Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman Sue-Anne Hunter has warned Australia could be facing another Stolen Generation unless governments rethink the way they respond to Aboriginal children and families.
Ms Hunter, a leading advocate for Aboriginal children and families, said recent changes to child protection laws in the Northern Territory were “extremely concerning”, warning they could lead to more Aboriginal children being removed from their families and placed in out-of-home care.
“We know it’s going to cause more adverse effects for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, which means more of our children in out-of-home care,” she told NITV.
“We could possibly be looking at another Stolen Generation.”
Ms Hunter’s comments come as the annual Garma Festival gets under way on Yolngu Country at Gulkula in northeast Arnhem Land, where she delivered the first keynote address on Friday morning.
The festival, hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, brings together Indigenous leaders, community members, politicians and business representatives for discussions on culture, policy and the future of First Nations peoples.
Her address comes amid ongoing debate over the Northern Territory Government’s amendments to child protection legislation, which critics argue weaken safeguards designed to keep Aboriginal children connected to family, community and culture.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro is also speaking at Garma on Friday, with her government’s recent child protection reforms expected to remain a contentious issue.
Ms Hunter said the concerns raised during the parliamentary scrutiny process had not been adequately addressed.
“There were 120 submissions to the scrutiny committee, particularly on what would happen if they put those amendments through,” she said.
“But they weren’t listened to at all.”
‘The system does not listen to our children’
Ms Hunter said governments and service providers needed to fundamentally change the way they engaged with Aboriginal children, arguing too many decisions were being made about them without their voices being heard.
“The system does not listen to our children,” she said.
“I sit around tables all the time where people say, ‘This is what children want.’ When you ask them, ‘Have they asked the children?’ No. That is what adults want.”
Ms Hunter said part of her role was now focused on speaking directly with children and young people about their experiences and what they needed from the systems designed to support them.
“When we go in and ask the children what they want, they always say, ‘I want to feel safe. I want to feel safe.’ It’s that simple,” she said.
“They do not feel safe in these systems.”
She said Aboriginal children continued to be overrepresented in child protection and youth justice systems despite decades of inquiries and recommendations calling for change.
“The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle is not adhered to, or maybe it’s partly in legislation,” she said.
“The lesson came out of the Royal Commission into the Bringing Them Home report. We need to follow that lesson.”
Closing the Gap data shows need for urgent change
Ms Hunter’s comments follow the release of the latest Closing the Gap data, which highlighted ongoing challenges across several key areas, including out-of-home care, youth justice and suicide rates.
She said the figures showed governments needed to confront what was not working rather than continue with approaches that had failed Aboriginal communities.
“We’ve just seen the Closing the Gap data, which isn’t great, particularly out-of-home care, youth justice and suicide rates,” she said.
“It needs to be talked about more. It needs to be talked about what we’re doing wrong, so we can come up with solutions because obviously what we’re doing now isn’t working.”
“It's getting worse. We’re here in the NT; it is getting worse, and people just aren’t listening.”
Ms Hunter said the solutions required governments to genuinely listen to Aboriginal communities and those with lived experience.
“The solutions are there,” she said. “We need to listen to the people who have the lived experience, and most importantly, we need to listen to our children.”
A warning rooted in history
The reference to a possible new Stolen Generation echoes the findings of the 1997 Bringing Them Home report, which documented the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by forced child removals under government policies.
The report made a series of recommendations aimed at preventing further separation of children from their families, culture and communities.
Ms Hunter said those lessons remained relevant today, arguing that maintaining connection to family, culture and community was essential to the wellbeing of Aboriginal children.
She said governments needed to move beyond consultation and ensure Aboriginal communities had a genuine role in shaping policies affecting their children.
“People have the answers,” she said. “But they need to be listened to.”
