Aboriginal kids are being killed because of extreme racism, Western Australia's commissioner for children and young people has told a parliamentary inquiry.
Jacqueline McGowan-Jones, an Arrente/Warramungu woman, gave evidence to the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children in Perth on Wednesday.
She said Aboriginal women and children have historically suffered significant levels of violence, which continues to this day.
“Our children die at greater rates than non-Aboriginal children and young people,” Ms McGowan-Jones said.
“Some of those are due to family and domestic violence but some are due to extreme racism.”
When 15-year-old Aboriginal boy Cassius Turvey was walking home from school in Perth in October last year, he was allegedly chased down and attacked with a metal pole by a pack of non-Indigenous adults.
He suffered serious head injuries and died in hospital 10 days later.
In August 2016, 14-year-old Aboriginal boy Elijah Doughty was riding a motorbike when a man chased him in his ute, ran him down and killed him because he believed the bike was stolen.
The man, whose identity is protected by the court, was charged with manslaughter but convicted of the lesser offence of dangerous driving causing death.
He was sentenced to a three-year jail term but served less than two.
“Racism is huge,” Ms McGowan-Jones said.
“When I first moved to Western Australia, and I was living in Geraldton, I said to the rest of my family, ‘The racism in Geraldton is worse than it is at home in Alice Springs’ and it was even worse in Kalgoorlie.
“We have transit guards on public transport automatically approach Aboriginal children and young people as though they are about to cause trouble, even if they're not.
“People chasing children down after stealing something.
“No one wants their property stolen but murder?”
Racism also means Aboriginal people are not accessing critical services, Ms McGowan-Jones said.
“They don't go to police for help if there's family and domestic violence,” she said.
WA police refused to attend the hearing, despite multiple invitations.
Women's Legal Service WA chief executive Jennie Gray told the inquiry that 90 per cent of First Nations women have experienced various forms of violence at different times in their lives.
“It is also estimated that up to 90 per cent of family violence incidents against First Nations women go undisclosed,” she said.
“We have heard and seen that many Aboriginal women's concerns are routinely disbelieved, dismissed and disregarded.
“When police do respond to First Nations women's call for help responses are often marked with bias, racism and preconceptions, coupled with a notable lack of cultural awareness.
“Many First Nations women who are accessing justice as a victim of violence face misidentification as a perpetrator, arrest, police violence and unjustified custody.”
The inquiry is looking at the number of First Nations women and children who are missing and murdered, the ways in which these crimes have been investigated, causes of violence against Indigenous women and children and ways to reduce it.
It is due to table its final report on June 30, 2024.
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