The Senate Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women will hand down its findings tomorrow and should mark a critical moment in addressing a crisis that has long been ignored by this country and its lawmakers. ‘Indigenous women in this country don’t simply go missing; they are disappeared—deliberately and in a calculated manner. They are murdered, often with impunity, in this colony. This reality demands our immediate attention and action,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
Debbie Kilroy, National Network founding member and CEO of Sisters Inside, emphasises the urgency of the situation, stating, ‘We cannot continue to allow this to happen. Justice is overdue. Indigenous women are victims of racialised and gendered violence that has persisted since colonisation.’
Kilroy’s extensive experience of over three decades with Sisters Inside and more than 17 years of legally representing families in coronial inquests, has exposed the tragic and persistent crisis facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. ‘Disappeared and murdered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in so-called Australia have been a tragic and persistent crisis, said Debbie Kilroy. ‘A crisis that, aside from the families and their communities, no one has been willing to pay any attention to,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
Despite turning to the police for assistance, families frequently encounter indifference or outright neglect, rooted in the racial and gendered violence entrenched within the policing system. Kilroy highlights thestrength and resilience of these families, who tirelessly seek their loved ones without institutional support. ‘Their journey is marked by immense pain and frustration,’ said Debbie Kilroy, ‘as the very systems meant to protect and serve all citizens further perpetuate their suffering,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
Kilroy underscores the broader historical context of Australia’s colonial carceral project, which has long marginalised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. ‘We cannot rely on a system steeped in racial and gendered violence to provide justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families when their loved ones are disappeared or murdered,’ she asserts. ‘The police, the courts, and the coronial inquests fail to deliver the justice these families deserve,’ Debbie Kilroy said.
‘The reliance on police to investigate these disappearances and murders is fundamentally flawed’, said Debbie Kilroy. ‘These same police forces have historically failed to adequately search for disappeared Aboriginal women. Justice remains a distant dream for many families, as the courts and investigative bodies often serve to further entrench the racial gendered systemic violence that led to these tragedies in the first place,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
Adding to the calls for meaningful and transformative recommendations by Professor Chelsea Watego, Dr Amy McQuire and Dr David Singh, Kilroy advocates for the establishment of an independent national body dedicated to addressing this issue, free from the biases and failures of the current system. ‘Recommendations that simply reinforce or extend the powers of the existing systems of racial and gendered violence of policing and incarceration will only result in more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women disappearing and being murdered,’ Debbie Kilroy warns. ‘The coroner’s court, in its current form, acts as an alibi for the state allowing the ongoing perpetration of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to continue unchecked,’ said Debbie Kilroy. ‘This must change. Families deserve real justice, not symbolic gestures or processes that ultimately serve to protect the state rather than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their families,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
The National Network calls for bold and transformative recommendations from the inquiry. ‘If the recommendations from this inquiry simply lead to more carceral responses, we will not accept the report,’ said Debbie Kilroy. ‘It is time for a new approach that centres the voices and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and seeks to dismantle the structures of violence that have caused so much pain. The time for change is now, and it must be driven by the needs and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities themselves,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
For further comment, please contact Debbie Kilroy on 0419 762 474
