“First Nations people have been a priority group for the COVID-19 vaccine since December 2020, yet our vaccination rates in Western NSW are among the lowest in the country,” said DjabWurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman Lidia Thorpe, the Greens Senator for Victoria.

“When COVID-19 hit, governments around the country sent our communities body bags, not the PPE we asked for. I’m hearing reports of healthy people being forced to stay in overcrowded homes with people who have COVID-19. They need to stop blocking us from being healthy.

This week, an imprisoned First Nations man was tested for COVID-19 at Bathurst Correctional Centre and was released before the prison received his positive Covid result.

The man then returned to his community in north-west New South Wales which has a high population of First Nations people.

I speak to the Prime Minister's Closing the Gap address and associate myself with the heartfelt comments made by my colleagues Senator Thorpe and Senator Siewert. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the many lands that we are here from today and pay my respects to elders past and present. I'm on the land of the Gadigal of the Eora nation, but no matter where we are in this country we are on stolen land. I do this acknowledgement in full recognition of the fact that we are still so far away from justice for First Nations people.

“Mobilising the police and Australian Defence Force to treat a public health crisis is absurd,” said The Greens spokesperson for Justice and First Nations Senator Lidia Thorpe, as the ADF begins their deployment to Western Sydney. 

“Officers of the law are not experts in public health messaging, culturally accessible information and welfare support services that enable people to stay at home safely,” said Thorpe. Western Sydney has a significant First Nations and multicultural community. 

“Aboriginal people are dying from preventable deaths in police custody because the Morrison government is continuing Liberal and Labors’ legacies of inaction,” said Senator Lidia Thorpe, a Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman who is the Australian Greens’ First Nations and Justice spokesperson.

“It’s been 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Morrison government has failed to show leadership and implement all 339 recommendations. What’s the point of a Commission if you ignore its findings?”

Ahead of National Sorry Day, the Greens today called on the Federal Coalition Government to establish a national compensation scheme for the survivors of the Stolen Generations.

It has now been 24 years since the Bringing Them Home report recommended that a National Compensation Fund be established to adequately compensate survivors - estimated at 17,150 people -- of the Stolen Generations for the harm inflicted on them by successive Australian Governments.

The Greens have today launched Celeste Liddle as the Greens candidate for Cooper, with Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP declaring her a “fierce” advocate for working people that would take on Australia’s billionaires and the politicians that represent them.

A proud Arrente woman, unionist, feminist and writer, Celeste is on a mission to fight back against the Liberals’ cuts to higher education, their failures to spur wage growth for workers, and years of inaction on the climate crisis. 

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (16:22): I seek leave to make a short statement.

The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for one minute.