FIONA STANLEY SPEAKS ON VOICE TO PARLIMENT

Dr. Fiona Stanley, carrying the Olympic Torch in 2008. Image Credit: Peter Ellis by way of Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 4.0

Order of Australia recipient Dr. Fiona Stanley has spoken up in support of the Voice to Parliament. 

Dr. Stanley spent decades working in Indigenous medical research and says the voice would allow first nations Australias to influence policies that affect them. 

She said Australia has a damaging track record of creating programs that affect indigenous people without gaining their input. 

“Successive Governments, Federal and State, have funded very damaging programs for aboriginal people which haven’t had any Aboriginal input at all,” she said.

“The worst example is the Northern Territory intervention, which was set up to protect children from sexual abuse.

“Every year after that Child sexual; abuse went up. in the Northern Territory.

“If you have Aboriginal people involved, it makes such a difference.”

She says covid showed the benefits of gaining input from indigenous Australians into policies that affect them. 

'“The Best example that I can give you, of why the voice is going to make a difference, is the way that the Aboriginal Community managed the Covid epidemic,” she said.

“They closed communities, they demanded PPE and testing, and for the first 18-20 months of the covid pandemic, Aboriginal people had 6 times fewer cases than non-Aboriginal people.”

Listen to the Full interview with Dr Stanely below.