consequences that follow can follow for decades. This is why this debate matters. It's why we must be honest about what this bill does and, importantly, what it does not do.

The government says that this bill is about improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, but, when you look closely, what it actually does is create another layer of bureaucracy in Canberra. It takes an existing role, one that is already operating, and elevates it into an independent statutory agency with expanded powers, extended scope and expanded cost—more than $33 million over the forward estimates, another commissioner, another office, another set of reports and another set of consultations.

The question that we must ask is this: why is it being rushed now? The Prime Minister announced this body in February 2024, yet the terms of reference have only been brought to parliament a year after the executive agency began operations and five months after the inaugural commissioner's work started. The children and young people of our Indigenous communities need real results, not more roles, yet this government continues to prop up funding announcements and bureaucratic appointments that their continued failures can hide behind. Will this independent agency actually improve outcomes? Will it reduce the number of children entering out-of-home care? Will it reduce family violence? Will it increase school attendance? Will it ensure that more children are developmentally on track when they start school?

We know that the data tells a very confronting story. Youth detentions are up, preschool attendance is down, and more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are entering out-of-home care. This is no more a prevalent issue than in my home state of Western Australia, where reports of child sexual abuse submitted by medical professionals show that about five per cent of incidents occur in the Kimberley region—a region which only represents one per cent of the WA population. The state's review of family and domestic violence showed that Indigenous people account for 35 per cent of victims, despite being only 3.3 per cent of the state's population. These are not abstract statistics. We hear lots of statistics in this place. When you think about it, these are real lives—our most precious of lives, our children—as well as real families and real communities.

These stats are telling us something very important. What they're telling us is that what we're doing is not working. The answer cannot simply be to just create another body. The answer cannot be to just add another voice, and the answer cannot be to produce yet another report.

We already have the National Children's Commissioner and the Social Justice Commissioner. We already have state and territory based Indigenous children's commissioners. We already have departments tasked with consultation. So what gap exactly is this bill filling? If the answer is not clear, if the functions are not already being performed, then what we are doing is not reform; it's consultation fatigue and it's duplication that does not deliver outcomes. In fact, it risks doing the very opposite. It risks creating confusion. It risks creating overlap. It risks shifting responsibility away from those who are actually accountable for delivering results on the ground. And most importantly, it risks taking resources away from frontline support.

If we are serious about improving outcomes for children, we must start earlier. We must support families before they reach that crisis point. We must strengthen the protective factors that keep children safe and connected. We must ensure that parents have a genuine choice in how they care for and raise their children. We must ask: What makes this body that this bill seeks to establish different? What does it do to make the situation different? How will it reach children in remote communities? How will it ensure their voices are heard, that their voices are not just documented but actually acted upon? Consultation on its own is not enough. What matters is what follows, and what follows must be action, not more bureaucracy.

The coalition's position is clear. We will always prioritise practical outcomes over symbolic gestures. We will back policies that strengthen families, not expand bureaucracy. We will ensure the funding goes to organisations with a proven track record of delivering real results. We will focus on the fundamentals, because we know that school attendance is one of the strongest protective factors in a child's life. We know that stable family environments reduce the risk of harm. And we know that early intervention works. These are not new ideas; they are evidence based. They are common sense approaches, and they are where our efforts should be directed.

Let me also say this. Opposing this bill does not mean that we are indifferent to the challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Quite the opposite. What it's saying is that we take those challenges seriously—so seriously that we expect real action when it comes to delivering results. We want to see solutions that actually work. We cannot afford to continue to go down a path where we respond to the worsening outcomes with more structures, with more processes and with more bureaucracy. This only causes delay and avoids getting the action where it's needed. So for this reason, and for the other reasons that I have outlined here tonight, the coalition will be opposing this bill.

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. It is well known in this chamber and outside of it that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people continue to face unacceptably high and persistent levels of disadvantage. The scale, depth and urgency of the systemic failures affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is profound, and it demands a serious and sustained national response.

Today an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child is 11 times more likely to be in out-of-home care, and 27 times more likely to be in youth detention than a non-Indigenous child. These statistics have been well canvassed, they are well-known. They affect real young lives being shaped, and too often harmed, by the systems that should be there to protect and to support them. Children and young people sit at the heart of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Nine of the agreement's targets are dedicated specifically to improving life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. This bill is a critical step towards delivering on these commitments and towards ensuring that the voices and needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are no longer sidelined or overlooked.

For too long, these children have been without a legislated, independent and empowered voice at the federal level. That absence has had consequences in policy design, in accountability and in outcomes. Two years ago, the Albanese Labor government committed to establishing the National Commissioner for First Nations Children and Young People. As part of that commitment we established the national commission as an executive agency, but the current arrangements do not provide the national commissioner with the ability to conduct inquiries, to make recommendations or to report to our parliament. This bill changes that. It's a vital step. It establishes the national commission as a statutory body, giving the commissioner more independence and discretion in the performance and exercise of their function and powers. This will allow the commissioner to continue to advance the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and it will ensure the systems designed to protect and promote their rights do just that.

This is not symbolic. It's a structural change, and it's a commitment to ensuring that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child—every child—can grow up safe, strong and supported, with every opportunity to thrive. The bill will allow the national commissioner to promote and enhance coordination efforts among government entities and officials and provide advice to the Commonwealth on the development and delivery of policies, programs and services that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. The bill will allow the national commissioner to undertake research into systemic issues and barriers that affect their rights, interests, development, safety and wellbeing. Notably, the national commissioner will be able to collaborate with the Australian Human Rights Commission and other organisations and institutes and to engage with human rights mechanisms, including relevant United Nations bodies, rapporteurs and procedures.

The bill has the potential to impact the lives of more than 400,000 children and young people nationwide. Since the establishment of the interim commission in January 2025, the commissioner has been bringing people together to discuss and address the issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. The commissioner has provided advice to government on policy reform and developing systems and policies to ensure the commission can properly engage with children and young people in a safe, culturally appropriate and trauma informed way.

Our government is determined to drive meaningful change and reform to close the gap and to address the targets of the national agreement. As my colleague Senator McCarthy said in her closing the gap statement to this chamber:

As a government, our task is to ensure no one is held back and no one is left behind.

That means confronting the challenges, while also recognising the strength, innovation and leadership in communities.

I commend this bill to the Senate.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The intent of this bill is to transition the national commissioner from its current status as an executive agency to an independent statutory agency. The bill defines the commissioner's objectives as promoting, improving and supporting the rights, safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, while driving greater accountability for policies impacting this group. Key functions of the national commissioner will include coordination among government entities, providing advice to the Commonwealth, undertaking education programs and engagement with Indigenous children. This bill states that the national commissioner is to 'perform functions and exercise powers in a manner that recognises the need to protect and promote the cultural identity' and to do so 'consistent with the promotion of human rights.'

This bill and this government are concerned with one thing only, and that is identity politics. The bill—and I repeat these words—states, 'to protect and promote cultural identity.' This bill fails to address where this government is imminently failing to close the gap. Only four of the 19 targets are on track, and that's one less than last year. Youth detention is up 11 per cent. Preschool attendance is down 2.6 per cent, and 1.2 per cent fewer children are commencing school developmentally on track than in 2022.

Creating a new $33 million commission will not change this trajectory. Only practical, localised action will. The reality is that this government and those whose lucrative salaries within the Indigenous industry depend on the taxpayer dollar sing from the same songbook. That is that colonisation is the only cause of the demise of Aboriginal Australians and our children, that victimhood is somehow supposed to form part of our identity, and that the only way to fix the bottomless pit of problems is to segregate our society and pour more money into the bottomless pit.

This bill is yet another example of the Albanese government prioritising symbolism over practical action. The bill stipulates that the commissioner must be of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage. This is segregation. There is no evidence to suggest that being so will at all improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children—as we can see, the Closing the Gap targets are only growing wider—especially when we know that such a symbolic position is usually occupied by an individual completely removed from the circumstances of children living under the confines of traditional culture and customary law. These are laws that negate the rights and freedoms of girls and women. These are laws that force girls into arranged marriages to much older men. How lucky for these girls and women that the objectives of this government and this commissioner will uphold the backward aspects of this culture—culture that I've lived and breathed, culture that women in my family have lived and breathed and been subjected to.

In this chamber we've heard the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, talk about the intervention and how it supposedly shamed adults. But the minister failed to admit that it was the Northern Territory Labor government at the time—in which she was a minister—that sat on its hands and did nothing about the Little children are sacred report. It was this report, highlighting the astronomical rates of child sexual abuse and STIs found in Aboriginal children, which was the trigger for the federal intervention.

In 2023, Indigenous children aged zero to 17 were 12.1 times as likely as non-Indigenous children aged zero to 17 to be in out-of-home care. In 2022-23, the primary types of abuse or neglect for children who were the subject of a substantiated notification were as follows: neglect was nearly 29 per cent for Indigenous children and nearly 17 per cent for non-Indigenous children, physical abuse was around 12 per cent for Indigenous children and 14 per cent for non-Indigenous children, and sexual abuse was seven per cent for Indigenous children and 9.5 per cent for non-Indigenous children.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are 5.6 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be subject to a child protection notification but 10.8 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be in out-of-home care. In 2023-24, around 42,100 Australian children were confirmed victims of abuse and neglect—that's about seven per 1,000 children. For Indigenous children, the rate was much higher, at around 33 per 1,000 children. For non-Indigenous children, the rate was about five per 1,000. This means that Indigenous children are around six to seven times more likely to be victims of substantiated abuse or neglect. This is utterly unacceptable, given Indigenous children represent almost six per cent of all Australian children, yet they make up 43 per cent of all children that live in very remote and remote Australia.

This government and their big bureaucracy aren't interested in the causes that lead to suicide, higher rates of youth detention or developmental delays in education. This government and their big bureaucracy aren't interested in why the gap is widening. This government turns a blind eye when individuals with disgraceful backgrounds who have been charged and convicted with heinous, violent crimes are able to maintain leadership positions within statutory Commonwealth authorities. It's problematic that this government doesn't just turn a blind eye to the behaviours of these individuals but celebrates these individuals, and it's problematic when these individuals are respected and revered under traditional culture. This is the culture that this commissioner is tasked with protecting and promoting.

I want to turn to what we should actually be doing to address the massive gap we see year in, year out—a situation going backwards under Labor. In my last term, the coalition fought to hold a royal commission into the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children. The need for this royal commission still exists, but is completely ignored by this government and this bill. The bill does not detail how the commissioner has a unique power to speak directly to children, and in my experience there has never been an appetite for this government and its supporters in the Greens and some of the crossbenches to speak to child and women victims of cultural practices that deny their human rights. So excuse me if I have no faith whatsoever that this entity and the commissioner will genuinely listen to these voices and advocate on behalf of them when their only focus is the so-called impacts of colonisation.

I know of many stories from the lived experience of such girls and women who have been silenced. There are stories like that of my niece—known as Ruby, as reported in the Australian in 2022. In the remote Northern Territory town of Yuendumu, where my family are from, Ruby, then just 15 years old, was beaten and raped by her own father. Ruby recounts trying to tell her family in Yuendumu of the horrific abuse she was suffering, but says they didn't want to believe her. Incredibly, Ruby found the courage to speak up, and two years later, at just 17 years old, she testified against him. A judge in the case said the abuse had been protracted and prolonged and had involved the use of weapons.

I know of another case where, from the age of six, a girl was raped and abused by her cousin—a man 12 years older than her. For seven years, this young girl was tortured, frightened and in need of help, with no-one to turn to because too many community and family members turned a blind eye. It was only after leaving her home and moving interstate with a family member that she was able to find an adult who would help her.

More recently, as has been reported in the NT News in September last year, a 28-year-old man raped and impregnated a 13-year-old girl that was promised to him as part of a family arrangement. This young girl was forced into this marriage—as is the case with most arranged marriages under traditional customary law, which my very own family members have been subjected to, including my own mother. We're talking about real people here.

In 2008, in the Northern Territory, another 13-year-old girl was impregnated by a 20-year-old under similar arranged marriage circumstances. This time, this case was briefly reported on by the ABC. There was no public outrage by the activist class, social justice warriors or even the feminist movement. In all of these cases mentioned, and more that I personally know of, these voices have never been championed by Labor, or by the Greens in that case. In fact, last year, the current member for Gwoja in the Northern Territory, Chansey Paech, in response to the forced arranged marriage and rape of the 13-year-old said:

I want to know whether Senator Price has made any mandatory reports about these matters and whether she has raised them directly with the CLP Minister for Child Protection Robyn Cahill or is she simply grandstanding again?

In answer to him, yes, I have—many times. In fact, I've done more than that. I've spoken to previous Labor child protection ministers in the Northern Territory, specifically regarding these issues. I've sat in court in support of such victims. What has Chansey Paech done aside from deny it is a problem at all and gaslight victims instead? What has he done aside from condemning me for sharing my lived experience? He also says, 'Senator Price's suggestion that "Aboriginal culture condones the abuse of children" is a harmful myth which has been debunked.' He described my remarks as 'divisive' and 'deeply offensive'. He said:

Comments like this not only vilify our culture but also undermine the hard work being done by families, communities, and frontline workers to protect children and keep them safe.

Let me say that your comments, Mr Paech, silence and deny victims and support perpetrators. Mr Paech has never lived under the confines of traditional customary law and nor will he ever, yet he is a Labor leader.

Then there's the former human rights commissioner, Mick Gooda, also of Indigenous heritage. During his tenure as the commissioner for the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, he didn't even bother, for the duration of the royal commission, to look into arranged marriages under customary law—nor did he do that in his broader role as a human rights commissioner.

I'm therefore not convinced this government is vaguely interested in these realities and the causes that widen the gap. We need an audit into the spending in Indigenous affairs instead of wasting more taxpayer dollars—another of my attempts at trying to get this government's support that was shut down, along with the Greens. Why would they bother? We could have had a royal commission into the sexual abuse of Indigenous children occurring right now, but this government and the Greens and crossbenchers shut that down. Regressive aspects of traditional culture must be expunged from Indigenous communities today—communities out of sight and out of mind for all of you across from me—but they won't be while those in positions of power continue to turn a blind eye to all manner of sins that continue to thrive under regressive aspects of traditional culture.

A key reason the gap hasn't closed is a political class that romanticises traditional culture—that stands here and expresses its respect for elders past and present. That romanticism puts a force field around the most objectionable and violent behaviours that are at the very heart of Indigenous disadvantage. It's time the romanticisation ends; it's time to accept the truth. The truth is that $30 million plus and a sparkling new children's commissioner designed to make this government appear to be doing something are yet another waste of taxpayer dollars that will not improve the lives of Indigenous children in this country.

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

Today I wish to speak to the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. I welcome the statutory establishment of the commission with additional and ongoing resourcing for it to conduct its work. I hope that this role will be able to elevate the importance of justice for our children and young people. For decades our children and young people have suffered not just from political inaction but from being weaponised for political agendas. We are seeing this play out with terrible consequences in the tightening of youth justice laws in states and territories across the country over the last couple of years, in an attempt to appear tough on crime and promote so-called community safety.

Governments across the country—state, territory and federal alike—have completely ignored the evidence. They have ignored elders, families, lawyers and experts and are pursuing an agenda on what we know only leads to the further criminalisation of our children. All too often that means a lifelong cycle of contact with the criminal legal system, being disadvantaged and already given up on. What is happening in this country is an absolute disgrace. Other countries cannot believe that kids as young as 10 can be locked up or that they can be strip searched. They are children. Any of you present who have children will know that at the age of 10 a child is still learning and depending on their family, community and environment for this very purpose. How are they supposed to feel loved, learn and have dreams for the future when they are being locked up at the height of their childhood? Children need family and community and country. They need connection, love and care. It is our responsibility as adults to provide that, not to lock them up and close all of the doors to them for the rest of their lives. How can you live with yourselves doing that?

We know the connection between the so-called child protection system and incarceration. The out-of-home care system is basically a direct pipeline into prisons for our kids. This comes as no surprise, given the realities of out-of-home care. The last eight months of the Queensland Child Safety Commission of Inquiry have revealed the horrific treatment of children in the system. The stories are harrowing, with children being constantly moved from one place to the next and children in foster and residential care neglected, verbally, physically and sexually abused and even sex trafficked. Our children's rights are actively violated by the system in every way possible. All too often, this leads to drug use as a means of escape, and who wouldn't want to escape those realities? Drug use or escape from these conditions then leads to the children's criminalisation. They never stand a chance. You never give our children a chance. You can raise the age of legal responsibility in this country, Labor. You could do it tomorrow if you wanted to. But you're gammon because you won't.

We know that this is not isolated to Queensland; this is a nationwide catastrophe. Every year governments lament the failures of Closing the Gap, yet they are the very ones who take our babies from us. Removal rates of our children are increasing, as we know. Five per cent of our children are currently removed. That's every 20th child—every 20th child, people. If these were white kids, the world would have already intervened. Governments talk about the stolen generation, but this is the continuation of the stolen generation. Rudd said sorry, but what does it actually mean when you keep doing it? You don't hurt someone and say sorry and then keep doing it. You stop.

It is a continuation of a slow and sophisticated genocide of our people. That's what removing our children is. It's an act of genocide. Child removals constitute genocide, and that is exactly what the 1997 Bringing them home report pointed out. That monumental report, which my own mother was a commissioner of at the time, presented a number of tangible ways to tackle child removals. But it's 30 years later and it's increased to 24,000 of our kids. It's 30 years after a report that no-one's looked at and no-one's cared about. Those recommendations in that report remain untouched or only partially implemented. We have no national monitoring or oversight of implementation of recommendations like those from the Bringing them home report and the Make healing happen report. So we spent all this money on these deadly reports. We went out to the people, the community, the mothers and the children that survived this system. They were spoken to and they were asked: what is the solution? All the experts came together. Everyone put their time, energy, heart and soul into those consultations, and for what? Thirty years later, we still have nothing. We have the commissioner.

The calls from our people and the calls that I continue to make in this place are ignored. This must be something the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People can elevate and pursue as part of their role. Someone has got to look at the recommendations, surely. I have had conversations with the current commissioner, Sue-Anne Hunter, and this seems to be part of the thinking—which I am grateful for, but I'll be watching. What I'm more curious about are provisions in the bill that would allow the commissioner or her staff to disclose personal information of children and young people and their families under certain circumstances. That's a worry for me and it is a worry for our community. It is important that there are safeguards in place to ensure that children and families are not being further vilified, separated or criminalised and that those powers are being used carefully and sparsely. As I understand it, Commissioner Hunter is planning to put guidelines in place for the use of these powers, and I cannot stress enough how important that is for the continuation of the role long term. We've had too many bad experiences with 'garbarments' and agencies acting 'in our best interests', which really was their own interests and led to the destruction of many families, communities and lives.

I believe the commissioner has the right intentions; however, it will be up to the government of the time to actually follow the advice. We see time and time again how undervalued commissioners are. They are struggling to even get meetings with ministers. The excellent National Anti-Racism Framework, presented by the Race Discrimination Commissioner, remains unanswered, unactioned and even untouched by the government, 16 months after it was handed down. That's how the Race Discrimination Commissioner gets treated. Let's see how Commissioner Hunter is treated and whether she is taken seriously or not. Commissioners do good work but, unfortunately, they remain powerless against what I see as an intentional lack of political will. It's: 'Look over there, guys—we've got a commissioner. We'll get the commissioner to do all this work. We'll get a report, but we don't have to do anything. We just need to be seen to be doing something.'

The Albanese government keeps palming off responsibility for addressing child removals to the states and territories, as we know. It's an ongoing excuse. They don't even know their real power or that they can intervene—or do they know their real power and just don't want to deal with it? But the federal government can and needs to do its part. When we saw revelations of abuse in the childcare sector, the federal government sprang into action. Why should widespread sexual and physical abuse of children under state care not receive a similar response? Why is it different for us? Is it because these children are poor? Or is it because so many are Aboriginal or black and brown children? It begs the question, right?

The federal government could legislate a national Aboriginal child placement principle, in line with the 1997 Bringing them Home report, to prevent children's connection to family and community being disrupted and destroyed, as it is today. The government can fund services for families who are struggling so that children can remain in their families. This benefits not only the child but the whole family and community. I have two grandchildren from out-of-home care and their mum—their real mum—gets no support. It's my family that are begging the services to support the family so that mum can have their children back. No-one cares. They just take the children, and that's it.

This is about stopping the ongoing stolen generations and the genocide on our people. There are many things that can be done. What's missing is political will. Labor, you say that you've got mob there that know what it's like in our communities. Don't let them down. You're meant to be allies. Allies stand with us and do the work. They don't stand with us and stab us in the back. This is about stopping the ongoing stolen generations and the ongoing genocide on our people. It's one part of the genocide journey that you can stop on us. There are many things that can be done. What's missing is political will. What's missing is actual care for our children. This new commissioner role cannot just be another token gesture to appease the government's conscience; it has to lead to real action.

Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a real honour, as a senator for Western Australia, to represent the many, many First Nations communities and lands across my home state, and it's a privilege to do that here on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. I want to particularly extend my respect to elders past and present in delivering this contribution.

The National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 brings the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to the forefront. Our government and this parliament have a responsibility to listen and to take action. Australia is home to the world's oldest continuing culture. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived on this land for at least 65,000 years, a fact that should be a profound source of pride for all of us—one that places a clear duty on us in this place to protect and preserve that culture. But we have too often fallen short in delivering for First Nations communities. Our systems fail Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children too often. The scale and urgency of those failures is profound, and we must do better. In my first speech to this chamber, I said I wanted my son to know that I was here to represent not the kids like him but the kids who were not as lucky as he is. It should not be the case in our great country that my son has more opportunities than the children of our First Nations people.

The path forward is clear. Reconciliation and progress will only be achieved by working with First Nations communities and by listening to First Nations people. The data is clear. The gap between First Nations children and their peers is deeply troubling. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are significantly overrepresented in out-of-home care, in the juvenile justice system and among those disengaged from education.

I spent my childhood years in Kalgoorlie, on Wangkatha country, and I want to talk a little bit about the voices of some of those kids in a report that was released a couple of years ago. In that report, First Nations young people talked about feeling like they weren't being listened to and like they didn't have the same opportunities that their peers did. I think that it's a real great shame that kids, whether it's in Kalgoorlie or other parts of our country, feel like they are not being listened to—like they are not being given the opportunities that other children are given. Communities and children tell us that they need us to do better.

For the last two years, the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People has been doing important work. This bill establishes a national commission as an independent and permanent statutory agency. It will have the power to conduct inquiries, make recommendations to government and engage in public advocacy. It will be able to engage directly with children and young people, to listen to their experiences and to bring their voices into the rooms where decisions are being made. Critically, it will be the only body at a national level with a sole focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. This is the result of the advocacy of more than 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous organisations from around the country—a tremendous effort—who have advocated for this for a long time, and it is well overdue.

When communities are empowered to lead, outcomes improve. We have seen it. In community controlled health organisations, in Indigenous ranger programs, in language revitalisation efforts around the country, the proof is there. Solutions designed with and by communities work, and this bill is how we embed that principle permanently so that no future government can sideline the voices of First Nations children when making decisions that impact their lives.

We don't have to look far for this work, which is being done around the country. The Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre has been quietly doing extraordinary work for more than a decade, preserving and revitalising 12 First Nations languages in the Goldfields, working directly with elders to ensure these languages are passed on to the next generation of children. Language is culture; culture is identity—and that is the foundation of children's wellbeing. In the Pilbara, the West Pilbara Mobile Children's Service has spent over 13 years bringing early childhood education directly to remote communities, going to families rather than waiting for families to come to them. It is the only mobile service of its kind in the region, and it works because it was built around community. In the Kimberley, organisations like the Joombarn-buru Aboriginal Corporation are working with young people at risk of disengagement, not by punishing them but by investing in them, teaching them life skills and building their futures, keeping kids connected to their communities rather than cycling them through systems that continue to fail them. In Perth, on Whadjuk-Noongar country, organisations like Wungening Aboriginal Corporation and Koya Aboriginal Corporation are delivering culturally safe community-controlled services run by mob for mob, grounded in lived experience and deep cultural knowledge. These organisations do their work quietly; they don't often make the news. But they are changing lives every single day for Aboriginal children in Western Australia.

We cannot go back and change the decisions of the past. But we can make sure that children who are in school right now, sitting in classrooms in Kalgoorlie, in Broome, in Hall's Creek, in Fitzroy Crossing, in Arnhem Land, in Redfern, grow up in a community that sees them, in a country that listens to them, and puts them first. That is what we are seeking to address in this bill. Of course, it's not an immediate fix. No single action of the government ever is. But it is a commitment to put these children first and to listen to their voices when we are making decisions.

The Liberal Party once shared this commitment. In March 2022, the Morrison government proposed a national advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in their proposed 2022-23 budget, which, of course, they were not able to deliver, because they were so wholeheartedly defeated at that election. I wonder why they have changed their minds, why they no longer think that Aboriginal children and young people deserve an independent resourced voice to provide advice and advocacy for government on the issues that matter. I wonder why they don't agree with the more than 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations who have been advocating for this kind of work to be done for a very, very long time. So I urge the Liberal Party to support this bill as a genuine step towards the Australia that we all say that we want to build, one where the oldest continuing culture on Earth is not just celebrated but listened to, where reconciliation is not a destination we talk about reaching but a practice that we live every day.

I'd like to end by thanking everyone who has been involved in the very long time advocacy into this issue and in particular to the work of SNAICC, but I also want to acknowledge the many First Nations Australians who have bravely and fiercely advocated and shared their stories. I am proud to be part of a government that doesn't shy away from the tough issues and that supports First Nations Australians but is willing to be held accountable by those communities, to listen to their voices and to listen to the children whose futures depend on us getting this right.

Charlotte Walker (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The very first time I spoke in this place, I thanked in advance the First Nations emerging leaders from across the more than 250 nations of this ancient land, and I said how much I look forward to those future elders joining me in this place to represent their communities. That is my hope for the future of this place and our country. However, to achieve that hope for the future, we know that we need to ensure our First Nations children and young people have the support and opportunities which will allow them to stand strong in their culture and pursue their hopes and dreams. To this end, the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 delivers on Labor's commitment to an independent national commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. Embedded in this enabling legislation is a strengths based approach to changing the devastating inequities our First Nations children and young people experience.

Hope for the future is what this bill is about. It's why we are establishing a national commissioner, who will do three essential things. The first is independent oversight and public accountability, telling the truth in public about what is working and what is failing. The commissioner will have the discretion and independence to undertake inquiries and provide reports which seek to identify the issues and barriers faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. Second, the commissioner will be charged with hearing directly from children and young people and supporting them to assert their rights and interests. They will be able to provide a structured, ongoing youth voice, especially for those who may feel alienated or are in care or detention or remote communities. Third, the commissioner will be able to use the experiences and voices of young people to advise the Australian government on the development and delivery of relevant policies, programs and services. This advice on systemic reform across silos is essential, because children's lives are not divided by government departments or portfolios or services.

We need policies, programs and services that understand and respond to the context that children and young people experience and recognise and respect the 65,000 years of the rich, living, continuous culture that they are able to lay claim to. The power of such a central coordinated function must not be underestimated. Organisations and children's commissioners from across Australia have been calling for the creation of this role for many years. This is not a symbolic post. It is not a nice-to-have. This is a practical instrument for accountability, for listening and for better policies and programs—ones that stop young lives being pushed into systems that harm and instead start reshaping those systems in line with strengths based and community led solutions. This mission is critical.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is undoubtedly one of the most powerful collaborative pleas for action ever written in our country. One critical passage in it reads:

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.

This commission is about restoring hope for that future. Through the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, governments have agreed to work towards restoring that hope and measuring our progress.

On the Closing the Gap dashboard, the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged zero to 17 in out-of-home care was over 50 per thousand in 2024. That is over 12 times higher than for non-Indigenous children. National reporting has showed youth detention rates around 21 times higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, compared to other young people—and I, for one, am very disturbed about the 'lock them up' narrative that is becoming prevalent in some state governments now. Whilst no youth justice system is perfect, I am pleased that, at least in South Australia, the state government has kept youth detention very separate from the adults' correction system. This is because our aim must always be to change the course for young people, so that they can have productive and fulfilling lives. Morally, how can it be otherwise? When we are looking at youth detention rates 21 times higher than those for the non-Indigenous population, it is undeniable that focused, independent child- and youth-centred advocacy is essential. This reform will support delivery on the National Agreement on Closing the Gap targets to reduce overrepresentation in out-of-home care by 45 per cent and youth detention by at least 30 per cent by 2031.

We also know that participation in the labour force for First Nations young people is significantly lower than for other young people. The legislated National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People gives those commitments a driver—someone tasked every day with creating and amplifying solutions and tracking progress. The Albanese Labor government is committed to funding the commission properly. We are investing $8.4 million a year, ongoing, to support its operations. It is undeniable that this investment is well spent. Out-of-home care and detention are among the most expensive interventions that governments fund. Prevention and culturally safe, community led alternatives are both morally right and economically rational.

But, beyond systems and budgets, this is about our children. It is about the children and young people that are the next generation of the longest-continuing living culture on this planet. Every one of those young people has the right to a safe home, a good job and a healthy life in a community where they feel a sense of belonging. This newly legislated independent office is a step towards ensuring that there is hope for their future.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All children and young people deserve to grow up with their rights, interests and wellbeing protected. Investing in improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people is a priority of this government, and we are committed to closing the gap. The National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 will legislate the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, under new primary legislation. It will be the first permanent statutory agency, independent from government. This is First Nations led, with a dedicated focus on preserving the rights, interests, development, safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

The bill empowers the national commissioner to drive greater accountability from the systems that children, young people and families interact with. We are investing $33.5 million over the forward estimates and $8.4 million ongoing to ensure the national commissioner can deliver on their statutory functions and responsibilities.

Legislating an independent national commissioner responds to decades of advocacy by many First Nations leaders, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership Group's Safe and Supported. When we get it right for children and young people, the entire nation will move forward. I commend this bill to the chamber.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I understand it, there is an amendment that has been moved by Senator Waters. That is currently before the chair. The question is that the second reading amendment moved by Senator Waters be agreed to. A division having been called and it being after the time that we're allowed to have divisions, it will be deferred to the following sitting day.

Debate interrupted.