Page 3923 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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I also want to start by acknowledging that this land is Aboriginal land. Sovereignty of this land was never ceded. It is absolutely vital that we are listening to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this conversation. I want to acknowledge in the chamber here today members of the Our Booris, Our Way Implementation Oversight Committee, and prominent members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community who have contributed so much to the recommendations and to this process.
This bill is the realisation of a key recommendation of the Our Booris, Our Way review and another important step towards achieving ACT Labor’s election commitment to implement the review in full. As members would be aware, the Our Booris, Our Way review explored the over-representation and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and their families in the child protection system.
The review made 28 recommendations to government, as well as eight sub-recommendations, which provide a guide to creating a culturally responsive child protection system that truly meets the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. Recommendation 7, the establishment of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s commissioner, envisages a commissioner that can provide oversight, advice and advocacy on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, building on the models already in place in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
The review described a commissioner that would not only carry out reviews and provide advice but also step in and support children and young people involved in the child protection system, utilising specific powers. In practice, these powers are analogous to those held by the Public Advocate, who is also the Children and Young People Commissioner but has a separate legislative identity.
The subsequent design work was undertaken through a co-design process facilitated by the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research. The result is a considered, culturally informed bill that gives effect to the Our Booris, Our Way recommendations. The bill will establish an independent statutory authority empowered to promote and protect the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people through individual and systemic advocacy and engagement with government and non-government agencies.
The bill includes a set of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural principles which must be applied when a person exercises a function under the legislation. The principles confirm the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people maintaining their cultural and linguistic environment and their set of values, respecting the kinship roles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and acknowledging the spiritual, social, historical, cultural and economic importance of country to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.
These cultural principles arose from the co-design process, which determined that the legislation should provide an explicit reference to the need for the commissioner to focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people from a cultural standpoint, noting the importance of connection to family, community, culture and country as critical to best interests.
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