Keynote Speaker: Sue Gordon

In November 2004, Western Australian magistrate Dr Sue Gordon was appointed Chairperson of the new National indigenous Council, an expert advisory body providing advice to the Australian government on policy and service delivery issues affecting indigenous Australians.

In 1988, Sue was appointed Magistrate in the Perth Children's Court, making her the first full-time and first Aboriginal magistrate in the state's history. Born in 1943 at Belele station near Meekatharra, Western Australia, she was taken from her mother at four and placed in sister Kate's Home in Perth. This was under government policies of the period, making her one of the "stolen generation".

In 1990, sue was appointed as one of the first five Commissioners of the new Aboriginal and Torres strait islander Commission for one year. in 00 she was appointed as Chairperson of the State Government's Inquiry into Response by Government Agencies to Complaints of Family Violence and Child Abuse in Aboriginal Communities, which reported in August 2002.

Sue has a Bachelor of laws and in 2003 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Australia.

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While the impact of child abuse infiltrates communities at all socio-economic and cultural levels, its prevalence in indigenous Australian communities is of particular concern.

Any level of child abuse or neglect is unacceptable in any community, and for too long a veil of silence has surrounded the extent of the problem facing indigenous populations as a result of the false assumption that violence and abuse are culturally ingrained.

Indigenous experiences of violence and abuse are different from those of non-indigenous Australians, as are responses to the problem, perpetuating the systemic cycles of violence plaguing many indigenous communities.

In recognising this, family and child abuse must be seen within the broader context of historical and present factors, and the multitude of underlying issues that shape indigenous experiences of abuse must be addressed in order to achieve any real outcomes in protecting indigenous children.

In this presentation, Sue will address the issue of child abuse and neglect within the context of a cultural conceptualisation of the problem itself and responses to it, from the perspective of an indigenous leader, Children's Court Magistrate and Chair of the Gordon Inquiry.