ANNIE GAFFNEY,HOST: It's been a tough few weeks since the Australian newspaper suggested in a report that up to 15 children, some as young as five, were living unsupervised in a home in South Hedland. Now, the newspaper also reported that the Department of Child Protection had failed to take action despite multiple complaints from residents, police and other agencies about neglect that the children were suffering. Since then, WA Child Protection Minister Jessica Stojkovski has flown to Port Hedland to meet with locals to discuss the issues. And last week, the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, Sue-Anne Hunter, flew to the Port town for talks with locals and held a roundtable discussion in Perth with Aboriginal community leaders. Well, today it's been Indigenous Australia Minister Malarndirri McCarthy's turn to see the situation for herself and meet with the community across Port and South Hedland. Minister, welcome to the program.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Good afternoon, Annie, and good afternoon to your listeners across Western Australia. Can I just say before you start, I am at the airport, so apologies in advance for any unwanted noises.
HOST: No problem. Thanks for letting us know. So, Minister, tell us who you've met with today in Hedland.
MINISTER: Well, I've certainly met with a number of organisations today and yesterday. I actually started in Broome Annie and drove down through to Port Hedland. One of the areas that I have responsibility for is remote jobs and food security. And once I received a briefing from the Children's Commissioner who'd been in Port Hedland, she had raised the issue of food security, in particular, the issue of poverty. And so, I knew that I wanted to get here and actually talk to the organisations and see what we could do.
HOST: Were you also in discussions with local Elders as you went from place to place?
MINISTER: Absolutely. It's always important wherever I go, right across Australia to try and touch base with as many Elders and organisations and I've done the same here. It was good to be able to meet with certainly Aunty Pat and Aunty Linda, who spoke to the Australian and revealed some really shocking circumstances in Port Hedland. It was also important to speak to Julyardi, another organisation, and YIC, who are the ones that look after the youth in South Hedland. They are pretty amazing, those young people who work there, working with our children.
HOST: What did they tell you?
MINISTER: Well, I think, firstly, if I can say that people are feeling that there has been incredible pressure on them these past number of weeks, but there was relief that some of the issues that they've known about is being talked about. What they do want to see is that there's some constructive ways forward. And in my discussions with the West Australian Minister and also the DG from her department, they certainly have many plans going forward and I'll be keeping an eye on how that goes in terms of coordination of agencies.
HOST: Now, I was a little bit taken aback when you said that one of the issues that has been talked about there in the Pilbara and Hedland area is food security. What are the issues around that Minister, can you explain?
MINISTER: Yeah, sure. It surprised me too, Annie. I have heard through both the National Children's Commissioner, but also organisations like Bloodwood and others who've spoken to me, that food is a critical issue. A lot of the issues with the children is around needing to have food. And this is something that I want to look at, given the extraordinary amounts of money that comes through this district with the mining companies. It's quite extraordinary, really, to be honest.
HOST: What do you think are the solutions there to poor food security? What do you plan to put in place?
MINISTER: Well, this is what I'll take away, because I'm rolling out a food security policy across 150 stores in remote Australia, and a lot of those are here in the Pilbara and Kimberley region. But because Port Hedland is not known as remote, the families here miss out. So, I'm certainly going to take that back to see what could be done, because a lot of these organisations, like Bloodwood, for example, are trying to outreach to the nearby communities who don't have stores.
HOST: The WA government, as you said, has put in place a number of measures now to support Indigenous children in the north of the state, including expanding the safe night space operation there in town to seven nights a week. So, for any children who don't feel necessarily safe in their own homes, that they've got somewhere to go to and safe people to chat to, what do you make of the other measures that the WA government has put in place so far? Is it enough and has it come fast enough?
MINISTER: Well, look Julyardi actually spoke to me about the fact that they will be increasing to seven nights a week in terms of that safe space for children. And of course, they do and will require some assistance. So, I'll certainly need to see what kind of assistance they'll need, If any from us at the Commonwealth level. That is moving ahead now, from my understanding, what we're looking at as well is across the Kimberley. You know, certainly when I was in Broome Annie I went to the Juli Coffin’s horse school, which takes in youth, and there are about 50 from Port Hedland who went there this year to have some time working with the horses. It's a different therapeutic program, so I'm to look at other programs that assist our young people who've got, you know, either serious issues with the law and order system, either FASD and what kind of mental health assistance we can provide. These are the very important points that we're dealing with as far as these young people are concerned and their families.
HOST: What are your thoughts on the length of time it took for the WA government to respond to what was going on in South Hedland, particularly with that household of children who were living alone and unsupported by adults? The government itself has already admitted that it was slow to address the situation. What are your thoughts on the fact that it took a newspaper outlet to put pressure on the government to do something?
MINISTER: I think the important thing here Annie, is that we actually find a way through this. We can all reflect on many things. My focus, wherever I go, whether it's Port Hedland or other parts of Australia is, ok, how can we fix this now? We all know now, let's fix this. And that's really where I'm coming from. There are good people out there on the ground in Port Hedland trying to do what they can. I want to work with those people because these kids and these families need us to do that.
HOST: What's the next step for you as Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister as you walk away from Hedland today?
MINISTER: Well, what I will do is reach out to the West Australian Government to see where they're at. I had a briefing from them earlier this week. I think it was Monday or Tuesday. Now that I've been here, there are a couple of items that I want to raise directly and their conversations I will obviously have with them, but this is about working together to try and improve the lives for First Nations people, not just in Port Hedland, but everywhere.
HOST: Minister, I know you've got to get going and a flight to catch, but thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me here on 102.5 ABC Perth and across WA. Really appreciate your time.
MINSITER: No worries, Annie. Thank you.