Community Legal Centres across the country are in crisis, forced to turn away thousands of people in desperate need of legal assistance, after more than a decade of Coalition cuts. 

The Greens are today calling on the new Labor government to urgently distribute the funds they promised the sector in the election to meet immediate needs. 

We need the urgent rollout of Labor’s election promises. This can’t wait months and months because every day it’s delayed means hundreds more people being denied the most basic justice. 

“Australia is the only Western democracy that doesn’t have a national Charter of Human Rights, but we have an opportunity to change that,” said the Greens spokesperson for Justice: Senator Lidia Thorpe. 

This comes as The Human Rights Law Centre released the Charters of Human Rights Make Our Lives Better report, outlining 101 cases where a Charter would level the playing field and empower people to take action if their rights are violated.

The Bringing them Home Report was released 25 years ago today. The Greens are renewing calls for a national compensation scheme: a $200 000 payment plus additional $7000 for funeral expenses to compensate for the harm inflicted by successive Australian Governments.

“They stole our children to break our people. No Government has ever brought peace to survivors of the stolen generation.” Said The Greens spokesperson for Justice and First Nations: Gunnai, Gunditjmara and DjabWurrung Senator Lidia Thorpe.

After a successful motion put forward by Senator Lidia Thorpe, the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs is accepting submissions for an inquiry on the application of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Australia.

“The UNDRIP is a mechanism for First Nations people to enact our Sovereign rights, which have been denied since 1788”, said Senator Lidia Thorpe, a DjabWurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman and the Greens Senator for Victoria.

“We struggle to survive in this Country, and we can’t even rest in peace,” said Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe. This comes as funeral funds at Youpla Group went into liquidation last month, leaving up to 15 000 First Nations people out of pocket for funeral expenses.

“My nan, Edna Brown, founded the Aboriginal Funeral Benefits Fund to stop First Nations people being buried as paupers in unmarked graves. That was in the 1960s. In 2022, our family members are being left in morgues while community saves for sorry business, or they face being buried as paupers! It’s devastating.”

On the eve of the 31st anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handing down their recommendations, The Greens have today called for urgent end to torture and abuse in prisons and other places of detention, like police watch houses, and some aged care facilities.

The following lines are attributable to Gunnai, Gunditjmara and DjabWurrung Senator Lidia Thorpe, Greens spokesperson for Justice and First Nations:

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s status as a National Human Rights Institution is under threat because of the Morrison Government’s meddling with how it appoints Commissioners.

Lines attributable to Senator Lidia Thorpe, The Greens spokesperson for Justice

Senator Lidia Thorpe, the Greens spokesperson for Justice and First Nations, has reiterated the call for the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) to be implemented across this Country.

Lines attributable to DjabWurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara Senator for Victoria Lidia Thorpe, the Greens spokesperson for Justice and First Nations:

Last night, the Greens Senator for Victoria Lidia Thorpe successfully introduced a Private Senators Bill that will ensure this Country complies with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP.

This Bill is the first step towards implementing UNDRIP into our laws, policies and practice. The Senate also passed a motion, introduced by Senator Thorpe and Senator Cox, that will establish an inquiry into the application of the UNDRIP.

“The Closing the Gap Report tells us the same thing every year: treating the symptoms of
colonisation doesn’t work. We need to address the cause of the injustices we face through
Treaty,” said The Greens spokesperson for Justice and First Nations: Gunnai, Gunditjmara
and DjabWurrung Senator for Victoria Lidia Thorpe.