[Editor’s note – this story has been on hold awaiting outcome of legal proceedings … now it can be published without risk to the parties concerned.]
On 17 March 2014 I spent the day in the Qld Civil Administration Tribunal (QCAT) with an incredible group of women who were fighting to return a young girl, Tiara, to her family and to her country. Tiara was stolen from her school in Nyoongar country (Perth) by the Qld Department of Child Safety (DOCS) and flown across the continent and placed in the custody of non-aboriginal carers in Gladstone.
Interview with Barbara Moore and Vanessa Culbong about the taking of Tiara.
DOCS representatives flew across the country to snatch Tiara from the care of her grandmother Auntie Barbara Moore under the pretext that she did not respond to two requests for unannounced visits by DOCS.
The application before the full bench of QCAT led to Barbara Moore being re-united with her grand daughter, Tiara, today (Thursday 20 March 2014) after a seven-month struggle for justice. Auntie Barbara was represented in QCAT by solicitor Caroline Buchanan who said after the hearing that half her job was done for her by the way Auntie Barbara spoke up for her grand daughter and herself at the hearing in QCAT (Brisbane). The hearing lasted all day with the decision being handed down after 6pm.
Separating children from their parents and family without VERY good reason is wrong and people who do it need to be held accountable, that includes DOCS.
Photo shows Aunty Barbara with her grand daughter, Tiara, after a court victory made possible by the support of people from Nyoongar and Brisbane tent embassies. Holding the aboriginal flag is Karen Fusi (right) who went with Barbara as a support person from the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy.
Ian Curr
22 March 2014