Indigenous incarceration, suicide and child removal rates are all accelerating, according to the Closing the Gap report released in February.
Indigenous people are already the most incarcerated group on the planet. But the jails are filling faster than ever, with a 30 per cent increase in Indigenous prisoners since Albanese took office in 2022.
More than 5 per cent of Indigenous men are now behind bars and almost 1 per cent of Indigenous women.
Aboriginal children in regional areas are facing constant demonisation and over-policing. This is part of a broader racist “law and order” campaign by state governments.
In March, NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns disgracefully greeted news of a surge of Aboriginal kids on remand with a self-congratulatory press conference, saying, “The Greens don’t like these statistics … but I’m not done yet.”
Victorian Labor has also announced more punitive bail laws, repealing changes to the Bail Act made after a long campaign by the family of Veronica Nelson, an Aboriginal woman who died in horrific circumstances while on remand in 2020.
The Albanese government is also to blame. Since the failed Voice referendum, Albanese has retreated from Indigenous Affairs, leaving communities to suffer the vicious racist backlash that accompanied the “No” vote and the sharpest edge of the cost-of-living crisis.
Before being elected, Albanese promised his government would create “real jobs” for Indigenous people, replacing the exploitative Community Development Projects (CDP) scheme.
On CDP, more than 40,000 Indigenous people across regional and remote areas are forced to do “activities”, including work for employers, to receive meagre Centrelink payments, often quarantined onto a BasicsCard.
But Labor’s newly announced Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program is only offering 700 jobs in its first two grant rounds in 2025, and a maximum of 3000 jobs over three years.
Self-determination
Labor’s refusal to fund a proper jobs program will leave almost all CDP participants in dire poverty and Aboriginal organisations battling for resources to assist communities in crisis.
John Hartley, from the Kubirriwarra Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation, spoke to Solidarity following a large community meeting in Mossman in North Queensland, organised by business owners after windows were smashed and ATMs damaged on the main street.
Hartley says that demonisation of Aboriginal youth by the LNP government has created a licence for racism to be expressed more openly.
“There were people in this meeting saying they would bring their dogs into town to attack our kids or hit them with waterbombs outside shops. I made it clear this would not be happening.
“We don’t agree with destructive behaviour and it should stop. But there needs to be understanding of the frustration and angst of many of these young people. The recent cyclone displaced many Aboriginal families, forcing them into town and further overcrowded conditions.
“People look to a law and order response, but jailing is an abject failure, just look at the statistics. They want to move the kids on—but to where?
“There are no facilities available for young people where they can feel safe, the services are overloaded.
“I look at these kids and I don’t see criminality. I see a cry for help. They are screaming out, We are here. Notice us!
“We recently submitted yet another grant application for a cultural centre, to create a hub for our community. A place to run programs to help deal with trauma, with drug and alcohol addiction, where young people could come to get employment and training.
“We were knocked back but the government seem to have endless resources for locking our people away.
“And we have a constant fight to access and protect our lands.
“In February the Douglas Shire Council cut off water to a camp we have at Cooya beach, where we are regenerating the landscape with native plants. We picketed the local boat ramp until the water was reconnected. Now we are taking on a destructive sand-mining operation”.
Hartley says any real change needs to address these deeper issues of respect for Aboriginal culture and rights to land.
“We started a partnership with the local school. Our people are now employed to teach our language to all children. Break-ins at the school dropped from 350 in a year down to none.
“Non-Indigenous enrolment also increased at the school. So we have the solutions.”
Governments want to keep Aboriginal people locked up and under control, rather than resource organisations that can lift up their people and assert their rights against a racist system.
Like the Kubirriwarra stand at Cooya beach, every job and every inch of land will need to be fought for.
By Paddy Gibson
