WEBVTT - From Inside The Community 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:06.080 Just before nine o'clock last night, the jury returned guilty 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.480 verdicts against all three defendants. 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.119 It was absolutely shambles, to tell you the truth, just 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:12.200 absolutely really coming. 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:14.680 Blood on his clothing the day after the alleged a 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:16.960 top shallow mud bank and it fits through a river. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.079 Basically, I think most of the people are used to 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:20.560 me are good people. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.200 I think a really important question we need to ask 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:27.320 is how many Indigenous prisoners in Australia are innocent. This 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.320 is Curtain, a podcast where we pull back the blinds 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.559 to shine a light on the darkest parts of our 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.360 justice system and ask who are the victims. 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.800 I'm Amy McGuire and I'm. 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:43.000 Martin Hodgson, a senior advocate for the Foreign Prisoner Support Service. 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.120 And a warning, this series contains the names of deceased 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:51.640 peoples and has distressing content that might upset some listeners. 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.800 Welcome to Curtin the Podcast. This week, my co host 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.880 Amy McGuire is away and once again she's away from 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.600 home doing work to support Kevin Henry and doing the 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.760 work of Curtin the Podcast to help not only Kevin 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:14.839 but also his community in Wurabinda. And we might discuss 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.520 what Amy's been up to more in coming weeks, but 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.320 with Amy away this week, I wanted to focus on 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.880 a particular issue that's come up during the week because 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.920 of one case that's been highlighted in the media. And 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.639 I also wanted to do it in honor of Amy, 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:36.680 given the sheer amount of work she does for the 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:41.800 Aboriginal community and the broader community, and the core of 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:47.200 that is selfless work of Amy, like thousands of Aboriginal 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:52.400 women for the community, and they do the work in 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:56.320 areas just as we discuss in the podcast here. This 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:00.560 is about trying to get justice for Linda, to free 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.400 Kevin Henry, who was wrongly convicted and still in prison 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.840 twenty seven years later, whose family has been destroyed by 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:14.200 what has happened to him. It's about exposing the police 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:18.280 and what they did to Kevin, and also in not 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:22.560 getting justice for Linda, but also their treatment of all 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.840 the Aboriginal people involved in this case. As we've spoken 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:31.320 about before, the police in this matter treated all the 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:36.920 Aboriginal people appallingly, whether it was making serious threats against 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:46.480 their life, interviewing people without lawyers, extreme misconduct, chasing Aboriginal 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:51.560 people who had already given multiple statements around Queensland to 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.480 give further statements that would fit the police version of 0:02:54.560 --> 0:03:02.440 events is constant harassment, constant bullying, and as happened back 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:07.200 then and as continues to happen right around Australia, Aboriginal 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:11.600 women are sadly in the firing line of this injustice. 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.959 And perhaps one thing I haven't spoken enough about on 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.359 this podcast, and something I'm seeking to address this week 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.000 is the impact that all these issues have on Aboriginal women. 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.160 One thing that was raised at the time of the 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.400 Royal Commission into Black Deats in Custody by Aboriginal women 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:38.120 around the country was the issue that while black deats 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:43.000 in custody was a huge issue and remains an enormous issue, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.440 as we've stated before, some four hundred debts in the 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:51.760 last twenty five years, and those debts include Aboriginal women, 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.560 but what was raised at the time by people like 0:03:55.720 --> 0:04:00.320 doctor Judy Atkinson was that the Royal Commission needed to 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:04.280 expand further that while a black man was dying in 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.280 a cell and being beaten to death by police, Aboriginal 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.800 women were dying in the community, were dying violent and 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:17.000 vicious crimes. Aboriginal children were dying in the same way. 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:22.280 Doctor g d Atkinson also raised the issue of suicide 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:26.080 and the prevalence of suicide amongst Aboriginal men, women and 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.280 children at the time and that this needed examining and 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.880 all the issues that she, along with many other Indigenous 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.400 women from right around the country were raising at the 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:42.000 time and was saying urgent action was required if we 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:45.760 were going to prevent a further catastrophe. Has only got 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:51.200 worse in the last twenty five plus years. So why 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.840 aren't we listening to Aboriginal women who, like Amy, are 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.840 on the front line. And so for this podcast, I 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.240 want to bring you the voice of Aboriginal women who 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:06.360 have been fighting these issues for a long time. And 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.080 as we all know, domestic violence is an enormous problem 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:14.760 in the Australian community. Just how bad is it for 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:19.000 Aboriginal women. We know it's an enormous issue if we 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:22.760 focus on Indigenous women. I want to read something that 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:30.640 Professor Marshall Langton said that was that violence against Indigenous 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.680 women which ranges between thirty four times the national figure 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:40.680 two in the worst areas eighty times. She said it's 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:45.960 a high priority issue. Now, there was contention when Professor 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:50.640 Langton raised this issue was the figure truly that high, 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:56.080 And not only the ABC but also The Conversation did 0:05:56.160 --> 0:06:00.560 a fact check and they wrote extensive articles looking over 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:06.440 peer reviewed research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Curtain 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:11.760 University study papers, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:19.560 a large number of reports from independent women's councils, and 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:24.839 just the raw data from health services and correctional services 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:29.480 that related to these figures. And what Professor Langton said 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:35.239 was absolutely right that the range was between thirty times 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:40.160 higher to up to ninety times, so even more than 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:46.560 the eighty times higher. The fact that you can have 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:51.440 nearly one hundred times higher something that is already an 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:55.960 issue that is devastating the community, impacting on a sector 0:06:56.040 --> 0:07:00.919 of the community community in this case Aboriginal women, means 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.880 that this is taking place at catastrophic levels. This is 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:10.840 not something purely for discussion or debate. This is happening 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.040 right now and it is costing lives as we speak. 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:21.520 This week, a number of women marched to Canberra and 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:26.080 stage to sit in do women come from central Australia 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.240 and traveled from Alice Springs to Canberra to deliver a 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.800 defiant message, and that is they're sick of not being 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.560 listened to and they're sick of not being heard. But 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:43.040 rather than take it from me, this is why Shirlene Campbell, 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:47.600 who has been fighting tirelessly and bravely for this cause, 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:52.720 had to say this week in Canberra basically, we're just 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.400 sick of it. We're coming here to tell the decision 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.880 makers we actually want our voices to be heard. We 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.680 are the grassroots people. We know what's best for our mob. 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:11.600 So coming to Canberra is a star. Joined by Miss 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:16.040 Campbell was a range of women who either work as 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.640 workers on the ground in their community or have been 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:26.800 personally affected by domestic violence. As one Miss Hayes, said, 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:30.320 it put a tear in my eyes that we're talking 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.960 to the government and teaching them that we've got feelings 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:41.160 to us women. Miss Campbell has already lost two of 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:46.520 her aunts to partner violence, one in twenty fourteen and 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:51.760 one in twenty fifteen. Both of these women had suffered 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:57.040 enormous abuse and yet outside of the community, no one 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.600 did anything to support them. In fact, one of her 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.920 aunts was a youth worker. Every day she was giving 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.320 back to the community. Meanwhile, the broader community failed her 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.240 until she was taken and she was killed, and she 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:16.959 was murdered. So as sherline, Campbell said, I'm doing it 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.480 for my daughter, I'm doing it for my grandmothers, my mothers, 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:24.680 my aunties, and I'll also be reflecting on my two 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.160 aunties who are not here today. And I'm doing it 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:32.920 in honor of these two ladies. Another member of the 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:37.840 group explained how so many of them have been victims 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:43.320 of violence. She said, all of us women, we've been victims. 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.640 The violence always goes into the homes and it starts 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.800 off with racism and arguing and then a fight starts 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:59.160 and it's just got to stop. Now you're hearing directly 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:03.080 what original women from Central Australia are trying to say. 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.760 We shouldn't have people who are victims of violence having 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:12.360 to travel to the nation's capital to demand action. Our 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.960 politicians are there to serve us, to serve the broader 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:20.319 community and to serve those in need. Why has the 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:25.120 support not come for these women? Cannot be said that 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:30.000 the issue was unknown. As I previously referenced, doctor gud 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.679 Atkinson was writing about this at the time of the 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:42.760 Royal Commission. That's more than twenty five years ago. Others 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:47.800 were raising the issue long before then, and yet again 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:53.040 we still have this silence and this inaction. But I 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.959 want to tell you about something that is one of 0:10:56.040 --> 0:11:00.840 the most disturbing things about the message the women from 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:05.480 Central Australia and Our Springs brought to Canberra, And that's 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:09.400 something that has been reported before, and that is that 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.680 in Our Springs at the Women's Shelter, there is what's 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:21.360 known as an anti homicide section. The women's shelter basically 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.960 resembles a prison. If you were to look at photos 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.640 of it, you would be convinced that it was a prison. 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:37.360 It has large gates, large metal fences that are completely impenetrable, 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:46.400 double barriers, alarm systems, CCTV and much more. And it's 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:49.600 for women who are fleeing domestic violence to be safe. 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.520 Is there something not drastically wrong with the fact that 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.480 women who are victims are having to run for their 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:01.520 lives with their children in the middle of the night 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:06.200 and need a prison like environment to ensure their safety. 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:12.079 Why do they need this if they're not being failed 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:19.240 by the community. So it's completely understandable that miss Campbell, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:23.720 along with many others, are seeking long term government funding 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:27.679 so that they can put their work into practice. Not 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:33.599 the governments, they know what's best for their communities. This 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.000 is what Miss Campbell had to say further to her 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:41.320 earlier points. We want to tell the government to listen 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:45.680 to us, stand with us, and to support us. We're 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.439 working hard and we want to build that collaboration with 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:53.480 the government sharing our voices. We want our program to 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:59.679 be run for our next future generations. I feel so 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.480 strong and confident hoping that our programs run for those generations. 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.880 It's also a privilege coming to Canberra because I want 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:14.760 to share that message about visibility the issue, about the 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:19.720 visibility of this issue, and that Indigenous women from around 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.280 the country have been raising this for years and are 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:27.280 coming again this week and have done to Canberra to 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.920 plead for the support so that they can implement their programs. 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:36.520 That work should be known to all. This week we 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:41.120 had another example of why those issues should be known, 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:46.400 because often what I hear is that why don't the 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:52.000 women go to the police. Well, here's the story from 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:56.040 Western Australia just this week that will highlight very clearly 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.719 whey Aboriginal women do not feel safe going to the 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:03.679 pl and I'll read from the first paragraph of just 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:08.160 one of the many articles that covered it. A mentally 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:12.560 ill and physically unwell Aboriginal woman was taken from Western 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:17.640 Australia's Bundyat Women's Prison to Grayland's Hospital, where she was 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.920 discovered naked and covered in her own blood in the 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:27.360 back of a prison van. When staff opened the doors 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:31.160 at the Graylan's Franklin unit, they discovered the distressed woman, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:38.840 who had been menstruating at the time. Last year, another 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:43.040 Indigenous woman died after experiencing a heart attack at the 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:50.600 same prison. How is this possible that a woman who 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.920 is both mentally and physically unwell, who clearly needs to 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:59.280 be in a hospital is shackled, placed in a van, 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:06.560 completely naked and left covered in her own blood. These 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.040 are the things we hear from war zones. This is 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:14.040 some of the most degrading, humiliating and torturous behavior you 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:18.040 can subject any human being too. This is being done 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.720 not to a person who is a criminal, but someone 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:28.120 who is both mentally and physically unwell. How can there 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.760 be anything but a reaction to this To meet the 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.720 demands of Aboriginal women from around the country that the 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:41.480 programs implemented by government simply don't work. In fact, many 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.760 are designed to fail and have been failing Aboriginal women 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.360 and children for more than two hundred years. Now is 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:52.520 the time to support the voices of Aboriginal women who 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:57.640 are calling on funding so they can implement the programs 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:04.040 they know will help them because they work. If we 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:10.240 moved to Marie. Another example. Just this week, more than 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:16.960 twenty Aboriginal women held a workshop to learn, to teach, 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:21.120 and to discuss domestic violence and how best they can 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.080 serve their community. They've, of course, already been doing this. 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.360 They've been dealing with domestic violence all their lives. Their 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.840 mothers dealt with it, their grandmothers dealt with it, and 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:38.080 not all have survived. This is unconscionable in what is 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.880 supposed to be a first world country. But one of 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:45.680 the women explained why it was so beneficial and why 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:49.760 these programs need to be rolled out, And this is 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.640 what she had to say. From what I've got out 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.440 of today, I know how to help someone. Most of 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.240 my friends around me, I'll know how to talk to 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:03.560 them and how to deal with it. I've had people 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.640 come to me before, But if someone comes to me now, 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:10.000 I'll tell them to speak up, don't be afraid to 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:14.639 ask for help, and don't be silent. She went on 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.520 to say that it affects everyone. They all forget it 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:23.080 affects the kids. You only think of yourself, but forget 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.720 the kids are going through it as well. This is 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:33.600 why these issues become generational because children see this violence, 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:39.360 they experience this violence. They live in the home where 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.560 this takes place. They live in a community where no 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:47.600 one steps forward from outside like he's done for everyone 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:52.240 else to help them. In fact, many of these children 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:58.040 end up in juvenile dettention purely for being on the 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:03.320 street late at night or admitting very minor minor crimes. 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:07.879 As we spoke about a number of weeks ago, in 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.920 a peer reviewed medical journal, it was found that in 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:17.200 Western Australia, nine out of ten Aboriginal children in juvenile 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:23.560 detention aged beeen between ten and seventeen at at least 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:29.919 one form of severe brain impairment. Is it any wonder 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.440 these children are struggling to deal with what's going on 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:38.240 in their homes. No child can deal with this issue. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.600 Most of us, as adults, struggle to deal with this. 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:44.720 None of us can do it alone. And yet we 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:50.720 are asking young children as young as ten who have 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:55.800 a severe brain impairment. Fifty percent had more than three 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.880 severe brain impairments, and a third of the children suffered 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:03.800 fetal alcohol syndrome. These kids were not being helped. These 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:06.680 kids were not being supported. These kids were not being 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:10.920 helped to go to school, receive the counseling they need, 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.920 to receive the basic nutrition and support they need. These 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.600 were all kids who are imprisoned. How do they have 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:25.320 any chance as adults? Again, I want to go back 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:31.200 to something doctor Judy Atkinson said, and she said that 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:35.680 when we look at all these issues, the over policing, 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:43.639 the racism, the discrimination, the way incarceration impacts on entire 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:52.600 Aboriginal communities, she made this simple statement, few people want 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:57.560 to consider its impact on Indigenous women. This is something 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:03.280 we have to bring front and center. We know about 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:10.240 Western Australia, we know what happened to Miss Jew. How 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:14.520 is it that a number of years after Miss Jew 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:19.200 died at the hands of police and Corrective Services, and 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:23.840 the Health Department for that matter, simply for having unpaid fines, 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:30.560 still sees a woman shackled in her own blood in 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:36.440 a police fan. How is that possible? How have changes 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:44.080 not been made to bring that? Back to domestic violence? 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.239 We only have to look at something that happened at 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:52.199 the very end of last year. But not only are 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:58.720 the police and services not actively supporting Aboriginal women, they're 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:02.840 actively punishing original women who even dared to speak out 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:10.120 about domestic violence. Just last year, an Aboriginal mother supporting 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:15.480 her daughter contacted the police to speak about a domestic 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:20.480 violence issue that her daughter was experiencing, and so that 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:22.800 she could be with her daughter so that they could 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:26.639 explain to the police what was going on. This is 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.720 precisely what we asked people to do, to support one another, 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.040 to support their loved ones, and to contact the police. 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:43.080 This woman would end up in prison. Why because when 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.080 she contacted the police and they came to her home 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:50.240 as she requested of them, they discovered that there was 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:56.560 a warrant of commitment and she was imprisoned for weeks. 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:00.160 It could have been longer, but luckily someone paid maid 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.680 the fine. So what was it that was so much 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.680 more important than the domestic violence her daughter was experiencing 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:11.200 that the police decided that rather than deal with that 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:15.600 issue that results in the murder of women every single 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:19.280 week in this country. What was so important that they 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:21.680 wouldn't deal with that that they had to take this 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:26.560 mother immediately to prison. It was the fact that there 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:31.040 was a civil dispute that was still unresolved, dating back 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:35.600 more than six years ago. What was it about an 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:43.320 unregistered dog? Police placed the importance of a civil dispute 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:47.239 over an unregistered dog ahead of the lives of two 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:52.760 Aboriginal women. Did not address the issue of domestic violence 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:59.040 and instead imprisoned an innocent Aboriginal woman at Melaluca Women's 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:03.560 Prison because she dared try to seek help for her daughter. 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:08.920 What message does that send? Is it any wonder that 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:13.200 women do not come forward for help when the result 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:20.880 is being imprisoned for asking for that help. We also 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:24.640 know that there's a range of reasons why many women 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:29.600 don't come forward. It also includes the growing epidemic of 0:23:29.760 --> 0:23:34.680 having their own children taken from them, As a number 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:39.479 of Aboriginal women said this week, the risk of losing 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:47.840 their children means they're willing to accept the bruises. What 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.480 a position as a community we put Aboriginal women in 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:57.679 when they are choosed to make a decision whether they 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:02.760 get hit again or whether they lose their children. And 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:06.040 they have every right to believe this to be true, 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:10.240 because not only do all the facts support them, everything 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:14.040 they've ever seen in their lives has shown this to 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:17.960 be true, that if their children are taken away, those 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:22.560 children are often abused. We saw in Dondale what happens 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:26.680 to young Aboriginal boys when they are in juvenile dettension. 0:24:27.680 --> 0:24:31.800 We've seen the murder of Indigenous children at the hands 0:24:31.840 --> 0:24:37.040 of their foster carerors. We've seen a hopelessly underfunded system 0:24:37.920 --> 0:24:41.719 continue to make the wrong call on children who are 0:24:41.920 --> 0:24:48.200 dangerously at risk of being killed. The issue of child 0:24:48.320 --> 0:24:50.720 removal is a complex one and it's not what I 0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:54.960 seek to take on this week, but it is from 0:24:55.040 --> 0:25:00.200 the words of Aboriginal women, something that weighs heavily on 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:03.399 their minds when they decide whether to pick up the 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:09.800 phone and report violence being committed against them. This is 0:25:09.960 --> 0:25:15.159 part of the horrific legacy of the stolen generations, and 0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:21.400 that damage continues. I want to bring things full circle 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:28.000 again to doctor Judy Atkinson, who stated a startling statistic 0:25:28.200 --> 0:25:33.320 when she wrote about the need for royal commissions, particularly 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:37.399 the one that looked at Aboriginal deaths in custody to 0:25:37.520 --> 0:25:43.240 assist Aboriginal women and Aboriginal children. And this was one 0:25:43.359 --> 0:25:49.240 stat she quoted. In one state, seventy seven percent of 0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:54.640 the inmates in maximum security institutions for juvenile females are 0:25:54.680 --> 0:26:01.200 Aboriginal girls. In that state, Tho children make up just 0:26:01.280 --> 0:26:05.320 two and a half percent of the population, and yet 0:26:05.359 --> 0:26:08.840 there's seventy seven percent of the inmates in a maximum 0:26:08.920 --> 0:26:18.720 security institution. Young girls starting out their life having been victimized, 0:26:20.040 --> 0:26:25.159 born often into poverty, into communities that are given no resourcing, 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:29.760 no respect, no funding, who don't have any of the 0:26:29.880 --> 0:26:36.000 basic services the entire non Indigenous community would riot about 0:26:36.160 --> 0:26:41.240 if they didn't have, from simple street lighting and garbage 0:26:41.280 --> 0:26:47.480 collection to the provision of drinkable water, health services, and 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:51.240 food that is at an affordable rate, not at an 0:26:51.359 --> 0:26:55.600 extortion based prices that we often see in Aboriginal communities. 0:26:55.960 --> 0:27:02.840 Why businesses run from the cities, and yet despite all this, 0:27:05.119 --> 0:27:11.200 an Aboriginal woman with all become familiar with Linda managed 0:27:11.200 --> 0:27:19.280 to overcome. She was a tertiary educated mother. She worked 0:27:19.320 --> 0:27:24.960 to establish one of the first Indigenous childcare centers anywhere 0:27:25.040 --> 0:27:28.840 in Australia, the first in South Australia. And it wasn't 0:27:28.960 --> 0:27:32.600 just about caring for children, it was a place of education. 0:27:34.480 --> 0:27:39.800 She was an expert in this area. She'd done the 0:27:39.880 --> 0:27:45.480 work to get that education, to get that experience, to 0:27:45.640 --> 0:27:49.320 work with the people in the know, to come up 0:27:49.400 --> 0:27:52.720 with this formula and this solution for her community and 0:27:52.880 --> 0:27:58.320 for the broader community. And yet in nineteen ninety one 0:27:59.240 --> 0:28:04.200 she died in Queensland, and in twenty eighteen she still 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:12.400 doesn't have justice because of the same racism, an unthinkable 0:28:12.560 --> 0:28:17.520 and unimaginable action by the police. Her murder goes both 0:28:17.720 --> 0:28:22.280 unsolved and without justice. And he is yet another reminder 0:28:22.400 --> 0:28:27.960 to Aboriginal women. But no matter how much you forge 0:28:27.960 --> 0:28:31.640 your head, no matter your bravery, no matter how much 0:28:31.720 --> 0:28:35.720 you sacrifice for your children to gain an education, to 0:28:35.840 --> 0:28:40.560 work in your community, to establish the programs and institutions 0:28:41.440 --> 0:28:46.800 to facilitate the healing, education and ability to close the 0:28:47.000 --> 0:28:53.120 gap that is always talked about when it comes to 0:28:53.240 --> 0:28:57.000 the crunch, you'll still be failed. So the answer is 0:28:57.080 --> 0:29:01.560 really simple. It's not to listen to me. It's certainly 0:29:01.680 --> 0:29:04.800 not to listen to the politicians. It's not to listen 0:29:04.880 --> 0:29:08.120 to the morons from people like the Institute of Public Affairs, 0:29:08.680 --> 0:29:10.680 who had the goal to come out this week and 0:29:10.800 --> 0:29:14.840 criticize the Aboriginal women who'd come to Canberra and the 0:29:15.000 --> 0:29:18.800 need for a look at the justice system and the 0:29:18.920 --> 0:29:22.400 way it deals with Aboriginal people. It's not to listen 0:29:22.440 --> 0:29:25.080 to any of the shock jocks, the people who don't 0:29:25.160 --> 0:29:29.920 know a thing, like Andrew Bolt, who didn't even finish school, 0:29:30.680 --> 0:29:33.040 let alone know a single thing about some of the 0:29:33.080 --> 0:29:38.760 most complicated facts and issues in our society. It's not 0:29:38.880 --> 0:29:43.000 to listen to the minister who's had more than five 0:29:43.160 --> 0:29:46.040 years to deal with these issues and it's done nothing, 0:29:46.280 --> 0:29:48.880 to the point that this is getting worse. These are 0:29:48.880 --> 0:29:51.920 people we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a 0:29:52.080 --> 0:29:56.440 year to study this issue, to come up with the answers. 0:29:57.520 --> 0:30:02.360 Aboriginal women already hold the knowledge. Aboriginal women already know 0:30:02.560 --> 0:30:06.120 the programs because they implement them and fund them, and 0:30:06.240 --> 0:30:08.880 they do it at a cost that most of these 0:30:08.960 --> 0:30:11.680 other people wouldn't even get out of bed for, let 0:30:11.720 --> 0:30:14.840 alone be able to run a center or a program 0:30:15.040 --> 0:30:19.560 to help the most vulnerable. If you really care about this, 0:30:21.320 --> 0:30:25.240 support the women I've spoken about today Aboriginal women right 0:30:25.280 --> 0:30:30.000 around the country. I'll put up links for these services 0:30:30.760 --> 0:30:35.440 on the curtainthepodcast dot com website. But quite frankly, you 0:30:35.560 --> 0:30:41.880 shouldn't find these things hard. This is very basic stuff 0:30:42.640 --> 0:30:46.000 and all the information is available. And how is it 0:30:46.120 --> 0:30:50.400 so readily available because my co host Amy Maguire, who 0:30:50.480 --> 0:30:54.240 is away this week doing this sort of work, makes 0:30:54.280 --> 0:30:56.920 it available and has done for the last ten years 0:30:57.960 --> 0:31:03.640 in print, online, on radio, on television, and in person. 0:31:04.560 --> 0:31:07.560 As she is joined by a host of other Aboriginal 0:31:07.600 --> 0:31:14.200 women from the community sector, in journalism, in the legal sector, 0:31:14.880 --> 0:31:19.200 in health, who have been raising their voices for generations. 0:31:20.880 --> 0:31:23.440 Now is the time for you to invest some time 0:31:23.640 --> 0:31:27.160