First Nations ‘genocide’ uproar over children’s human rights statement

Some of Australia’s most experienced Indigenous leaders have intervened to remove an allegation of genocide against the Crisafulli government from the official record of a summit hosted by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Former social justice commissioner Mick Gooda, University of Melbourne associate provost Marcia Langton and Palm Island mayor Alf Lacey.

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Some of Australia’s most experienced Indigenous leaders have intervened to remove an allegation of genocide against the Crisafulli government from the official record of a summit hosted by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The word genocide made it into the draft statement about Indigenous children’s human rights in Queensland and was due to be distributed on Tuesday last week as a summary of the consensus reached by about 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, researchers, lawyers and community representatives who met for two days in Brisbane.

The Australian has confirmed with multiple attendees that activists at the summit – some aligned with independent senator Lidia Thorpe – wanted to accuse the LNP government of Indigenous child removals amounting to genocide ahead of the anniversary on Monday of the Bringing Them Home report, which was published on May 26, 1997.

However, The Australian can reveal Indigenous leaders at the Bandarran Marra’Gu Gathering Strength Summit were insistent the word genocide should not appear in the statement because it was untrue. They also argued it was unhelpful to the aims of the meeting, which was meant to start a constructive conversation with the Crisafulli government about policies and practices harming Indigenous children and youth.

Sources told The Australian those against use of the word genocide in the closed-doors debate included former social justice commissioner Mick Gooda, University of Melbourne associate provost Marcia Langton and Palm Island mayor Alf Lacey.

The final version of the statement expressed a fear – though not an assertion – that government practices were “intended to destroy First Nations”.

It states in part: “We fear that acts are being committed by the state with the intent to destroy our First Nations by forcibly transferring our children from our responsibility, out of our care, and out of our communities.”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss told The Australian on Sunday that the summit was co-hosted by the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Queensland Human Rights Commission so leaders could discuss their concerns.

“It is not our job to endorse their words,” Commissioner Kiss told The Australian.

“It was about creating the space for them to have those conversations.”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss, Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall and Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner Natalie Lewis at the Bandarran Marra'Gu Gathering Strength Summit 2025. Picture: Lewis Bin Doraho

The proportion of Indigenous children removed from their families has increased over the past six years despite a commitment from all governments to end the over-representation of Indigenous children in the care of the state.

In 2020, states and territories signed the Closing the Gap national agreement, which includes the aim of reducing the numbers of Indigenous children in care by 45 per cent by 2031.

However, regular updates published by the Productivity Commission show the trend is going the wrong way, including in Queensland.

Nationally, there are 50 Indigenous children out of every 1000 in state care. By contrast, fewer than five non-Indigenous children per 1000 are in state care.

Some states have had success with early intervention programs that help parents find housing, escape family violence or address addiction.

However. in many cases the progress is in silos or has been interrupted.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli this month announced a commission of inquiry into the state’s child safety system, calling it broken and saying there were “critical failures”.

Cape York Partnership founder Noel Pearson said Mr Crisafulli had “hit the nail on the head”.

He also lashed the former Palaszczuk Labor government for spending $400m to change very little.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NewsWire

Cape York Partnership founder Noel Pearson. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Mr Pearson, who did not attend the summit of Indigenous leaders in Brisbane last week, described Mr Crisafulli’s inquiry as the most important initiative any Australian government is undertaking in 2025.

On Sunday, Uluru Dialogue co-chairs Pat Anderson and Megan Davis said Closing the Gap was not working because it is a flawed approach.

“The Uluru Dialogue has publicly led the conversation about the systemic flaws of Closing the Gap for years, but it’s only now that we are seeing the growing critique of this framework,” Ms Anderson and Professor Davis said.

“The issue is not just the data, but the structural design. It remains in the status quo.

“Any progress towards Closing the Gap has failed because they do not address the root cause: the absence of structural recognition and the denial of our rightful place in the governance of our own affairs.

“We cannot continue to reproduce models that exclude us and expect different outcomes. We have been let down by these models time and time again.”

Uluru Dialogue co-chairs Pat Anderson and Megan Davis. Picture: Aaron Francis/NewsWire

Ms Anderson and Professor Davis made the criticisms of Closing the Gap ahead of the eighth anniversary of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its call for an Indigenous voice to advise government and parliament. Voters said no to the voice at a referendum 19 months ago but the Uluru Dialogue continues to work with its supporters towards a reform that recognises Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.

“To move forward positively, the government must listen more broadly to our people in communities around this country and not solely to those who are contracted and paid by government,” Ms Anderson and Professor Davis said.

“We are a country that can safely say we have never tried the lever that has allowed so many other Australians to flourish … recognition. We’ve tried everything else, closing the gap, economic development, economic empowerment … but we’ve never tried this.

“We are still here. We have not given up. We won’t give up. This is generational work, and we are steadfast in our commitment to see it through.”