Minister for Indigenous Australians
Topics: NT Coroner's findings, Government response to Senate Inquiry into murdered and missing First Nations women, media coverage of murdered and missing First Nations women.
BRIDGET BRENNAN, HOST: The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, has described gender‑based violence against First Nations women as a national shame. On the same day, the NT Coroner handed down her findings from a landmark inquest into the deaths of four Aboriginal women. Senator McCarthy joins us from Parliament House in Canberra. Minister, good morning to you.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Good morning, Bridget. Good morning to your viewers.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Gee, reading that coronial report, as I did yesterday, I had to pause many times. It is so deeply emotional, extremely upsetting to hear of the ways in which dozens of women have been killed in your home state. How do you reflect on the work of the Coroner in the NT?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: I certainly thank Coroner Armitage for her work, and certainly for all those families that have come forward in the Northern Territory in the lead up to the Coroner's remarks yesterday. This is an important moment, not only for the Northern Territory, but for Australia, Bridget, to realise that this is a national scourge that we have across our country, impacting First Nations women and children. And not only the Northern Territory, but the whole of the country has to act, and the Australian Parliament is certainly doing that.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: What will you do in response to this inquiry? I mean, there has been a number of inquiries, but I believe this coronial is incredibly landmark in the way in which it has dealt with community, in the experts it's brought in. That coronial inquiry is saying, Minister, that the NT does not have enough funding to deal with this, as it calls it, a contagion.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, I certainly see that the recommendations of the Coroner will be followed through, certainly by the Labor Opposition in the Northern Territory. We are yet to obviously hear the Northern Territory Government. But I would say this to your viewers, Bridget, that we have provided the Northern Territory with $180 million in funding across, not just the NT Government, but also to the Aboriginal community-controlled sector across the Northern Territory. And we want them to spend the money where it's needed. I've certainly been speaking to the women's shelters, the family and domestic violence sector. I know they need that funding and I would urge the Northern Territory Government to actually spend, where it's required, to assist those sectors.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: And would you urge them to release that money immediately?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Absolutely. I would call on the Northern Territory Government to do that immediately. This is too critical. We know that from a federal perspective that there was a requirement to assist the family and domestic violence sector in the Northern Territory. And I urge the Northern Territory Government to do that immediately. I also hear the calls of the Coroner in terms of a peak. That is something that has also been raised with me individually by different staff across the family and domestic violence sector in the Northern Territory. And I certainly encourage that call very, very strongly.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Is the NT getting a big enough share of federal money as well to deal with this? Is it getting needs‑based funding, given the scale of the violence that women are experiencing?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, I firstly say that they need to spend the money that they've been given already, Bridget. I do understand and I hear those calls from the sector, but I also ‑ I know for a fact that we have provided the money from the Commonwealth. What worries me is that this is then seen as politicking. I'm just saying, please, spend the money that you have, that you have been given, to this sector immediately and then of course, let's work on what needs to be done from there.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: All right. Well, at a national level you have responded to the Senate Inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children. What are your responses? How have you responded to the ten recommendations made in this inquiry?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, I've certainly reached out to the Parliament and said to those who came forward, to all the family members, in particular, who came forward, this is a historic moment in the delivery of that report to the Parliament, irrespective of what criticisms there may have been. This was important over the three years for it to occur. And I do commend Senator Dorinda Cox and also the previous Minister, Linda Burney, for their efforts to ensure that this did occur. That was important. What we've also identified by doing this, Bridget, is that we've made this a national agenda, when the Prime Minister called National Cabinet to focus on gender‑based violence, incorporating the recommendations from this inquiry.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Have you accepted all ten recommendations?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: We have noted a large number of the recommendations, which actually belong to the jurisdictions, Bridget, but we accept certainly the roles of the Commonwealth in this. And what I'll continue to do is meet with those Indigenous Affairs Ministers, as I've done recently, to ensure that we continue to keep working in this space. We won't stop and we continue to work in the family and domestic violence sector. We've advertised for a Children's Commissioner for youth and children, for First Nations youth and children. We hope to have that up and running in January. We are pushing through with the housing bill to be able to look at accommodation in the family and domestic violence sector. We have been able to pass laws to ensure there is domestic and family violence leave, but also support for women suffering from domestic violence. So, this particular inquiry does not just stop with its recommendations.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: So, just confirming, I've heard your responses on two of the recommendations, for the eight other recommendations, what does it mean to say that you've "noted" them? Will you be looking at enacting them, or have they been ‑‑
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, for example, when we look at the jurisdictions around police, well of course that will be up to the Attorney‑General to work at the SCAG level with the police jurisdictions. It will be up to each of those jurisdictions to then follow through. We can't enforce it, but we can make sure we have those conversations. So, it doesn't mean we don't agree, is what I'm saying.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Okay. Minister, as a former journalist, what would your message be to the Australian media about the coverage of the deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in this country?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Thank you, Bridget. It came through quite clearly across those three years with all the family members who gave witness to their experiences about the media as well. And I would say to journalists and producers and to media organisations across the country, you need to look at this with a lens that really is about the dignity of First Nations people. What came through in the evidence in the inquiry was that First Nations families felt they weren't believed, felt they weren't heard and felt that they were completely ignored. This must change. I've certainly written to the Australian Press Council, I'll be calling on fellow Senators to assist me with media across the country. There has to be a change in the culture of the media, in the reporting and the way it's reported.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Well said. Thanks very much, Minister, for your time this morning.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Thank you, Bridget.
