Dr Robert Isaacs reveals path to reconciliation, roadblocks for Kimberley, at annual Broome Nulungu lecture

Social media-driven youth gangster culture, overcrowded community housing and shocking school attendance rates are among the most pressing issues thwarting Indigenous reconciliation efforts in Western Australia. This was the message from Dr Robert Isaacs in a wide-ranging speech at Notre Dame’s Broome campus on Thursday night in which he shared his own 10-step journey to reconciliation which he hoped would inspire others. In the annual Nulungu Reconciliation lecture which canvassed justice, education, health and housing, Dr Isaacs drew on his remarkable journey from life as a stolen generation child to becoming a respected Indigenous voice to successive State and Federal governments. The respected Bibilmum Noongar elder told the audience “you are the bridge builders, regardless of which shore you are from”. In his speech in which he backed a Treaty to marry “white man’s law and black fella lore”, Dr Isaacs said reconciliation required “a bridge not towards each other, but hand-in-hand towards the future”. On youth crime — a key concern in the Kimberley at present — Dr Isaacs said without strong culture or faith children would fill that void with “whatever is accessible”. “This has seen some of our youth turning to the violent dysfunction of the gangster culture permeating Facebook and infiltrating into some of our remote communities,” he said. “Feedback is children as young as four years old are present during crimes of vandalism and destruction with the level of car theft sadly resulting in death and serious injury of our children.” Dr Isaacs highlighted examples of success in the Kimberley — the State Government’s Aboriginal procurement policy was lauded for enabling Dampier Peninsula residents to work on the Broome-Cape Leveque Road construction. So to was Halls Creek’s Olabud Doogethu program, sighted as a rare example of organisations coming together to reinvent the justice system to work at a local level, with data to prove its success. Kimberley Girl and Clontarf were praised, as was Sheffield Resources which recently revealed a 40 per cent Aboriginal employment target within eight years of operation. But Dr Isaacs said the State’s domestic violence, youth suicide and poor school attendance rates were proof for many Aboriginal people the gap was widening. He said children committing suicide “out of official government hours” needed support and the 30 per cent school attendance rate left many unable to participate in society. “The challenge is the small percentage that are on the streets and engaged in negative activities – from rock throwing where truck drivers fear for their lives through to wanton acts of vandalism,” Dr Isaacs said. “There is a thin and difficult line to tread between ensuring that there are consequences for actions without setting these young people on a track towards incarceration, substance abuse and violence. “Our system is urban centric, so our youth have abandoned educational pathways at an alarming rate.” In driving home his message Dr Isaacs said there must be no tolerance for why fit-for-purpose housing was not being delivered. “Fighting COVID penetration into our communities and COVID resilience is reconciliation in action,” he said. “It is a symbol of historic housing inadequacies, poor health and despair brought into sharp focus a real and present threat. “If you take away any message from this presentation tonight, it is that Aboriginal people are standing in the shadow of a new crisis.” Dr Isaacs the State should not be afraid of innovative approaches in using education to rebuild culture, identity and pride, and that dire health issues must be addressed. Previous speakers at the annual address include former WA treasurer Ben Wyatt and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner June Oscar.