A Senate committee has handed down its final report from an inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children.
The inquiry heard from police, experts, and families of missing and murdered First Nations women and children over two years.
The committee concluded that these deaths and disappearances were “predictable and preventable”.
Its recommendations have been criticised by First Nations women including community advocates, experts, and the Senators who originally called for the inquiry.
Senate inquiry
The inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children was launched after a November 2021 Senate vote, led by First Nations Senators Dorinda Cox and Lidia Thorpe.
It was inspired by a similar inquiry in Canada, which concluded in 2019.
The Senate’s legal affairs committee led the inquiry. It analysed:
- Rates of reported murders and disappearances
- Police investigations into the murders and disappearances
- Causes of violence against First Nations women and children
Several witnesses and submissions questioned the inquiry’s use of the word “missing”, describing it as passive and inaccurate.
Munanjahli and South Sea Islander Professor Chelsea Watego said: “Aboriginal women don’t just go missing; someone makes them disappear”.
Many witnesses, including the North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service (NAAFLS), spoke about the ongoing impacts of colonisation, including inadequate housing, poverty, unemployment, and over-representation in prisons.
It called these “interrelated drivers of violence”.
Findings
The NAAFLS said ongoing “interference in Aboriginal communities [results in] breakdown of families” and has “only worked to… embed disadvantage”.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) told the inquiry inconsistencies across national data collection made it difficult to monitor the scale of missing women and children.
An AFP spokesperson said that “one particular child had… gone missing on 80 occasions”. However, “some agencies would report it as 80 and some… would report it as one”.
The committee said they were “disturbed” by evidence brought against the criminal justice system.
This included claims of “racist, sexist, disrespectful, unprofessional and negligent” treatment of murder investigations and missing persons reports.
The committee noted this prevented some First Nations women and children from seeking help, “even in the most desperate of circumstances”.
They said police and justice system witnesses “rejected” this evidence and “argued that everyone is treated equally.”
The inquiry heard First Nations women and children who do seek help face significant difficulties accessing legal and support services.
“There are few, if any, safe alternatives for First Nations women who want to leave an abusive relationship… particularly in remote Aboriginal communities,” the committee said.
They raised concerns that the current state of legal services may leave First Nations women “unaware of their legal rights and entitlements, and might therefore find it difficult to leave abusive relationships.”
WA Police declined to appear at the inquiry.
In early October 2023, State Police Minister Paul Papalia told The West Australian he wouldn’t appear because he was “flat out with my portfolios” and “inquiries happen all the time”.
Later that month, a First Nations boy in youth detention attempted to take his life, and later died in hospital.
Recommendations
The committee made 10 recommendations in its final report, which it handed down this week.
This included calls for states and territories to review police processes. It proposed that the most successful practices be shared, and implemented nationally by the end of next year.
Recommendations related to law enforcement included increased recruitment of First Nations people “to senior management positions” in police forces, and “ongoing and mandatory cultural awareness training” for all police employees.
The committee also recommended appointing a First Nations person to a senior position at the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission, to “address violence against First Nations women and children”.
Broader recommendations included finding “a culturally appropriate and nationally significant way in which to recognise and remember the First Nations women and children who have been murdered or disappeared.”
The committee didn’t make a specific recommendation about data collection.
Response
Senators Thorpe and Cox both criticised the committee’s recommendations.
While Thorpe said the committee had done “good and important work,” she said its recommendations didn’t hold those responsible for violence against First Nations women accountable, including the police and governments.
Cox echoed Thorpe’s comments, saying the recommendations didn’t go far enough to address concerns about police. “Some small part of this problem can be overcome by more police training, but… we cannot rely on this alone”.
The National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls expressed “profound disappointment, though not surprise” about the recommendations.
Several network members gave evidence, including Sisters Inside founder Debbie Kilroy.
“We said that solutions cannot be found in the hands of the police… These recommendations… will fail to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women from further harm,” Kilroy said.
Dr Amy McQuire, a Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman, said the recommendations showed “this country does not care about Black women”.
