Latest news with #YoorrookJusticeCommission
ABC News
03-08-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
New national commissioner appointed amid worsening outcomes for Indigenous children
The government has appointed a new National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, as national targets to reduce child removal and youth detention continue to slide backwards. Adjunct Professor Sue-Anne Hunter, a Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman, will start in the role later this year. She replaces Lil Gordon, who has served in an acting capacity since January. The appointment follows recent data from the Productivity Commission that shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children remain more than ten times more likely to be in out-of-home care and 27 times more likely to be in youth detention than non-Indigenous children. Target 12 of the national Closing the Gap agreement, which aims to reduce over-representation in out-of-home care, is also not on track and is worsening. Nationally, just four out of the 19 targets are on track to be met by the deadline of 2031. Ms Hunter brings more than two decades of experience in child and family services, including frontline work and senior roles at the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency and SNAICC — National Voice for Our Children. She also served as deputy chair of the Yoorrook Justice Commission. After a career working in criminal justice and with young people, she described the new role as a lifetime's work, rather than a job. "I am honoured to accept this appointment as Australia's Inaugural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People's Commissioner with the responsibility to ensure our systems are working to protect the wellbeing, rights and interests of children and young people," she said. "I recognise that we are at risk of losing another generation to systems that fail them, to removal, out-of-home care detention and a bleak future." The new role will involve the commissioner hearing directly from Indigenous young people and advocating for their rights. She said those children face a lot of risks. "The work is urgent and the statistics are grim. But our children are not statistics, they are our future," she said. "This role will elevate their voices and their concerns. They will be at the centre of everything I do." Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said the appointment reflects the government's recognition that more needs to be done in ensuring Indigenous children have the same opportunities as every other child. "We created this commissioner role to ensure the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are not just heard, but are amplified," she said. Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said she looked forward to working with the incoming commissioner. "The number of First Nations children in out-of-home care and youth detention is deeply distressing and will take a collective effort to turn the figures around," Senator McCarthy said. The commissioner role helps support the implementation of Safe and Supported, the national framework for protecting children, which has been developed in partnership with states, territories and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders.
Free Malaysia Today
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Australian inquiry finds Indigenous people faced genocide
The commission said colonial-era killings, diseases, and cultural erasure nearly destroyed Indigenous populations living in the state of Victoria. (EPA Images pic) SYDNEY : European settlers committed genocide against Australia's Indigenous people, a truth-telling inquiry in the state of Victoria has found, calling for government redress including financial compensation. In a final report, Victoria's four-year royal commission said Indigenous people suffered massacres, the forced removal of children from their families, and the suppression of their culture. The findings – presented to parliament on Tuesday – said mass killings, disease, sexual violence, child removal, and assimilation had led to the 'near-complete destruction' of Indigenous people in the state. 'This was genocide,' it said. Among 100 recommendations, the Yoorrook Justice Commission sought redress for damage and loss, citing 'genocide, crimes against humanity and denial of freedoms'. It urged monetary compensation and the restitution of traditional lands, waters and natural resources. The arrival of 11 British ships to set up a penal colony in Sydney Cove in 1788 heralded the long oppression of Indigenous peoples, whose ancestors have lived on the continent for more than 60,000 years. Making up less than 4% of the current population, Indigenous peoples still have lives about eight years shorter than other Australians, poorer education and are far more likely to be imprisoned or die in police custody. 'Current economic disparities and barriers to First Peoples' prosperity are direct legacies of colonial practices and state-sanctioned exclusion,' the inquiry said. Victoria's state premier, Jacinta Allan, thanked the commission and said her government would 'carefully consider' its recommendations. The findings 'shine a light on hard truths and lay the foundations for a better future for all Victorians', she said in a statement. Australians soundly rejected an October 2023 referendum to give greater constitutional recognition to Indigenous Australians.
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
What Aboriginal Australians could get under a proposed compensation plan for post-colonisation pain
A landmark truth-telling inquiry's call for redress for the post-colonisation pain and suffering of Aboriginal people has not been ruled out. The Yoorrook Justice Commission's final reports feature 100 recommendations across five volumes and an official public record of Victoria's history since colonisation in 1834. The Australian-first Indigenous truth-telling body calls on the Victorian government to provide redress for injustices. It suggested redress could take the form of restitution of traditional land, monetary compensation, tax relief or other financial benefits. Other recommendations include shifting prison healthcare from the justice department to the health department, more cash to First Peoples-led health services and establishing independent funding streams for the state's self-determination fund. Premier Jacinta Allan indicated none of the ideas were off the table, refusing to rule in or out any of the recommendations. 'We're going to take our time to consider and respond to the report,' she told reporters on Wednesday. 'I am not going to respond to the individual recommendations or the report as a whole through individual questions at a press conference. 'That would not do justice to the years and years of work and evidence.' Yoorrook held 67 days of public hearings, gathering the testimony of Stolen Generations survivors, elders, historians, experts and non-Indigenous advocates. It found there were at least 50 massacres across Victoria by the end of the 1860s, with eight colonists killed compared to 978 First Nations people. The mass killings combined with disease, sexual violence, exclusion, eradication of language, cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal, absorption and assimilation brought about the 'near-complete physical destruction' of Aboriginal people in Victoria. The 'decimation' of the population by 1901 was the result of 'a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups'. 'This was genocide,' one of the documents read. Ms Allan said the findings made for 'tough reading' because they 'tell the truth' about how the state was colonised. The recommendations will inform treaty talks between the state government and the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, with enabling legislation expected to be introduced later in 2025. Ms Allan said reparations were not up for discussion as part of treaty talks amid backlash over Yoorrook's findings and recommendations. 'I'm not focused on people who want to divide people,' she said. First Peoples' Assembly member Nerita Waight warned Ms Allan not to let Yoorrook's work go ignored, as politicians have done with previous major Aboriginal-related inquiries. 'The truth has been told and now the government has an obligation to act,' the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive said. Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe called on the federal government to press on with national truth and treaty processes. 'Genocide has not just occurred in Victoria, but has been perpetrated against all First Peoples of this continent,' she said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to set up a 'Makarrata Commission to oversee a national process for treaty and truth-telling' in 2021. His government allocated $5.8million to commence work on establishing the independent commission, but it has not materialised after the failed voice to parliament referendum in 2023.
West Australian
08-07-2025
- Politics
- West Australian
Emma Garlett: Strength is at the heart of existing as an Aboriginal person
It's NAIDOC Week, and that means an opportunity to celebrate the strength, resilience and survival of First Nations people and commit to our ongoing empowerment. The theme of this year's NAIDOC Week — the event's 50th anniversary — is 'the next generation: strength, vision and legacy'. In our culture, we place a great weight on our elders and the invaluable guidance that they provide. But we also need to make sure we are cultivating our next generation of young leaders, so they can be the elders of the future. Our elders have a role in this, and are encouraging these new leaders to pick up the baton. This year's NAIDOC theme brings attention to the challenges faced by First Nations people in Australia. This past week has put a bright spotlight on those challenges, with Australia's first Indigenous-led truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, finding that genocide and crimes against humanity were committed against Victoria's First Nations people. Hopefully other States will be inspired to follow Victoria's example in setting down the truth of colonisation and the ongoing impact it is having on Indigenous people. It is crucial that we acknowledge these truths. But we cannot be held back by them. We cannot be defined by crimes and injustices that have been done to us. That brings me to the first pillar of the NAIDOC theme: strength. Strength isn't just how we react to episodes of adversity or hardship. It is the way we think and behave. It's the story we tell ourselves about our place in society. It takes strength to be an Indigenous person in Australia, to exist and thrive in a system that has historically perpetrated injustices against our people. I am a strong advocate of strength-based language in telling our story. We need to break through the walls of deficit discourse. Most of what we hear in the media about Aboriginal people is rooted in this deficit discourse: the poor outcomes, the life expectancy gap. Those conversations are important, but they are only one part of our story. We must tell the good stories as well; the stories about our grit and resilience and the everyday excellence that so many Aboriginal people exhibit. That will lead us to the vision needed to have the energy to fight for policy and legislative reforms to empower First Nations communities, to provide the next generation with the tools to think in innovative ways. And that will enable us to leave a new legacy for those who come after us. One which encourages Australia to have the courage to face up to the ugly truths of the past but also provides a new, positive path for those who come after us. Legacy is not just we as First Nations leave behind for our kin, but what we leave behind for all Australians to see. Emma Garlett is a legal academic and Nylyaparli-Yamatji-Nyungar woman
SBS Australia
07-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
The state of Victoria's Voice to Parliament
A permanent Indigenous voice to parliament is on its way for Victoria. It makes Victoria the second state in Australia - after South Australia - to establish a state-based, democratically elected body to provide advice on laws and policies related to Aboriginal people. The agreements comes at the same time as the handing down of the final report of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, after four years of hearings. "We stand here with our feet firmly on the lands of the Kaurna people. I pay my respect to their elders past present and emerging, but the way we pay our respects first and foremost is not with our words but in our deeds. And there are no more powerful deeds than South Australia becoming the first place in our nation to pass a law enshrining an Indigenous voice to our Parliament." says Peter Malinauskas, the premier of South Australia, when the state passed groundbreaking legislation for a state-based Voice to Parliament. Now, Victoria is set to follow South Australia's example.
