A sombre senator has reflected on her cousin who was murdered from domestic violence, prompting the chamber into a minute’s silence.
Greens senator Lidia Thorpe said her cousin was killed and left dead on the front lawn of her mothers house.
“(She) was carried by her perpetrator and dumped on the front lawn of her mother’s house,” Senator Thorpe said.
“Because there was substance abuse involved in that family, the police response was that they were drunks and no one was held accountable.
“Women in our family who have been murdered had no justice because they were not important enough for investigations to happen.”
Greens senator Dorinda Cox then secured the Senate’s support to launch an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children in Australia.
Senator Cox says she knows 76 missing or murdered Indigenous women across Australia, which was why the national inquiry was necessary.
It will investigate the systemic causes of this violence and vulnerabilities of First Nations women and children.
AAP
