The commission will begin public hearings on the two areas of focus from December 5, but has called for submissions on the issues by November 21.
It said the December hearings would include evidence from about 40 witnesses, who would provide insights into the “harm done to First Peoples by unjust laws and practices within the criminal justice and child protection systems and the reasons why governments are yet to make change”.
Yoorrook Justice Commission deputy chair Sue-Anne Hunter said the investigation responded to repeated calls for it to do so.
“From Yoorrook’s inception, First Peoples’ Elders and community leaders have called on the commission to focus attention on the critical areas of criminal justice and child protection,” Commissioner Hunter said.
“The harm inflicted on the Stolen Generations continues to traumatise our people, yet record numbers of First Peoples’ children are being taken from their families — at a rate 20 times greater than non-Aboriginal kids.
“Too many children are still separated from kin, Country and culture as a result of detrimental policies and practices. We are seeing a new Stolen Generation happening before our eyes.“
Commissioner Hunter said three decades after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, First Nations people were still being imprisoned at 14 times the rate of non-Indigenous Victorians.
“More than 500 Aboriginal people have died in custody since that inquiry, which was supposed to be a catalyst for changing First Peoples’ interactions with the criminal justice system,” she said.
“The seeming inability or unwillingness to change these systems is the unfinished business the Yoorrook Justice Commission will focus on in the next phase of its inquiry.”
Submissions can be made via the commission’s submission portal at https://yoorrookjusticecommission.org.au/
The commission’s public hearings will be live-streamed on the Yoorrook website at the above address from December 5.
