ADJOURNMENT

Ms SPENDER (Wentworth) (19:30): Less than two weeks ago, ministers and parliamentarians from this place joined Indigenous leaders and leaders from all across Australia at the Garma Festival. Organised by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Garma has become the leading forum to celebrate and focus national attention on the importance of our Indigenous Australians. There are many things to celebrate but there is no denying that our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are hurting.

I want to talk about how we can best achieve the outcomes which are needed and are identified in the Closing the Gap statement, and also about the increasing rise of racism directed at our First Nations community. The government had put a whole lot into the Voice to Parliament referendum nearly three years ago. Its failure was devastating and was a huge setback for our Indigenous brothers and sisters and for many in my own community.

But this setback cannot be the end of our efforts or the responsibilities we all share. But our government must lead, and, since the referendum defeat, it seems that the government hasn't been able to. I know it's difficult to lead after such a loss, but we need a strong, ambitious agenda on Indigenous policy to get the outcomes that the community deserves.

I admit there has been good action. I don't want to deny that. But it has been a patchwork, not a dedicated plan that can make a real difference.

There has been good work like investment in housing and contributions to things like domestic and family violence support. Those things have been important. I don't give this speech to undermine the important work of Indigenous agencies or the minister, but we need to be up front that the policies are not achieving the goals that we have all committed to in this country, and something needs to shift.

Back in 2024, the Productivity Commission did a review of the Closing the Gap work and said: … progress in implementing the Agreement's Priority Reforms has, for the most part, been weak and reflects tweaks to, or actions overlayed onto, business-as-usual approaches. The disparate actions and ad hoc changes have not led to improvements that are noticeable and meaningful for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. … What is needed is a paradigm shift.

I'm afraid it is clear that not much has changed since then. The 2026 Productivity Commission found that only three of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track, with adult imprisonment, childhood development, out-of-home care and suicide all going backwards. Nowhere is this crisis clearer than in youth detention.

First Nations children make up just 6.6 per cent of young Australians aged 10 to 17 but they comprise 60 per cent of all young people in detention. A First Nations child is 21 times more likely to be locked up than a non-Indigenous child. The number has increased from 17 times since just over four years ago.

For children aged 10 to 13, the gap is even starker. They are detained at nearly 20 times the rate of their non-Indigenous peers. As a mother of a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old and a 13-year old, it astounds me that we still have not increased the age of criminal responsibility, that we are locking children up in prisons rather than taking an evidence based approach, and none are being more affected than Indigenous children.

We should be angry about this. We should all be talking about this. We need clearer accountability on the reasons why our Closing the Gap targets are not going forwards.

We all need to be responsible for representing our First Nations community. This is our responsibility as parliamentarians. These issues that we are talking about in terms of the Closing the Gap statement are also a backdrop to rising racism and threats against Indigenous Australians.

The federal inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has heard shocking evidence about rising racist rhetoric used against Indigenous Australians. We know Welcome to Country speeches were booed at Anzac Day events this year, but the inquiry heard that attacks on community events are happening frequently without criticism or commentary.

Journalist Brooke Boney told the inquiry she had left the industry after being doxed and receiving menacing threats. On 26 January this year, a terrorist attack at the Invasion Day march in Boorloo, or Perth, was only averted because the homemade bomb thrown into the midst of the crowd failed to explode. We owe this country more than good intentions, and that extends to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities especially.

We owe them a parliament that leads rather than drifts.