In reading this end of year message, I urge you not to mistake the negative frequency at which my words vibrate, as an indication of defeat or despair… they are anything but. For me – and I recognise that this may not hold true for others – I draw strength from sitting with my inner emotions, irrespective of their depth or sharpness.
Before recapping the events of 2024, I want to first extend my immense gratitude to ANTAR’s outgoing president, Peter Lewis. Peter was one of the founders of ANTAR in 1997 and has been instrumental to the success of our ally movement since. Without Peter’s unwavering and unconditional commitment to fighting for justice for First Nations peoples in Australia, ANTAR would not be what it is today. Whilst Peter is finishing up as President of ANTAR, I am pleased to say that he will be continuing in an official capacity with the ANTAR Council. Myself and the ANTAR team are greatly appreciative for Peter’s leadership and for everything that he has done for ANTAR and First Nations peoples to date, and we look forward to continuing to work with Peter well into the future.
Whilst with one hand we bid farewell to Peter, with the other hand, we welcome ANTAR’s first ever First Nations President, Des Rogers. Our communities are facing undoubtedly challenging times ahead (and therefore ANTAR has our work cut out for us), however, I am emboldened knowing that we have strong Aboriginal leadership at the helm. Des Rogers is a respected Pertame Clan Man from Central Australia, and was an ANTAR Board Director for five years prior to recently stepping into the role as President. Des is a highly skilled and experienced national executive leader in the not-for-profit and public sectors. He provides strategic direction, operations and facility management, community engagement, financial management and has a proven track record in driving organisational performance improvement and reform in line with corporate governance and Governmental requirements. If you would like to learn more about Des, please check out his inaugural blog as President on the ANTAR website, entitled ‘The war goes on’..
Since 14 October 2023, we have continued to see the spread of misinformation and disinformation by conservative Australia – mostly business people, politicians and media outlets motivated by economic self-interest and/or racially anchored views of self and place. We are seeing widespread attacks on Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country practices – I have heard several derogatory comments in respect of such practices at major public events throughout the year. Unsurprisingly, the Cth Government delivered a Closing the Gap report showing that 14 of the 19 metrics are not on target, and that several gaps are actually worsening.
In respect of children’s criminal legal systems, the NT Government dropped the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 10 years old and introduced bootcamps, truancy officers, public drinking laws and the use of spit hoods on children. Shame on the Finocchiaro government. The NSW Government introduced harmful new children’s bail laws that would see significantly more First Nations children imprisoned without a conviction, while the Vic Government backpedalled on both its commitment to raising the MACR to 14 and to positively reforming children’s bail laws (instead they introduced a trial of ankle bracelets to electronically monitor the movements of children on bail). Meanwhile, the QLD Government is in the throes of undemocratically and unjustly pushing through disastrous criminal law reforms, the enactment of which requires the overriding of the Human Rights Act 2019 (QLD), removing the essential principle of detention of children as a last resort and sentencing vulnerable and at-risk children as if they were adults. These suite of punitive changes are a clear derogation of the QLD Government’s obligations in international law, and a horrific betrayal of First Nations peoples.
The QLD Government must be given a further dishonourable mention for repealing the Path to Treaty Act 2023 (QLD), thus demolishing the historic QLD Truth and Healing inquiry in the most unceremonious and disrespectful of ways. Speaking of disrespectful, Peter Dutton vowed, if elected, to axe the newly created role of Ambassador for First Nations People, and issued a thinly veiled threat that “it’ll be a very different way of governing if we win the next election”.
In 2024, we also tragically saw two more First Nations children take their lives in custody in Western Australia- yet we continue to see little to no effort from governments across Australia to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), the First Nations prison population in NSW is the highest it has ever been. The carceral reality of First Nations peoples in NSW also aligns with the data against Target 10 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, which tells us that we have been failing for several years in our efforts to reduce the overrepresentation of First Nations people in custody. Very much relatedly, First Nations children are being removed from their families at 10.8 times that of non-Indigenous children, with the overall number of child removals being at the levels of the Stolen Generations. Our women are 33 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence than non-Indigenous women, and 7 times more likely to be the victims of homicide. Yet despite the scale of this national emergency, the Cth Government’s response to the Missing and Murdered First Nations Women and Children Senate Inquiry (2022-24) was entirely inadequate.
In closing out 2024, I also thankfully have a couple of extremely positive reflections from the year. Like so many First Nations people, particularly our Elders and olders, I refuse to be a prisoner of despair, nor will I concede to the sense of hopelessness that may flow in occasionally, like a colossal King tide (pun intended). I owe too much to my ancestors, to Country and to my people to let my personal experience or emotions get in the way of fulfilling my collectivist cultural responsibilities. That is not to say that I do not waver from time to time in the face of adversity, I do, and there is nothing wrong with that. The difference is that where I may falter on the surface, you can be sure that my depth of conviction and my greater sense of purpose continues unabated (strengthened even).
First and foremost, it is important to acknowledge that the historic truth-telling and treaty processes in Victoria have reached a major milestone. The First Peoples Assembly of Victoria are now officially engaged in negotiations with the Vic Government over a state-wide treaty. Amidst the otherwise sad state of play in First Nations affairs in Australia, the work of the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria, the Yoorrook Justice Commission and the Treaty Authority manifests as a beacon of hope for First Nations peoples across the nation. May the example being set in Victoria inspire other states and territories and the nation to follow. My sincerest thanks to mob in Victoria for leading the way on treaty and for carving the next section of the path to self-determination for our people.
Finally, I have very positive memories from ANTAR’s inaugural National Allyship Summit held on 8 August 2024 (International Allyship Day). ANTAR ran this significant event in partnership with the Allies for Uluru and University of Wollongong (Woolyungah Indigenous Centre). In particular, I find myself reflecting on an insightful comment made by a panellist at the event… in my own words… whilst I am sure 2023/2024 will be remembered largely for the wrong reasons for years to come, I do wonder whether we may eventually think back on the events of this period, particularly 14 October 2023, and realise that despite the outcome, this was potentially the largest mobilisation of the Australian population for a social justice movement in our nation’s history.
First Nations peoples gained 6.2 million friends on 14 October 2023, many of whom we were unaware existed. If only through the continued tireless work of our First Nations leadership and the ongoing efforts of ally organisations like ANTAR and everyday Australians (where the bulk of the work must be done), we may well soon find ourselves in a ‘movement of the Australian people for a better future’… perhaps the exact kind envisaged by the architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The events of 2023/24, despite being devastating in most immediate respects, may well have been the start of something big, and for this reason, myself and the team at ANTAR urge you to ‘stay true to Uluru’!
