Inquiry looks at violence against First Nations women
Rudi Maxwell |
A senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children is holding hearings in Perth.
Committee member Greens Senator Dorinda Cox says survivors and families of victims will give evidence on Wednesday and Thursday.
“This should be a national emergency in this country,” she said.
“It continues to be an unacceptable rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women being murdered.”
Senator Cox, a former policewomen, said while every case is different the testimony received by the inquiry showed some alarming commonalities.
“It’s the lack of attention and the conscious and unconscious bias of people who are responding to these cases,” she said.
“It literally brought me and other members of the committee to tears.
“As a former police officer, I can say that those first 72 hours of someone going missing are really critical. You might find new information that may lead to finding that person still alive.”
Many of the submissions to the inquiry tell a similar story of police being dismissive and racist, frequently telling Aboriginal people trying to report someone missing that their family member had probably ‘gone walkabout’.
The inquiry has been extended until December, which Senator Cox said gave them the opportunity to hear from more Indigenous people.
“This is about centering families,” she said.
“Families are the ones that need to embark on a journey of healing and want to see their loved ones honoured.
“Families want to change the system and the only way we can do that is to hear from communities’ voices and families’ voices about their experiences.”
Noongar academic Hannah McGlade is a human rights lawyer who has done extensive research into violence against Indigenous women and children.
“We know from the research and the data Indigenous women who have ended up being murder victims in Queensland, a high proportion were previously identified as perpetrators by police,” Dr McGlade said.
“The racism in the police is absolutely horrific in Australia.
“We have a government committed to Indigenous rights but we’re not really seeing the kind of commitment and leadership when it comes to Indigenous women’s human rights.”
The inquiry will be held at the Rivervale Community Centre in Perth on Wednesday and Thursday.
AAP
