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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-11-02 Daily Xml
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Aboriginal Affairs

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:38): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs about Aboriginal affairs.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: On Wednesday 4 October 2023, it was reported by ABC News that coroners around Australia are frustrated that their potentially life-saving recommendations to prevent Indigenous suicide are being routinely ignored by governments. The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention report, entitled 'Coronial responses to suicides of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people', found some coroners typically receive less access to cultural training compared with other magistrates and judges, while their need for this was potentially greater because of the over-representation of Indigenous deaths in the coronial system and the personal and cultural sensitivities around a passing.

Further, coroners told researchers that there is insufficient emphasis on applying inquest recommendations and administrative findings systematically in Indigenous suicide prevention. One coroner said they felt they could not in good conscience make further recommendations about hanging points in prisons in the face of so little action. My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the minister been briefed on the recent report published by the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention?

2. From the list of recommendations, will the Labor government implement measures to address the problems for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are in contact with the coronial system?

3. How will the Labor government support South Australian coroners across the state to feel supported to properly navigate the personal and cultural sensitivities around the passing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and how will their recommendations be considered?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:41): I thank the honourable member for her question. I am aware of the report and I have seen the report that the honourable member refers to. In relation to implementing not just coronial recommendations but also recommendations that arose out of the Aboriginal deaths in custody report from the 1990s, I know that it is something that the Department for Correctional Services has done and continues to do significant work on, and it is something that I speak to my counterpart the Minister for Correctional Services not irregularly about.

It has been some years since an Aboriginal death in custody, fortunately, in South Australia. I think the last one, from memory, was the tragic circumstances that led to the death of Wayne Fella Morrison. I am very pleased that this parliament responded to the circumstances of those deaths with a legislative ban on spit hoods that I have encouraged counterparts in other states to look at to perhaps follow.

In relation to other things that governments in South Australia have done to address Aboriginal deaths in custody, I am very pleased we now have a custody notification service in South Australia. I have certainly been working very closely with the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement to make the South Australian custody notification service as robust as it can be when compared with other jurisdictions, particularly like Western Australia, to try to do everything that we can in relation to preventing Aboriginal deaths in custody at that early stage of Aboriginal people coming into custody and their interactions with the justice system. I am happy to continue working with my colleagues to see what more can be done.

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