26th Nov 2024, 9:52 PM – Senate Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024 - Second Reading - First Nations self-determination

The majority voted against an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill). The amendment was introduced by Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe (Greens).

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes:

(i) more than 22,900 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are in out-of-home care,

(ii) the child protection system, which was built to remove children from their families, continues to inflict harm on First Nations families,

(iii) the Productivity Commission's inquiry report, A path to universal early childhood education and care, has found that governments continue to fail on their commitments to shared decision making and supporting the community-controlled sector,

(iv) improving outcomes for First Nations communities starts with supporting children and allowing First Nations communities to self-determine their own solutions for caring for young people; and

(b) calls on the Government to:

(i) commit to shared decision making and handing over control of services for First Nations young people and families to the community-controlled sector,

(ii) ensure accountability in funding for early years by prioritising community-controlled organisations delivering services and outcomes for families, and

(iii) provide additional supports for smaller early years organisations to develop their own enterprise agreements".