WEBVTT - “Yarning with Youth”: our new Commissioner for Aboriginal kids

0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:00.920
<v Speaker 1>I don't know.

0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:02.160
<v Speaker 2>I don't know how you can sit in front of

0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.880
<v Speaker 2>these kids sometimes and not of a tear in your eye.

0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.200
<v Speaker 2>I've been called too emotional, but if that's what it is,

0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:11.039
<v Speaker 2>I don't care. It's humanizing our kids and I think

0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.760
<v Speaker 2>that's part of what I want to do in this commission.

0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:16.800
<v Speaker 3>So Wen hundred has had a long career which started

0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.319
<v Speaker 3>as a social worker and reached the heights as a

0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:24.040
<v Speaker 3>commissioner for Victoria's Truth Telling Commission y Rook. Now she's

0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:28.440
<v Speaker 3>been appointed as Australia's first National Commissioner for Aboriginal Entirestrade

0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.319
<v Speaker 3>Islander Children and young people. And the way of the

0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:33.040
<v Speaker 3>responsibility is very real.

0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.879
<v Speaker 2>It's been called for for a long time. And in

0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.479
<v Speaker 2>saying that, can I just start by recognizing those people

0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.519
<v Speaker 2>that have come before us, our ancestors, our elders, but

0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:45.159
<v Speaker 2>particularly those that are fought for our children, those from

0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.680
<v Speaker 2>stolen generation, those who turned home, those that didn't.

0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.199
<v Speaker 3>Her apportment comes at a time when aberig and on

0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.760
<v Speaker 3>Tirestrude Island are adults are being imprisoned at one of

0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.800
<v Speaker 3>the highest rates in the world, incarceration rates arising instead

0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.720
<v Speaker 3>of falling. Indigenous people make up nearly a third of

0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.080
<v Speaker 3>all deaths and custody and most closing the gap. Targets

0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.560
<v Speaker 3>for children are not on track, with some going backwards.

0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.560
<v Speaker 3>So the task to break the cycle that leads to

0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:12.960
<v Speaker 3>these appalling stats is a huge one.

0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.640
<v Speaker 2>So when I walked in, it's huge, right. My first

0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.200
<v Speaker 2>job is to get set the foundation. It's a solid foundation,

0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.240
<v Speaker 2>so that this commission worked for later down, you know,

0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:25.600
<v Speaker 2>years down the track.

0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:32.120
<v Speaker 3>I'm Daniel James and you're listening to seven AM today,

0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.840
<v Speaker 3>National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torrest Dratiland, their Children and

0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:40.360
<v Speaker 3>Young People, sue An Hunter on the task ahead and

0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.880
<v Speaker 3>giving voice to children who have too often been spoken

0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:58.040
<v Speaker 3>about but rarely listened to. It's Friday, February twenty In

0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.600
<v Speaker 3>terms of the issues that are confronting appalstra on the children.

0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.920
<v Speaker 3>What's the priority there for you in terms of now

0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.360
<v Speaker 3>that you're established, what do you want to tackle first?

0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.720
<v Speaker 2>One of the things we sort of have underway is

0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.760
<v Speaker 2>we are commissioning a piece of work at this point

0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:21.280
<v Speaker 2>around all the big commissions inquiries that have already been done,

0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:25.280
<v Speaker 2>you know, and I know there's one hundred recommendations, there's

0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:26.959
<v Speaker 2>hundreds of recommendations seeing the shelf.

0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.720
<v Speaker 4>The Human Rights Commission has now published its report.

0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:31.200
<v Speaker 5>It's called Bringing Them Home.

0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.880
<v Speaker 6>It's a profoundly moving, deeply disturbing document.

0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:37.520
<v Speaker 2>It is most of the recommendations put forward by the

0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:43.639
<v Speaker 2>Bringing Home Report AH have either never been or inadequately implemented.

0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:48.120
<v Speaker 4>With the report of the Royal Commission to Aboriginal Destin's Custody,

0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:52.520
<v Speaker 4>which showed we're devastating clarity that the past lives on

0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:58.239
<v Speaker 4>in inequality, racism and injustice.

0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.840
<v Speaker 6>Twenty years ago, the Royal Commission into Original Deaths in

0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:05.560
<v Speaker 6>Custody delivered its final report. Two decades on, Indigenous incarceration

0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.760
<v Speaker 6>rates remain high and Indigenous deaths in custody is still happening.

0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:12.600
<v Speaker 2>And I think we'll start with the Bringing Them Home

0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.440
<v Speaker 2>Report in our home care move forward from there. We'll

0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.280
<v Speaker 2>also look at death in custody, how does that affect children?

0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:23.679
<v Speaker 2>All those reports that will set a blueprint. I don't

0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:25.959
<v Speaker 2>want to come out all guns are blazing doing another

0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:29.079
<v Speaker 2>report that nobody's going to look at. The Other thing

0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.120
<v Speaker 2>that we've started putting our.

0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:33.239
<v Speaker 1>Minds to is data.

0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.040
<v Speaker 2>Data is collected differently in states, territories, and jurisdictions. Around

0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.360
<v Speaker 2>the place, particularly on our kids, and it's done differently

0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:45.200
<v Speaker 2>because there's different laws in every state. So collecting the

0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:49.440
<v Speaker 2>data nationally to get a really good solid understanding of

0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:53.000
<v Speaker 2>where our kids are at in our home care, with justice,

0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.240
<v Speaker 2>in health, in education data tells a story.

0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:58.280
<v Speaker 1>We really need that.

0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:00.920
<v Speaker 2>But also setting up a frame work of youth, of

0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:03.960
<v Speaker 2>going out and consulting and I hate the word consulting

0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.040
<v Speaker 2>that you know, yarning with youth about their views and

0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.880
<v Speaker 2>what they want to see in and getting their views

0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.680
<v Speaker 2>even into a lot of how we're setting this up.

0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.440
<v Speaker 2>That's not really tackling the big issues to start with,

0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.839
<v Speaker 2>but it's setting a really big foundation, a solid foundation

0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.039
<v Speaker 2>that this commission can be built off.

0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.159
<v Speaker 3>This role has been written into law. What powers have

0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.120
<v Speaker 3>you been given and how are they different from what

0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.200
<v Speaker 3>existed before, if there was anything before.

0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.320
<v Speaker 2>This is the first time our kids are in there

0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.760
<v Speaker 2>in a Commonwealth law. So we sit under like a

0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.960
<v Speaker 2>Public Service Act at the moment. That will then give

0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.520
<v Speaker 2>us the independence that we need so we're free of

0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:50.000
<v Speaker 2>political interference, actually anybody's interference. It's big, like it's a

0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:55.839
<v Speaker 2>big responsibility. That means we can motion our own inquiries.

0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:59.160
<v Speaker 2>That means we can compel documents. That means we can

0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.000
<v Speaker 2>ask people to come b for us and give us

0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:06.599
<v Speaker 2>answer our questions. It also means that we can speak

0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:12.240
<v Speaker 2>directly to governments about what's working and what's not working. Now,

0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:16.280
<v Speaker 2>we all know recommendations and you know reports don't always.

0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:17.800
<v Speaker 1>Get picked up. I get that.

0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.040
<v Speaker 2>I've just been on the Yarrouk Justice Commission and if

0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.200
<v Speaker 2>you look at once, we get this commissioned piece of

0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.160
<v Speaker 2>work and we'll see how many taken up.

0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:28.120
<v Speaker 1>But it also gives me an in to.

0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:32.040
<v Speaker 2>Understand the issues of why and really work about getting them.

0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.520
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to be persistent and continuous and I'm going

0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.599
<v Speaker 2>to be really selective in recommendations.

0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:38.280
<v Speaker 1>But I'll also run that.

0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.240
<v Speaker 2>Past the kids, because it's them. This is for them,

0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.760
<v Speaker 2>this is what they want to see. I think one

0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.039
<v Speaker 2>of the things I've always thought about, Daniel is the

0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.920
<v Speaker 2>gap between policy and on the ground delivery.

0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:52.040
<v Speaker 1>This is big gap.

0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:55.920
<v Speaker 2>I want to get into the policy level, and I've

0:05:55.960 --> 0:06:00.600
<v Speaker 2>been talking to people already, you know, people in Parliament

0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.640
<v Speaker 2>across the board, saying, if you have something you want

0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:07.120
<v Speaker 2>to get through and it includes our children, let us

0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.360
<v Speaker 2>know early. Don't just spin that on We will break

0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:13.600
<v Speaker 2>that down and take it out to our kids and say, hey,

0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:14.680
<v Speaker 2>this is what they're looking at.

0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:17.440
<v Speaker 1>What does that mean for you? What does that look like?

0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:19.400
<v Speaker 2>And then be able to give them some advice about

0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:21.600
<v Speaker 2>what that looks like on the ground. What the kids

0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.880
<v Speaker 2>are saying. You don't get better outcomes for our kids

0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:27.200
<v Speaker 2>through their voices.

0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.040
<v Speaker 3>What powers haven't you been given that you would have

0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:31.120
<v Speaker 3>liked to have had.

0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.720
<v Speaker 2>We've had a big jibaji about quite a few, but

0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.360
<v Speaker 2>I will say I come in a bit cynical.

0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:38.839
<v Speaker 1>I didn't think we'd get much.

0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:41.800
<v Speaker 2>We have more than I actually thought we'd get, so

0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:45.839
<v Speaker 2>I'm really grateful for that. The rights to entry, we

0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:51.080
<v Speaker 2>don't have don Dale or Banksy Hill, you know those places.

0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.920
<v Speaker 5>Image you've just seen isn't from Guantanamo Bay or Abbergrabe,

0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:02.040
<v Speaker 5>but Australia in twenty fifteen, a boy hooded, shackled, struck

0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:06.200
<v Speaker 5>to a chair and left alone. It is Bob Barrick.

0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.360
<v Speaker 5>This is juvenile justice in the Northern Territory.

0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.880
<v Speaker 2>What we need to remember is in most jurisdictions there's

0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:17.280
<v Speaker 2>a Commissioner for children, or there's there's also maybe not everywhere,

0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:21.080
<v Speaker 2>but there's commissioner original hundred children as well. They know

0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:23.960
<v Speaker 2>their own backyard, they know what's going on in their

0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.239
<v Speaker 2>own state, and I will be guided by them. Whether

0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.480
<v Speaker 2>I'm the backup dancer in something is fine or whether

0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.200
<v Speaker 2>they want me to be the you know, the front

0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.559
<v Speaker 2>person in that will work that out as we go along.

0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.840
<v Speaker 3>As you've alluded to you throughout our conversation so far,

0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.920
<v Speaker 3>so am many of the biggest leavers sit with states

0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:46.200
<v Speaker 3>and territories. So what can a National commissioner realistically shift?

0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:47.880
<v Speaker 2>I think I'm just going to be like a little

0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:50.120
<v Speaker 2>terrier and I'm constantly going to be at their door,

0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.040
<v Speaker 2>you know, knock and knock and knocking, and have those

0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:56.760
<v Speaker 2>in and make those relationships. There's power in numbers. We

0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.960
<v Speaker 2>need to remember that. But I think if we can't

0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.560
<v Speaker 2>with the voices and stories, you can't dismiss the voices

0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:07.520
<v Speaker 2>and stories of our youth. I don't know about you, Daniel,

0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:09.960
<v Speaker 2>but when you sit with our young ones and you

0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.800
<v Speaker 2>listen the adversity they've been through to where they are now,

0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.480
<v Speaker 2>you can't deny that. Can I just tell you I've

0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.000
<v Speaker 2>already got all these inboxes from kids because I've invited

0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.520
<v Speaker 2>them contact us. Let us know, tell us your story,

0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.120
<v Speaker 2>because the kids that are doing well and have gone

0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.720
<v Speaker 2>through the adversity have these amazing stories, So why don't

0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.120
<v Speaker 2>want to highlight the good stuff. I met a young

0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.720
<v Speaker 2>girl and she was homeless, no job, and she was

0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:39.240
<v Speaker 2>actually meeting with Minister Purbasic and then I saw her

0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.120
<v Speaker 2>after the bill had been read. She's like Arnie Arnie

0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:44.640
<v Speaker 2>and chased me down the hall and she's just got

0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:46.240
<v Speaker 2>to big his hug and she was kind and said,

0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:47.560
<v Speaker 2>thought make commercial.

0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.680
<v Speaker 1>I haven't. This is amazing for our people.

0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.280
<v Speaker 2>And I said you need to just we're going to

0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:55.120
<v Speaker 2>catch up and she said, I said, I need your

0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.240
<v Speaker 2>story out there, and she said, I've come from nothing,

0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:03.120
<v Speaker 2>And she's not even a I've come from nothing. They're

0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:07.480
<v Speaker 2>the stories that need to be in front the humanize

0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.199
<v Speaker 2>our kids, because they're dehumanized all the time.

0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:25.640
<v Speaker 3>Coming up, what's most broken about the system? Let's talk

0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.880
<v Speaker 3>a bit about you, Sue, and what made you want

0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.520
<v Speaker 3>to take up this position as a National Commissioner for

0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.120
<v Speaker 3>Average Ultage rat On to Children.

0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.760
<v Speaker 2>In the first instance, I think the work I've done

0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:36.920
<v Speaker 2>is a social worker on the ground with our kids,

0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.000
<v Speaker 2>and I carry look, I carry hundreds of stories I've

0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.000
<v Speaker 2>sat with our kids in hospitals, and I've sat with

0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:48.960
<v Speaker 2>them in atension, sat with them in classrooms and homes

0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:52.240
<v Speaker 2>and you know, little did I know then as a

0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:54.240
<v Speaker 2>little social worker where I'd end up.

0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:56.400
<v Speaker 1>But those I learned.

0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.080
<v Speaker 2>More of those kids than I have ever in a

0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:04.479
<v Speaker 2>classroom doing my social work degree. I do for them,

0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.880
<v Speaker 2>That's why, and it really drives me. You know, I'm

0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.600
<v Speaker 2>an aunty and a mum as well. Our kids deserve better,

0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.640
<v Speaker 2>they just do. It's all been with and for our

0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:20.160
<v Speaker 2>next generation. It's just such an honor. But it's huge,

0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.720
<v Speaker 2>Like the enormity of it. I have to chunk it

0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:25.800
<v Speaker 2>down and break it down, otherwise it would just be

0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:26.800
<v Speaker 2>too overwhelming.

0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:28.440
<v Speaker 1>But the.

0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.040
<v Speaker 2>Everyone's willing to help. Everyone wants to chip in.

0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.559
<v Speaker 3>And I love that You've worked with Aboriginal children for

0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:39.880
<v Speaker 3>a long time now in all sorts of different levels

0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.439
<v Speaker 3>over the years. What have you seen what's most broken

0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.760
<v Speaker 3>about the way we deal with Aboriginal entirestrana and the

0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.800
<v Speaker 3>kids in a systemic sense and in a societal sense.

0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.040
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I was thinking about this the other day. We

0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.040
<v Speaker 2>were talking about different things in sort of our home

0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:01.160
<v Speaker 2>care and stuff. Kids always go home right and whether

0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.000
<v Speaker 2>they run from our home care or what, haven't you

0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.360
<v Speaker 2>they always go home. We need to support the family

0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.160
<v Speaker 2>as a whole. Sometimes kids need to be removed. Let's

0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.040
<v Speaker 2>be really clear. It's about the safety and the rights

0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.040
<v Speaker 2>of the child, and the rights of the child with

0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.560
<v Speaker 2>the forefront for me and the safety and well being.

0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:21.040
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes kids have to be removed and then they always want.

0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:21.400
<v Speaker 1>To go home.

0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:24.840
<v Speaker 2>Why don't we working with families. It's a whole, it's

0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.360
<v Speaker 2>a whole family. We strengthen the family as well as

0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.119
<v Speaker 2>the child, and then in doing that we're also strengthening

0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:34.120
<v Speaker 2>the community. It costs more to lock a child out

0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.520
<v Speaker 2>than it would be to put that into a family,

0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.920
<v Speaker 2>a whole family and a child. There's more focus on policy.

0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.439
<v Speaker 2>We lose that this is human beings. They're not statistics,

0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.120
<v Speaker 2>their children, they're families.

0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.160
<v Speaker 3>You've seen firsthand that education has a big role to

0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.480
<v Speaker 3>play in helping address the problems facing First Nations children

0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.600
<v Speaker 3>and young people. So what do you want all Australians

0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.560
<v Speaker 3>to know that they perhaps don't know right now?

0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.959
<v Speaker 2>I want people to understand that our children are strong,

0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:10.360
<v Speaker 2>they're smart, they need opportunities and we can grow that

0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:14.560
<v Speaker 2>by not doing the public narrative of their all criminals

0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.439
<v Speaker 2>and they're not demonized. And we have this horrific public

0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:24.400
<v Speaker 2>narrative about Aboriginal youth at this point. And so I

0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:26.959
<v Speaker 2>want them to know that our kids smart and strong,

0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:29.320
<v Speaker 2>they come from the oldest living culture in this world,

0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:33.160
<v Speaker 2>that they carry in them, that they need opportunities, that

0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.160
<v Speaker 2>we need to support them, that we need to build

0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.959
<v Speaker 2>them up as a society because we've teared them down.

0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:40.800
<v Speaker 1>For too long. That's what I want Australia to know.

0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.959
<v Speaker 3>Finally, Sueanne, recently the Government handed down it's latest Closing

0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:48.120
<v Speaker 3>the Gap report and most targets aren't on track and

0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:50.240
<v Speaker 3>several are even going backwards.

0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.959
<v Speaker 7>Mister speaker, where are now five years away from most

0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:59.800
<v Speaker 7>of the target deadlines? We're clear about where there is

0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:04.800
<v Speaker 7>more want to do. We must also guard against talk

0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:10.840
<v Speaker 7>of failure, because talk of failure dismisses the aspirations and

0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.760
<v Speaker 7>achievements of Indigenous Australians.

0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.120
<v Speaker 3>It ignores Why is that in your view? And can

0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:18.440
<v Speaker 3>we ever turn that around?

0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.240
<v Speaker 2>I think we can turn it around, I really do.

0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:24.760
<v Speaker 2>So what Closing the Gap does is give us the

0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:29.160
<v Speaker 2>data yeah and tells us this isn't working. What I

0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.480
<v Speaker 2>can do in this role. Let's look at the accountability.

0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:35.679
<v Speaker 2>Why isn't it working, where is government investing, where are

0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.360
<v Speaker 2>they missing out? Who's not doing what? And hold them

0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:41.319
<v Speaker 2>have the accountability. I can call that out. I can

0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:43.800
<v Speaker 2>call out those pieces. I can ask for those documents.

0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:45.840
<v Speaker 2>I can have a look at what where the gaps

0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:51.800
<v Speaker 2>are and call that out. Like you can't say it's great,

0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.679
<v Speaker 2>because it's not, particularly for our kids, particularly for our future.

0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.680
<v Speaker 2>And I'm looking forward to that part of it. I

0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.520
<v Speaker 2>think the accountability part is what I'm really looking forward to.

0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.000
<v Speaker 2>And we need to call people out. And I will

0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:10.040
<v Speaker 2>say whether that's us. Everybody's held accountable, right and I

0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.120
<v Speaker 2>need to be held accountable. And that's why I'll be

0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.600
<v Speaker 2>centered estimates all the time and then the community will

0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.640
<v Speaker 2>call me out. But I have an accountability mechanism and

0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:19.760
<v Speaker 2>so does everybody else.

0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.000
<v Speaker 1>It deals with our kids, and so.

0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.040
<v Speaker 2>We all are accountable. We all can shape the future

0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.440
<v Speaker 2>of our kids. But we all need to work together

0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:29.320
<v Speaker 2>on getting this done.

0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:33.240
<v Speaker 3>Commissioner I Hatta, thank you so much for your time,

0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:44.440
<v Speaker 3>Thanks for having me. Also in the news, a new

0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.400
<v Speaker 3>reporters found that in twenty twenty eight, federal state and

0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.000
<v Speaker 3>territory government gross debt as a share of the economy

0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.520
<v Speaker 3>will exceed levels not seen since World War Two. Announce

0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.640
<v Speaker 3>us by the E sixty one Institute says Australia will

0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:58.640
<v Speaker 3>cease to be a load debt country and be more

0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.080
<v Speaker 3>vulnerable than a future christ without a combination of spending

0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.280
<v Speaker 3>cuts and tax reform. Government spending has been in the

0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.720
<v Speaker 3>spotlight since the Reserve Bank's recent interest rate hike, and

0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.280
<v Speaker 3>one adult among the group of thirty four Australian women

0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.280
<v Speaker 3>and children in a Syrian detention camp has been issued

0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.240
<v Speaker 3>with a temporary exclusion order banning them from coming to

0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.320
<v Speaker 3>Australia for up to two years. It follows attempts from

0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.680
<v Speaker 3>the group to flee the camp to Australia before being

0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.360
<v Speaker 3>turned back by Syrian authorities. The rest of the group

0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.120
<v Speaker 3>has not been assessed by intelligence agencies as meaning the

0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:33.320
<v Speaker 3>threshold to be banned from Australia, but the Alberanesi government

0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.760
<v Speaker 3>maintains will not assist in repatriating them. I'm Daniel James.

0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:46.640
<v Speaker 3>You've been listening to seven AM. We'll be back tomorrow.