2025-03-18
Striving to achieve sustainable positive change and overdue justice for First Nations People
By Senator Dorinda Cox
Happy 2025 to all.
From resources, trade and tourism, Northern Australia, and First Nations, all of my portfolios are deeply intertwined. My hope is that with each stage of my federal work, our communities are strengthened and we move towards a better future for all Australians.
With this in mind, January was a time for reflection and planning with the team as Parliament took a summer break.
January 26, Day of Mourning, was again a reflective time where communities rallied in solidarity to recognise the ongoing impacts of colonisation and reaffirm the need for ongoing systemic change.
As we convened the third federal Truth and Justice Commission Bill hearing in Gadi (Sydney), this reflection time and community collectiveness strengthened my commitment to implementing the federal truth-telling commission Bill and the need to acknowledge Australia’s full history and create a genuine path to healing for all Australians to move towards agreement making and justice.
My drive to achieve sustainable change for First Nations people was again bolstered in Gadi (Sydney), where we held our first Measuring Outcomes for First Nations Communities hearing. The Committee is evaluating the 4 of 19 targets currently regressing in the Closing the Gap agenda including; children thriving, over representation in the justice and child protection systems, and social and emotional wellbeing. By reviewing and addressing systemic inequalities and data capture weaknesses, the Committee aims to create meaningful and lasting changes to the Closing the Gap framework and achieve improved outcomes for First Nations people. It is a vital step to ensure government policies actually deliver for First Nations peoples.
In the first fortnight of sitting for 2025, I attended several significant gatherings.
I had the pleasure of attending the United Nations Women Australia’s Annual Parliamentary Breakfast an event hosted each year in Parliament to launch International Women’s Month. The event brought together more than 350 guests to reflect on the progress made and renew commitments to achieving gender equality. The theme for 2025 is March Forward: For ALL Women and Girls, celebrating 30 years since the adoption of the UN Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Attending the 17th Anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generation in February was sobering and re-ignited my motivation to do more for our Stolen Generations and call upon the government to show our Elders the respect they deserve. The Apology was an opportunity to acknowledge our First Nations Elders, who suffered some of the most unspeakable crimes under past government polices.
The Healing Foundation report, ‘Are you waiting for us to die? The unfinished business of Bringing Them Home’ highlights the solutions to some of the most significant challenges Stolen Generations survivors and families face including; access to culturally safe, trauma informed aged care and health services; urgent equitable redress; prioritised access to records, and; investment in Stolen Generation Organisations.
On the resources front, the Australian Greens secured an important win by ensuring the Future Made in Australia Bill excludes uranium from critical minerals tax incentives ‒ Dutton-proofing the bill by blocking attempts to prioritise dangerous, short-term fossil-fuel-driven policies over a clean, sustainable future.
I also had the opportunity to meet with some leading thinkers and key policy makers on critical issues, for example the Climate Capital Forum Delegation, to discuss decarbonisation and the transition to renewable energy.
Header photo: January 26 - Day of Mourning 2025.