An Aboriginal justice leader has called for a royal commission over mounting Indigenous child deaths, suggesting it could lead to another stolen generation.
The number of Aboriginal kids dying who are known to Victoria's child protection services has risen crazily in recent years, Aboriginal Justice Caucus co-chair Chris Harrison said.
"More children have passed that have been linked to child protection ... than that have died in the justice system," the Wotjobaluk man told the Yoorrook Justice Commission on Friday.
"The worst thing is are we going through that stage now of 'is that our new stolen generation, or as we're saying the forgotten generation?'. Because they're only being referred to as baby X or child Y or child Z.
"That's the scary thing."
The Commission for Children and Young People's 2021/22 annual report found Aboriginal children and young people were over-represented in its inquiries into kids who died within 12 months of their last involvement with child protection.
Two Aboriginal children and young people were among the 37 notified child deaths last financial year and made up seven of its 41 completed child death inquiries.
Thirteen of the 45 kids known to Victoria's child protection services who died over the 2020/21 financial year were Aboriginal.
Mr Harrison said the revelations in the most recent report should have been front page news, but were hidden in the data and among of a raft of 265 government documents tabled on December 20.
"Once we got that ... we said that DFFH (the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing) needs a royal commission around all their services," he said.
Mr Harrison said the caucus, which acts as a conduit between the Aboriginal community and the justice system, is firm in its view on the need for a close examination.
"We've been pretty adamant ... I understand we've got child protection as part of this process here as well but there needs to be the deep dive right through their systems."
He told Yoorrook, which has the investigative powers of a royal commission, that Aboriginal children were being criminalised in the system, saying 93 per cent were leaving with a criminal charge to their name.
"They're ending up in the criminal justice system just by going into child protection," Mr Harrison said.
"That's why we say there's got to be a lot of work done at that preventative stage but also the accountability back to those agencies around what are they actually doing for our kids.
"We don't want to be known as the largest criminalisation place in the world for locking our own mob up."
He said the DFFH was seeking to have Aboriginal minors charged for incidents such as breaking a window so they could claim insurance, while child protection workers were using police as a weapon to keep kids in line.
In one instance, a 12-year-old girl was questioned and charged by police after being taken off country before being driven by the same workers to a new residential care home.
"If they act up or they carry on, they get moved to other ressie care homes. They get moved around the state," Mr Harrison said.
Koorie Youth Council deputy executive Bonnie Dukakis said Aboriginal kids were increasingly having interactions with police at younger ages, and many had history in out-of-home care.
"They've already experienced ... a system that hasn't worked with them and hasn't listened to them or supported them," the Gunditjmara woman said.
Yoorrook is creating an official public record on the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal people in Victoria and will recommend actions to address historical and ongoing injustices.
The hearings continue.
