1 Introduction

This book by Emeritus Professor Judy Atkinson AM, a Jiman and Bundjalung woman who also has Anglo-Celtic and German heritage, is based on a research study undertaken in Central Queensland during 1993–98 that analysed group narratives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities’ lived experiences of violence. Atkinson explores the transgenerational effects of trauma in Indigenous Australia that stem from colonial dispossession and the many ways this can be manifest. Moving away from rhetoric of victimhood, Atkinson re-establishes storytelling, dance and ceremony as ways of healing. Atkinson explores the value of Indigenous research methodologies of dadirri (deep, contemplative listening) and yimbaniyiara (listening to Elders) in working towards healing.

Culture Is Inclusion is written from the personal accounts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability. Aboriginal scholar from the Worimi people, Dr Avery has compiled a narrative that ‘aims to unveil a mystery unknown to many Australians — the story of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability’. By combining traditional research methodologies with the concept of yarning, Avery’s research illustrates the complex concerns and disadvantage faced by First Nations people living with disability. The research was conducted in remote, regional and urban locations, with the issues addressed coming from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability themselves. Described by Avery as ‘an exploratory study, this research has laid out a business case to address the specific needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability’.

Euahleyai/Gamillaroi woman and Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO argues that a broad Indigenous rights framework is crucial to achieving positive change to the socio-economic disadvantage into which Indigenous Australians are born. Behrendt explains why addressing problems in Indigenous communities at a practical level needs to be done in conjunction with rights protection. Redefining the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is a challenge that involves assessing the impact of historical injustice. It is only when we understand how the ideologies of colonialism have permeated today’s institutions that we can begin to break the grip of the historical legacy. Once that grip is broken, Australians will be free to explore alternatives to colonisation and assimilation.

Heartsick for Country is an anthology of personal accounts that speak to the love between First Nations peoples and their Country. The stories share knowledge, insight and emotion, each speaking of a deep connection to Country and a feeling of heartsickness because of the harm that is being inflicted on Country. Contributors highlight issues such as deforestation, the conversion of land to salt fields, the destruction of sacred rock art, the overuse of water in semi-arid areas, and the loss of species. The anthology calls for a shift in how the environment is understood and managed, emphasising the importance of Indigenous perspectives in addressing contemporary environmental challenges. The stories advocate protecting the land for future generations and highlight the need for sustainable, respectful relationships with Country.

The persistence of state violence perpetrated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families is evident from first contact with contemporary child welfare interventions. These interventions have been authorised by laws and policies which have forcefully separated children from their families and communities legally and illegally, and have separated families through exerting control over where they could live, who they could marry, and how their identity was legally defined. These laws and policies have also systematically excluded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families from opportunities and benefits for wealth creation, laying the foundations for inter-generational experiences of poverty and trauma.

The shift from formal discrimination under the auspices of ‘protection’ to assimilation saw an increase in interventions and removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. There is continuity across different laws and policies in the presumptions about Western family superiority, the embedding of non-Indigenous priorities and aspirations in law and policy, and the failure of the state to take responsibility for inter-generational harms perpetrated, or a willingness to relinquish power exercised over Aboriginal families.

Amy McQuire has been writing on Indigenous affairs since she was 17 years old. Over the past two decades, she has reported on most of the key events involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including numerous deaths in custody, the Palm Island uprising, the Bowraville murders and the Northern Territory Intervention. She has also exposed the misrepresentations and violence of the mainstream media’s reports, as well as their omissions and silences in regards to Indigenous matters. Black Witness showcases how journalism can be used to hold the powerful to account and make the world a more equitable place. This is the essential collection that we need right now — and always have.

Us Women, Our Ways, Our World is a collection of writings on women and Aboriginal identity from 14 senior Indigenous academics and community leaders. The collection engages with questions such as: What makes Aboriginal women strong? Why are grandmothers so important (even ones never met)? How is the connection to Country different for Aboriginal people compared to non-Aboriginal people’s love of nature or sense of belonging to an area? What is Aboriginal spirituality? These writings are generous, inclusive and considerate of the non-Aboriginal reader’s feelings. They are hopeful for the future, with an emphasis on acknowledging, joining with, collaborating and caring.

Dr Aileen Moreton-Robinson is a Goenpul woman of the Quandamooka people (Moreton Bay). This essay is part of a set of essays in the book, Whitening Race: Essays in Social and Cultural Criticism, which focus on the topics of subjectivity, whiteness and ways of knowing, exploring how whiteness has shaped knowledge production. Moreton-Robinson critiques the way Indigenous scholars are rarely considered to be qualified and knowledgeable about whiteness, despite having first-hand, lived colonial experience of the role that whiteness plays in racialisation and the structure of society. Her essay argues that the white perspective is considered to be superior, having the status of an epistemological a priori in knowledge production, and that this influences the representation of and production of knowledge about Indigenous people. It discusses the way Indigenous people have been represented as objects and as the ‘known’, rather than subjects or as ‘knowers’, and that the writer-knower of knowledge as the subject carries an assumption of being racially ‘invisible’ yet is grounded in a white perspective.

Professor Nakata, a Torres Strait Islander academic, casts a critical gaze on the 1890s Cambridge Expedition researchers to the Torres Strait. Through his analysis of the linguistic, psychological, anthropological and other scientific projects of the expedition, Professor Nakata offers an astute critique of their research methods and interpretations, examining the way knowledge is produced within academic disciplines and then reproduced as public knowledge and used by governments. Nakata draws on Western educational theory to suggest ways that Indigenous knowledges can be empowered in contemporary education. He stresses the need to understand Indigenous positions within colonial regimes as complex and multifaceted, advocating for a deeper, more nuanced approach to Indigenous identity and knowledge systems at the intersection of history, tradition and modern political autonomy. Through this work, Nakata develops a strong discourse on Indigenous standpoint theory which has strongly influenced Indigenous research methodologies.

The Cunning of Recognition is an exploration of liberal multiculturalism from the perspective of Australian Indigenous social life. Elizabeth A Povinelli argues that the multicultural legacy of colonialism perpetuates unequal systems of power, not by demanding that colonised subjects identify with their colonisers but by demanding that they identify with an impossible standard of authentic traditional culture. Povinelli draws on 17 years of ethnographic research among northwest coast Indigenous people and her own experience participating in land claims, as well as on public records, legal debates and anthropological archives to examine how multicultural forms of recognition work to reinforce liberal regimes rather than open them up to a true cultural democracy.

This book examines the complex history of Indigenous self-determination in Australia, exploring the policies of Protection and Assimilation which preceded the 1973 shift to Self-Determination. It challenges the clarity of these policies, explaining when they began, how they evolved, and whether they truly ended. Through a range of expert contributions, the book investigates how government policies and Indigenous agency intersect, focusing on areas such as land rights, local government, international law, education, health and identity.

Each of the contributors is a specialist in their topic. The contributors’ debate whether self-determination was ever fully realised or has continued in contemporary policy. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocates argue that self-determination has long been denied, pointing to historical narratives of colonial violence, and the ongoing inadequacies of 1970s-era policies which are constrained by underfunding and conservative opposition.

In addition to exploring these historical complexities, the book’s findings, stemming from a 2018 workshop funded by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, led to four key policy recommendations:

These steps are seen as essential for empowering Indigenous peoples and fostering genuine self-determination.

This book is a powerful memoir by a true Australian legend. Not many people have lived as many lives as Archie Roach — stolen child, seeker, teenage alcoholic, lover, father, musical and lyrical genius, and leader — but it took him almost a lifetime to find out who he really was.

Roach was only two years old when he was forcibly removed from his family. Brought up by a series of foster parents until his early teens, his world imploded when he received a letter that spoke of a life he had no memory of.

In this intimate, moving and often shocking memoir, Archie’s story is an extraordinary odyssey through love and heartbreak, family and community, survival and renewal — and the healing power of music. Overcoming enormous odds to find his story and his people, Archie voices the joy, pain and hope he found on his path through song to become a legendary singer-songwriter and storyteller, beloved by fans worldwide.

Tell Me Why is a stunning account of resilience and the strength of spirit — and of a great love story.

In this remarkable memoir, Amy narrates her journey through childhood and adolescence, growing up with parents who struggled with addiction and incarceration. She reveals the importance of extended family and community networks when your immediate loved ones are dealing with endemic poverty and intergenerational trauma. In recounting her experiences, she shows how the stories we tell about ourselves can help to shape and sustain us. Tell Me Again will captivate, move and inspire readers with its candour and insight.

Margaret Liliardia Tucker MBE was a significant Aboriginal activist and one of the first Aboriginal women to publish for mainstream audiences.

Originally published in 1977, If Everyone Cared was a groundbreaking work that required significant alterations to cater to non-Indigenous readers who had limited knowledge of Aboriginal cultures and the consequences of settler invasion from a First Nations perspective. As a result, Tucker’s tone and content were modified, and her original Aboriginal storytelling voice was altered.

If Everyone Cared Enough draws from the handwritten manuscript held in the collections of the National Library of Australia, allowing readers to experience Tucker’s story as she originally wrote it. The republished autobiography commences with her joyful early memories of swimming, fishing and learning, but also delves into the abrupt end of her childhood when she was sent to the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls. Tucker fearlessly recounts the horrors of the training, the cruelty of her first employer, and the profound loneliness, homesickness and heartache she endured.

Throughout her life, Tucker remained dedicated to fighting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights and opportunities. In 1932, she became the treasurer of the Victorian Aborigines League, one of the country’s first Aboriginal organisations. Her tireless efforts were recognised when she was awarded an MBE in 1968.

This book provides an accessible resource for conducting culturally safe and trauma-informed practice with First Nations peoples in Australia. Designed by and for Australian Indigenous peoples, it explores psychological trauma and healing, and the clinical and cultural implications of the impacts of colonisation, through an Indigenous lens. It has been described as essential reading for Indigenous practitioners and service providers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The chapters take an Indigenous, yarning approach to sharing knowledge, and encourage readers to challenge their unconscious, long-held beliefs and worldviews. Nicole Tujague and Kelleigh Ryan identify the differences between dominant systems and more holistic Indigenous understandings of social and emotional health and wellbeing, and outline a meaningful practice framework for practitioners. They analyse types of complex trauma, including intergenerational, institutional, collective and historical trauma; and discuss the impacts of ongoing colonialism and racism and the concept of ‘cultural load’. They also address vicarious or ‘compassion’ trauma experienced by front-line workers and carers, and offer insights into their experience of working with collective healing programs.

In this book, Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts embarks on an extraordinary work of truth-telling, exposing the ongoing violence visited on Black children, their families and their communities by the systems that claim to protect them. As a survivor of out-of-home care, a practising lawyer fighting for the freedom of others, and now also a mother herself, she takes an unflinching look at the heartache and trauma caused by racist family policing, the shameful rates of child removals, and the steady pipeline of First Nations children into the criminal justice system.

Long Yarn Short is a story of struggle, grief and love; a call to action from one of the most powerful voices of her generation. As a leading expert in children’s and young people’s rights, Vanessa invites readers to imagine solutions for a better world — a world of support and empowerment, not punishment — and demands that they listen when she says, ‘We are still here’.

Professor Watson belongs to the Tanganekald, Meintangk, Bunganditj and Potaruwutj First Nations peoples. Her book assesses the legality and impact of colonisation from the viewpoint of Aboriginal law, rather than from that of the dominant Western legal tradition. The book begins by outlining an Aboriginal legal system as it is embedded in Aboriginal people’s complex relationship with their ancestral lands. This is Raw Law: a natural system of obligations and benefits, flowing from an Aboriginal ontology.

The book places ‘Raw Law’ at the centre of an analysis of colonisation — thereby decentring the usual analytical tendency to privilege the dominant structures and concepts of Western law. From the perspective of Aboriginal law, colonisation was a violation of the code of political and social conduct embodied in Raw Law, and its effects were damaging. It forced Aboriginal peoples to violate their own principles of natural responsibility to self, community, Country and future existence. The work calls for Aboriginal ways to be recognised in central discussions of colonial and postcolonial legality.

This book examines 16 key legal decisions affecting Indigenous Australians which have been re-imagined so as to be inclusive of Indigenous peoples’ stories, historical experiences, perspectives and worldviews. Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars have collaborated to rewrite the decisions spanning 1889 to 2017, the judgments reflecting the trajectory of Indigenous people’s engagements with Australian law. Part 1 of the book explores sovereignty, Part 2 explores land and sea country, Part 3 explores racism and discrimination, Part 4 explores family and identity, and Part 5 explores criminalisation and criminal neglect.

This article centres the lived experiences of over 160 First Nations women in NSW prisons. Most of these women are imprisoned for minor offences or are awaiting trial, with many serving short sentences. Notably, a significant number of these women are mothers, many of whom also have additional caregiving responsibilities.

The article highlights the ‘lived sentence’ of incarceration on First Nations women and its effects on their ability to fulfil their roles as mothers, grandmothers and community leaders.

Legal practitioners must recognise and understand the unique challenges faced by First Nations women, particularly in relation to their roles as grandmothers, mothers and caregivers. By viewing these women as individuals with distinct needs and by actively listening to their experiences, legal practitioners can challenge the systemic silencing and exclusion that often occurs in court processes, ensuring that the roles of these women as mothers and human beings are acknowledged, and that their voices are heard and valued. This approach is crucial in addressing the widespread feelings of belittlement and worthlessness, as expressed by First Nations women, and helping shift the focus from viewing these women as mere statistics to recognising their strength and resilience, and the impact of legal decisions on their families (page 87).

This research stresses the importance of centring the voices of Indigenous women in policy and reform efforts. Their leadership and perspectives are crucial in advocating for systemic change. There is an urgent need to consider alternative sentencing options, which would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to remain out of prison, where they can fulfil their caregiving roles, nurture their families, and lead their communities effectively.

This article argues that the placement of Indigenous children in out-of-home care (‘OOHC’) poses a significant threat to cultural connection, which is fundamental to Indigenous identity and wellbeing. It highlights the vital importance of cultural connection for Indigenous child development, explaining that family connection strengthens cultural connection, and is therefore as important to children’s needs in OOHC as placement stability.

The authors note that the historical and contemporary legislative approaches of Indigenous child protection in Australia, which view Indigenous children’s best interests through a Western lens, are problematic and harmful to cultural connection. They contend that the statutory and community organisations responsible for Indigenous children in OOHC must focus on facilitating and strengthening family relationships, not only to foster cultural connection, but also to explore reunification possibilities. This involves ensuring that:

This approach can help reduce the number of Indigenous children in care, which continues to rise at a high and disproportionate rate.

Dr Karen Fiona Menzies, a Wonnarua woman, writes on the importance for trauma-informed approaches to addressing Indigenous justice, including in the ways that child protection, health, legal, welfare and social work professionals interact with Indigenous people. She explains how a trauma-informed approach requires recognition and reflection on the ways in which individuals and the government have perpetrated harm to Indigenous people. It is argued that treatment of the symptoms of trauma, including health and social inequity, can never be truly effective if underlying trauma is not addressed.

The article explores the way trauma impacts the health and inequity of Indigenous people, including the impact of childhood trauma, historical and ongoing colonial trauma, and collective and generational trauma from the forced separation and assimilation of Indigenous people.

In this article, Wiradjuri woman and research fellow BJ Newton argues that in order to meet the needs of Aboriginal families and communities where there is child neglect, policy and practice needs to acknowledge and address the impact of trauma in shaping the lived experiences of Aboriginal people. The article addresses a gap in the literature which, she argues, fails to adequately address child neglect within Aboriginal families and communities in the context of historical trauma.

The article breaks down the different definitions and theories of child neglect, the importance of cultural relativism in assessing child neglect, the experiences of trauma within and across Aboriginal communities caused by dispossession and government intervention and the impacts which these have on child neglect, as well as the underlying implications for individuals working with Aboriginal families and communities. Overall, Newton advocates for an ecological approach which views child neglect through a lens of trauma. This involves looking at a family’s strengths and vulnerabilities, at individual, interpersonal and environmental circumstances, and at relationships.

This article on Aboriginal trauma scholarship and decolonising methodologies situates the contemporary state removal of Aboriginal children against the backdrop of the historical policies that actively sought to disrupt Aboriginal kinship and communities. It undertakes a thematic analysis of submissions made by Aboriginal community controlled organisations to the 2018 Australian Senate Inquiry into Local Adoption to highlight the failure of federal and state reforms to address four key issues:

Through this analysis, the article amplifies the voices of Aboriginal child protection agencies that were silenced in debates over adoption law reform and underscores the need to legitimately honour First Nations voices in policy and legislative decisions affecting Aboriginal children.

This report presents both quantitative and qualitative findings of an Australian Research Council Linkage grant examining the significant over-representation of mental and cognitive disability in Aboriginal people incarcerated in New South Wales and the Northern Territory. It draws on comprehensive quantitative data sourced from multiple criminal legal system and human services agencies in New South Wales, and qualitative insights from New South Wales and the Northern Territory, in order to analyse the interactions of systems and responses to the complex needs of Aboriginal people with disability in criminal legal systems. It also provides case studies and a series of ‘nested’ studies to provide insights into specific aspects of these issues.

The report ‘provides innovative theoretical and applied knowledge that can assist in the reduction of the unacceptably high level of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities in Australian criminal justice systems’ (page 9). Quantitative findings from the study include that Indigenous women and men with mental health disorders and cognitive disability:

Qualitative findings illustrate that ‘[i]nstitutional racism, stigma and discrimination are common, marginalising and destructive experiences for Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities’ (page 11).

Of particular interest to judicial officers is the discussion in sections 9.1 (‘Legal issues’) and 10 (‘Recommendations and solutions’), including:

This is a review conducted by Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt and Professor Lindon Coombes into the Collingwood Football Club’s processes of dealing with racism following allegations of racial discrimination by an ex-football player of the club. The review sought to determine how effectively the club responded to allegations of racism, whether there were appropriate supports to effectively respond to allegations, and what changes to the policies, processes and systems of the club were required to improve its response to racism in the future.

The key areas of reform involved developing club values; having proactive responses to racism; improving policies, procedures and mechanisms for complaints; promoting diversity and anti-racism in employment and recruitment processes; ensuring a culturally safe workplace; addressing past acts of racism; incorporating truth-telling about the impacts of racism, ensuring oversight; and developing community leadership.

The Family Is Culture review led by Professor Megan Davis, a Cobble Cobble and South Sea Islander woman, investigated the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in out-of-home care (‘OOHC’) in New South Wales. The report examines the high rates of Aboriginal children and young people that are in OOHC in New South Wales and the implementation of the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle.

The report exposes racism and a lack of accountability within the system and establishes a path to reform, putting forward 126 recommendations on how the system needs to be improved to prevent harm to children and enhance their experience in OOHC. These recommendations are focused on, among many areas:

The report particularly highlights:

The Bugmy Bar Book Committee commissioned this report ‘to collate research regarding the significance of culture to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the significant benefits of connecting to culture, family and community as part of culturally appropriate treatment and care to promote wellbeing, rehabilitation and healing’ (p. 3).

The report outlines the importance of culture to rehabilitation and healing. It explores meanings of social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; explains the relationship between healing and culture, including in relation to recidivism and recovery, and in terms of cultural safety in service provision; and identifies the impacts of imprisonment on individuals with cognitive or psychiatric disabilities, and on imprisoned people’s children and families.

The report finds that ‘systems and approaches that lack cultural competence and grounding are likely to exacerbate existing challenges and perpetuate cycles of harm’ (page 6). To assist in the design of effective systems and programs that promote healing and rehabilitation, the report ‘identifies key characteristics to promote healing and wellbeing, including self-determination and the application of trauma-informed principles’ (page 6). The report includes illustrative case studies of culturally appropriate approaches to healing and recovery throughout.

This report explores strengths-based approaches to shifting the deficit narrative in the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector (page vi). The study identifies national and international approaches to change deficit-based narratives of Indigenous’ peoples’ health and wellbeing ‘to one of strength and resilience’ (page vi). It summarises characteristics of best practice in strengths-based discourse, and makes recommendations to reframe discourse in the Australian health context.

The report provides background on both deficit discourses and strengths-based approaches, and what they look like in operation. It also provides illustrative examples of strengths-based health programs. A summary of conclusions is provided (page viii). These include emerging evidence of the adverse impact of deficit discourse on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health and wellbeing; and justifications for and barriers to meaningfully adopting strengths-based models and approaches.

The second and most recent edition of Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice offers a comprehensive examination of issues and strategies influencing the mental health and emotional wellbeing of First Nations peoples. The report draws together culturally appropriate information to educate and assist health professionals who provide services to Indigenous peoples experiencing mental health and social and emotional wellbeing (‘SEWB’) concerns.

Chapter 4 of the report, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing’, helps readers better understand the history and context of these issues. This chapter provides a First Nations perspective on SEWB, with the aim of highlighting the relationship between maintaining cultural connections and mental health. The report defines SEWB as a multidimensional concept that includes mental health but also encompasses domains of health and wellbeing such as connection to Country, culture, spirituality, Ancestry, family and community. The authors situate the domains and guiding principles which typically characterise SEWB within a framework that places Indigenous world views and culture as central, and explores how these principles may be applied in a practical setting.

This report responds to the crisis of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s over-imprisonment, which is causing immeasurable harm. It puts forward 18 recommendations to redress racialised and gendered justice system outcomes. It also calls for strategies to be designed, implemented and evaluated in partnership with First Nations women, consistent with principles of community control and self-determination.

The report focuses on the criminal justice system and the importance of responding to the distinct rights, histories and circumstances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, which are different to those of men. The report argues that violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, which contributes directly and indirectly to women’s offending, needs to be addressed to reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the criminal justice system, both as victim/survivors and offenders. It also contends that strategies implemented by governments must be responsive to the vital roles Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women play in their communities and families, including as primary carers of children.

To better support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, courts can address systemic issues such as inadequate legal representation, biased bail decisions, and the punitive nature of legal processes. By focusing on diversionary programs, culturally appropriate services, and ensuring women are not left unsupported, courts can shift away from punitive systems and adopt more empowering, rehabilitative approaches that recognise the vital roles women play in their families and communities.

This research engaged with First Nations women and children in Western Australia, to understand their experiences of family and domestic violence (‘FDV’), the risk factors they face, and the barriers to accessing support services. It aimed to identify effective programs and make recommendations for culturally safe, preventative measures.

The study, based on participatory action research and culturally safe methods, revealed key concerns such as the lack of culturally secure services, inadequate training in mainstream services, and systemic barriers in accessing disability support and FDV services for women and children who have experienced family and domestic violence. Women reported experiencing multiple forms of violence, often leading to disability, mental illness and social isolation. Children faced emotional and educational challenges, while carers were overburdened.

Recommendations include reforming systems such as the National Disability Insurance Agency, child protection, and justice to better serve First Nations women and children with disabilities. The report calls for investment in culturally secure services, better data collection, and increased funding for Aboriginal community controlled organisations to ensure effective support.

This report was commissioned by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Its findings are informed by a review of national and international literature, a review of Australian policy and practice, and available quantitative data and fieldwork conducted in New South Wales and Victoria.

The report ‘presents evidence about individual, family and structural factors that drive the over-representation of parents with disability in child protection systems. It makes recommendations for reforms that address underlying social and economic vulnerabilities. It also recommends reforms to child protection laws, policies and practice to better respect the human rights of parents with disability and to improve the effectiveness of child protection systems for parents with disability, their children, families, communities and others engaged with them. While finding that child protection systems need to be fully overhauled, and that supports and systems beyond the child protection system which impact the underlying drivers of engagement with child protection systems also require significant reform, the report also makes recommendations with respect to reforms of existing systems. These reforms, which can be implemented in the short term until such time as deeper structural reforms are implemented, will significantly improve compliance with minimum human rights standards’ (page 8).

Of particular interest to judicial officers are:

The report is an account of the experiences, perspectives, aspirations and solutions of First Nations women within the native title system. It takes a person-centred approach, highlighting how native title and related systems impact individuals and communities on a day-to-day basis. A key finding from the First Nations women participants is the inability for the native title system to facilitate the fulfillment of First Nations peoples’ rights to culture, property, procedural fairness, self-determination and non-discrimination.

The report calls for significant reform of the native title system to deliver land justice and fulfil human rights such as self-determination, participation, culture and non-discrimination. The report includes 29 recommendations and emphasises the need for the supported participation of First Nations women and their communities in any future reform work.

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody examined 99 deaths of Aboriginal people that occurred in custody between January 1980 and May 1989. The Commission investigated and reported on the manner and circumstances of each death, as well as broader investigations into the social, cultural and legal factors that may have contributed to the deaths.

The Final Report, released in April 1991, concluded that First Nations peoples had a higher chance of dying in custody simply because they had a higher chance of being in custody. A central finding was that continuing conditions of over-representation of First Nations peoples in prisons had their ‘origins in structural, systemic injustice to a disadvantaged minority rather than in a propensity in this group to increased criminality’. In other words, what differs is not the behaviour of First Nations peoples compared to non-Indigenous people, but the discriminatory and violent ways in which they are treated. The report’s 339 recommendations fall into two main categories:

Chapters 7–10 focus on various aspects of the criminal justice and custodial processes and emphasise the importance of including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their voices in all matters.

The Final Report made 222 recommendations on how to improve laws, policies, structures and practices to ensure a more inclusive and just society that supports the independence of people with disability and their right to live free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Volume 9 of the report is titled ‘First Nations People with Disability’. Five research reports were published specific to the experiences of First Nations people with a disability (described on pages 21–3):

The following sections of vol 9 provide practical advice on how to better the experience of Indigenous people within the child protection and criminal justice systems:

This report provides a national overview of the mental health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It provides ideas on how to improve the general wellbeing of Indigenous Australians, encompassing mental, physical, socio-cultural and spiritual health. The research is guided by the primary principle that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have great strengths. In addition (page 7):

Based on extensive consultation with Aboriginal peoples around Australia regarding mental health, including both service providers and service users, the report details a National Aboriginal Mental Health Policy and Plan (pages 24–6) and a series of required policy initiatives to implement it (pages 27–9).

This study, led by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Bunuba woman June Oscar AO, investigated how to best promote the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls and their communities. The report champions and elevates the voices of communities, women and girls in respect of what principles they believe need to underscore the design of policies, programs and services aimed at securing their human rights now and into the future. This process reflects the central aim of Wiyi Yani U Thangani: ‘to define our women and girls in their own image, determined by them’. The report advocates for systemic and social change that embeds First Nations cultures and knowledge systems through strengths-based community-driven approaches to addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission was Australia’s first formal Indigenous-led truth-telling process. In 2023, the Commission published its second interim report, which explores systemic injustices, racism, discriminatory laws and policy failures in the child protection and criminal justice systems.

As part of the inquiry, Yoorrook gathered a significant amount of evidence from the community through formal submissions, hearings and roundtable discussions. Across both the child protection and criminal justice systems, the report documents serious deficits in three key areas that are critical to promoting self-determination and to ending the systemic injustices that the State has inflicted and continues to inflict on First Nations Peoples: monitoring and accountability; cultural competence and responsiveness, including human rights capability; and the need to strengthen human and cultural rights compliance.

The report makes 46 recommendations across five categories:

Suellyn thought FACS would only remove children in extreme cases until her own grandchildren were taken. Hazel decided to take on the FACS system after her fourth grandchild was taken into state care. Jen Swan was raising her grandchildren until she was deemed unsuitable by FACS. The rate of Indigenous child removal has increased at an exponential rate since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008. Hazel started Grandmothers Against Removals as a response to the rising rates of child removal and along the way she has been joined by families across Australia in the battle to bring the kids home. Together they are not only taking on the system, they are changing it.

The First Inventors is a four-part documentary series exploring 65,000 years of Aboriginal Australian invention, looking at how landscapes were transformed, how events were recorded, the use of navigation tools, and how societies were organised. In a conversation with NITV Radio, Professor Chris Wilson, co-presenter of The First Inventors, says that the documentary is showing the rest of the community what Indigenous science is, what Indigenous knowledge is and Indigenous archaeology.

Coming Out, Blak was a podcast dedicated to supporting and celebrating First Nations mob in the LGBTQ+ community.

In My Blood It Runs was shot in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Sandy Bore Homeland and Borroloola Community in the Northern Territory over three and a half years. However, the director, Maya Newell, had been making films alongside Arrernte Elders and families at two Arrernte-led NGOs — Akeyulerrre and Children’s Ground — for over a decade preceding the inception of this film. In My Blood It Runs rose organically from those relationships, and the film team want to acknowledge the deep trust and support from these core partner organisations who backed the telling of this story.

Ten-year-old Dujuan is a child-healer and good hunter and speaks three languages. As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him, we see his spark and intelligence. Yet Dujuan is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare authorities and the police. As he travels perilously close to incarceration, his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his Western education lest he becomes another statistic. We walk with him as he grapples with these pressures, shares his truths and somewhere in between finds space to dream, imagine and hope for his future self.

Acclaimed three-part documentary series The Australian Wars powerfully examines the battles fought on home soil as the British colonial front pushed forward, and First Nations peoples resisted. It was recognised with awards for Best Direction in Non-Fiction Television, Best Documentary or Factual Program and Best Editing in a Documentary Program at the 2024 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards.

Perkins journeyed across the continent to explore the breadth of warfare, strategy and forceful resistance that occurred, revealing new evidence and challenging the way conflicts are recognised in the Australian War Memorial.

Boe Spearim is a Gamilaraay and Kooma radio host and podcaster who lives in Brisbane. Frontier War Stories is a podcast dedicated to truth-telling about a side of Australia that has been left out of the history books. Each episode, Boe speaks with different Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people about research, books and oral histories which document the first 140 years of conflict and resistance. These times are the Frontier Wars and these are our War Stories.

The Glossary of Healing Terms was created by The Healing Foundation, a national First Nations organisation which plays a vital role in supporting Stolen Generations survivors and their families, ensuring their voices are heard and their healing is prioritised. Its work is essential in addressing the ongoing trauma caused by colonisation, and its focus on trauma-informed practices should be recognised for its contribution to the healing of First Nations communities.

This Glossary is a guide to key terms related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healing. It was produced to promote discussion and knowledge sharing and includes a collection of terms commonly used in the healing space. It is not a definitive list of terms associated with healing, but a way to start the conversation on healing.