Stories and Words, Advocacy and Social Justice: Finding Voice for Aboriginal Women in Australia

Abstract.

A framework of self-determination means not speaking on behalf of people – even as an advocate – but to create the environment and conditions for those who have been silenced to speak for themselves. This article reflects on the role of storytelling for justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. I closely consider three stories of child removal, as told by their impacted families, and in their localised context. This article counterposes the stories that are told about them through care and protection law and related policy, and draws out the long precedent of these stories. Through the stories of impacted families, told in their own voices, it becomes clearer that the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families is a key pillar of a concerted and complex colonial project. This has implications for how people working in law come to see the power of storytelling within and outside legal institutions, and how they can do those stories justice by making space for them to be heard on their own terms.

Notes

1 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stolen Generations and Descendants: Numbers, Demographic Characteristics and Selected Outcomes (Cat. no. IHW 195, AIHW 2018).

2 I have written of my family story elsewhere and provide the details here as context for my standpoint. For reasons that become apparent in the article, the important stories in this article are those of other women.

3 The Jumbunna Institute runs a clinical practice through the Strategic Litigation unit. Headed by Craig Longman, Paddy Gibson oversees much of the casework.

4 Commonwealth of Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 13 February 2008, 167–173 (Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister) <https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansardr/2008-02-13/0002/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf> (last accessed 3 June 2020).

5 Australian Government Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services (final report, 2018) <https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2018/community-services/child-protection/rogs-2018-partf-chapter16.pdf> (last accessed 2 August 2020) 7, table 16A.2.

6 As above at 1, table 16A.2.

7 As above.

8 Michael Lavarch, ‘Australia must act now to prevent a new Stolen Generation tragedy’ The Guardian 8 October 2018 <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/08/australia-must-act-now-to-prevent-a-new-stolen-generation-tragedy> (last accessed 2 August 2020).

9 SNAICC/Family Matters. Family Matters Report 2017: Measuring Trends to Turn the Tide on the Over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in Out-of-home-care in Australia. (2018) <http://www.familymatters.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Family-Matters-Report-2017.pdf> (last accessed 21 July 2020) 61.

10 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare above note 1.

11 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Bringing them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Their Families (HREOC 1997).

12 The full report can be found at: Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, National Report (RCIADIC 1991) <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/> (last accessed 21 July 2020). This 1987 investigation looked into Aboriginal deaths in custody over a 10-year period and delivered 330 recommendations that covered reforms to the criminal justice system, the health system and broader educational and training initiatives. Of the 99 deaths, 88 were men, 11 were women. Ages ranged from 14 to 62 years. Its recommendations remain relevant today. See Amanda Porter, ‘Why We Should Honour the Humanity of Every Person who Dies in Custody’ The Conversation (online) 15 April 2016 <https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-honour-the-humanity-of-every-person-who-dies-in-custody-57272> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

13 For the terms of reference and full report see Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children in the Northern Territory, Final Report (2017) <https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/royal-commission-detention-and-protection-children-northern-territory> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

14 Paddy Gibson, ‘Don Dale Kids Victims of the NT intervention’ The Stringer (online) 6 June 2019 <https://thestringer.com.au/don-dale-kids-victims-of-the-nt-intervention-12140#.XPlsU5NubzI> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

15 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘4102.0 – Australian Social Trends’ (ABS 2013) <https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20Nov+2013> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

16 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘2076.0 – Census of Population and Housing: Characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians’ (ABS 2016) <https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/5f17e6c26744e1d1ca25823800728282!OpenDocument> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

17 Family Matters, The Family Matters Report 2018 (SNAICC 2018) <http://www.familymatters.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Family-Matters-Report-2018.pdf> (last accessed 21 July 2020) 10.

18 Fiona Arney, Marie Iannos, Alwin Chong, Stewart McDougall and Samantha Parkinson, Enhancing the Implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle: Policy and Practice Considerations (Paper No 34, Child Family Community Australia 2015) <https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/enhancing-implementation-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-child> (last accessed 21 July 2020); Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle: A Guide to Support Implementation (SNAICC 2019) <https://www.snaicc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/928_SNAICC-ATSICPP-resource-June2019.pdf> (last accessed 21 July 2020) 8.

19 Commission for Children and Young People, Always was, Always will be Koori Children: Systemic Inquiry into Services Provided to Aboriginal Children and Young People in Out-of-home Care in Victoria October 2016 <https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/CCYP_-_Always_was__always_will_be_Koori_children_Systemic_Inquiry_report_October_2016_QZZbp4gC.pdf> (last accessed 2 August 2020).

20 Irene Watson, ‘In the Northern Territory Intervention: What is Saved or Rescued and at What Cost’ (2009) 15(2) Cultural Studies Review 45.

21 Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse, Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle: Little Children Are Sacred (Final report, Northern Territory Government 2007) <http://www.inquirysaac.nt.gov.au/pdf/bipacsa_final_report.pdf> (last accessed 15 January 2020).

22 Nicholas Biddle, Boyd Hunter and R G Schwab, Mapping Indigenous Educational Participation, (Discussion paper No. 267/2004, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research 2004); Jeannie Herbert and Australian Centre for Equity through Education, If They Learn Us Right: Study of the Factors Affecting the Attendance, Suspension and Exclusion of Aboriginal Students in Secondary Schools (ECEE 1999); Larissa Behrendt and Ruth McCausland, ‘Welfare Payments and School Attendance: An Analysis of Experimental Policy in Indigenous Education’ (Issues paper, Australian Education Union 2008); Stronger Smarter Institute, Implementing the Stronger Smarter Approach (Position paper, 2017) <https://www.dropbox.com/s/vdiy1ib29z1ni1i/Stronger%20Smarter%20Approach%202017_final.pdf?dl=0> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

23 Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle: A Guide to Support Implementation (SNAICC 2018) <https://www.snaicc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/SNAICC-ATSICPP-resource_final-Dec2018.pdf> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

24 See Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), Closing the Gap ‘Refresh’ Brief (SNAICC 2018) <https://www.snaicc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SNAICC_Brief-CTG_Refresh-Apr._2018.pdf> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

25 Andrew Gunstone, ‘These Blokes are Re-inventing the 19th Century: The Howard Government’s Record on Indigenous Affairs 1996–2006’ [2015] 7 Journal of Indigenous Policy 41; Helen Davidson, ‘John Howard: There was No Genocide against Indigenous Australians’ The Guardian (online) 22 September 2014 <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/22/john-howard-there-was-no-genocide-against-indigenous-australians> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

26 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare above note 1.

27 Robert Manne (ed) Whitewash: On Keith Windschuttle’s Fabrication of Aboriginal History (Black Inc Books 2003).

28 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Final Report (2017) <https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/> (last accessed 21 July 2020).

29 Paul Keating, Redfern Speech (Year for the World's Indigenous People) (Redfern Park, 10 December 1992).

30 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations adopted 13 September 2007.

31 Gunstone above note 25.

32 Commonwealth of Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 13 February 2008, 167–173 (Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister) <https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansardr/2008-02-13/0002/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf> (last accessed 3 June 2020).

33 Philip G Dwyer and Lyndal Ryan (eds) Theatres of Violence: Massacre, Mass Killing and Atrocity throughout History (Berghahn Books 2012); Bruce Elder, Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788 (New Holland Books 2003, 3^rd edn); Henry Reynolds, Forgotten War (New South Publishing 2016); Larissa Behrendt, ‘The Semantics of Genocide’ in Aileen Moreton-Robinson (ed) Critical Indigenous Studies (University of Arizona Press 2016) 138.

34 Aileen Moreton Robinson, Talking Up to the White Woman: Aboriginal Women and Feminism (University of Queensland Press 2000); Larissa Behrendt, Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Story Telling (University of Queensland Press 2016).

35 Larissa Behrendt, ‘Aboriginal Women and the White Lies of the Feminist Movement: Implications for Rights Discourse’ (1993) 1(1) Australian Feminist Law Journal 27.

36 Larissa Behrendt, Home (University of Queensland Press 2004).

37 Larissa Behrendt (writer, director) After the Apology (Pursekey Productions 2017) <http://aftertheapology.com/> (last accessed 21 July 2020).