First Nations justice
Sovereignty has never been ceded. We acknowledge the hundreds of First Nations Countries and cultures that have lived on this land for millennia.
Barriers to justice
Australia was established based on the false claim of terra nullius, which was used to justify colonisation and genocide.
The ongoing impacts of dispossession, the Stolen Generations, and systemic racism mean Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience much higher rates of poverty, gender-based violence, housing insecurity, physical and mental ill-health, and child removals than non-Indigenous people.
Samantha is a transgender First Nations woman in her 40s who was removed from her family as a baby and grew up in out-of-home care. Samantha’s birth wasn’t registered, including during the many years she was in state care. Samantha’s adulthood gender transition without access to related documentation made her circumstances more complex. Samantha didn’t have official identity documents well into her adulthood which caused significant problems including being unable to access social security payments.
Samantha reached out to a community organisation for help. The barriers to accessing social security were so great that even with support from an advocate it took over ten years of sustained advocacy to various government institutions before Samantha was finally able to meet Services Australia’s identity requirements and access a payment. The first payment she received was a Carer Payment as she is now caring full-time for her mother.
The Stolen Generations have never ended: the systematic removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from family, kin, Country and culture continue. This is a root cause of governments’ persistent poor performance on Closing the Gap targets.
Wanda is a young Aboriginal mother with an intellectual disability. She was told about a safety assessment the same day it took place, and two days later her child was taken into care. She was being assisted by a community legal centre, but the late notice of the assessment meant there was nothing the centre could do to help Wanda prior to removal.
The centre worked with Wanda to meet the goals set by the Department for restoration, but on several occasions, she met the goals only to be told there were further things she needed to do. Wanda and the centre helping her were frustrated by the shifting goalposts which delayed restoration.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face systemic racism and discrimination accessing mainstream health and mental healthcare services. The high cost of specialist healthcare and long waitlists for public services create extra barriers to accessing services. This contributes to poorer health outcomes and higher mortality rates for First Nations people. Culturally appropriate support to access healthcare, including mental healthcare, is lacking for First Nations people of all ages.
Amy is a First Nations woman who became homeless after not having enough money to return to her home in another town. She had been sleeping under the stairs of a local community organisation’s building for three weeks when a worker first encountered her. Amy told the community organisation she had no money. She’d tried to speak to Centrelink staff, but they had sent her away because she had no ID.
Amy was clearly unwell, so the community worker organised medical care. Amy was immediately hospitalised with a serious infection from sleeping outdoors in the rain and cold weather. When she was released from hospital, she still had nowhere to go so she went back to sleeping under the stairs.
The community worker put Amy in touch with a local Aboriginal community-controlled organisation, which worked with Amy to try to overcome many hurdles, including Amy not being able to get a copy of her birth certificate because she had no fixed address.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience harsher policing and far higher rates of imprisonment and deaths in custody than non-Indigenous people. Governments spend huge sums of money policing and jailing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, while underfunding evidence-based community-led solutions to justice problems.
Rachael is a member of the Stolen Generations. When she was a child, she ran away to look for her family. Many years later, in adulthood, she found that she had a criminal file as a result. This is now a barrier to getting a Working With Children Check.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have provided governments with hundreds of recommendations over many decades to narrow the gap. Governments have too often disregarded or partially implemented them.
Our vision for justice — First Nations justice
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have equitable access to employment, economic security, healthcare, education and housing. Governments prioritise the investments and systemic reforms needed to achieve equity consistent with the priorities and principles set out in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
Governments restate their commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and prioritise meaningful truth-telling and treaty processes. Governments respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s rights to land, water, language, culture and self-determination.
Governments do not remove Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from family, community, culture and Country. Where children need extra support to thrive, families have access to a wide range of kinship care options. No children are in jail, and governments adequately fund early intervention, youth services, and community-led diversion programs.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people design and implement self-determined approaches to close the gap. Governments properly invest in Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and follow evidence on what works to redirect funding from punitive systems to community-based supports.
