The federal Minister for Indigenous Australians is being saddled with a "toxic cultural load" in having to front the media over government "failures" across portfolios, Senator Lidia Thorpe says.
Child protection issues in Port Hedland — first reported by The Australian — concerning allegations that vulnerable Aboriginal children were left alone, sometimes for days at a time, in a home owned by the WA Department of Housing and Works have left the government facing questions about child protection departments across the country.
While child protection is a state responsibility, it broadly falls under the federal social services portfolio, overseen by Tanya Plibersek.
However, over the past week, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy has routinely fronted the media on child protection issues, telling reporters on Friday she had asked newly appointed Indigenous Child Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter to "get onto this immediately" in relation to an Indigenous-led roundtable in WA.
In America over the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked if there was a "greater role ...for federal intervention" in the child protection space. In response, he said, "Malarndirri McCarthy, the minister, is the appropriate person to respond".
In comments to National Indigenous Times on Monday, Senator Thorpe — who has at times been vocal in her criticism of Senator McCarthy in the Senate — said it was "extremely disappointing to see the Prime Minister again refer these issues to the Minister for Indigenous Australians".
While Senator McCarthy has a role in advocating for change within government, Senator Thorpe noted the Yanyuwa Garrwa woman doesn't "have ministerial power over the child protection system or the Department of Social Services".
"She [Senator McCarthy] cannot fix these problems on her own, and she should not be expected to carry responsibility for every government failure involving Aboriginal children or people, the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurring Senator said.
Arguing it was part of a "broader pattern," Senator Thorpe said Senator McCarthy is "repeatedly expected to front the cameras and answer for failures across government, while ministers with the actual powers and portfolios are shielded from scrutiny".
"[She] is routinely positioned at the centre of problems that sit across social services, child protection, housing, finance, the Attorney-General's portfolio and more, despite not having the ministerial power, resources or remit to drive reform across those areas," she added.
"That allows the Prime Minister and other responsible ministers to step away from scrutiny while leaving her to cop the heat for problems she cannot fix without their support.
"If you want to talk about toxic cultural load, look no further than the federal Cabinet and what they saddle the Minister for Indigenous Australians with. She is being set up to fail, and it is beginning to look like tokenism. [Mr] Albanese needs to look seriously at that dynamic and address it."
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Some prominent Indigenous Australians have used events in WA over the past fortnight as an example of what they argue is the federal government's failure to do enough following the Voice referendum.
These include a failure to close the gap across a number of metrics, including incarceration and child protection. A Senate youth justice inquiry showed a direct correlation between the two, with numerous witnesses calling for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 14.
At the United Nations in New York, the Prime Minister used a video as part of Australia's pitch to join the UN Security Council, in what Wayne Nannup, the deputy chair of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS), called a "gut-wrenching" display to "pursue his own interests".
"The Prime Minister is using Aboriginal people and culture for PR when he is presiding over the mass incarceration of Aboriginal people and children," Mr Nannup said.
He said an open letter, signed by more than 200 organisations and leaders and almost 2,000 individuals, calling on the Prime Minister to "act to end the youth justice crisis" had so far gone unanswered.
"Instead of busying himself with PR, the Prime Minister should make time to meet with us and actually take action to prevent our children from landing behind bars and to make the community safe," Mr Nannup said.
Senator Thorpe said what was happening to Aboriginal children across the child protection and youth justice systems was a "national crisis", arguing national leadership was needed.
"We have seen the Commonwealth act when serious failures were exposed in the childcare sector," she said. "They quickly strengthened national safeguards and increased federal involvement. Why are Aboriginal children and the most disadvantaged non-Indigenous children being treated differently?
"I expect [Mr] Albanese to take these issues much more seriously and start showing some leadership and courage, rather than continuing to point the finger at others"
