Submission to the Commonwealth Truth and Justice Commission Bill 2024

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is the world’s longest continuous culture. For more than 60,000 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families have been raising their children to be strong in culture, family and community, and to thrive. However, the colonisation and dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands has resulted in unresolved historical and intergenerational trauma.

After more than 230 years of dispossession and settler-colonial violence, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities deserve justice. Redressing harms done by the settler-colonial state against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people requires holistic and structural solutions. Truth telling can be an effective, necessary but not sufficient step towards healing the cumulative intergenerational trauma which has caused substantial socioeconomic inequities today.

SNAICC supports the Bill for an Act establishing a Commission into the historic and ongoing injustices against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (the Commission).

SNAICC’s submission highlights the need for a Truth and Justice Commission and outlines recommended amendments to the Bill along with implementation recommendations designed to ensure the strong operation and functioning of the Commission in line with its intended purpose.

SNAICC provides the following six (6) recommendations to the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs:

1. The Australian Government enact the Bill to establish the Truth and Justice Commission Act establishing a commission into historic and ongoing injustices and discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
2. Amend section 7, clause 2 of the Bill to explicitly state that members are not appointed to the Commission unless the Joint Ministers are satisfied that the person has the knowledge of and experience with the human rights of children and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
3. Amend section 7, clause 3 of the Bill to explicitly state that the Joint Ministers must make appointment decisions through a shared decision-making mechanism.
4. Amend section 8 of the Bill to expand the Terms of Reference of the Commission to:
   1. provide for the Commission to be empowered to inquire into historic and contemporary injustice and discrimination perpetrated by State and Territory
   2. include within the scope of the Commission’s inquiry all forms of historic and ongoing racism and racial discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
   3. include within the scope of the Commission’s inquiry human rights breaches made against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
5. Amend section 8, clause 4 of the Bill to include trauma-aware and healing-informed practice as principles underpinning all dealings with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
6. In implementing the Truth and Justice Commission Act, the Commission should:
   1. be fully legislated, resourced and
   2. embed, uphold and advance in its design, establishment and functions the principle of self-determination.
   3. embed, uphold and advance in its design, establishment and function the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including but not limited to, those set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
   4. commit to an expansive definition of cultural safety as the positive recognition and celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, including providing sufficient resourcing to allow the Commission to adhere to cultural protocols.
   5. ensure alignment with the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, including in all positive recommendations and/or advice on reform to existing institutions, law, policy and practice and in considering how the Commonwealth, State and Territory government can be held accountable.
   6. facilitate meaningful participation from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people at all stages of its work.
   7. engage with existing accountability mechanisms including the Australian Human Rights Commission and the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young people once it is established.
   8. uphold the principles of data reciprocity, Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance in its operations.