Page 1661 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 June 2021
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commitment to truth-telling means that it is equally important to know what may be happening in our own time and place.
His second response was: genuinely listening. As he explained, this means finding out what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would do if they had their way and then helping to make it happen. For far too long, decisions have been made on behalf of Indigenous Australians instead of by them or with them. When it comes to matters that impact their families and their communities, no-one knows better what they need.
I accept these principles of reconciliation. Accordingly, I fully support the request by community leaders that a formal board of inquiry investigate and respond to the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT in touch with the criminal justice system or incarcerated. Indigenous Australians in Canberra have every right to ask that the facts be investigated and reported and their request should be honoured.
Ideally, the principles of reconciliation should shape all government decision-making. This is essential for the wellbeing of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, which in several important areas experiences more disadvantage in the ACT than in any other jurisdiction. For example, whilst Indigenous Australians are proportionally the most incarcerated people on the planet, those living in Canberra are nearly 20 times more likely to be locked up than non-Indigenous people, the highest ratio in the nation. Because the principles of reconciliation should characterise all human interactions, embedding these principles will therefore benefit all of us.
An inspiring example of how this can occur comes out of Aotearoa New Zealand. Like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Canberra, Maori children had long been overrepresented in that nation’s child protection system. Reports from the 1970s and the 1980s highlighted issues of institutional racism and one in 1986 recommended a substantial ideological change that would cater to Maori needs.
The government’s first response was to propose strengthening child protection teams, essentially doubling down on what it was already doing. A new minister, however, insisted on genuine reform and, in 1989, the family group conference became law. The legal entitlement means that families are supported to solve child welfare concerns before the government can seek a court order authorising child removal.
As a result, the number of children in the care and protection system was cut in half and Aotearoa New Zealand now has one of the lowest rates of children in care in the developed world. This reform was intended to cater to Maori needs and it has done so. At the same time, child protection became better for everyone.
Aboriginal elders in the ACT have been asking to have a similar legal entitlement in this territory. I am committed to seeing this reform happen. Such reform will strengthen First Nations families and then will strengthen all families.
On a personal level, I invite all of us to thoughtfully consider ways that we can embed the principles of reconciliation in our individual lives. This involves knowing the facts about our own communities, both past and present. We also need to care enough
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