The Senate has today supported an Australian Greens motion recognising the success of the Youth in Communities (YIC) program.

Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Issues said today that YIC has shown strong, positive outcomes for youth in central Australia.

“Courage Partners, in their report on YIC service provider survey findings has identified improved school attendance, reduced substance misuse and reduced involvement in the criminal justice system as a result of the program,” said Senator Siewert.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown, Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters, Senators for Western Australia Rachel Siewert and Scott Ludlam, and Member for Melbourne Adam Bandt spoke to the media about the Australian Greens National Conference in Fremantle, WA.

Topics included the allocation of preferences, the environmental threats posed by developments in the Kimberley, and the Nationals' call for a "discussion paper" on coal seam gas. 

The Australian Greens today welcomed the announcement of the National Health Leadership Forum and the Government’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan.

“All states and territories should participate in the process to ensure effective delivery of national health outcomes,” Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health said today.

Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health.  While delivering the recent Lionel Murphy Lecture, Attorney-General Robert McClelland described the over-representation of Aboriginal people in Australia’s criminal justice system as a ‘national shame’.  During this speech he covered a number of important topics, including the imperative 'justice reinvestment', but he failed to adequately address the underlying determinants of Aboriginal incarceration.

The Australian Greens have called for the Government to make changes to the program that supplies PBS medicines to Aboriginal communities.

The Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee has today reported on their Inquiry into the effectiveness of special arrangements established under section 100 of the National Health Act for the supply of PBS medicines to remote area Aboriginal Health Services (AHS).

The Australian Greens have called for the development of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Hearing Policy.

Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health said today that hearing loss was undeniably linked to long term disadvantage.

“Hearing loss early in life can have long-term negative consequences for communication, numeracy and literacy skills, reducing employment and training prospects and effecting personal wellbeing,” Senator Siewert said today. 

Senator SIEWERT (Western Australia—Australian Greens Whip) (13:11): In June this year, the government launched its Stronger futures for the Northern Territory discussion paper. This paper tries to set out some issues for discussion about the future of the intervention in the Northern Territory, the intervention which has been going for four years.

Senator SIEWERT (Western Australia—Australian Greens Whip) (16:34):  I, and also on behalf of Senator Fifield and Senator McLucas, move:

Senator SIEWERT (Western Australia—Australian Greens Whip) (12:31):  I move:

The Australian Greens have vowed to continue fighting for Aboriginal communities after an Amnesty International report condemned the Federal Government’s abandonment of remote communities in the NT in favour of ‘growth towns’. 

The Amnesty report comes just one day after another highly critical report revealed the expensive gap between policy intent and implementation.