A landmark parliamentary inquiry will investigate the “horrific, extensive and unacceptable” rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women and children in Australia.
The WA Greens senator, Dorinda Cox, successfully moved a motion for the inquiry in November, saying the high rates of violence experienced by First Nations women and children were unacceptable, but progress on the inquiry stalled before the federal election.
“During that time we’ve had horrific, extensive and unacceptable rates of violence against First Nations women and children in this country and the missing cases and reports of our women keep mounting,” Cox, a former police officer in Western Australia, said.
The Greens senator for Victoria, Lidia Thorpe, said on Thursday there was a disparity between how Australia regards violence against Indigenous women and children and non-Indigenous women and children.
“When a white woman dies, or a white woman is murdered, it’s a front page [article]. There’s rallies,” she said.
“When a black woman dies, when a black woman is murdered, you don’t hear about it.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 11 times more likely to die due to an assault and are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence than non-Indigenous women.
The Greens senators said the inquiry was necessary to get a greater understanding of the numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women and children.
“We have an inquiry where Aboriginal people will be able to speak in language, use art forms, use poetry, use song, and use dance to tell their story,” Thorpe said.
“We have Aboriginal people across this country ready to tell their story.”
The inquiry is expected to hold hearings in every state and territory and in particular to focus on regional and remote areas where Indigenous people are missing at higher numbers.
It will also hear testimony and submissions from survivors of violence, the family and friends of victims and police responses to missing persons reports and calls for assistance.
“It is critical to getting answers and solutions and working with communities hearing their voices throughout this inquiry,” Cox said.
She said the inquiry would also hear from Canadian commissioners who gave evidence into a landmark national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
“The commissioners I’ve spoken to are very keen to provide evidence during our inquiry to make sure that Australia can learn from them and their solutions,” Cox said.
She said it was vital that policy, legislation and law enforcement was informed by best practices on preventing violence.
“We really need to be, looking really at what those significant barriers are, the indicators that are enabling women and children to be killed in this country and for people going missing without any explanation,” Cox said.
The Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, which will be conducting the inquiry, will report back by 31 July, 2023.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
