The Greens senator Dorinda Cox says she is “gutted” by the report of the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children because it does not do enough to address the “absolute crisis levels of violence” that families and advocates spoke of.
The landmark inquiry’s final report was tabled on Thursday and found there has been “little, if any, justice” for many First Nations women and children who have been murdered or disappeared.
Released after two years of inquiry, the report made 10 recommendations, including that the attorney general should task the police ministers council to review and “harmonise” police practices in each jurisdiction by no later than 31 December 2025.
The committee also called for a culturally appropriate and nationally significant recognition and remembrance of murdered and disappeared First Nations women and children; the appointment of a First Nations person at the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission; longer-term needs-based funding for First Nations women’s legal services; sustainable funding for First Nations people experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence; and for the Australian Press Council to consider how the media portrays cases of murdered and disappeared First Nations women and children.
The committee said it “cannot over emphasise how disturbed it was by the case studies presented to it”.
Cox, who advocated for an inquiry since her maiden speech in 2022, said the recommendations were “weak” and not the “courageous” reforms communities had called for.
“This should have been one issue – about humanity, about just doing the right thing,” Cox told Guardian Australia. “When you sit in front of people and you can hear how much pain they’re in, it’s the right thing to do.
“This is above politics. It’s not a game. We are dealing with people’s lives. And yet the chair and the deputy chair both got up and spoke to this report and said they were moved by some of the things that they heard and thanked people, but for what? What was the end product, if you’re not going to make change for those people? What did we actually do this for?”
Cox said violence against First Nations women and children was “a national emergency”.
“We have seen that. Our communities see this as they rallied on the street across the country. Yet the recommendation of the committee failed those who participated in the inquiry.”
She said the safety of Indigenous women and children deserved bipartisan support.
“Where is the outrage, I ask? What will it take to have change?”
‘Pretty shattering’
Alison Bairnsfather-Scott, a Noongar woman from Perth who submitted evidence to the inquiry about the murder of her sister Jessica in 2019, travelled to Canberra to hear the report be tabled in the Senate on Thursday. She said the report was “disappointing to say the least”, adding she felt “Australia has really let us down”.
Bairnsfather-Scott, who is an anti-violence advocate, said the recommendations in the report were “toothless”, out of touch with what was going on in communities and said nothing about important subjects such as the courts, prisons, child protection and housing.
“It’s not strong enough, and I feel like it does not represent the voices that they would have heard,” she said.
“It’s quite heartbreaking, to be honest, because it takes a lot to open your heart and relive those traumatic times, and for this to be the result is pretty shattering.”
Bairnsfather-Scott said this feeling was exacerbated by the fact the report was tabled to an almost empty Senate chamber.
“People weren’t interested in it, or even knew it was going on,” she said. “I really struggle with things like this. Don’t tell me ‘we care’ when this is what we see.
“It feels foolish to think that I thought that this could be different, because time and time again we are faced with this as a community: that our lives simply do not matter.”
“Honestly, I wanted government to take some of the weight off my shoulders, to share the load, the burden for me to be able to rest and recover. But I’m forced to keep on fighting to, yet again, pick myself up off the ground and scream that our lives matter, that we deserve better, and wonder where the outrage is. It could have been above politics. Everyone should care about this.”
An Albanese government spokesperson said the recommendations were significant and the government would work through them carefully, thanking the families who gave evidence and who continued to endure tragedy and loss.
“Every experience represents real and significant grief to families and entire communities,” the spokesperson said. “These are significant recommendations and the Government will work through them carefully.”
Djirra, the specialist Indigenous advocacy service, said the inquiry was an important first step in drawing attention to the “epidemic of the murder and brutal disappearance of First Nations women and children across this country”.
But Djirra’s chief executive, Antoinette Braybrook, said she was disappointed there were only 10 recommendations in the report.
“While Djirra welcomes the report recommendations for improving the coverage and capability of family violence prevention and legal service, and other Aboriginal-led support services, we are dismayed the report is silent on fundamental issues,” Braybrook said.
“For example, the recommendations make no mention of the need to address massive data gaps. It is unacceptable that Closing the Gap data on the number of First Nations women and children experiencing violence is now over 6 years out of date.”
Braybrook said she was looking to the national leadership for “bipartisan solutions” and real change that puts women’s and children’s safety first.
