Minister for Indigenous Australians
Subjects: Closing The Gap, truth-telling, Stolen Generations.
EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: Well, it is National Reconciliation Week, but where are we in Closing the Gap that still exists between First Nations and other Australians? The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, joins us now from Canberra. Minister, welcome.
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Good morning.
HOST: How are we Closing the Gap? Are we any closer to doing so?
MINISTER: Well, last week, we held the Joint Council on Closing the Gap with all the Indigenous Affairs Ministers, Emma, and also the Coalition of Peaks. It was the first Joint Council that we had Donnella Mills as my Co-Chair. As you may recall, Pat Turner was the convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, and now Donnella has taken on the role since Pat's retirement. So, we did come together on Friday to go through a number of issues, and I stressed to all the Indigenous Affairs Ministers around the table that we only have just over four years, in terms of this agreement, and as the Prime Minister said in February in his report on Closing The Gap, that failure is not an option.
HOST: We spoke to Travis Lovett yesterday, who completed a five week long Walk for Truth. Now, he's calling on the federal government to commit to a national truth-telling process. We also saw you with him yesterday, in that vision at Parliament. Will the government commit to that? Is this something the government's looking at?
MINISTER: Well, it was an incredible journey by Travis and his wife, Renata, and the team behind him. He certainly had a lot of support, a lot of Indigenous businesses, Uncle Lionel was one of them, with the traffic works. I joined them on Sunday, Emma, to do the walk into Canberra. Of course, this is a significant moment, but it is one moment in many, along the decades, for First Nations people. We've had ups and downs, and to see Travis and the hundreds and hundreds of people who came with him yesterday, onto the forecourt of Parliament House, was an extraordinary moment, and an uplifting one for our country. And we certainly took the messages from Travis and his team yesterday, and that's what we will look at now.
HOST: So, is the government seriously looking at a truth-telling process?
MINISTER: Well, we said that with the Uluru Statement from the Heart, there were three principles, the Voice, Treaty and Truth, and I know that that has been important for us. It was very disappointing with the outcome of the Voice, but we moved on from that. And clearly, there are many other issues that are going on with the states, Victoria, in particular, has had a treaty process, a Yoorrook Commission, which Travis Lovett was a commissioner on that Yoorrook Commission. I asked Travis yesterday in my conversations with him, and obviously with the Prime Minister, about the Yoorrook Commission. How did that go? What were the stories in that? And what certainly was also just as interesting, Emma, was the evidence that was provided by non-Indigenous Australians to that Commission, on how they felt in terms of the history of Victoria. And I think these are really important moments, especially as we come together in Reconciliation Week.
HOST: Minister, we also spoke to Mick Dodson this week. Of course, one of the authors of the landmark Bringing Them Home report into the Stolen Generations. Now, that report was tabled 29 years ago. I want to play you a portion of that interview now.
There are 83 recommendations. Only five have been fully implemented. I don't think they care. Maybe they're just waiting for the survivors to die out, so the problem goes away. But it doesn't.
HOST: Minister, how do you respond to that?
MINISTER: Yes, I've heard that from Mick's daughter, Shannon Dodson, who now leads the Healing Foundation, and it's a conversation that both Shannon and I have had, but also with the Stolen Generations members. In fact, we had that conversation, I think, over a year ago in Darwin, when they put out the report, Are you waiting for us to die? It is a really horrible thing to think about, but that's the reality that Stolen Generations families are feeling. I now have an action plan for the next 12 months with the Healing Foundation, so that we can look at all of those recommendations through this action plan and work closely with the Healing Foundation. I don't know why previous governments and ministers may not have handled all of those recommendations, but I can certainly give this commitment, that I will be working very closely with the Stolen Generations in the next 12 months to see if we can achieve those results.
HOST: We also heard this week, the government announcing an additional $2.6 million in funding for Stolen Generations survivors. Can you detail what that money will be used for?
MINISTER: Well, one of the key issues that comes through, Emma is the importance of being able to find out where you come from. There are still many First Nations people who are still trying to work out their lineage, what happened to their mothers and fathers and uncles and grandparents, and so we have Link Ups across the country. It's important to be able to resource them in each state and territory jurisdiction, so that First Nations family members can go and find out and do the research and be able to see how they can be connected. So, that's a fundamental aspect of that, and providing the support to those who work in this space. It's a very difficult space to work in. Obviously, there's a lot of trauma that people have gone through and continue to go through in telling their story, and so we are very mindful of the way we also approach helping and assisting our Stolen Generations members.
HOST: Minister Malarndirri McCarthy, thanks for your time.
MINISTER: Thank you.
