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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 2 Hansard (1 March) . . Page.. 425 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Members who have the opportunity to stand against mandatory sentencing laws and do not do so are as responsible for the outcomes as those who actually created the situation. Those members who hide behind simplistic political arguments about consistency of response to the existence of international treaties, those who claim states rights are more important than human rights, need to understand that, in their silence on this, they are committing a serious breach of faith with the indigenous community and many in the broader community as well.

I remind members of this, because on many occasions in this place we have joined together to support reconciliation with indigenous people, to say sorry for the shameful and tragic removal of children from their families, to shed tears as we heard in this Assembly first-hand stories from members of our community, to acknowledge the crushing blow this was to the spirit and culture of the people, to acknowledge also the devastating impact of loss of country and land to the people, to accept and report on the progress of recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, to acknowledge the need to work with indigenous people to find solutions to the social problems which are a manifestation of the despair that has resulted from the unjust and shameful treatment. We have also joined together with the community to celebrate their successes, to celebrate the fact that, despite all this, the spirit is alive and well and there is great energy in the community to find solutions.

The Government has an opportunity today to acknowledge the strong concern in the Australian community on this issue by agreeing to put an amended submission which would reflect the broad community distress and anger about these laws, which are short-sighted, unjust and brutal and appear to be based on an impulse of revenge rather than any desire to understand and solve the problems. I will withdraw this motion of condemnation if the Government today gives a commitment to do this.

I am aware that members of this parliament, including the Chief Minister, and I understand also the Prime Minister, seem to be telling us that personally they do not approve of or support what is happening in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, but it is none of their business. I reject that proposition totally. I ask members to reflect on Edmund Burke's statement:

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition) (12.02): Mr Speaker, the Labor Party will be supporting Ms Tucker's motion. If the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children from their families told us one thing, it was how to prevent the deaths in prison of indigenous people. The commission gave us numerous safeguards and procedures to follow to protect prisoners and safeguard indigenous people at risk. Jurisdictions around Australia have, in different measure, acted on its recommendations.

The royal commission and the Bringing them home report had a fundamental message. It was clear and simple: Keep people out of gaol. The large numbers of Aboriginal deaths in custody reflect the disproportionate rate of imprisonment of indigenous

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