Counsel Assisting Fiona McLeod AO SC, Aunty Hazel Hudson,
Njernda, Felicia Dean, Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative, Shellee Strickland, Gippsland & East Gippsland
Aboriginal Co-Operative
Kimberley Do, Yappera, Lisa Thorpe,
Bubup Wilam, and Stacey Brown, Yappera
Aunty Rieo Ellis, Grandmothers Against Removal
The Wright Family. Aunty Donna, Aunty Joanne Farrant and Aunty Tina
Injustice in the child protection system
The Yoorrook Justice Commission is looking into the child protection system as part of the truth telling process in Victoria.
Yoorrook has been told that for First Peoples in Victoria there is an unbroken connection between their experiences with colonial child removal practices and their experiences with the current Victorian Child Protection system. These traumas, historical and contemporary, continue to impact First Peoples families and communities.
“Decades on from the Stolen Generations, the Victorian Government is removing First Peoples children at the highest rate in Australia. Despite commitments to do the opposite, the rate at which the Victorian Government is imprisoning Aboriginal people has increased significantly over the past decade.“
Chair of the Commission and proud Wergaia/Wamba Wamba Elder, Professor Eleanor Bourke AM
On this page you will find some of the responses Yoorrook has received as part of its inquiry. If you want to contribute, please make a submission to the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
What Yoorrook heard about the child protection system
Aunty Di Kerr is an Elder of the Wurundjeri people.
This submission describes Aunty Di’s story, including the importance of ceremony and her role in reviving coming of age and naming ceremonies. It also details Aunty Di’s experience as a foster carer, her work with kids in out of home care, and with Link Up.
Child protection system reports, hearings and evidence
View the reports, hearings and evidence Yoorrook collected during the investigation into the child protection system.
Yoorrook for Justice
The report details extensive systemic injustice, racism, discriminatory laws and policy failures that have, and continue to, cause harm to First Peoples. It highlights that present injustice has deep roots in the colonial foundations of the state.
The report makes landmark recommendations about self-determination for First Peoples in Victoria. First Peoples must have decision-making power, authority, control and resources in the child protection and criminal justice systems as these relate to them. The Victorian Government must uphold its commitment to self-determination through negotiation under the treaty process.
Child protection system
News, Stories and Videos
News & Stories
16 May 2024
Victorian Government responds to Yoorrook recommendations
The Victorian Government has accepted 28 of the recommendations made in Yoorrook for Justice in full or in principle.
News & Stories
20 October 2023
The roadmap to transform Victoria’s child protection and justice systems
The Yoorrook Justice Commission has a mandate to investigate all systemic injustice against First Peoples dating back to the beginning of colonisation. In September Yoorrook released its second interim report.
Videos
10 October 2023
Yoorrook for Justice: Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems
Following a 12-month inquiry, the ‘Yoorrook for Justice: Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems’ details extensive systemic injustice, racism, discriminatory laws and policy failures that have, and continue to, cause harm to First Peoples. The report and a full list of recommendations can be found here: www.yoorrookforjustice.org.au
Videos
10 October 2023
Recommendations: Yoorook Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems
Yoorrook for Justice: Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems makes 46 recommendations for reform, including clarifying and strengthening the charter of human rights and responsibilities act. The report and a full list of recommendations can be found here: www.yoorrookforjustice.org.au
News & Stories
13 July 2023
What it was like making a submission
“I think it’s important to set the record straight about what really happened and continues to happen to us. I feel the rest of Australia would have more empathy for us if they knew the truth. Also, mob telling their story will help Yoorrook influence changes to policies which will create a better future for our children.”
News & Stories
9 June 2023
I was kept from my Indigenous family as a child. Then my own kids were taken from me
I never met my Dad. The first time I ever saw him was at the viewing room at his funeral. I didn’t know I had a full sister until the day before that. I met her and the rest of his side of the family the day of the funeral. I was 17 years old.
News & Stories
8 June 2023
Pregnant Aboriginal women are living in fear due to Victoria’s unborn child protection notifications
In evidence to Yoorrook, the Victorian government acknowledged more than half of all child protection notifications made against Aboriginal families were unsubstantiated
Videos
6 June 2023
Yoorrook Commissioner Travis Lovett questions the Minister for Child Protection about self-determination
“So we’ve transferred a broken system over to the ACCOs to deliver, because that’s all the government’s offered them. That’s not self-determination.” Yoorrook Commissioner Travis Lovett questioned the Minister for Child Protection, The Hon. Lizzie Blandthorn MLC, about the power and resources transferred to ACCOs to date.
Videos
6 June 2023
The Wright family continue their mother’s fight for justice by giving evidence to the Yoorrook Justice Commission
“When our grandmother came home, she said her house was burnt down and she didn’t know where her children were.” Sisters Aunty Donna and Aunty Tina Wright, and Aunty Joanne Farrant, with support from their brother Sonny Wright, shared their family’s truth with the Yoorrook Justice Commission in an on-Country hearing. Their evidence was played at a Yoorrook hearing investigating
Other information
Child protection system submissions
Make a submission to help Yoorrook recommend changes to right the wrongs of the past and make a better shared future for everyone.
Child protection system videos
Watch videos showing some of the things Yoorrook was told about the child protection system.
The past is the present
The present-day failures of Victoria’s criminal justice and child protection systems for First Peoples are deeply rooted in the colonial foundations of the State of Victoria.