Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians
ANDY PARK, HOST: In a historic moment, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Malarndirri McCarthy has become the first Indigenous Australian woman to deliver Australia's national statement to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York. The Australian delegation also includes the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar. Senator McCarthy is in New York. It's very late there now. She joins me on RN drive. Welcome to you, Senator. You are the first Indigenous Australian woman to deliver this statement. That must have been a big moment for your career.
NORTHERN TERRITORY SENATOR MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Well, I haven't really had a chance to think about it from that perspective. I guess I just wanted to make sure I got it right and made sure that the delegation that we brought over here who are just incredible women to walk beside here at the United Nations, I just felt enormously proud that we could represent our country in a way that talked about issues that really do matter for women, but not just in Australia, but around the world.
PARK: I mean, how significant is this, particularly for Indigenous Australians and Indigenous Australian women?
MCCARTHY: Look this was an important moment for all Australian women and I guess I just want to make that clear from the outset. Our representation here is for all of the women of Australia and I particularly also wanted to focus again obviously on First Nations women because of the vulnerability and the disadvantage that's faced even more for First Nations women in our country. And it was a shared view with other countries like Greenland, for example, when I met many of the countries in bilateral meetings, they talked about their First Nations people. When I met with Canada today and met with the First Nations people there, they spoke to those issues. But we all shared certainly the concerns around violence and family and domestic violence for all women and the need to make sure that the gender pay gap is really decreased and enables women across the globe to get themselves out of poverty.
PARK: Yes. So on that last idea there of of gender equity, I mean, that's at the heart of the Australian government's vision for the future, according to your statement. So what is the Government doing to push that vision?
MCCARTHY: Well, we are trying to do quite a number of things. I mean, the national gender pay gap in Australia at 13.3% and it's certainly higher for Indigenous women and it widens as women become older. So we've certainly seen legislation in recent months in regards to increases in pay in areas like the care sector. We know that many of our women in Australia are working in that sector and we know that through COVID we needed to ensure that there was a much greater support for all employees, but in particular women in that sector. So these are just some of the examples that we're looking at. But we've also dealing with other issues like online abuse, like the trolling of women, like the disgraceful commentary of women that really can hurt and and young girls. Also the material that can go online that can be indeed offensive or pornographic. All of these things are at the heart of the discussions this week at the United Nations of how we can stop that.
PARK: The priority theme of this year's event is innovation and technological change and education in the digital age. You sort of touched on it there with the sort of online issues that young women in this country particularly seem to be targeted on. I mean, you said in your speech that this is critical to closing the gap. Just kind of connect those ideas for me. Sure.
MCCARTHY: This is about closing or bridging the digital divide for women. I mean, we've seen certainly that in remote and regional Australia, whether you're a a pastoralist, a farmer, women who live on the land, First Nations women in their communities who are rangers or caregivers in terms of the families around them, they don't have access to the kind of technology that they should have, as you would see in Sydney and Melbourne. And these are things that we've seen replicated around the world. So bridging that digital divide was clearly at the heart of this week's meeting. And I know in terms of what we're trying to do in Australia, we've got, you know, the better connectivity plan for regional and rural Australia where we want to see more than 1.1 billion delivered into regional communities to address it. And I spoke just recently in the last couple of days and weeks where we've seen communities evacuated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and a lot of those communities didn't have access online. So we're talking about that digital divide and access that's been really important here. And if I could just add sorry, if I could just say this. We do have a wonderful eSafety Commissioner in Julie Inman Grant, and she is the only commissioner not only in Australia but around the world who is helping us really try and deal with this.
PARK: You know, Senator, I've got two little girls and I do my best to expose them to STEM, whether it be in books or in toys or just, you know, in programming on television. We know that women are chronically underrepresented in STEM fields. This is something else that you've brought up in your address. You say that discrimination can be baked in from the start. How does it manifest, do you think? Why are women able, you know, not able to get a start in STEM unlike their male counterparts?
MCCARTHY: It's interesting. We had a number of discussions with different groups this week. And one of the things that struck me was when I was speaking to women from Kenya, that they've got a break or we've all got a break, this systemic view that we can't do it as well. So it's about attitudes. It's about changing the system and encouraging our kids. Like your kids, for example, not just with dolls, but, you know, give them a stethoscope, you know, give them a hard hat so that they're playing with toys. Like, it can be as simple as that in terms of trying to break through the the realities of what we can actually achieve as young girls and women in our country and around the world.
PARK: If you're just tuning in, you're listening to Senator Malarndirri McCarthy. She's in New York. It's very late there. And she is the first Indigenous Australian woman to deliver Australia's national statement to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. I do want to talk more on closing the gap. I mean, the latest Closing the Gap data finds some measures are going backwards, including targets to reduce suicide rates of First Nations people. Is enough being done by the federal government in this space?
MCCARTHY: The data that came out this week was by the Productivity Commission. It has a good look at what's going on. We spoke in the Parliament and it just at the end of last year and I certainly did, express in deep disappointment that we didn't seem to be progressing far enough and quickly enough in terms of closing the gap. But I also mentioned that this was the first time I was speaking as someone who is in government. You know I've been in opposition with others, you know, for the last me a decade and now we have to turn it around. Now we have the opportunity to do that. And this is certainly something I'm very focussed on doing.
PARK: The report also found a number of targets have in fact improved but are not on track, such as improving healthy birth weights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies by 2031. I mean that's pretty worrying. Are you concerned that most of these targets won't in fact be hit?
MCCARTHY: Look, I am concerned about the fact that those targets are slow and not moving quickly enough. But working in the health space, we have terrific Aboriginal community controlled health organisations across Australia. We saw their capability through the pandemic where we were so worried that First Nations people would be in the high category of fatalities. But thankfully for those ACCHO's in particular, we could see that they can do the job and what they need to do is be resourced and that's certainly something I'm working on with Mark Butler as the Health Minister to make sure that those community controlled health organisations are resourced to assist in these targets like a healthy birthweight for our babies. We have to be given a chance, you know, we've not been in government for nearly ten years and we've got the next couple of years to turn this around. It will take time, but I am absolutely determined, along with my colleagues, to make sure we can do that.
PARK: Just finally, Senator, at the beginning of your address, you mentioned the government's commitment to enshrine a First Nations voice to Parliament. It was reported earlier this week that support for the yes vote is slipping. Reflecting on the conversations that you've had with people in New York about this issue, perhaps how they've tackled constitutional recognition for their First Nations people. Is it your view that if we do get this over the line, that our reputation globally will improve? And if not, will it suffer?
MCCARTHY: Without a doubt, countries are watching us. The countries that I've certainly spoken to in terms of Canada, Singapore, Peru, Greenland, the Dutch, all of them are watching. And that's just to name a few of the countries I've met with over here. And I want to also know that if this is a way through that can assist First Nations people of Australia, they want to look at what it can do as something similar in their respective places. Because, you know, there's a challenge in many countries where First Nations people are, and no doubt they will be watching this very closely.
PARK: Senator, I do appreciate your time today. Still time for a hotdog and a ride in the yellow cab tonight for you, I hope. And and some sleep, no doubt. Senator Malarndirri McCarthy all the way from New York. Appreciate your time.
MCCARTHY: Thanks, Andy.
