The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Ms Katie Kiss has warned that legislation introduced by the Queensland Government late last week was "a devastating step backwards for First Nations rights and a blow to respectful relationships between the state government and Indigenous Queenslanders."
The Queensland Parliament repealed the Path to Treaty Act 2023 at its sitting last Thursday night and introduced legislation to amend the Youth Justice Act 1992, and Children's Court Act 1992.
Commissioner Kiss, a proud Kaanju and Biri/Widi woman who grew up in Rockhampton on the lands of the Darumbal People, was previously the Executive Director of the Interim Truth and Treaty Body supporting Queensland's Path to Treaty.
"The decision to repeal the Path to Treaty legislation without consulting First Nations people was a divisive and unilateral decision to deny our people the chance to share their stories to help accurately convey our state's history. It was deeply disrespectful and harmful to our communities, to our senior elders who carry the trauma of their lived experience of colonisation and deserve to be heard, and to the many people who put in years of work to make it a reality.
"I want to emphasise that this is not just a missed opportunity for us, it is a missed opportunity for all Queenslanders. The hearings that took place this year demonstrated the benefits truth-telling has for everyone by fostering unity, understanding, respect, dignity and wellbeing for all.
"Including First Nations People in decisions that affect them and ensuring that those with lived experience are heard is foundational to effective policy-making.
"If the Queensland Government sees such little value in shared decision-making and in hearing the truth about the First Nations inequality, the measures where reinvested Path to Treaty funds are to be directed are doomed to fail. We cannot be any clearer about this.
"The Making Queenslander Safer Bill 2024, which was introduced on Thursday 28 November and will be debated at the next sitting on 10 December, further demonstrates that the Queensland Government is not listening to First Nations people.
"Communities and organisations have strongly opposed the 'adult crime, adult time' policy. As freely admitted by the Queensland Government in the Bill's compatibility statement, the proposed legislation is not compliant with Queensland's human rights obligations, and will lead to sentences for children that are more punitive than necessary to achieve community safety.
"In short, the proposed legislation is retrograde, introducing a raft of measures-such as mandatory sentencing and removing detention as a last resort-which are harmful, disproportionate and which the overwhelming body of evidence tells us will not keep the community safe.
"The real culprits of youth crime are disadvantage, despair and desperation-caused by generations of failed government policy. Instead of admitting their mistakes and investing in intensive social supports, health and education the Queensland Government is making children pay the price for all those who have failed them.
"I strongly urge the Government to reconsider and instead provide the help children and their families urgently need that will prevent children from committing crime in the first place."
