Only six percent of child protection funding is directed towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisations, according to the Family Matters Report 2024.
It finds that child protection systems continue to fail Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, and calls for increased support for prevention programs led by the community controlled sector.
The column this week also brings updates from COP29, good news from Denmark and Grenoble, and a selection of recommended reads. Conference Watch puts the spotlight on the commercial determinants of health.
The quotable?
The end of the fossil fuel age is inevitable. Let’s make sure it doesn’t come too late.”
In focus
In focus this week are two processes that provide a study in contrasts – treaty negotiations in Victoria that have involved extended, participatory processes; and an outrageously short deadline for submissions on the Federal Government’s bill to ban social media for young people. Submissions opened today and closed tomorrow.
Treaty
First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria reports that at a ceremony today on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne, the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and the Victorian Government officially started the negotiation of the first Statewide Treaty.
Assembly Co-chair, Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung and Dhudhuroa woman Ngarra Murray, said the historic event would herald an end to over 200 years of government policy causing more harm than good to Aboriginal people in Victoria.
“When it comes to Aboriginal communities, cultures and languages, the experts are Aboriginal people. Through this shared journey to Treaty, we’ll be looking to make sure Aboriginal communities can use local knowledge to come up with practical solutions at a local level,” said Ms Murray.
Assembly Co-chair, Gunditjmara man, Rueben Berg, said the guiding principle the Assembly will take into negotiations is that decisions about Aboriginal matters, should be made by Aboriginal people.
“Whether it’s caring for land and keeping culture strong or improving the way services like health and education are delivered at a local level, we want to negotiate a Treaty that will empower Aboriginal communities for generations to come,” said Mr Berg.
The Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allan, said the past can’t be changed, but accepting the truth of Victoria’s history will mean things can be done differently in the future.
“Laws and policies work best when the people affected by them have a say in how they work. Treaty will mean First Peoples have the power to come up with and deliver practical solutions for their communities at a local level,” said Ms Allan.
Since 2019 the democratically elected Members of the Assembly have been talking with their communities in every corner of Victoria to hear the hopes, needs and aspirations about how Treaty should be negotiated and what it should deliver.
The upcoming negotiations will focus on the first Statewide Treaty which is expected to expand the roles and responsibilities of the Assembly so that local knowledge can always inform decision-making when it comes to Aboriginal communities, cultures, languages and land.
In addition to the Statewide Treaties to be negotiated by the Assembly, Traditional Owner groups across Victoria will be able to negotiate Treaties that reflect the priorities and aspirations in their local area.
Ms Murray said the entire journey to Treaty has been community-led and was embracing Aboriginal culture and lore: “Treaty is from the ground up, the action is very much at a community level and doing things our way.
“What you are seeing is decolonisation in action. Our people have been striving for this for generations, and now here we are, empowering our communities through the very first Treaty. It’s deadly.”
By contrast…
An inquiry into the Federal Government’s social media minimum age bill opened today. Submissions close tomorrow. “Due to the short timeframe of this inquiry, the committee would appreciate submissions being limited to 1-2 pages.”
Meanwhile, the Government’s plans to introduce Digital Duty of Care obligations are of significant interest. This article below, recommended by Professor Kathryn Backholer, says “the Digital Duty of Care promises to be a fundamental rewrite of the rules for social media companies”.
“If it works as intended, platforms will, for the first time, be forced to prevent harms from happening in the first place, instead of mopping up the damage only when a regulator exposes it.”
Trauma continues
Climate and COP updates
The New England Journal of Medicine: Climate Change, Floods, and Human Health
Global health
BBC: Living in Delhi smog is like watching a dystopian film again and again
COVID
CIDRAP reports: Of 47 animals tested at a zoo in Brazil, 9 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), with phylogenetic analysis suggesting they may have been infected by people, according to a report published yesterday in Virology Journal.
First Nations peoples’ health
Read the Mokak Oration, Beyond discomfort and dismay: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, power and prosperity
The Family Matters Report 2024 finds that child protection systems continue to fail Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, exposing them to ongoing harm and trauma.
The data shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are grossly over-represented at every stage of the child protection system and that we are still a long way off from meeting Target 12 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap to reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children entering the out-of-home care system.
Key findings include:
- 22,908 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care, which represents 41% of all children in out-of-home care, despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children making up only 6% of the total child population in Australia
- only 15% of government funding is spent on prevention, such as Family Support Services, the rest is spent on child protection and out-of-home care services
- only 6% of child protection funding is directed towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.
The report calls for increased support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled services, with increased funding for ACCO-led prevention programs.
The report calls on non-Indigenous non-government organisations to assist in the transition of service delivery to Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, ensuring our children can access the support they need.
Ahead of Djirri’s 16 days of ACTIVEism, Antoinette Braybrook AM, CEO Djirra, told Croakey:
“For too long, Aboriginal women have been excluded from decisions that shape our lives, ignored by governments, and silenced by colonial structures that perpetuate violence against us. In a post-referendum world, now more than ever our self-determination is non-negotiable. It’s time now to invest in Aboriginal women’s safety, knowledge and leadership. Aboriginal women’s lives matter too and we deserve better.”
#AusPol
#CroakeyREAD
Conference Watch
Elsewhere…
