Yoorrook Justice Commission report presents risk to Indigenous voice to parliament

Former deputy prime minister John Anderson. Picture: Ray Strange.

The transfer of power from ­governments to First Peoples and the creation of separate rules and ­systems for Indigenous Australians are inextricably linked to the agenda behind a voice to ­parliament.

Where is the proof? It’s there in black and white in the 46 recommendations made by the Yoorrook Justice Commission aimed at overhauling the criminal justice and child protection systems in Victoria.

Many of the report’s recommendations are radical and have, so far, flown under the radar. But it is doubtful most Australians would agree with them.

The findings of the commission’s report loom as a potential risk to the voice referendum, just as the WA government’s now-scrapped cultural heritage laws were seen as an exercise in overreach that turned voters against any constitutional change.

The Andrews government said the creation of the Yoorrook Justice Commission showed it was “actually listening” to Indigenous Australians and “taking meaningful action in order to achieve real and lasting change”. But now the commission is demanding action.

Its key demand is simple: “The Victorian government must transfer decision-making power, authority, control and resources to First Peoples, giving full effect to self-determination in the Victorian child protection system.”

In short, it proposes the establishment of a separate “dedicated child protection system” for Aboriginal children to be designed and controlled by First Peoples.

One of the key opponents of the Yes case, former deputy prime minister John Anderson, warned it was “naive to believe that there is not a serious push for co-governance” behind the agenda for a voice to parliament.

“Where are the assurances that Australian children will not face a two-tiered approach to their safety and well being?” ­Anderson asked.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission bases its recommendations on the idea the over-representation of First Peoples in the child-protection system is a result of the ongoing impacts of colonisation and intergen­erational trauma.

Some of its recommendations include:

• The introduction of new mandatory criteria for the selection of the Chief Commissioner of Police including an “understanding of the history of colonisation and in particular the role of Victoria Police in the dispossession, murder and assimilation of First Peoples”.

• The requirement for all incoming child protection staff to complete training covering “the history of colonisation and ... the continuing systemic racism and paternalism inherent in child protection work today.”

• The creation of a presumption “in favour of bail for all offences with the exception of murder, terrorism and like offences.”

• The requirement for all bail decision-makers to explain “what information they have considered to understand how a person’s Aboriginality is relevant.”

• The prohibition of detention for child offenders under the age of 16 years.

• The amendment of the Sentencing Act requiring courts to “consider alternatives to imprisonment for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.”

• The establishment of a new independent body to oversee Victorian police, including a “dedicated division for complaints from First Peoples that is under First Peoples leadership.”

The recommendations are aimed at addressing a national tragedy in which Aboriginal men are 13.6 times as likely than non-Aboriginal men to be in prison and Aboriginal children over-represented in the child-protection system by a rate of 11 to one.

While this crisis requires ­urgent action, the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s report risks ­entrenching scepticism towards Indigenous advisory bodies and their solutions ahead of the ­October 14 referendum.