Page 3926 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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Having this commissioner, co-designed with community, to advocate for children and their families, to raise awareness of what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children need and how we can best support them, is an important part of the work that we, as a government and as a community, must do. This is a step towards the decolonisation of our child protection system towards a family support system with self-determination at its heart, and towards healing. I commend this bill.
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra—Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Business and Better Regulation, Minister for Human Rights and Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (11.19), in reply: I am pleased to close the debate on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner Bill 2022, and I acknowledge the contributions across the chamber today.
This bill establishes a new independent commissioner who will promote the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in the ACT. This bill is very much determined by and is the product of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community—their dedication and their drive.
I echo Minister Stephen-Smith that this is Aboriginal land. It always was and it always will be. Sovereignty was never ceded. I also acknowledge the presence of members of the Our Booris, Our Way Implementation Oversight Committee, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, and thank them for being here for this historic moment. Critically, the establishment of this position was recommended by the Our Booris, Our Way review, and it has been the implementation oversight committee which has been instrumental in realising this reform. I warmly and sincerely thank them for their ongoing collaboration with government in progressing it.
I also acknowledge and thank the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body and other community representatives, who supported the development of this role through the co-design process, facilitated by the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research. From the recommendation of the role to co-designing the functions of the commissioner, the community has been guiding the government on this reform, and this partnership and engagement will continue through the recruitment, implementation and operational phases.
The bill is intended to operate consistently with the Human Rights Act and principles set out in two key international human rights instruments: the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child identifies childhood as separate from adulthood and as a protected time in which children must be allowed to grow, learn, play, develop and flourish with dignity. There are four general principles of the convention: the right of all children to be heard and taken seriously; the right of non-discrimination; the right to life and development; and the primary consideration of the child’s best interests.
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