Page 4088 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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Change our future. Share what you know. They are, however, examples of changes in approach that the government has taken to improve outcomes for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. They also illustrate opportunities to strengthen how we work together.
The ACT government is aware there is a long and hard road ahead to continue to build trust and relationships so that support for generational change and community healing can happen. Our statement today is a formal and public gesture of our commitment to work in deep partnership and to be led forward by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
I present a copy of the statement:
“We Don’t Shoot Our Wounded” and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Forum on Domestic and Family Violence—Government response—Ministerial statement, 22 October 2019.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (10.29): I thank Minister Berry for the statement she has just read out on behalf of herself and Minister Stephen–Smith. I am especially grateful to hear the minister apologise for the Barr government’s years of delay and silence when it comes to addressing the specific needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans in relation to domestic and family violence.
This decade of neglect has not only created anger and frustration, as the minister acknowledged, but has also been understood by many as evidence of the contempt of those opposite. More importantly, it has left numerous victims of domestic and family violence lacking the very help that they have, in their wisdom, asked for.
Minister Berry quoted the clear message from the Warawarni-gu Guma statement: “Nothing about our mob without our mob.” This underscores the absolute importance of working with community members in addressing their concerns. But in this case the ACT government has had the We don’t shoot our wounded report for over 10 years and has done nothing about it. There is simply no point consulting community members and then ignoring what they say. Five years ago, Beryl Women’s Refuge manager Robyn Martin publicly noted that the government had not taken meaningful action on this report. Another five years have passed and basic services still do not meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
In fact, the Barr government’s services are still, to again quote Minister Berry, “culturally unsafe”. Indigenous Canberrans still fear our child protection system, and this fear hinders their seeking help in many cases. This situation is inexcusable. I am glad to hear Minister Berry state that new resourcing will be considered in future budgets. But the simple reality is that a genuine commitment to the territory’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community would have seen resourcing being
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