Call for kids to be given an Indigenous voice

The children’s welfare lobby is urging Scott Morrison to ensure Indigenous children are engaged to help design a ‘voice’ to ­government.

Indigenous academic Marcia Langton. Picture: David Geraghty

The children’s welfare lobby is urging Scott Morrison to ensure Indigenous children are engaged to help design a “voice” to ­government.

In a submission to the government’s advisory panel that is co-designing the voice, Save the Children Australia said children needed to be consulted through the design, development and implementation of the Indigenous advisory body.

“Australia must ensure that the national voice to parliament is reflective of the views of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, in a manner consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” the submission said.

“Proposals should be made available in languages designed for children and consultation undertaken in a way that promotes children’s voices and ­participation.”

The panel co-designing the voice to government, led by Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, will hand their report of recommendations to the Morrison government in July.

Ms Langton last month said a voice – a body that would advise the government on Indigenous issues – would help arrest high rates of children being removed from their parents, which is now at 11 times the rate of non-­Aboriginal children.

“We need people advocating for the right policies and the approaches to supporting families, not removing children,” she said.

The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report on child protection, released last month, shows the number of Indigenous children receiving these services rose from 49,200 in 2016-17 to 55,300 in the year ending June 30, 2020 — equating to one in six Aboriginal children — despite the rate for non-Aboriginal children declining during that time.

The Save the Children Australia submission also called for the government to back the full recommendations in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, including for the voice to be enshrined in the Constitution.

Save the Children Australia chief executive Paul Ronalds said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children should be involved in the design of the voice. “To this day, Australia does not support self-determination or fully recognise the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, which include rights to connection to family and culture, and voice,” he said.

“The failure to implement the Uluru statement is a tragedy for all of us that support treaty and truth-telling, and wish to pursue reconciliation as a nation.

“The greatest tragedy, however, is the continued injustice that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children suffer as a result of their rights being denied.”

Save the Children practice development manager Mena Waller said Indigenous children “need to be consulted … through design, development and ­implementation”.