WARNING: This story may be distressing to readers, and contains references to suicide.Turning now to Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, who is speaking about a 10-year-old Indigenous boy who took his own life while in state care in Western Australia. The child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died on April 12, while under the care of the Department of Communities.
“The point for me is the work needs to be done particularly at the federal level in terms of keeping children safe … the number of Aboriginal children in care is growing and that must be arrested,” she said.She said there absolutely has to be a greater focus on prevention and stopping Aboriginal children being taken from their families. But the minister said from July 1 the government planned to appoint the country’s first-ever Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner.