‘Another Stolen Generation’: children's commissioner warns of crisis ahead of Garma address

Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman Sue-Anne Hunter has warned Australia could be facing another Stolen Generation unless governments rethink the way they respond to Aboriginal children and families.

来自Wurundjeri和Ngurai Illum Wurrung部落的Sue-Anne Hunter警告称，除非政府重新思考应对原住民儿童及家庭的方式，否则澳洲正面临重演“被偷走的一代”的危机。

Ms Hunter, a leading advocate for Aboriginal children and families, said recent changes to child protection laws in the Northern Territory were “extremely concerning”, warning they could lead to more Aboriginal children being removed from their families and placed in out-of-home care.

作为原住民儿童及家庭权益的杰出倡导者，Hunter女士指出北领地近期对儿童保护法律的修订“令人极度担忧”，她警告这可能导致更多原住民儿童被强行带离家庭，安置于家庭外照料机构。

“We know it’s going to cause more adverse effects for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, which means more of our children in out-of-home care,” she told NITV. “We could possibly be looking at another Stolen Generation.”

她告诉NITV：“我们深知这将对澳洲原住民及托雷斯海峡岛民儿童和青少年造成更多负面影响，意味着更多我们的孩子将被送入家庭外照料体系。我们可能正目睹‘被偷走的一代’的再现。”

Ms Hunter’s comments come as the annual Garma Festival gets under way on Yolngu Country at Gulkula in northeast Arnhem Land, where she delivered the first keynote address on Friday morning.

Hunter女士发表此番言论之际，一年一度的Garma文化节正在北领地东北部的Arnhem Land、Yolngu人的土地上拉开帷幕，她于周五上午在此发表了首场主旨演讲。

The festival, hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, brings together Indigenous leaders, community members, politicians and business representatives for discussions on culture, policy and the future of First Nations peoples.

该文化节由Yothu Yindi基金会主办，汇聚了原住民领袖、社区成员、政客及商界代表，共同探讨文化、政策及第一民族的未来。

Her address comes amid ongoing debate over the Northern Territory Government’s amendments to child protection legislation, which critics argue weaken safeguards designed to keep Aboriginal children connected to family, community and culture.

她的演讲正值围绕北领地政府儿童保护立法修订的持续争论之中，批评者认为这些修订削弱了旨在让原住民儿童与家庭、社区及文化保持联系的保障措施。

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro is also speaking at Garma on Friday, with her government’s recent child protection reforms expected to remain a contentious issue.

北领地首席部长Lia Finocchiaro也将于周五在Garma文化节上发表演讲，其政府近期的儿童保护改革预计仍将是极具争议的话题。

Ms Hunter said the concerns raised during the parliamentary scrutiny process had not been adequately addressed. “There were 120 submissions to the scrutiny committee, particularly on what would happen if they put those amendments through,” she said. “But they weren’t listened to at all.”

Hunter女士表示，议会审查过程中提出的关切并未得到充分回应。“审查委员会收到了120份提交材料，特别是关于通过那些修订案后会发生什么的担忧，”她说，“但完全没人听。”

Ms Hunter said governments and service providers needed to fundamentally change the way they engaged with Aboriginal children, arguing too many decisions were being made about them without their voices being heard.

她指出，政府和服务机构需要从根本上改变与原住民儿童互动的方式，认为关于他们的太多决策是在未听取他们声音的情况下做出的。

“The system does not listen to our children,” she said. “I sit around tables all the time where people say, ‘This is what children want.’ When you ask them, ‘Have they asked the children?’ No. That is what adults want.”

“这个系统不听我们孩子的话，”她说，“我经常坐在会议桌旁，听人们说‘这是孩子们想要的’。当你问他们‘你们问过孩子们吗？’答案是否定的。那是成年人想要的。”

Ms Hunter said part of her role was now focused on speaking directly with children and young people about their experiences and what they needed from the systems designed to support them. “When we go in and ask the children what they want, they always say, ‘I want to feel safe. I want to feel safe.’ It’s that simple,” she said. “They do not feel safe in these systems.”

她称自己工作的一部分现在专注于直接与儿童和青少年交谈，了解他们的经历以及他们对支持体系的需求。“当我们进去问孩子们想要什么时，他们总是说‘我想感到安全。我想感到安全。’就是这么简单，”她说，“他们在这些体系中感到不安全。”

She said Aboriginal children continued to be overrepresented in child protection and youth justice systems despite decades of inquiries and recommendations calling for change. “The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle is not adhered to, or maybe it’s partly in legislation,” she said. “The lesson came out of the Royal Commission into the Bringing Them Home report. We need to follow that lesson.”

尽管数十年来不断有调查和建议呼吁变革，但原住民儿童在儿童保护和青少年司法系统中仍占比过高。“《原住民儿童安置原则》未被遵守，或者仅在立法中部分体现，”她说，“教训来自《带他们回家》报告的皇家委员会调查。我们需要吸取那个教训。”

Ms Hunter’s comments follow the release of the latest Closing the Gap data, which highlighted ongoing challenges across several key areas, including out-of-home care, youth justice and suicide rates. She said the figures showed governments needed to confront what was not working rather than continue with approaches that had failed Aboriginal communities. “We’ve just seen the Closing the Gap data, which isn’t great, particularly out-of-home care, youth justice and suicide rates,” she said.

Hunter女士的评论紧随最新“缩小差距”（Closing the Gap）数据的发布，该数据凸显了包括家庭外照料、青少年司法和自杀率等多个关键领域的持续挑战。她表示，数据表明政府需要直面失效的问题，而不是继续推行那些令原住民社区失望的做法。“我们刚看到‘缩小差距’的数据，情况不容乐观，特别是在家庭外照料、青少年司法和自杀率方面，”她说。