A. the Australian Government's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic; and B

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA

a. the Australian Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and b. any related matters.

'concerned Australians' formed following the 2007 Northern Territory (NT) Intervention. We work to allow First Nations voices to be heard, especially those of the NT. We value the opportunity to contribute to this COVID 19 inquiry on the Australian Government’s response and related matters. Aboriginal organisations and leaders, and grassroots community First Nation and Clan leaders are too often ignored, denied or not heard. We believe that it is imperative that decisions must be made with First Nations people and that any future COVID responses and other polices must involve local decision making.

On April 24th this year one of the most senior leaders in East Arnhemland Djirrikaymirr of the Djambarrpuyngu Nation of Yolgnu people, Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA Independent member of Nhulunbuy, NT expressed his frustration not being heard , on this occasion due to technical issues, which is not uncommon in Arnhemland.1 This speech was posted on his Facebook, and it relates to the way Elders and his community wish to work with Governments- the Australian and Territory – in the COVID response, around confusion of this virus, on discrimination in opportunity between homeland and urban centres, and on other matters.

Yow bukmak - I called into Parliament Sitting today by phone, due to[COVID] travel restrictions, but was having some technical problems hearing the chamber. This is the speech I wanted to deliver: Madam Speaker Good afternoon everyone. I am having some problems hearing the chamber through the teleconference, so I have been listening to the online stream. Firstly can I thank the many people who are working to protect the Northern Territory and our communities from the threat of Coronavirus. I know people are working hard and are planning and preparing. And this planning and preparing has been very important. Now that we have a little bit of breathing space due to no new infections, I want to encourage everyone to ensure that this planning and preparing is done in consultation with local communities. For example, when we have had calls for more police in our communities or I’ve heard discussions about the Army being used to reinforce social distancing, my response for my communities is: Employ locally – employ our local elders and leaders to work with police. Working side by side. Provide vehicles so they can drive around communities and help to manage the concerns and explain the reasons for Coronavirus regulations. There is a lot of confusion in communities about what is happening, and communities need to be part of the response to this emergency Local decision-making should always be the answer. I don’t agree with the way our Parliament has been sidelined today. …

I have continued to raise the issues of high rents, high rates, limited housing, high cost of living for Nhulunbuy over the past few years. But right now, businesses in Nhulunbuy are suffering just like every other town.

1 There is not always reliable internet or phone coverage in remote communities which in itself creates also other difficulties for First Nations residents e.g. ‘of being unable to buy food and fuel, contact medical services, access health records or operate businesses’ . Elcho Island Telstra phone outage at Galiwin'ku leaves NT residents fuming at failing coverage , 31st January 2020. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-31/elcho-island-nt-telstra-phone-outage-residents-without-food/11909352

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA Is this government working to ensure that they have the same level of support to survive?

In a similar way, the offer of the Home Improvement Scheme is desperately needed in homeland towns and outstations. But we have been left out. At this time, we have seen our families returning home to communities from Darwin. Often supported by Government to travel home. And I am thankful for this program. But our communities that were already overcrowded are now bursting, often with 10 to 15 people living in a 3 bedroom house, and we know that if coronavirus were to come to our communities, this level of overcrowding would be very dangerous. Myself and other elders have been calling for families to move out to homeland towns. These are safe places and we have been calling for this for many years, but now more than ever. Yingiya Guyula Mla, 24 April 2020.

The member’s full Speech is at Appendix 1 on other related COVID response concerns , including need for parliamentary scrutiny of bills, concerns for rents, homelands.

Partnerships with the Australian Government have been of benefit and are to be commended and encouraged ,

The Coalition of [Aboriginal] Peaks said the “quick and decisive” efforts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations has kept Covid-19 from devastating communities so far, and shows that strong partnerships with governments make a big difference to Aboriginal health and safety. The lead convenor of the Coalition … and CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO)], Pat Turner added, But the virus has exposed the inequality2 between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people on many fronts, the lead convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, May 12 2020. 3

June Oscar AO, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, recently gave her reflections on returning to country,

This crisis has once again shown our resilience and adaptability, the effectiveness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-run organisations and the ability of our communities to come together in times of crisis to achieve great things. We should be rightly proud. An irony But, for me, and for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, there is also a particular irony in returning to Country. The prevailing policy position for several decades has been to systematically underinvest in, and to close down, homeland communities. The belief among policy makers was that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are ‘better off’ in urban centres. Now we’re being told it’s easier to keep us safe on Country. 4

The Commissioner also spoke of , A wake-up call. And an opportunity

2 Remote communities going without essentials amid lockdown, NT groups say, April 21,2020. https://www.theguardian.com/australia- news/2020/apr/21/remote-communities-going-without-essentials-amid-lockdown-nt-groups-say 3 Closing the gap: Aboriginal groups say coronavirus should not delay new targets, May 12,2020. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/12/closing-the-gap-aboriginal-groups-say-coronavirus-should-not-delay-new- targets 4 Coronavirus means traditional homelands may be safest for Indigenous people but it comes with unexpected lessons, May 17th https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-17/coronavirus-indigenous-health-safe-homeland-june-oscar/12245728

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For many, this crisis has been a wake-up call. We must now use it as an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to emerge from this crisis with new systems for everything from health, to housing and the economy. This is an opportunity for a rethink about how governments invest. It is an opportunity for new conversations and ways of thinking. If we get this right, we can create systems that enable us to close the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples once and for all, so we are never at risk like this again. June Oscar AO 17 May 2020 5

Please refer to the Commissioner’s full article , Appendix 2.

The Australian, Territory and Sate Government must know the move back to country placed enormous stress on remote communities and shone a light on inequities and widening gaps.

This increase in population caused added strain on community resources. Furthermore, many remote community health clinics rely on fly-in-fly out doctors who were unable to visit due to the pandemic conditions. For community members who required medical services that could not be provided in remote communities, these people have had to remain in town for an extended period which has been difficult for those people and their families. The COVID-19 crisis and the pandemic response has highlighted the issues of overcrowding, the high chronic disease burden borne by remote Indigenous Territorians and the lack of access to basic services. Despite recent efforts and revitalised federal funding agreements, 41.3% of remote households are overcrowded. The health gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australian’s has widened on several metrics. The fact that residents of remote communities had to endure such significant restrictions on their liberties, highlights how far we still have to go in ‘closing the gap.’ It would not be necessary to have enacted these restrictions if the underlying social determinants of Indigenous health were addressed, communities were socially and economically empowered, and the vulnerability of the population reduced. COVID Inquiry Sub 66 Danila Dilba , May 2020.

A community worker in Maningrida recently noted,

As the news of this new kundjak (sickness or disease, in the Kuninjku dialect) trickled into town in the early months of 2020, rumours spread of its imminent arrival. Months later, thanks to the success of the government’s population-movement restrictions and biosecurity laws championed by the local Aboriginal corporations, land councils and regional shires, miraculously there has been no case of COVID-19 in remote Arnhem Land. Despite the absence of kundjak in town, however, various changes have been felt on the ground . Ingrid Johanson, 17 May 2020. 6

5 Coronavirus means traditional homelands may be safest for Indigenous people but it comes with unexpected lessons, May 17th https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-17/coronavirus-indigenous-health-safe-homeland-june-oscar/12245728 6 Read, Postcard From Maningrida: Covid Comment From The Forgotten Corners Of Remote Australia , May 20th, 2020. https://arena.org.au/covid-comment-from-the-forgotten-corners-of-remote-australia/

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We encourage members of this inquiry to read Ms Johanson’s full article, on the forgotten corner of remote Northern Australia , refer Appendix 3 , which also glimpsed existing and indeed shocking health gaps , and other concerns due to structural inequities and overcrowding, e.g.

Maningrida made headlines in 2018 for its heartbreakingly high rate of rheumatic heart disease, an illness that kills a disproportionate number of people prematurely. Australia has one of the world’s highest rates of rheumatic heart disease, with Aboriginal people nearly twenty times more likely to die from it than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. According to the Menzies School of Health, the rate of rheumatic heart disease ‘falls dramatically with improved living conditions and increased hygiene standards’. It is often called a ‘disease of poverty’, with evidence pointing clearly to overcrowded houses as a significant contributing factor.

While the political hot potato that is remote housing continues to be juggled around bureaucrats’ offices and parliamentary debates, people in Maningrida go on living on top of each other every single day in deplorable situations. Their lives do not command the flurry of immediate and urgent national action that COVID-19 received.7

Ms Johanson also spoke of impacts of COVID restrictions , glimpsed inequities in faced in remote schools, and positive changes made to various programs like CDP. She concluded,

While the Australian and Northern Territory governments have both emerged with relatively flying colours in regard to their overall COVID-19 crisis management, as have the local Aboriginal corporations, land councils and regional shires, the forgotten corners of Australia contain a wealth of untold stories and experiences that we could learn from. Instead, the stories from remote communities remain by and large untold, and the gap between Canberra and beyond feels slightly wider than before.

First Nations people across Australia would be disproportionally impacted and devasted by the CORONA Virus pandemic. They suffer great structural inequities, socio-economic disadvantages, poverty and poor health. In addition, remote living people have poorer life outcomes consequent to continuing dispossession, cross- generational trauma, homelessness and diseases (of third world countries) , neo -colonisation, imposed neo-liberal policies, and an underinvestment in their communities and homelands. It is recognised that remote Aboriginal communities across Australia remain at great risk should an outbreak occur.

The first wave of COVID 19 has been abated in the Kimberly and avoided in remote Northern Territory communities for now, but fears of a second wave are real, and First Nations people could still face potential devastation. Communities have solutions as Yingiya Guyula MLA , June Oscar AO and many others have said. Government’s need to work ‘with’ the people.

Recommendation: The right to local decision making and self-determination of First Nations communities must be embraced by the Australian Government in the immediate post phase 1 of COVID-19 fears, and into the future. Clan Leaders and elders must be involved in consultation and negotiations.

7 Ibid.

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COVID 19 laws have placed enormous pressures on impoverished remote communities . 'concerned Australians' also contend that serious adverse consequences of federally imposed- and failing NT Intervention polices8 - over the past 13 years has disenfranchised remote NT communities deepened poverty 9, and increased the vulnerability of First Nations communities to potential devastation. In 2011 we wrote,

In the main, the Intervention has been seen by Aboriginal people as punitive and referred to in a statement by Aboriginal elders as a ‘dispossession’. Now, after so many years of dispossession, we find once again we are being thrust towards a new dispossession. Our pain and our fear are real. Our people are again being shamed.10 The stated intention of Government was to address the issues of child abuse referenced in the report Little Children Are Sacred. Child Protection services, like many other services to Aboriginal people in the NT, have been limited by their lack of funds and governmental support. … It should be noted that the many changes enforced through the new legislation have been imposed without negotiation or consent of community representative. 11

Polices imposed over people have been shown to -and continue to -have failed, not only in the past and but in contemporary times, the NT Interventions are a case in point. The Federal Intervention imposed discriminatory and disempowering which stripped First Nations people of basic rights and resources,

… Since August 2007 till 2011, more than 45,000 First Nations Peoples living in the Prescribed Areas were traumatised when a Bill was passed through both Houses of Parliament (The House of Representatives and the Senate). This legislation suspended the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 to put in place the Northern Territory Emergency Response. …These actions have placed Australia in breach of its international treaty obligations to the First Nations Peoples. Respectful discussion and negotiation with community elders did not take place before the introduction of the Intervention. Discussions on a diplomatic basis are essential. There are elders in every Aboriginal Nation invested by the authority of the majority. These are the people with whom Minister Macklin should be negotiating, rather than with the chosen few, as has been her habit …. … and after almost five years of the oppression of the Intervention, we demand that Government hand back to us control over our communities and provide adequate Government, long-term funding to ensure the future of Homelands. Communty Councils have suffered from years of underfunding. The same is happening today with the [super] Shires that have been imposed on us. There is a lack of funding for our Core Service. There is no

8 Massive failures continue, please read the February 2020 , Northern Territory Intervention Evaluation, Casten Centre. https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/2106156/NT-Intervention-Evaluation-Report-2020.pdf 9 http://regnet.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/7002/deepening-indigenous-poverty-northern-territory 10 Statement by Aboriginal Elders: To the Australian People, 7th February 2011 11 Michele Harris, Georgina Gartland. Children Of The Intervention, Aboriginal Children Living in the Northern Territory of Australia: A Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, June 2011), p5. http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Children-of- the-Intervention-June-2011-r2.pdf

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capacity for Aboriginal communities to engage in long-term services planning without the certainty of long-term funding.12 .. Since the[2008 Naitonal] Apology and since reconciliation, the level of incarceration of Aboriginal men has increased three-fold; our families are being punished for failure to attend a foreign school design; our capacity to govern our own lives has been totally disempowered; Aboriginal youth suicide rates in the Northern Territory are higher than anywhere else in Australia; and our people have been demonized, labelled and branded… Rev. Dr. Djiniyini Gondarra, OAM Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM, Japata Ryan Harry Nelson, Djapirri Murunggirritj , Barbara Shaw, Yananymul Mununggurr, November 2011.

In addition , First Nations land rights were diminished.

Diminishing Aboriginal rights /amending the Aboriginal Land Rights act ( ALRA 1975, NT), compulsory acquiring Aboriginal lands and townships and imposing compulsory leases over Aboriginal communities ; winding back, then stopping the remote community development employment work program (CDEP) and related community service programs ; placing First Nations people on compulsory income management (where in the first six weeks of the 2007 Intervention no people had access to any of their social security payments; imposing punitive social security measures linked to school attendance and, later imposing remote punitive and assimilationist community work programs (CDP) , (which in more recent years saw social security payments withdrawn, thousands of fines13 and eight week penalties imposed disproportionally on First Nations people) ; denying self-determination and use of community resources ; defunding many of the culturally relevant Aboriginal led community programs including community safe houses and night patrols; defunding and or underfunding Aboriginal legal and child and family programs etc have served to disempower and impoverish communities. The flawed , failed and poorly evaluated14 ‘so- called’ [assimilationist] Indigenous Advancement strategy made things worse from 2014. The denial of infrastructure and new housing on remote homelands compounds all these issues, as has reduced funding and the pulling out of Australian agreements on housing. The over reliance of expensive contract fly in fly out contract workers and underinvestment in First Nations’ skills building programmes , appointment of business managers over communities etc have cost deeply, in more ways than one.

… Yolŋu have felt the full force of oppression. Government policies like the Intervention, super-shires, English-only schools have impacted greatly on our wellbeing. We are being pushed to suicide and we suffer from ill health, low education levels, and high incarceration rates. Whoever it was that invented the Intervention and then even worse, whoever it was that invented Stronger Futures – those people tried to kill our culture, they really wanted it dead. But we are still here. We are nursing wounds but we are still here fighting until we are heard.

12 Statement by Northern Territory Elders and Community Representatives No More! Enough is Enough! 4th November 2011. http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Statement-4-11-11.pdf 13 Financial Penalties Under CDP Continue to Rise, Lisa Fowkes ,March 2018 https://www.ja.com.au/news/financial-penalties-under-cdp- continue-rise 14 It continues to fail, Audit finds $5 billion Indigenous Advancement Strategy is not properly evaluated, June 2019. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-19/indigenous-advancement-strategy-ias-audit-measure-government/11222554

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Balanda ways/ Ŋapaki ways are failing us, strangling our spirit.15 Yingiya Guyula, 4 August 2018.

Despair , addictions and community disharmony are real.

As funding dried up First Nations people flocked into larger hub towns with other social consequences beyond the scope of this submission.

Recommendation 1) Discriminatory legislation and polices such as the ongoing NT Intervention- Stronger Futures and related legislation must be repealed . They are failing and serve to disempower , impoverish and harm remote communities .

Recommendation 2) First Nations communities must be returned their right to local decision making and self-determination and be funded in their own solutions , this is empowerment.

Recommendation 3) First Nations Land Rights Act must be respected . Consent of all Traditional Owners , Custodians and Caretakers, not the majority, must hold. Clan leaders must be engaged in all consultations relevant to their lands.

Closing the Gap (TG) - a program designed by Government bureaucrats - had little if anything to do with First Nations solutions or design. WE hear that told there has been little progress and there is more to be done. Most measures are indeed failing tp reach targets as consecutive CTG reports have shown, since 2008.

There is a new report which looked at both CTG statistics and human rights, The Northern Territory Intervention: an evaluation, (Febuary2020). It drew little attention. The report ends with a chapter on genocide. The removal of First Nations children and Indigenous incarcerations have skyrocketed under Intervention policies.

Recommendation: We request that this COVID inquiry committee read “The Northern Territory Intervention: an evaluation” , February 2020 found here16

The increasing rates of mental illness, suicides, child removal, family breakdown are real. It is time to include the skyrocketing rates of Indigenous incarceration in CTG reports.

Inequities must be addressed and remedied. Lack of First Nations designed housing, and limited local or reliable or well-resourced culturally safe community health clinics17 and local social service facilities , lack of reliable water18 , lack of reliable energy , telecommunications and internet supplies19 further disenfranchise remote communities.

15 2018 Garma Key Forum, August 4th, 2018, Truth Telling and Treaty. To view delivery of the 2018 speech go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hCkcZMmKtA , refer Appendix 7 http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Yingiya_Mark_Guyula_MLA_Garma_2018.pdf 16 Dr Stephen Gray and team, Casten Centre for Human Rights Law, February 2020 .https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/2106156/NT-Intervention-Evaluation-Report-2020.pdf 17 18 Water shortage in Utopia Homelands spreads scabies, 28, August 2014 https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/centralian-advocate/water- shortage-in-utopia-homelands-spreads-scabies/news-story/36444248c54b7f67a72eb8a72b188cfd Yuendumu in Central Australia at 'severe risk' of running out of water, 13 August 2019 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-13/remote- community-yuendumu-running-out-of-drinking-water/11405024 19 Remote Central Australian communities empty as Telstra outages shut down essential services, 24 January 2020 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-24/ampilatwatja-arlparra-mobile-outage-nt-telstra-remote-community/11898266

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It is time to invest in reliable and sustainable solar energy for remote communities. Sadly, governments and mining companies are looking to frack large areas of the NT and exploration had commenced prior to COVID 19. There is no consent and overwhelmingly First Nation people object

I am with you - supporting a ban on fracking- Yingiya Mark Guyula, MLA Northern Territory, March 2018.

Northern Australia needs to move to support First Nation solutions in the provision of affordable, reliable and sustainable energy sources. Solar investment in a post COVID era is desired. First Nation communities continue to fight against Fracking exploration. Young and old are speaking for country and against fracking. Last October over 30 traditional owners walked out of the [ORIGIN AGM] meeting after delivering demands to the energy giant in Sydney.20 Young First Nation leaders from various communities in the NT travelled the country raising awareness of impacts of fracking damage and climate change last year. They already are seeing the impacts of global warming already in their communities. Fracking will increase emission and further damage their lands. They say up to 98-99% of local First Nations people in their three separate communities said no to fracking, despite this they are being ignored. Nicholas Milyari Fitzpatrick is one of those men and represents the Yanyuwa, and Garrwa people of Borroloola. He had worked in the Fracking industry. His concerns about damage to county, to songlines and more can be found in his submission to the fracking Inquiry here. August 2017.21

Recommendation: There is NO consent to Fracking. It must be stopped in the Northern Territory

We have seen First Nations people solutions work.

As early as January this year, before any Federal Government action on COVID , Aboriginal controlled health organisations, land councils and other Aboriginal peak organisations worked to have remote communities shut down to prevent this pandemic from reaching communities. Despite added stressors and with difficulties local communities took this on board.

COVID has been avoided in the NT and its remote communities , to date, and much praise needs to be given also to Aboriginal controlled health organisations like the National Community Controlled Health Organisations (NACCHO), Danila Dilba Health Service (DDHS , Darwin), and also the work of many others, including land councils, and more specifically on the ground like Why Warriors in Arnhem Land. The latter group work with teams of community elders in health education and promotion, including writing COVID newsletters22 and producing videos23 etc to be commended and supported.

We note organisations did not receive any extra funding for COVID education!

DDHS also undertook significant and unfunded community awareness-support community aboriginal control and education campaigns to prevent and control the spread of the

20 16 October 2019.https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2019/10/traditional-owners-ramp-up-fight-against-origin-energy-to-end- fracking-in-the-nt/ 21 https://frackinginquiry.nt.gov.au/?a=446796 22 CORONAVIRUS – MESSAGE 4 YOLNGU COMMUNITES https://www.whywarriors.com.au/media/newsletters/2020/03/coronavirus-urgent-message-4-yolngu-communites/ 23 Videos In relevant languages https://www.whywarriors.com.au/media/newsletters/2020/04/questions-answers-and-new- videos/

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disease assist people in understanding the rapidly evolving situation and the response measures being implemented. Submission 66 , Danila Dilba Health Service Covid Inquiry.

Recommendation: Aboriginal controlled and culturally relevant health (and other) proven programs must be funded well and appropriately .

Initially the Australian Government and internal governments were slow to take action . Then in some areas, like the Northern Territory and Western Australia, non-essential contract workers continued to fly in and out placing First Nations people at great risk and causing enormous fear.24 There were also concerns for miner flying in and out.

Parents were too scared to send their children to school in some areas. Schools remained open for vulnerable students, but few attended in some remote areas. Homeland learning centres (HLC) were closed due to COVID19, we believe some remain closed?

At the same time, it must be noted many First Nations children do not have access to learning spaces at home , due to overcrowding and there is no reliable or affordable internet for some remote schools and homeland learning centres (HLC). Two years ago, I visited a HLC which had repeated sewerage leakages into school grounds and at times no water supply, the HLC was required to close.

Rights of the Child Convention

Article 28

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

(a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;

To deny children full‐time education is totally unacceptable and most particularly so for a country like Australia that could well have afforded to comply with this requirement many years ago. Instead there are some forty‐five Homeland Learning Centres across the Northern Territory, which do not offer full‐time qualified teachers to their students. As a result the Northern Territory Government denies these children a full‐time education

Recommendation: The gaps in education and facilities , in health resources and availability of reliable internet, telecommunications , water and sanitation needs to be addressed and remedied.

24 A fly in /out doctor with Covid reached the Kimberly. Halls Creek doctor tests positive for COVID-19, 2nd April 2020. https://nit.com.au/halls-creek-doctor-tests-positive-for-covid-19/

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There has been positives and inconsistencies in the Australian Government COVID response,

On the discriminatory25 and failed remote CDP26 (work for the dole program ) participants ( and their families) at times were penalised and unable to afford food due to harsh requirements, high fines and social security withdrawals. As COVID fears increased CDP participants were finally provided relief of some of this policy’s harsh participatory requirements. However, initially despite potential risks CDP workers were told to continue working at a time when COVID fears were high.27

A positive , the Job seeker payment was increased, (refer Appendix 3). We are unsure how many First Nations workers were eligible for Job keeper due to the high rates casualisation and contract work.

People have a human right to social security , to housing and an adequate standard of living. The Australian Government must abide by her own protocols,

What is the right to an adequate standard of living?

Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living including adequate food, water and housing and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.

Where does the right to an adequate standard of living come from?

Australia is a party to seven core international human rights treaties. The right to an adequate standard of living is contained in article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

See also articles 5©(iii) and 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) , article 14(2)(h) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) , articles 24(2)© and 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).28

All workers , whether Indigenous or not, should have a right to a living wage in Australia. This would boost incomes. The minimum wage is a recipe for poverty.29 CDP has been called out as modern day slavery ,

A Northern Territory MP has launched a blistering attack on the remote work-for-the-dole scheme, calling it “modern-day slavery” and describing life on the community development program for people in his electorate as “hunger games”. The member for Namatjira, Chansey Paech, told NT parliament the scheme – which sees people in remote communities suspended from income support if they don’t meet their work-

25 84% on CDP are Indigenous. Modern Slavery In Remote Australia? Professor Jon Altman, Oct 2017 https://arena.org.au/modern-slavery-in-remote-australia-by-jon-altman/ 26CDP an abject failure: PM’s report (2019) https://www.actu.org.au/actu-media/media-releases/2019/cdp-an-abject-failure-pm-s-report 27 Aboriginal people who work for dole told to attend group activities despite coronavirus risk, 17thMarch 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/17/aboriginal-people-who-work-for-dole-told-to-attend-group-activities- despite-coronavirus-risk 28 https://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtections/HumanRights/Human-rights- scrutiny/PublicSectorGuidanceSheets/Pages/Righttoanadequatestandardoflivingincludingfoodwaterandhousing.aspx 29 8 Things to Know About the Living Wage , the Australia Institute , March 2019. https://www.futurework.org.au/8_things_to_know_about_the_living_wage

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA for-the-dole commitments – was driving Aboriginal people into poverty, out of remote communities and into major towns, where social problems arise. “I was told by a few business people that on the occasions that they were broken into, the perpetrator did not take the expensive equipment, merchandise or cash but rather any form of food they could find,” Paech said in an adjournment speech on Tuesday. 30

Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University at the time, Jon Altman discussed this in his 2017 article, Modern Slavery In Remote Australia? 31

Recommendation 1: We urge the Australian government to continue with the increase in rate of Jobseeker payment and to cease punitive CDP , its demands, fines and extended social security penalties. Other social security payments like Newstart require increases to as recommended by ACOSS and other organisations.

Recommendation 2) Casualisation of the remote workforce and underemployment of First Nations people must be addressed.

Recommendation 3) Local decision making and design of programmes is vital. Positive community development models need to be designed with local communities. The work of the Professor Jon Altman over four decades in this area with First Nations communities is to be supported.

Recommendation 4) Widen scope of jobs to include community and culturally relevant roles/jobs as determined by communities.

Recommendation 5) Fly In Fly out workers are not sustainable. Funding is required to support local skills-based training . Employment of local community members and rangers for wider jobs. Programs designed with communities

30 Work for the dole is 'modern-day slavery', Northern Territory MP says.24th October 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/24/work-for-the-dole-is-modern-day-slavery-northern-territory-mp-says 31 “Deploying the definition in the ILO convention above, the CDP is a form of forced labour”. I want to make three brief points about design elements of the CDP. First, unlike those on the earlier Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme, those on the CDP are classified as unemployed, yet they are required to work for income support at an hourly rate of about $11, well below the current legal minimum wage of $18.29. If the Forrest recommendation had been implemented, that rate would have been $7.80 per hour. Second, what constitutes work is dictated by external program guidelines and providers, not Indigenous jobless. People are in effect required to work for public- and private-sector employers alongside others who properly enjoy award conditions. There are supply-chain implications here, because goods and services might be sold that pay labour at exploitative below-award rates. And Indigenous forms of work in self-provisioning or in cultural or domestic activities are not recognised as legitimate. Third, policing of compulsory work is undertaken by providers that can be community-based organisations. These providers are paid for the delivery of training, employment placement, and what is termed ‘work-like’ activity by the government, increasingly as ‘bullshit work’ by participants. Rather perniciously, providers are also paid for providing the government with information that allows the implementation of punitive penalty regimes for non-attendance. Deploying the definition in the ILO convention above, the CDP is a form of forced labour. Given that forced labour is so central to the definition of modern slavery, the CDP is a form of modern slavery. And when people work for government agencies or in the private sector for pay below the legal minimum, they are being exploited. The CDP is also a form of involuntary servitude, because if people do not turn up for work and exercise their basic human right to withdraw their labour, they are punished with financial penalties. Professor Jon Altman (17 October 2020). https://arena.org.au/modern-slavery-in-remote-australia-by-jon-altman/

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Fly in and out contract workers deemed essential workers were still allowed to come and go in areas, increasing community fear of disease spread.

Who defines who is essential? Local decision making is vital. But Isolation was necessary.

It is indeed an indictment on the Australian, State and Territory governments that First Nations people are at such high risk of disease and vulnerability, that the level of enforcement of isolation required police and military to be taken into communities ! It is an indictment that local people were not employed in this role, refer Appendix 1. We heard stories of local First peoples initially keeping watch at their communities’ borders, such was the level of concern. Regardless local people should have been engaged and employed in these roles with appropriate resources.

However, COVID has also meant fewer services, separated First Nations kin, and over-policing as a new Change the Record report has exposed. For example

Children, Out Of Home Care and Reunification

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are taken away from their parents and families at far higher rates than non-Indigenous kids. This is often due to circumstances such as overcrowding, poverty, inadequate housing and other factors arising from trauma and inequality. One of the most painful consequences of policy responses to Covid-19 that have seen essential services shut down, is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents who have children in out of home care have had access to their children restricted. This is causing distress and anxiety in a time of heightened stress for everyone. Regular, supported access to kids in out of home care is crucial to the wellbeing of both children and parents. This is important for all kids, but particularly where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children rely on contact with their parents to have connection with their culture and country. There are often conditions placed on having visits with children in out of home care - such as a parent undertaking drug and alcohol screenings before being able to have access to their children. Due to Covid-19 these services have been interrupted, and in some cases entirely closed, making it extremely difficult for parents to fulfill these conditions.32

There have been adverse consequences of extra policing in remote and urban communities and fears of criminalisation.

It is only a matter of time before COVID-19 breaks out in our prisons and youth detention centres. This will then have a substantial flow-on effect to the community, including community health services. People are continually churning in and out of prisons and then being released to their communities. Significantly, 77% of people entering and 33% of people in prison are unsentenced and 30% of sentenced prisoners are expected to serve less than 12 months.

Failing to deal with COVID-19 in the criminal justice system will also have a disproportionate effect on vulnerable populations over-represented in prisons, namely Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; people from low socio-economic backgrounds; people experiencing homelessness; and people with disabilities.33

32 P 20 https://drive.google.com/file/d/18XF70q-ILvkpfe9arDLqGoZev2sCxMxt/view 33 https://changetherecord.org.au/critical-condition

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The risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the Australian criminal justice system and youth detention centres is high hence an open letter34 pushed for a range of urgent health and related actions, and called,

… for the early release of prisoners, including: those at high risk of harm from COVID-19, including those with pre-existing health conditions. 35

Aboriginal people across Australian are approximately 3% of the population yet represent 2736-28% of the incarcerated rate; The worst rates per capita in the world37. Concerns related to the COVID polices are recorded in a new report.

Recommendation: We ask the inquiry to read Change The Record’s new report . Critical Condition - the impact of Covid-19 policies, policing and prisons on First Nations communities. (May 27th, 2020)

Discrimination has been profound. First Nations people face fines due to poverty , lack of housing and homelessness, mental illness and addictions, inability or difficulty in socially distancing (due to other structural inequities). FNP have been overrepresented in receiving fines and it seems have been unjustly targeted and faced harassment on the streets, in public places and even their own homes , for example,

One complaint made to Amnesty alleges a group of officers, thought to be both police and military, attended a property in Tennant Creek. Officers entered the house and made residents stand for a headcount. A separate complainant said a group of authorities showed up to her home to see who was there, before police entered and poured out the residents’ alcohol. The presence of military personnel in the Northern Territory purportedly in response to Covid-19 is a source of great concern for First Nations communities and organisations living and working there. The ABC reported that military personnel were stationed at bottle shops in Tennant Creek with no warning or explanation, and according to at least one local store owner were engaged in targeting Aboriginal patrons. [15]38

Recommendation 1) implement the Critical Condition report recommendations, refer Appendix 4.

Recommendation 2 ) casual and institutional racism needs must be addressed , the disproportionate rates of Indigenous incarceration reduced and deaths in custody stopped.

Recommendation 3) Implement he remaining recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody ( RCADIC).

34 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jg8rOiLzTQ8yzvHjqDnw--G-aavMBzHXP4puCRivmZM/edit 35 Hundreds of experts push for early release and other actions to protect prisoners from COVID-19, March 2020. than 360 justice and health advocates have signed an open letter urgently calling on Australian governments to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the Australian criminal justice system, especially prisons and youth detention centres 36 Disproportionate incarceration rate, Last modified on 9 January 2018. https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/pathways-to-justice-inquiry- into-the-incarceration-rate-of-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples-alrc-report-133/executive-summary-15/disproportionate- incarceration-rate/ 37 FactCheck Q&A: are Indigenous Australians the most incarcerated people on Earth?, June 2017 https://theconversation.com/factcheck-qanda-are-indigenous-australians-the-most-incarcerated-people-on- earth-78528 38 Critical Condition - the impact of Covid-19 policies, policing and prisons on First Nations communities / full report https://changetherecord.org.au/critical-condition, [15]Samantha Jonscher and Stewart Brash, ‘NT Police says Defence Force presence at bottle shop a 'mistake' ABC (online) 21 April 2020

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There were 339 Recommendations Many remain ignored. The full report is available here. A 2005 Change The Record, review of the implementation of the Report is available here.

First Nations people across Australia-including communities in remote NT are striving for a return of self-determination and local decision making. The NT is looking at the possibility of treaty/ies, yet Clan elders were ignored from the initial conversations.

Elders know their communities well and what will work for each community. They wish their solutions to be funded, they yearn for resources , which have been repeatedly denied them. First Nations’ wish to determine their own programs, including in business, community development , child welfare and juvenile justice matters etc . Self-determination is vital, they must be granted the means to fund , build up and strengthen their own programs , children , domestic violence , alcohol and addiction services , and family services etc.

Recommendation 1 ) A Human rights approach is the way forward; Human Rights, Right of the Child , UNDRIP principals and CERD ; ICESCR; ICCPR must be embedded into Australian and State/Territory legislation. And be considered in COVID /other like emergencies in the future.

Recommendation 2) First Nations must be allowed culturally relevant solutions to reduce rates of child removal. It is widely known that children removed to out of home care are highly likely to end in the juvenile justice system.

First Nations family and kin are denied involvement in family concerns . The rate of child removals , mental illness , suicides and entry into juvenile justice system and prisons has skyrocketed since the Northern Territory Intervention. Children are incarcerated at the age of ten! The disgraceful treatment of children in Don Dale (NT) and other centres (across Australia) has been exposed but much inaction follows. 39 We cannot afford delays. The 2020 Intervention evaluation report speaks of Genocide.40

Recommendation 1) Increase the age of criminal responsibility in Australia to 14 yrs.

Recommendation 2) work with and fund the NT Government to implement all the recommendations of the Royal Commission Into The Protection And Detention Of Children In The Northern Territory , (2017)

Yingiya Guyula MLA made culturally relevant recommendations which would work to greatly reduce child removals, strengthen and empower families and Kin and build the resilience of communities,

“LDM” (Local Decision Making) with the NTG,… Please reconsider!!! … I tried to bring issues to the NT Government today about the “REAL” LDG from our real Yolngu(especially) traditional leader/elders and I are suppose to represent our communities…

Today the NT Government did not support the statement I made…

“I demand … Government stops the practice of removing Yolngu children from their family, their country and their culture. I want the government to engage with me and with Yolngu leadership about giving Yolngu communities the authority and resources to work in

39 NT Gov moving at ‘glacial pace’ on Don Dale May 2019. https://nit.com.au/nt-gov-moving-at-glacial-pace-on-don-dale/ 40 Chapter 8, Dr Stephen Gray and team, Casten Centre for Human Rights Law, February 2020 .https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/2106156/NT-Intervention-Evaluation-Report-2020.pdf

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partnership to protect Yolngu children from harm, including the harm that occurs when they are removed from their culture.

… There has to be a pathway to transition the welfare of our children to the authorities of our people, and I acknowledge that the government has begun working towards this.

I support this bill, but as part of this we need to see acknowledgement of Aboriginal authorities. I have spoken with the minister and her department about these amendments. I have spoken with Yolngu community members who have felt this frustration. I have spoken with Danila Dilba and AMSANT, who have given their support.

I do not see any reason why our Aboriginal authorities should have to wait another two or three years for future legislative changes to be included in the welfare of our children. I would like to introduce these amendments to provide a practical path for Aboriginal authorities to be included in the welfare of our children.

Part 5.1A of the act lists information sharing authorities. It is a long list of authorities that are entitled to share information, but it does not include elders or clan authorities. As an elder, I and many other elders have had the experience of being told that privacy laws prevent Territory families from sharing information with you.

I have had a scared mother—my daughter, by kinship—tell me that Territory Families were coming to remove her child. She was coming to me, as a clan elder, to help. But I became as powerless as her. I could not help or support her with any understanding of what was happening because I was told, ‘No, this information is confidential’.

I am a clan leader and elder, yet I do not know what the threat is to this child. When my brother attended the meeting with the mother and child, his questions were not answered. He was not given information or asked for his thoughts. He is an elder, someone who can provide support and intervene. His job is to provide protection, but we elders have been locked out of the child protection process for too long.

The further amendments I am proposing allow a senior elder, Aboriginal authority in relation to the child, to be included as an information sharing authority so they can be part of working for a solution and support the family.

…It is small change to add one more authority to the list, but this is the authority that has always been forgotten. It is the Aboriginal authority for the child. This is the authority that this government has said it wants to empower.

A further amendment to section 293E needs to be explained. Section 293E requires that an information sharing authority must give information on request to another information sharing authority. To maintain trust across families and clans and ensure that there is no community conflict, a senior Aboriginal authority should not be compelled to give information. It is important that their role as a clan elder and leader is not compromised by the perception that they are having children removed or getting people into trouble. This undermines the strength of their role to understand the welfare issues and support the family to care for the child.

TOs provided an exemption does not mean that a senior Aboriginal authority will not provide information. I am sure they will because their concern will be for the welfare of the child but

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA it allows them to be careful about how to manage family and community expectations and responsibilities and the overall effect of these amendments will be mirrithirri dal very strong and profound.

This should be included today as part of the current changes because it will have an impact that immediately benefits Aboriginal children by bringing Aboriginal authorities into the space that has been held by western authorities to work for the welfare of our children.

7th August 2019.

His recommendations were denied. The rates and realities of youth suicides, , links to juvenile justice cannot be ignored.

Culture, kin and community are vital for the wellbeing of Aboriginal children [and the whole community]so they may grow strong , as highly respected Elder Ms Gurruwiwi (RIP) from Nhulunbuy in East Arnhem Land reminded us,

... children in our communities should come from the known to the unknown, and it is also very important that children growing up in our communities … should understand and be able to identify in who they are, so that they will be able to grow with dignity and knowing where they have come from. And also come to the stage when they are older they can cope with the expectations that we have from people from the wider community, and they will able to walk in confidence in two worlds.41

Recommendation 1) In a Post COVID era governments should engage with community clan leaders and relevant kin to negotiate ways forward where community elders, parents and kin can have the leading role in planning the future of their children. This will help strengthen communities.

Recommendation 2) Local decision making is required. Leaders and related Kin such must be included in decision making and in child welfare (and all other) matters. Legislative changes will be required. Work to promote change with the NT Government .

Rights Of Child Convention Article 2 1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status. 2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members.

Article 30 In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the

41 CHILDREN OF THE INTERVENTION :Aboriginal Children Living in the Northern Territory of Australia, A Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, p16, http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Children-of-the-Intervention-June-2011-r2.pdf (2011.

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right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.

Any Australian Government policies including COVID 19 response must allow for Self- Determination.

The right of peoples to self-determination is established in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples have the right of self- determination in accordance with these instruments. The right of Indigenous Peoples to self- determination was clarified by the General Assembly when the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted in 2007

…

Consistent with the right to self-determination the Declaration goes on to instruct that “States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the Indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them. National Congress Of Australia’s First Peoples , June 2012. 42

In May 2012 Pat Turner CEO of the NACHCO reminded us,

“This pandemic has shown just how important those reforms are,” The reforms are to have greater Aboriginal involvement in decision making and service delivery at a national, regional and local level. There is also a commitment to making sure government agencies and institutions undertake systemic and structural transformation, and strengthening community-controlled organisations to deliver the services Aboriginal people need. … “Our organisations and communities are best placed to respond to this crisis and yet are the same organisations and communities that have borne the brunt of repeated funding cuts and a rollercoaster of policy and administration changes,”43

UNDRIP Article 3

Indigenous peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

42 Statement to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights on the Parliamentary Scrutiny of Human Rights as applied to the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bills (2011) National Congress Of Australia’s First Peoples, June 2012. 43 Closing the gap: Aboriginal groups say coronavirus should not delay new targets, 12 MAY 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/12/closing-the-gap-aboriginal-groups-say-coronavirus-should-not-delay-new- targets

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Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.

Article 5

Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their rights to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

Self-Determination

…

The National congress has since been defunded and has no longer has a voice. This disempowered.

Self-determination is achieved at the allowing local decision making and local community led solutions. This will empower. Empowerment should not be tied to or restricted to an assimilationist project such as the empowered communities project.

Elders in remote South Australia, the Anangu-Pitjantjatjara-Yankunytjatjara, wished to be evacuated back to Adelaide during phase one COVID 19 as border closers were not working, to be closer to medical facilities and to avoid the issues related to overcrowding.

The Anangu-Pitjantjatjara-Yankunytjatjara art centres (APYACC) have been lobbying for three weeks to have the SA government support a plan to transport a group of senior people from their remote communities into isolation at the Wiltja Anangu school in Adelaide. APYACC says border closures aren’t working, with people still crossing in and out on remote roads, and elderly people are living in overcrowded housing alongside several generations of family.

44 Statement to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights on the Parliamentary Scrutiny of Human Rights as applied to the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bills (2011) NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST PEOPLES JUNE 2012, p, 68 http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/In_The_Absence_of_Treaty.pdf

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA “Social distancing is a luxury we do not have,” elders at one of the APYACC art centres wrote to the SA government this week.45

This was not self-determination . Fear compounded by poor community infrastructure, inadequate housing and services, inability to reach hospital in emergencies, inability to socially distance and all the issues of overcrowding, and of lack of water , food insecurity etc remain at play- and would very likely have seen many deaths in remote homelands should the virus had reached communities.

Recommendation 1 ) Housing stock must be increased greatly and designed by community to ensure communities elders and families have a safe and healthy environment.

Recommendation 2) There needs to be a stimulus package provided to remote communities to build up the required Aboriginal designed health , community and aged care infrastructure and to meet community needs. This is required to build up resilience to any future pandemic.

Housing stock remains extraordinarily undersupplied in remote NT,

Despite recent efforts and revitalised federal funding agreements, 41.3% of remote households are overcrowded. Danila Dilba (May 2020 Sub 66.)

Billions were spent the NT Intervention policies which completely denied Aboriginal engagement at the outset. The Intervention failed and in the first three years just eleven houses had been built,

A resident from Ampilatwatja remind[ed] government, “Upgrade the houses, but they are still overcrowded. Just write that down, the houses will be upgraded but they will still be overcrowded.” Roger Hudson of Lajamanu says, “They just came with their own plan. We have got only promises. We are still overcrowding and scared the rent will go up.” Three of those five years is now at hand and to date 11 houses have been built. This show[ed[ a total failure of the government in its commitment to and regard for Aboriginal people. If this were to happen in Melbourne or Sydney it would be considered an outrage and a target of ridicule. It is not surprising that from the June survey, which asks whether any additional houses have been built in the community, only 3% answered in the affirmative. 46 [2010]

Housing stock increased but remains totally inadequate. Overcrowding remains is a deeply disturbing reality. Having 9- 15- 20 people in one house , with one toilet is not satisfactory. In some instances, houses share a toilet and laundry!

In addition, houses and infrastructure must be built without demanding First Nations lease back to the Australian Government or mining companies their lands. It is good to see that housing has been placed back into First Nation organisation hands in the N , but funding agreements must not be tied to demands for lengthy Government leases or agreements tied to mining. The Australian Government has failed to truly consult with First Nations people over consecutive Intervention

45 Indigenous elders ask to be evacuated from remote communities over coronavirus fears, 3rd April 2020. Indigenous elders ask to be evacuated from remote communities over coronavirus fears, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/03/indigenous- elders-ask-to-be-evacuated-from-remote-communities-over-coronavirus-fears 46 Loss of Rights, p55. http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Loss-of-Rights-Rept-2010_v2.pdf

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA policies. Flawed consultations have occurred and amendments to lands rights and later changes to community living areas in 2012 as discussed our book , In The Absence of Treaty.47 There must be full free , prior and informed consent and meaningful and effective consultation and engagement, as recommended by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC(ATSI) Social Justice Commissioner (SJC). 48

Since 2006 Aboriginal land rights have been weakened /dismantled in the NT.49 And , communities coerced into signing longer leases in exchange for basic services and housing!

There continues to be a push for 99-year leases over whole Aboriginal Townships, since PM John Howard’s Federal Government amendment to the 1976 ALRA.

Under the NT Intervention over 69 -73 First Nation communities across the NT were compulsory acquired and 5-year leases imposed . Leading up to the 2012 Stronger Futures legislation and following -longer ‘so-called’ voluntary leases were coerced in exchange for basic services and housing- not always received!

In 2012 over another one hundred communities in the NT lost land control over their community living areas and town camps50; many are still unaware of this.

On being coerced into signing leases, Clan Elder and leader Djiniyini Gondarra spoke ,

“of the guilt he feels at being forced to give a lease to government in order to get basic housing for his community,

“There was no choice but to sign 40years lease. It was very, very difficult because we had to make choice to admit that lease the property [land] that our people won, that people who live in the one house, 20 people, a small house, we’re in really bad position. ... But we felt guilt inside, inside guilt that this is the way the system work, this is the way the Westminster system of law work to try to force on somebody else who already had land, had a law, that spirituality, a decision that is being rejected.” Interestingly, when the Aboriginal Land Rights Legislation Amendment Act 2007, which the Labour party opposed, was presented in Parliament, the [then] Minister for FaHCSIA, Jenny Macklin, who was then in opposition, reminded government, “It is important to remember just how hard and how long Indigenous people have fought for land rights. The struggle has been underpinned by absolute determination and dignity. I am speaking on Aboriginal Land Rights (Township Leasing) Bill 2007 which follows the government’s amendments that were pushed through Parliament amidst a great deal of controversy ... included a 99-year township proposal ... but it also removed direct control by

traditional owners over development and township land.[Labor voted against it.] Today we oppose the creation of this statutory office, to be funded out of Aboriginal money, for the same reason.51

47 http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/In_The_Absence_of_Treaty.pdf 48 Refer Features of a Meaningful and Effective Consultation Process pp 55-59 http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/In_The_Absence_of_Treaty.pdf 49 The Plan to Undermine the Land Rights Act By Ian Viner AO QC . First published in Land Rights News: NLC newshttp://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Ian Viner Plan to undermine Land Rights Act.pdf 50 Discussed more fully in In The Absence of Treaty. 51 Loss of Rights, p 56 http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Loss-of-Rights-Rept-2010 v2.pdf

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The Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976 was the first and strongest legal recognition of the profound connection that Indigenous people have to their country. It recognised the communal nature of landownership in Aboriginal law and culture through a form of freehold title. The Act, back in 1976 represented the most significant set of rights won by Aboriginal people after two centuries of European settlement.” The Minister, when in Opposition, was correct and it is a travesty that such well held beliefs can be so easily discarded. The Amendment Bill overview includes:

ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS (NORTHERN TERRITORY) AMENDMENT BILL 2006 Overview 2. The Bill seeks to promote economic development on Aboriginal land by providing for expedited and more certain processes related to exploration and mining on Aboriginal land. It also facilitates the leasing of Aboriginal land and the mortgaging of leases. In addition, the Bill makes provision for long term leases over townships on Aboriginal land to make it easier for Aboriginal people to own homes and businesses on land in townships.

The government had made it quite clear that it wished to open up the land for development and for mining leases. 52

Recommendation 1 ) The coercive practice of linking the basic provision of housing to the transfer of land leases to Government should be terminated Recommendation 2) When consulting with Clan leaders and tradional owners fulfil the features of a Meaningful and Effective Consultation process as outline by the AHRC and A&TSI SJC (see pp 55-59 here53

In early May an Open Letter: [to] Fund Aboriginal Responses to COVID-19 54 was signed by over two hundred civil society groups . Again, little attention was drawn to it . Please refer to recommendations in Appendix 5.

There can be no doubt under Australian and Territory Government Intervention that housing was denied on homelands ,

In September 2007 memoranda of agreements between the Commonwealth and the NT Governments further expos[ed] arrangements that will transfer control over land from communities to government as well as for the eventual demise of homelands. The memorandum includes the following: “Both governments agree that the funding will facilitate the transition from Indigenous community-controlled housing to a public housing model. (point 9) The Australian Government’s position is that ARIA (Australian Remote Indigenous Accommodation) funding not yet committed be applied to the following priorities... Third order of priority [includes]... no Australian Government funding to be provided to construct housing on outstations/homelands. (point 17) For all communities, access to ARIA funds for repairs and upgrades will be dependent on their communities agreeing to transfer of their housing to publicly owned Territory Housing on completion of the repairs and upgrades. (point 19)55

52 Ibid , pp 59. 53 P 55-59 http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/In_The_Absence_of_Treaty.pdf 54 April -May 2020 https://www.firstnations-covid19-letter.org/ 55 Loss of Rights, p 70. http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Loss-of-Rights-Rept-2010 v2.pdf

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We understand this policy was reversed but the neglect of housing and infrastructure is real not just in NT but now also in other areas like WA. Remote homeland closures were raised without any community input.

As noted, earlier June Oscar AO spoke of the irony (Appendix2) on being encouraged back to county for safety reasons, yet as we know communities had been long underinvested in housing, skills building and more . The Commissioner states we can learn from this crisis. Appendix 2.

We can and must ’hear’ and respond to clan and First Nations leaders . Local voices, local employment and their solutions are the way forward. There must be no room for discrimination in the Australia/ Territory or Sate post COVID response.

But sadly our homeland towns have been under resourced and overlooked for housing programs for a long time. And I am very frustrated about this. As families move back to these safe and healthy places [under COVID guidelines] we need to look at building more living spaces. We don’t need to send FIFO in, there are skilled and unskilled workers out there, there are ranger groups who have said they want to be involved, and Yolngu businesses like YBE who are in the region. But we do need to build simple structures, decked platforms and rooves where families can expand their living and sleeping areas. This is crucial. When I see the Home Improvements Scheme I think about our Homeland towns. This scheme has been offered several times now by this Government but not for our homes, not in these places where it could have a very powerful impact. Yingiya Guyula Mla, 24 April 2020.

Recommendation 1) There must be a new First Nations- Commonwealth- Territory Government- agreement to build Aboriginal designed and led housing and infrastructure on homeland communities. Community Elders and leaders must be included. Self-determination is vital and will allow empowerment. Treaty/ies are essential.

Food Insecurity This repatriation of many First Peoples back to community under COVID placed extra demands on food supplies compounded by communities lock downed. Mainstream hoarding of food may have had an impact? At times supplies were not enough to meet demand and prices were extraordinarily expensive despite efforts of the NIAA since April.

Food insecurity has remained a significant concern despite 2007 NT Intervention measures which focused on regulating community stores . The measures have been unsuccessful in reducing costs of healthy fresh foods. There was very little parliamentary human rights scrutiny of this Intervention measure which relied on poor Government evaluation-phone calls!56

When the Intervention was being extending in 2011-12 local communities were ignored . There were no provisions in the legislation that would lead to the reduction of food prices. This was made clear ,

Mr Ross, CLC: “Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory continue to be greatly disadvantaged in their inability to access affordable, fresh and varied produce……”

56 Feb 2020 Intervention; an evaluation, under relevant section.

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Mr Tan, Maningrida [Maningrida senate hearing] : “... we are seeking subsidies for freight from the government. This would definitely help to bring down the price of healthy foods to sell in the supermarket.”57

Food continues to be expensive -in some cases up to 60% more for fresh food and vegetables . Less access to readily available cash (as social security benefits are compulsory income managed) has not helped.

Many people have low incomes, are unemployed and many FNP under the ongoing NT Intervention have their CDP/ social security payments compulsory managed. As already noted thousands of fines/ penalties were applied cutting people and kin off any incomes and hence ability to purchase food.

Many do not have extra / discretionary income to buy up on food and other supplies, as was suggested may occur by the NIAA in April . Instead this was more the reality,

The panic buying experienced across most of Australia did not hit Maningrida [NT]. One can only assume that this was because to bulk buy food, people need to have the luxury of discretionary income. For many weeks while the rest of Australia experienced shortages of toilet paper, food and other products, the shelves in Maningrida remained plumply stocked. [However a COVID stimulus did help] This changed in early April when the $750 stimulus arrived.. People were noticeably elated. Their elation was not because they could now panic buy before the kundjak arrived but because many families live in a constant state of deep poverty and food shortage, and this additional income would relieve that pressure for a few weeks.58

Positive of the Australian response,

We note under COVID 19 a Food Security taskforce has been established under Ken Wyatt in the NIAA , and since an inquiry has commenced into Food Security. However , its terms of refence are narrow. Please refer the work of academic Sharon Joyce , Palawa woman from the Nuenonne People. Appendix 6.

We understand with remote workers like remote non-Indigenous teachers in the Northern Territory staff have had their food brought in from Urban centres; that for example their costs of food have remined much lower than for First Nations’ community members as food has been purchased from urban centres like Darwin or Alice Springs and the costs of freight covered . These are well paid staff The situation for impoverished people remains far different.

Recommendation 1) Freight subsides be granted for the delivery of food and essential items to all in remote communities .

Recommendation 2) Widen the Terms of Reference to the Food Security Inquiry. Refer Appendix 6 call to widen terms of reference . We commend the work of Sharon Joyce in this.

57 STRONGER FUTURES LEGISLATION (and Associated Bills) , list of http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Stronger_Futures- Chart.pdf 58 Postcard From Maningrida: Covid Comment From The Forgotten Corners Of Remote Australia, May 2020 https://arena.org.au/covid- comment-from-the-forgotten-corners-of-remote-australia/

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Recommendation 3) Consideration should be given to providing remote area food allowances for welfare beneficiaries. It is usual for public servants to be paid remote area allowances to cover the higher cost of rent and other essentials in remote areas. Alternatively, subsidies negotiated with remote area stores should be applied to ensure food is available at the same prices as in town supermarkets.

Recommendation 4 : Arrangements with Outback Stores and other licensed stores should be negotiated with Government whereby the prices of fresh vegetables and fruit are set at affordable prices, even if this would require the payment of subsidies.

Federal government dictates relating to First Nations communities requesting income management is rhetoric . This card is not working for most and remains controversial. On October 3rd, 2019 the Milingimbi community in East Arnhem Land held a rally to oppose the Federal Government's planned 'cashless welfare card'. It can be viewed here59

Recommendation 1) Compulsory income management must be scrapped and plans to impose the more restrictive cashless debit card must cease. Recommendation 2) As recommended in the October 2008 NT Intervention review led by Peter Yu, control must be given to community Elders and income management made voluntary.

There are so many more stories beyond the scope of this submission. We have just glimpsed on education, there are very many structural inequities , lack of resources, lack of full time permanent teachers , lack of Aboriginal teachers and cultural relevant local education , and parents but this brief anecdote from a First Nation mum speaks of during this pandemic fear,

Took my daughter … to the police checkpoint north of Alice yesterday so she could go back to boarding [school]… get home, after a 500km trip, to find out that there has been a sick child and boarding has been closed again.

At least she has family to stay with and can go to school as a day student. …

We are all trying to do all we can to support our kids. And love them. [name witheld]

The NT is currently relaxing travel restrictions and with First Nations travelling outside communities there remains concerns should there be a resurgence . There is a need to plan for another potential wave of COVID19 with First Nations leaders. There programs and calls must be supported. Masks and sanitisers required .

With the NT opening it's biosecurity areas (Arnhem Land communities) we have started sending out masks that have been donated to the elders (we need so many more if you can donate).We have sent out many hand sanitization stations to communities and homelands and we have been educating educating educating from a Yolngu space, through conversation in language. Yolngu Nations Assembly 2 June 2020,

59 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW_im_asDGs

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We ask this inquiry and the Australian Government to not forget remote First Nations communities .

It is to be commended there have been no cases of COVID 19 have reached First Nations people in the NT and across all remote communities in Australia, yet fears remain and COVID measures exists.

‘concerned Australians ‘ call on the Australian Government to meet the immediate food security and health needs of remote and urban FNP communities ; to work with community Clan leaders and First Nations organisations closely. Local decision making and Self- determination is vital.

In Conclusion, we finish with these words from June Oscar AO,

We need a staged approach of relief, recovery and reform, and then construction. We have proven through this crisis that our communities and organisations are capable and able. But we cannot continue indefinitely to create solutions inside a system that has not been designed for our needs.

We need to involve our communities and organisations in co-designing new systems and infrastructure that work for us. We need an end to systems dreamed up by policy makers "for our own good".

….

We cannot emerge from this crisis still living under failed systems that do not take our [First Nations people] needs into account. We need a new agreement with Indigenous communities. June Oscar, Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO , May 2020.

And, Yingiya Guyula MLA

I urge this Government to include all remote communities in the relief programs that are being provided and I urge this Government to give more time to the scrutiny of these Bills and be very careful about the way they use their emergency powers. 24/04/20 .

Full text Appendix 1

……………

From Garma August 2018,

… Government’s must negotiate with Nations and allow for traditional decision-making processes and this will require resources. Ultimately, we want the big one – a Treaty with the Federal Government… … We fight for Treaty to create a space to maintain our culture: to become modern Yolŋu people with the wisdom of our ancestors and the traditions of our law.

When I say ‘space’, I am talking about a space to create modern Yolŋu society: • Space to determine our education aspirations • Space to create Yolŋu models of employment • Space to resolve land tenure disagreements

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• Space for Yolŋu elders and leaders to maintain law and order and use our programs to resolve family violence, rehabilitate offenders of all crimes and provide healing for victims of drug abuse and depression. • We need space to prioritise resource distribution based on our determination: such as alleviating overcrowded housing and supporting homeland development.

• We can work in partnership to further develop programs that prevent kidney disease, heart disease and other illness through education founded on two ways knowledge. • The resources on our country should be available for our economic benefit through local owned fisheries, croc farms, tourism etc. Support for the development of sustainable Yolŋu businesses creates a pathway for our success. This is the space that we need to begin to determine our future. It is a space for genuine partnership between sovereign nations.

This is the space that we need to begin to determine our future. It is a space for genuine partnership between sovereign nations. And it has to start with returning power to the Yolngu elders and leaders where it belongs without manipulation and intervention. We have a system of governance and this system of governance will determine our future under Yolŋu control. Men and Women, elders and leaders, standing strong and protecting our people and our culture.60 Full Text Appendix 7

Thank you

Georgina Gartland For cA

‘concerned Australians’ acknowledge the First Nations People, the Traditional Owners of this land and their many unique cultures and languages. We respect the knowledge and wisdom of Elders past and present. They have never ceded their sovereignty and we commit to walking with them in their quest for truth, justice and treaties.

60 Yingiya Mark Guyula , 2018 Garma Key Forum - Truth Telling on full force of oppressive polices …and needy for Treaty, 4th August 2018 To view the delivery of the 2018 speech go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hCkcZMmKtA. Full speech Appendix 6

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Appendix 1

Yingiya Mark Guyula, MLA Nhulunbuy, NT- is an independent member and senior Djirrikaymirr, Djambarrpuyngu Nation, Yolgnu people.

(On the speech the Minister planned to deliver in the NT Parliament , taken from the Members’ public Facebook)

• How to work-prepare and plan- with local First Nations’ Peoples’ during and post COVID 19. • Local decision making and knowledge is important. • On policing and military enforcing social distancing, on confusion • On Scrutiny of COVID relate and other bills

Planned Speech to NT Parliament -

Yingiya Guyula Mla 24/04/20

Yow bukmak - I called into Parliament Sitting today by phone, due to travel restrictions, but was having some technical problems hearing the chamber. This is the speech I wanted to deliver:

Madam Speaker

Good afternoon everyone. I am having some problems hearing the chamber through the teleconference, so I have been listening to the online stream.

Firstly can I thank the many people who are working to protect the Northern Territory and our communities from the threat of Coronavirus.

I know people are working hard and are planning and preparing. And this planning and preparing has been very important.

Now that we have a little bit of breathing space due to no new infections, I want to encourage everyone to ensure that this planning and preparing is done in consultation with local communities.

For example, when we have had calls for more police in our communities or I’ve heard discussions about the Army being used to reinforce social distancing, my response for my communities is: Employ locally – employ our local elders and leaders to work with police. Working side by side. Provide vehicles so they can drive around communities and help to manage the concerns and explain the reasons for Coronavirus regulations.

There is a lot of confusion in communities about what is happening, and communities need to be part of the response to this emergency. Local decision-making should always be the answer.

I don’t agree with the way our Parliament has been sidelined today. These Bills require scrutiny. There are a number of peak bodies and welfare groups who are concerned about the Tenancies Bill. We should have time to listen to these organisations and their concerns to make sure that we make good decisions that have a positive impact.

There are a number of peak bodies and organisations concerned about the changes that were made to the Public Health and Environmental Bill today. And I share their concerns, but we haven’t had a chance to look at this Bill and see the what it means, and we haven’t had a chance to hear from legal experts about how this may impact on our community members.

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I do support the Utilities Legislation Amendment Bill because I understand that this will enable the Minister to reduce utility bills by 50% for businesses, but I am disappointed to learn that this might not be passed on to businesses in Nhulunbuy.

I have continued to raise the issues of high rents, high rates, limited housing, high cost of living for Nhulunbuy over the past few years.

But right now, businesses in Nhulunbuy are suffering just like every other town. Is this government working to ensure that they have the same level of support to survive?

In a similar way, the offer of the Home Improvement Scheme is desperately needed in homeland towns and outstations. But we have been left out.

At this time, we have seen our families returning home to communities from Darwin. Often supported by Government to travel home. And I am thankful for this program.

But our communities that were already overcrowded are now bursting, often with 10 to 15 people living in a 3 bedroom house, and we know that if coronavirus were to come to our communities, this level of overcrowding would be very dangerous. Myself and other elders have been calling for families to move out to homeland towns. These are safe places and we have been calling for this for many years, but now more than ever.

And I am pleased to hear that the Chief Minister’s Department are supporting families who want to move out onto our homelands.

But sadly our homeland towns have been under resourced and overlooked for housing programs for a long time. And I am very frustrated about this.

As families move back to these safe and healthy places we need to look at building more living spaces. We don’t need to send FIFO in, there are skilled and unskilled workers out there, there are ranger groups who have said they want to be involved, and Yolngu businesses like YBE who are in the region.

But we do need to build simple structures, decked platforms and rooves where families can expand their living and sleeping areas. This is crucial.

When I see the Home Improvements Scheme I think about our Homeland towns. This scheme has been offered several times now by this Government but not for our homes, not in these places where it could have a very powerful impact.

So while I support the Utility Bill because it will bring benefit to some businesses in the NT – I urge this Government to include all remote communities in the relief programs that are being provided and I urge this Government to give more time to the scrutiny of these Bills and be very careful about the way they use their emergency powers.

Thank you

Source Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mlayingiya.guyula.1/posts/641828423029890

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Appendix 2

Learning from crisis,

Ms June Oscar AO, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, May 2020

Six weeks ago I returned to my traditional homeland near Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia. Thanks to modern technology, I am working remotely and continuing my duties as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.

Like many Aboriginal people, I chose to return to Country because COVID-19 travel restrictions made homeland communities the safest place to see out the pandemic. As a mature Aboriginal woman, I am statistically at greater risk from COVID-19. It was important to follow the advice of health experts.

I am also a Native Title holder in the Kimberley. I have obligations to my community during this difficult time, and, as a grandmother, I needed to be here to help my family readjust to living ‘out bush’ again.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have higher levels of pre-existing illness than most other population groups in Australia due to our relative social and economic disadvantage. The shameful legacy of this country’s lingering inability to close the gap in healthcare equity for our people means we are susceptible to more severe impacts from COVID-19. Keeping our people away from virus hotspots is critical to our survival.

A huge peacetime effort

Thanks to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations such as Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services, Danila Dilba Health Service and many more, our people have returned to communities and to camps on Country, quickly and en-masse. This has been a huge peacetime coordination effort, and we have mobilised quietly and efficiently to move thousands of people out of harm’s way.

Indigenous health services and peak bodies like the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation have done an incredible job of getting COVID-19- related messages to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in multiple locations and different community languages.

In years ahead, I am certain that Australia will view these campaigns as the gold star standard for public health messaging.

An irony

But, for me, and for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, there is also a particular irony in returning to Country.

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA Appendix 2, Ms June Oscar AO

The prevailing policy position for several decades has been to systematically underinvest in, and to close down, homeland communities. The belief among policy makers was that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are ‘better off’ in urban centres. Now we’re being told it’s easier to keep us safe on Country.

Our COVID-19 return to Country has also highlighted those decades of systematic underinvestment in the critical infrastructure of Indigenous communities. We are returning to communities that have not been adequately supported for many years. We may be safer from the virus, but our human rights are still at risk.

In some instances, people have moved back to communities where water and electricity has been cut off. Additional people have put pressure on scarce resources in some communities, leading to even greater stress for already vulnerable communities where food security, inadequate housing, poor mental health, high levels of alcohol and drug consumption and domestic and family violence are already at crisis point.

Many communities have only limited health and social service supports. Where there should have been long-term investment in local skills, health and social infrastructure, fly-in-fly-out services have been provided instead. The flaws of this system were brought into sharp relief here in the Kimberley when visiting health workers brought COVID-19 into the community (it has been quickly contained).

COVID-19’s unexpected lessons

This cannot be allowed to continue. We cannot emerge from this crisis still living under these failed systems that do not take our needs into account. Returning to a norm that was never acceptable to begin with is not an option.

COVID-19 is providing us with many lessons and truths that we must respond to, but before it is over, we must put in place a new agreement with Indigenous communities.

Indigenous people have the right under international law to live in the location of their choice – but we need adequate health, social and cultural infrastructure that enables us to thrive wherever we choose to live. Australia cannot continue to deny that right.

We need to involve our communities and organisations in co-designing new systems and infrastructure that work for us. We need an end to systems dreamed up by policy makers ‘for our own good’.

A wake-up call. And an opportunity

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Appendix 2 (continue) , Ms June Oscar AO

This is an opportunity for a rethink about how governments invest. It is an opportunity for new conversations and ways of thinking.

If we get this right, we can create systems that enable us to close the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples once and for all, so we are never at risk like this again.

Ms June Oscar AO, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. This article was originally published on the ABC News website here

Appendix 3

Postcard From Maningrida: Covid Comment From The Forgotten Corners Of Remote Australia, Ingrid Johanson, 19 May 2020.

While we have watched the COVID-19 pandemic sweep across the globe, various social and administrative reactions have seemed universal: the panic buying and empty shelves, the surges of unemployment, Zoom meetings galore and mass population lockdowns.

However, in the forgotten corners of remote Australia, Indigenous communities have experienced the pandemic very differently.

The community of Maningrida has a population of approximately 3000, and lies on Kunibidji country where the Liverpool River meets the Arafura Sea. Maningrida is a true melting pot of Aboriginal cultures and languages, with more than twelve languages spoken around town, and many people speaking five or more of these. In the dry seasons this Central Arnhem Land community is an eight- hour drive from Darwin across vast floodplains and rock country, but during the wet seasons Maningrida road access is entirely cut off, with fresh supplies arriving by barge and travel outside the community only possible by light plane.

The panic buying experienced across most of Australia did not hit Maningrida. One can only assume that this was because to bulk buy food, people need to have the luxury of discretionary income. For many weeks while the rest of Australia experienced shortages of toilet paper, food and other products, the shelves in Maningrida remained plumply stocked.

This changed in early April when the $750 stimulus arrived... People were noticeably elated. Their elation was not because they could now panic buy before the kundjak arrived but because many

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA Appendix 3 (continue) Ingrid Johanson.

families live in a constant state of deep poverty and food shortage, and this additional income would relieve that pressure for a few weeks.

In a response to COVID-19, fines and suspensions for participants who do not meet their ‘work-for- the-dole’ commitments in the government’s Community Development Program (CDP) have been put on hold. In normal circumstances, these welfare fines are issued due to ‘invalid absences’ (including extended funeral or ceremonial attendances), unexplained and often health-related absences and in some cases CDP/Centrelink administration failures. Such fines result in participants’ payments being reduced or suspended, and they have severe repercussions on people’s livelihoods and ability to buy food.

As detailed in Jon Altman’s recent Arena Online article, the lessening of the government’s punitive CDP measures and the doubling of Jobseeker payments are good outcomes for remote communities that have resulted from COVID-19. Hopefully, both will be implemented in federal CDP reform in the future.

However, the decision to close activities was made outside of the impacted cohort’s realm of influence, and many people were upset and frustrated with the immediate cancelling of their work, from which they personally get much more than just a ‘tick box’ for their welfare cheque. This can only be seen as a positive thing for some elements of the model, as it illustrates that people do get other essential things from having CDP work every day, such as mental stimulation, social interaction and a sense of purpose.

The results of the COVID-19 changes to CDP are evidence that the scheme need not be so heavy- handed with its financially punitive actions should participants not attend uniformly, and could in fact focus on other areas such as supporting people to register on the system, and ensuring that activities are beneficial to participants and the community.

The ‘stay at home’ message, including the closure of CDP activities and some workplaces, has meant that already excessively overcrowded houses (often with ten to twenty people per house) are fuller more of the time. This is ironic given that this situation has come about as an initiative to try to enforce social distancing. Again, it reminds us of how these decisions are made a long way from the realities of remote overcrowded NT communities, and how social distancing at home is a privilege not all in Australia can afford.

The extreme national and international reaction to COVID-19 has revealed what we can achieve when we decide that a health crisis is a priority. It is, however, a sad reminder for remote communities that suffer from illnesses that we already have a cure for, such as rheumatic heart disease and skin diseases such as scabies. We seem to lack the political will to address their situation.

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Appendix 3 (continue) Ingrid Johanson.

hygiene standards’. It is often called a ‘disease of poverty’, with evidence pointing clearly to overcrowded houses as a significant contributing factor. While the political hot potato that is remote housing continues to be juggled around bureaucrats’ offices and parliamentary debates, people in Maningrida go on living on top of each other every single day in deplorable situations. Their lives do not command the flurry of immediate and urgent national action that COVID-19 received.

In addition to the closure of workplaces and the cessation of CDP activities, the government decision to close all public pools was a broad-brush approach that could have negative repercussions. Research highlights the significance of swimming pools as a preventor of numerous skin illnesses that disproportionately affect remote communities. While, understandably, everybody must follow national regulations, various people in Maningrida have expressed concern to see this facility, which keeps a wave of skin illness at bay, shut.

A final decision made a long way from the realities of Arnhem Land was the temporary closure of schools in favour of online learning. A recent SBS article highlights the challenges of home schooling for migrant or refugee families in Australia, but this concern should be extended to include Aboriginal students who live in remote areas, where the notion of a private learning space complete with laptop and internet access is ludicrous. The school-closure decision further reflects the gap in understanding of the experience of remote-living Aboriginal families and students.

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Critical Condition - the impact of Covid-19 policies, policing and prisons on First Nations communities, Change The Record, 27 May 2020. Full report here Recommendations

We urgently call on state, territory and federal governments to:

1. Release Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners who are low-risk, have chronic health conditions, are on remand, are elderly, children or are for whatever reason at increased risk of Covid-19

2. Protect the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in prison by ensuring access to oversight and monitoring agencies, family, legal services, mental health care, education and programs

3. Raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years old and urgently release children and young people from youth detention centres during Covid-19

4. Enact a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child protection notification and referral scheme to reduce family violence driven child removal through proactive, culturally safe and holistic legal assistance.

5. Connect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who experience family violence, and who are engaged with the child protection system, with culturally appropriate services through their nearest Family Violence Prevention Legal Service.

6. Increase support and access to safe accommodation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander families fleeing family violence to stop further removals of Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander children

7. Implement immediate short-term changes in legislation, where applicable, in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out of home care to ensure parents don’t lose their children to permanent care during Covid-19.

8. Resist punitive policy responses to Covid-19 and the over-policing of already targeted communities, and require transparency and oversight in policing;

9. Ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including those with disability, are given equal access to high quality and culturally-appropriate health care during Covid-19; and

10. Rebuild our justice system after Covid-19 to focus on investing in community, not prisons, to increase community safety and prevent black deaths in custody

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA Appendix 5

Open letter to the Prime Minister , Ken Wyatt and the National Cabinet , (May 2020)

This letter comes from civil society groups supporting the urgent call from Aboriginal community organisations, services and community members. We urge the Government to immediately respond to requests and letters already sent to the Government in recent weeks by those dealing with the crisis on the frontline. Full letter , signatories and calls at https://www.firstnations-covid19- letter.org/

On behalf of our millions of members, we urge you meet these requests from Aboriginal organisations, including:

1. Immediate release of emergency funding from the Federal Government to ensure communities and remote health services are well resourced before a potential outbreak – this includes staff, medical equipment, tests and PPE.

2. Isolation and quarantine accommodation. Elders, people who are chronically ill who are the most at-risk need to be isolated from community outbreaks. High-risk community members who are stranded outside of communities in regional areas must be able to adequately quarantine in order to return home.

3. Clear in-language information about the virus. Translation of public health messages is important and slow work and lead organisations are working hard. The National cabinet needs to better inform all levels of community leadership. Police must also work with leaders and organisations and not rush in to enforce curfews and social distancing that haven’t been communicated first.

4. Immediate supply of food and essential needs. Supplies have been severely impacted by east coast panic buying, shelves are empty and now price gouging is also affecting communities - people are travelling into stores outside of lockdown areas putting themselves at great risk to secure essential needs.

5. Prevent black deaths in custody. The mass incarceration of Aboriginal people compounded with vulnerability to coronavirus leads to a high risk of black deaths in custody. We call on the government to urgently release people on remand, people sentenced to six months or less, and those eligible for early release, prioritising those most at risk. Police need to use diversion and communications rather than arresting people and using heavy-handed fines.

6. Fully funding community services. Healthcare and housing are two of the most important determinants of health, and successive governments have chronically underfunded these services, leaving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people extremely vulnerable to this virus. This crisis requires full funding of all community services.

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Appendix 6

Recommendations for Widening the COVID-Food Security Inquiry Terms of Reference (TOR) : Inquiry into food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities, permission of Sharon Joyce, (June 2020). The scope of the current Terms of Reference for a Food inquiry is limited to that already well addressed in many research and well-being projects previously undertaken in this policy setting (Hudson, 2010; Davy, 2016; Fry & Zask, 2017).

It is wasted resources to inquire after strategies which have already been long-proven ineffective.

Overused strategies - rightly accused as paternalistic and protectionist (Davy, 2016; Bennett, 2013).

Top-down strategies - which suppress the proud traditional knowledge potential of the world’s longest surviving peoples (NIAA, 2017; Gray & Bailie 2006).

Unanimously the voices of Australia’s First Nations People; academia, and even those contributing to social media discussions on the issue of Indigenous Food Security – are calling out for a new framing of the way remote communities may be supported in moving forward. A framing which is more responsive to Australia’s international obligations as signatories to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - UNDRIP (Oscar, 2020; Davy, 2016; PHAA, 2013; Fry & Zask, 2017).

Terms of Reference for inquiry into Indigenous food security must support self-determined futures for Indigenous food security.

It is well researched and reported that the failings of the Close the Gap campaign to meet its objectives sit directly with the Australian Government’s failure to invest in major infrastructure and service provision to remote Indigenous Communities (Davy, 2016). The infrastructure required to reverse First Nations People’s dire health outcomes and food insecurity. Secure housing, cooking and food storage infrastructure is also recognised as a key barrier to Indigenous food security (Hudson, 2010).

Terms of Reference into Indigenous Food Security must therefore address this critical lack of infrastructure and services.

The 1946 United States Federal Law The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act has provided free or heavily discounted meals to low income American children for decades. This policy has dual social-wellbeing outcomes: in that it assists in health outcomes of children and also directly benefits farming communities. Limited research has been undertaken here in Australia, but that which has

Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. (June 2020) ‘concerned Australians’ cA Appendix 6 (continue), Sharon Joyce reveals immediate and profound direct benefit on the health outcomes of Indigenous children (Black et al, 2013).

All major studies undertaken into Indigenous Health Outcomes directly link the lack of high nutritional foods to poor overall health outcomes. Food insecurity is key to closing the gap (Browne et al, 2014, WHO, 2008). Structural barriers to access must be acknowledged and immediate food relief must be offered in our moving forward (Lee & Ryde, 2018).

Terms of Reference into Indigenous Food Security must therefore address direct provision and major subsidisation of high nutritional foods into communities.

In keeping with our obligations to the UNDRIP, the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry into Food Pricing and Food Security in Remote Indigenous Communities must widen to address the following tenets:

• Self-determination o Funding ‘strengths-based’ community determined approaches • Major investment in infrastructure and services to remote communities o As well acknowledged for best addressing close the gap objectives • Subsidisation – complete and / or substantial subsidisation and provision of fresh produce and high nutrition foods o as mechanism of access and redress o as immediate redress of unacceptable rates of malnourishment in remote Indigenous communities (WHO, 2008) o full provision of meals-in-schools. The benefits on indigenous children’s wellbeing is immediate and profound as realised in globally duplicated longitudinal research findings, (Black et al, 2013) o freight subsidisation into regional communities o subsidised / fully provisioned transportation of community members to major shopping hubs • Social Corporate Responsibility of major food retailers and mining companies etc o Provisioning grocery delivery options to remote communities as proven capable of in current COVID-19 crisis (NLC, 2020). o Provisioning food to meals-in-schools programs etc.

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Appendix 6 (continue) , Sharon Joyce.

NIAA, (2017). National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social Emotional Wellbeing 2017-2023. National Indigenous Australians Agency. Canberra: Australian Government. Retrieved from https://www.niaa.gov.au/resource- centre/indigenous-affairs/national-strategic-framework-mental-health-social-emotional-wellbeing- 2017-23

Northern Land Council, NLC (2020). An Interview With Daniel Clegg from Coles Supermarket at Wugularr School (Beswick Community), YouTubeAU. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asOFh53GQKI

UN General Assembly, (2007). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: resolution / adopted by the General Assembly, A/RES/61/295. Retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/docid/471355a82.html

WHO, (2008). Australia’s Disturbing Health Disparities Set Aboriginals Apart. Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, 86(4), 241-320. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/4/08- 020408/en/

Oscar, J. AO (2020). Learning From Crisis. Canberra: Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved from https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/opinions/learning-crisis- 0?fbclid=IwAR0 3a2GM6Ol8SpEGQRtk4-3XHAJnYj25Ot8ERaNl9-9qT0GVYsiqEk21BE

About the author Sharon Joyce is a Tasmanian Palawa woman from the Nuenonne People, the Southernmost Indigenous People in Australia.

Sharon holds a Bachelor's degree in the Social Sciences, with postgraduate qualifications in Environmental Management and Public Policy. She has contributed to research and policy in landscape conservation, biodiversity and Climate Change at State and National levels.

Sharon currently lives in the Sunshine Coast with her children and is undertaking a Masters in Social Work.

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Appendix 7

Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA

(2018 Garma Key Forum, August 4th, 2018)

Treaty-Truth Telling

Thank you for this important opportunity to talk today about Treaty.

I’m sure some of you must be wondering – why are these people still talking about Treaty after so long?

It’s been 30 years since the Barunga statement and there has not been much progress. In fact many things seem to be going backwards.

In the last 30 years Yolŋu have felt the full force of oppression. Government policies like the

Intervention, super-shires, English-only schools have impacted greatly on our wellbeing.

We are being pushed to suicide and we suffer from ill health, low education levels, and high incarceration rates.

Whoever it was that invented the Intervention and then even worse, whoever it was that invented Stronger Futures – those people tried to kill our culture, they really wanted it dead.

But we are still here. We are nursing wounds but we are still here fighting until we are heard.

Balanda ways/ Ŋapaki ways are failing us, strangling our spirit. Balanda governance is failing us. It is time for self – governance.

Those things we have been fighting for for 30 years, they haven’t gone away and they will not go away.

So, what is it then? What is this thing we keep fighting for? What is Treaty?

Well, let me start at the beginning. You can’t understand Treaty until you first understand

Sovereignty. This is right at the start. If you can’t understand Sovereignty then you will never understand Treaty.

To be clear, Yolŋu were never conquered. Our culture, our language, our law remains intact.

We are a sovereign people.

For some people, sovereignty is a scary word.

What they hear is that we want to get rid of you, to make you go away. Well that’s not right, that’s not what Yolngu mean when they are talking about Sovereignty.

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Appendix 7 (continue) Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA

We are not looking to send anyone away – we know you live here too – we know this is your home and our home.

Let me give you an example that might help you to understand what Yolngu mean when they talk about Sovereignty. You see, we Yolngu have had Treaties before. This is not our first time.

For many years, for a long long time we had a Treaty with the Macassan’s. We worked in partnership and trade with them. It was a good relationship.

This relationship started with recognition. It started with an understanding of each other’s

Sovereignty as separate nations. The Macassan’s they came here and they started fishing.

But then, not long after they realised there were already people here and they knew they couldn’t continue without talking to those people first. Straight away they recognized the

Sovereignty of the Yolngu people that were already living here.

It is the same today. We were here at the start and we haven’t gone anywhere. The right way is to come and talk to us, to negotiate with us as equals and to work out an agreement for the future, so that our authority is clearly understood.

Sovereignty is about control, it is about power. It is about recognizing that we are a real nation, with real governance, real laws and real authority.

Right now, this Federal Government does not recognise our sovereinty at all. It does not see what we have to say as important let alone recognize Aboriginal people as Sovereign nations.

Look at what happened with that Uluru Statement. Now I wasn’t there at Uluru but I participated in the discussions when they were happening in Darwin. But those people that were there at Uluru, they came from across Australia, they sat down and they talked and all agreed on that one statement to give to the Prime Minister.

It is a good pathway and the Prime Minister should think again and change his mind.

The point of truth-telling, is that it is time for everyone to tell the truth about our history.

Where the Governments fail to tell the truth about invasion, massacre and sovereignty – they are unlawful. The Uluru Statement creates a path to right these wrongs.

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Appendix 7 (continue) Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA

It is time for all of us to recognise the law of this land and abide by it. It’s time for us to be truthful and employ Yolŋu Rom Ŋurruŋu.

I acknowledge that the Northern Territory Government are bringing serious conversation to the table. But so far they are yet to include the people. Government’s must negotiate with

Nations and allow for traditional decision-making processes and this will require resources.

Ultimately, we want the big one – a Treaty with the Federal Government that is long overdue. But treaties of different types at all levels of Government that recognise

Sovereignty will bring vast improvement.

Our success as a Sovereign Nation is well documented. For thousands of years we lived with good health, strong in our identity, strong in our language, strong in our law. We nurtured the land, the creatures and the people with knowledge and wisdom that had been passed from our elders, ancestors, and the creator spirits. We did not know suicide, depression, drug addiction, family violence.

We hold onto this past knowledge now, and we fight for Treaty. We fight for Treaty to create a space to maintain our culture: to become modern Yolŋu people with the wisdom of our ancestors and the traditions of our law.

When I say ‘space’, I am talking about a space to create modern Yolŋu society:

• Space to determine our education aspirations

• Space to create Yolŋu models of employment

• Space to resolve land tenure disagreements

• Space for Yolŋu elders and leaders to maintain law and order and use our

programs to resolve family violence, rehabilitate offenders of all crimes and provide

healing for victims of drug abuse and depression.

• We need space to prioritise resource distribution based on our determination:

such as alleviating overcrowded housing and supporting homeland development.

• We can work in partnership to further develop programs that prevent kidney

disease, heart disease and other illness through education founded on two ways

knowledge.

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Appendix 7 (continue) Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA

• The resources on our country should be available for our economic benefit through

local owned fisheries, croc farms, tourism etc. Support for the development of

sustainable Yolŋu businesses creates a pathway for our success.

This is the space that we need to begin to determine our future. It is a space for genuine partnership between sovereign nations.

And it has to start with returning power to the Yolngu elders and leaders where it belongs without manipulation and intervention.

We have a system of governance and this system of governance will determine our future under Yolŋu control. Men and Women, elders and leaders, standing strong and protecting our people and our culture.

I want to finish with something positive.

I want to take you back to the Macassan’s before I finish, to remind you all that we have done it before.

We have been fighting for a long time now but Treaty will happen again. There is hope.

Thank you.

Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA

http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/media/Yingiya_Mark_Guyula_MLA_Garma_2018.pdf

To view delivery of the 2018 speech go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hCkcZMmKtA