Below, two of the National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls‘ founding members, Debbie Kilroy and Tabitha Lean, say the Senate Inquiry into ‘Missing and murdered First Nations women and children’ was a missed opportunity to urgently address violence against Indigenous women and children, with many of the ten recommendations failing to include concrete steps to enact real change.
The National Network was established in 2020 to represent people who have been in prisons and to advocate for abolition of the prison industrial complex.
Debbie Kilroy and Tabitha Lean write:
The Senate Inquiry into ‘Missing and murdered First Nations women and children’, handed down last week, missed a critical opportunity for this nation to confront the grim reality of violence perpetrated against Indigenous women and children, as well as demanding justice for every disappeared and murdered Indigenous woman and their family.
From its outset, the inquiry was problematic and flawed, not the least because it was conducted by a colonial institution who has exacted significant harms to Indigenous people.
Indigenous women are disappeared deliberately and in the most violent and calculated manner.
According to several submissions to the inquiry, they are neither ‘lost’ nor ‘missing’ as the media or parliament would have you believe. They are murdered, often with impunity, in what can only be described as a crisis of national shame.
The inquiry’s findings and final report come after two years, 87 submissions, 10 public and seven in-camera hearings, and are ambiguous and lack substance. Its mere 10 recommendations are lacklustre and can be described as lukewarm, at best.
To add insult to injury, the report has been met with a mostly deafening silence by the media, signalling to Indigenous women that this country just does not care.
A flawed inquiry
Indigenous women have been the targets of racial and gendered violence since colonisation and are disappeared and murdered at an alarming rate. The violence that is perpetrated against Indigenous women and girls today “is the same systemic and colonial violence perpetrated as it has been since the first invasion and the Frontier Wars,” Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe said in additional comments to the inquiry.
Research shows that 20 percent of currently missing women in Australia are Aboriginal, and at least 315 First Nations women have been “murdered or died in suspicious circumstances since 2000”.
For far too long, these disappearances and murders have been met with indifference or outright neglect from every facet of mainstream Australia – from the media, the police, politicians and the court system.
Families, left to search for answers on their own, frequently turn to law enforcement for assistance, only to encounter the racial and gendered violence entrenched within the policing system. They themselves, become brutalised and harmed by a system they are told is there to ‘protect and serve’.
Their journey is often marked by immense pain and frustration, as the very systems meant to protect and serve all citizens, further perpetuates their suffering.
Many are left to investigate their loved one’s disappearance themselves taking to social media calling for people to look out for their family member.
When Senator Dorinda Cox called for this inquiry in October 2021 to draw attention to this epidemic, she said “[t]his is necessary because we have a justice system that does not take seriously the issues of missing and murdered First Nations women and children in this country, so this inquiry will ask those question for those families”.
While that certainly was the intention in the establishment of the inquiry, as it progressed, many expressed reservations about its conduct and construction.
In her testimony to the inquiry, Professor Chelsea Watego, Executive Director, Carumba Institute at Queensland University of Technology, raised concerns about the ways the inquiry was falling short of its responsibilities to Indigenous women and their families.
She criticised the inquiry’s reluctance to acknowledge the fundamental role of racial and gendered violence, and a deep reluctance to confront the systemic issues at play.
Watego also critiqued the inquiry’s overall silence and lack of communication in the media, compounding “the idea that the disappearance of Indigenous women is unremarkable, unimportant and resistant to legal redress”.
In her submission, she argued the inquiry should address three key things: to name racial and gendered violence as the root cause of the disappearances of Indigenous women and gender diverse people; to understand this violence as systemic and colonial; and lastly, to ensure the solutions this inquiry recommends shift power to our communities and away from the systems that harm.
Carceral solutions not the answer
At an inquiry hearing, I [Kilroy] cautioned against the reliance on carceral solutions, arguing that they perpetuate the very systems of oppression that fuel violence against Indigenous women.
“For any inquiry into this crisis to be meaningful, it must not bolster the carceral state. Recommendations that simply reinforce or extend the powers of the existing systems of the racial gendered violence of policing and incarceration will only result in more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women disappearing and being murdered, with their families left to bear the burden of seeking justice alone.”
Some submissions were concerned that by focusing on carceral solutions, the inquiry had the potential to not just expand the carceral state which was exacting harm to the very population group that this committee sought to serve, but that it would overlook the importance of community-based, transformative approaches that operate outside the carceral system.
These approaches would be essential for addressing the social, economic, cultural, institutional, and historical factors that contribute to the ongoing, racialised gender-based violence faced by First Nations women, girls, and gender-diverse people.
It’s almost like the committee didn’t hear any of this.
Silence
It is an interesting duality to consider – the act of disappearing someone is violent. It’s likely noisy and chaotic, there’s possibly resistance, and it’s certainly the very opposite of calm.
However, disappearance is silent. It is still, empty, vacant, passive and it is like a stagnant pond, with barely a ripple. It is kind of like this inquiry and the handing down of its findings.
When the committee finally released its long-awaited report, it failed to ‘uncover’ the truth behind the crisis.
Instead, it once again highlighted the state’s refusal to take accountability for its own role in the forcible disappearances of Indigenous women.
Dr Amy McQuire, Indigenous fellow in the School of Communications at Queensland University of Technology, wrote in Black Justice Journalism, “instead of breaking a silence, it [the report] reproduces the silencing processes that [we] have witnessed time and time again in coronial inquests in which First Nations women have been forcibly disappeared”.
After two years, the committee found that disappeared and murdered Indigenous women were worth ten recommendations. And worse, when not calling for a carceral response, the recommendations are vague and failed to address the root causes of racial and gendered violence.
“This is in comparison to the landmark Canadian inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls which released over 200 calls for justice, and deliberately situated the targeting of Aboriginal women for violence as a continuing genocide,” McQuire told the National Indigenous Times.
Thorpe’s critique of the recommendations were summed up perfectly – “the overall failure to name and address within the actual recommendations the role of colonisation, white supremacy, and the ongoing genocide falls short of truth-telling, justice, healing, and does a disservice to those who participated in this inquiry”.
The Senate Inquiry needed to make bold and transformative recommendations.
The submissions from myself [Kilroy], the Institute for Collaborative Race Relations, and McQuire specifically argued against the carceral solutions the inquiry delivered, articulating how police were actively creating landscapes of impunity where Indigenous women are targeted for violence without consequence.
They were very clear, the answer was not more police, it was not more prisons, it was not more courts, more coroners, or more cultural awareness training.
I [Kilroy] proposed that an independent national body be established to investigate and address the disappearances and murders of Indigenous women. A body that doesn’t replace the already flawed system but is truly independent. A body that could operate with transparency, accountability, and a deep understanding of the justice sought by Indigenous communities. But that is not what we got.
Among the ten vaguely worded recommendations, they included a recommendation for the expansion of police powers.
This shallow report, lacking in substance, delivered disappointment after disappointment.
Recommendation two, the most substantial recommendation, simply reinforced and essentially extended the powers of the existing systems of racial and gendered violence, including policing.
The committee recommended “that the Attorney-General tasks the Police Ministers Council to review existing police practices in each jurisdiction, consider the learnings from each jurisdiction and aim to implement and harmonise best police practices across Australia by no later than 31 December 2025, with the goal of ensuring all interactions with First Nations people are consistent and of a high standard, including standards of cultural awareness and safety”.
This will no doubt result in the Police Ministers Council arguing for more funding and resources to go to policing.
As well as the solutions not being found in the hands of the police, nor can we ‘cultural awareness’ ourselves out of this crisis.
The police are part of the problem, a very big part of a colonial system that is operating exactly as intended, to disappear Indigenous women and to alibi those who are culpable.
It will only result in more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women disappearing and being murdered, with their families left to bear the burden of seeking justice alone.
Failure to challenge harmful colonial structures
The nine other recommendations, at best, seek to uphold, not call out, the state rather than challenge the colonial structures that exact this violence upon Indigenous women and children.
They also do not place power in the hands of Indigenous women and children themselves.
- Recommendation one, which prescribes the co-design of a culturally appropriate way to recognise and remember murdered or disappeared Indigenous women and children, is symbolic but fails to address the underlying causes of the crisis. While recognition may be important, it does not go far enough in challenging the systemic violence that continues to harm Indigenous women and children. It is nothing more than commemorative recognition.
- Recommendation three reinforces existing structures without proposing any real change. Suggesting that the Senate or another appropriate body monitors progress is a passive approach that lacks the urgency and accountability needed to tackle the issues at hand.
- The proposal to appoint a First Nations person within the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission – in recommendation four – is a step in the right direction, but it falls short of being transformative. The position’s effectiveness depends on the powers and funding provided, which recommendation four fails to adequately address.
- Recommendation five focuses on service delivery rather than dismantling the structures that contribute to violence and harm in the first place. The call to increase the geographic spread and capacity of Family Violence Prevention Legal Services is necessary but does not address the broader issues of systemic violence.
- While prioritising funding for Aboriginal community-controlled organisations is important, recommendation six lacks specificity and transformative potential. It continues to rely on the state to provide solutions without challenging the colonial power dynamics at play.
- Empowering First Nations women to lead the design and implementation of services is essential, but recommendation seven lacks the concrete steps needed to ensure that Indigenous women have real power and influence. It does not sufficiently challenge the structures that disempower Indigenous women in the first place.
- Recommendation nine – for the Australian Press Council to consider and reflect on the evidence given in this inquiry with media portrayal of murdered and disappeared First Nations women and children – does not significantly address the role of the media in perpetuating harmful stereotypes and fails to call for significant changes in media practices. The suggestion that the Australian Press Council reflect on how the media portrays cases of murdered and disappeared Indigenous women is inadequate.
- Recommendation 10, which considers various suggestions made to the inquiry, is vague and lacks commitment. It bundles together a range of issues without offering a clear, actionable plan for implementation.
Overall, these recommendations do not go far enough in addressing the racial and gendered violence committed against Indigenous women and children.
Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, it would seem that the inquiry was more concerned with maintaining the status quo and ensuring the state’s continued control rather than advocating for the bold and radical changes needed to dismantle the oppressive systems that target Indigenous women.
Justice remains a distant dream
The state is good at covering its tracks. They are great at disappearing Black bodies – as evidenced by the rapidly increasing mass incarceration of Indigenous women – so we shouldn’t be surprised by the disappointing results from the Senate Inquiry.
This was an opportunity. A critical opportunity for the colony to atone for its sins, to account for its role in disappearing Indigenous women. To expose the colonial violence that is wielded with impunity against Black women’s bodies.
It was an opportunity to consider how we can change the forces that create harm, and people who harm, in our communities, homes and neighbourhoods. To consider what accountability looked like, and to say very firmly, “no more!”, “No more Indigenous women or children will be disappeared or murdered on our watch”.
Instead, this inquiry reminded us that we cannot rely on a system steeped in racial and gendered violence to provide answers, solutions, truth or justice for Indigenous women and their families.
Every single day, the police, the courts, and coronial inquests fail to deliver the justice families of disappeared and murdered Indigenous women deserve. These systems are not truth seekers. They are not life affirming. Nor are they systems of real justice or accountability.
They are part of a large system which prioritises its own interests over those of the women who have been disappeared and murdered.
This inquiry has not contributed anything concrete to ease families’ burden.
Justice is long overdue.
The crisis of disappeared and murdered Indigenous women in Australia demands urgent action.
Because the Inquiry failed to confront the systemic violence that has long plagued this country, the struggle remains.
We owe it to the memory of those women and children who have been disappeared to create a system that seeks truth and justice, rather than one that perpetuates harm and neglect.
Indigenous women are not the problem, nor is the Indigenous community. The colony is. And until we reconcile with that fact, none of the recommendations in the world will make a difference.
The time for action is now! The answers will not be found in throwing more money or resources at the police or carceral state.
To be effective we are going to have to go to the root of the problem – anything less would be an injustice.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN (13 92 76) or 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Previously at Croakey
Truth telling and self-determination are critical for addressing violence against First Nations women and children, by Jade Bradford
See Croakey’s archive of articles on justice
