Why more than 100 leaders quietly met behind closed doors in Brisbane this week
In the same week that Queensland's LNP government legislated an expansion of its Adult Crime, Adult Time laws, more than 100 First Nations leaders were quietly meeting in Brisbane.
On their agenda was the impact of recent government decisions on human rights, and what they described as 'targeted harm' perpetuated against Indigenous children.
The Bandarran Marra'Gu Gathering Strength summit, organised by the Queensland Human Rights Commission, was a two-day gathering of prominent identities including Marcia Langton, Mick Gooda and Thomas Mayo.
Closed to media, it concluded with a public statement that described the Making Queensland Safer laws as 'egregious breaches of human rights against children'.
'We fear that acts are being committed by the state with the intent to destroy our First Nations by forcibly transferring our children from our responsibility, out of our care and out of our communities,' it read.
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'We see the over-representation of our children in Queensland's child protection and youth justice systems not as a coincidence, but as a direct consequence of policies that fail to respect our rights, of services that are culturally unsafe, and of decisions made without our leadership or agreement.'
The second tranche of youth justice laws were passed late on Wednesday night, increasing to 33 the number of offences which attract tougher penalties.
Days earlier, two special rapporteurs to the United Nations sent an open letter to Australian authorities, noting that a disproportionate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were incarcerated across all states and territories, and singling out Queensland for particular criticism.
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