Sue-Anne Hunter does not speak like a bureaucrat, nor like someone shaped by years inside the Canberra bubble. Warm, direct and grounded, her no-nonsense vernacular reflects a life spent fighting for the rights of the young people she is entrusted to protect.
It was true when she worked as a caseworker in child protection. It remained true when she was part of the team that oversaw the landmark Yoorrook Justice Commission — the nation's first formal truth-telling body. And it is the same approach she brings to her latest role.
Raised as one of six children in the outer Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, last year, the Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman — whose grandmother was the final child born on the Coranderrk mission — was appointed the inaugural National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People.
It is a role many across the sector say is urgently needed. The latest Closing the Gap data shows the rate of children in out-of-home care continues to rise, with First Nations children almost 11 times more likely to be placed into child protection than non-Indigenous children. In Ms Hunter's home state of Victoria, that figure climbs to more than 20 times the rate.
As she noted last year, it is not a burden "our kids need to carry".
In youth justice, the disparity is equally stark, with First Nations children and young people incarcerated at more than 23 times the rate of their non-Indigenous counterparts.
Earlier this month, federal parliament passed legislation establishing the National Commissioner as an independent office, despite opposition from the Coalition. Speaking to National Indigenous Times, Ms Hunter welcomed the passage of the bill, noting that some of the Commissioner's powers have been a long time coming.
"I've worked within government to get this legislation up, and we've had our little tussles within that," she says. "But I think what we've also realised is, when we work together, we can make really positive change. When this went through, everybody was like, 'Wow, we did this. We've never done it like this before. We've never had the commissioner on board and worked with them to get legislation.'"
Designed to operate independently of government and advocate without interference, the Commission will officially come into effect on July 1. It will receive $33.5 million over four years to establish it as a permanent statutory agency and fully resource its work, with a further $8.4 million per year ongoing to support continued operations.
The legislation also gives the Commissioner the power to compel evidence from state and territory governments, with civil penalties for non-compliance.
For Ms Hunter, the fact that the office is not subject to direction by any person in performing its functions is critical. That independence, she argues is essential to overseeing what many regard as flagrant violations of the rights of Indigenous children across the country.
"Basically," she says, "we are not under direction. The minister can ask me — she can write formally and ask. We can say no, but we will note that in our annual report as to what and why we declined to do that. That way, we actually are able to have our own clear direction of where we're going and what we're looking at."
The office will also have the ability to "name and shame" governments and individuals who breach children's rights. Importantly, the legislation requires the Commissioner to "exercise powers in a manner consistent with the promotion" of key principles, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child — two frameworks Australia has often been accused of ignoring.
Ms Hunter argues the inclusion of those principles in the legislation is particularly significant.
"For me, those together provided a really clear, principled basis for accountability and reporting about powers," she says. "So when the government falls short of either of those, we can formally document them [and] table them in Parliament, and it becomes visible to the public."
Still, the legislation is not without its limits. Labor rejected a Greens amendment that would have required the relevant minister to formally respond to the Commissioner's recommendations and explain why any recommendation was not accepted. In part, according to Greens leader Larissa Waters, the government argued this was because the Human Rights Commission also does not have those powers enshrined.
Criticism of oversight bodies as toothless tigers — producing reports that lead to little change — is common, and not without reason. Ms Hunter says the inability to compel a ministerial response remains a "worry for me".
"Another book, another report that sits on the shelf, that does concern me," she accepts. "But at the same time, the public needs to know what's going on. And when you combine some of these powers, for instance, the ability to acquire documents, and then the independence of being able to make these visible to the public, [it] makes me more hopeful."
While the Coalition voted against the legislation, with outspoken Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price among its fiercest critics, Ms Hunter makes clear the office of the Commissioner will work with anyone, across any side of politics, to support those most vulnerable.
"I'm not here just to do one agenda," she says. "The agenda is the children, and the agenda is systemic change."
Fully aware of the challenges involved in delivering real reform, Ms Hunter remains confident. Her immediate focus, she says, will be on working collaboratively with state and territory counterparts, understanding the nuances of the legislation, and coordinating a national response without duplicating or undermining existing work.
"Part of this legislation is that I bring those people together, and we work together," she notes. "And I think we've all got powers within our own spaces."
But the bigger question, she adds, is "how do we use them to leverage what we need to change government?"
It is the question many hope this new role will begin to answer. If there is one certainty, it is that for Ms Hunter, there will be no shortage of will or effort in the push for meaningful change for Indigenous children and young people.
It is now up to governments to listen.
