2024-03-08
Australia’s biggest challenge is to Close the Gap within a generation; bold change is needed if this is to be achieved
By Senator Dorinda Cox
This month was the 16th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generation, which is such an important time of remembrance and reflection for our First Peoples of this country who endured such a devastating time for them individually and collectively, and for our future generations who still feel the deep and profound trauma of their survival.
The destructive nature of this legislated policy never disappeared overnight, it just continued under a different regime. This policy tore apart families, destroyed communities and actively ensured that First Peoples lost their connection to country and culture. A culture that has sustained us for over 65,000 years. In many ways we are still trying to recover what we lost and protect what we have left, which is why stand alone legislation for the protection of First Nations cultural heritage is vital.
Fundamentally at the core of this policy were two ideas:
- First Nations people are less than, not worthy of existence; and
- The Government knows best how to ‘manage’ our people.
The Productivity Commission’s Review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap final report released in February 2024, shows that elements of the two core ideas that were behind the policy that lead to the stolen generations are still present today.
This report found that Governments have largely not fulfilled their commitments and have failed to understand the ‘nature and scale’ of change that is needed to meet their obligations under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. It makes four recommendations that are largely aligned with the four priority areas of the Agreement.
- Power sharing;
- Supporting First Nations data sovereignty;
- Rethinking government systems and culture; and
- Stronger accountability.
This report shows what we have known for a long time, and in fact what we as First Nations live everyday ‒ the gaps are not closing. It was scathing and to be honest a distressing read but First Peoples didn’t need another report to tell us that Governments are failing to understand what communities need, we are offered lip service every time government ministers and their officials come into our communities.
The report states that actions by Governments ‘exacerbate rather than remedy disadvantage and discrimination’. This is the definition of institutional racism and shows how Government departments and systems are reinforcing the disempowerment of First Nations people right across the country. These are the racist attitudes that lead to the stolen generations and they are the same attitudes that continue to keep our people out of schools, hospitals, universities, and workplaces.
The time has passed for Governments to sit around and continue to make small, incremental changes. We have the most progressive Parliament to date, there are wall to wall Labor Governments on the mainland. This is a prime opportunity for the radical overhaul that we so desperately need if we have any hope of meeting all the 17 targets on closing the gap.
Every day that passes without this Government seizing that opportunity ‒ to make meaningful structural change ‒ is a conscious decision this Government has made to not improve the lives of First Nations people. This Government is actively choosing to shy away from the bold change that could save lives because ultimately that is what this is about. The report speaks about the risk of the agreement becoming another broken promise but it is so much bigger than that. This is life or death for my people.
People trusted this Government when they said they wanted to put First Nations people in charge of their solutions and uplift their voices and yet the first legislative change since the referendum is to give the Minister for Resources the power to strip their voices away, to not consult and not listen to our requests.
First Nations people have the solutions, we know what we need. We have sustained ourselves for over 65,000 years. Governments need to support and enable community led solutions, designed by communities for communities. We have a chance to do things differently and actually make some meaningful change but we have to start now. We need this Government to be courageous and to stop making lame excuses and we have to make the big structural changes we need to see this gap close in a generation.
I beat all the odds against me in becoming the First Aboriginal Woman from WA to the Federal Parliament. I am going to keep fighting for my people and our future generations to see that we are delivering the greatest hope we can to First Nations people who have borne the brunt of bad policy and legislation in this country.
Closing the gap is not a day, or breakfast or event, even a campaign. It’s the way we strive to keep governments honest and for us all to make the changes we know are necessary.
In the words of the late Dr Galarrwuy Yunupingu in the delivery of the 1988 Barunga Statement to the former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, intended for successive Prime Ministers, that they must take bold steps for change and make it right.
Header photo: At the National Apology Breakfast, Canberra 2024, with David Williams and Aunty Dr Caroline Hughes