Warrant Powers Allowing the National Commissioner to Compel Documents and Testimony
National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026
House of Representatives
Senate
Assent
Topics
civil liberties data privacy government surveillance Indigenous affairs Indigenous leadership information sharing law enforcement
Introduced by: The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Tanya Plibersek ALP
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I am honoured to bring to parliament the bill to legislate the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People.”
Ms BELL
“Yes, for those listening from home, you’ve got me again. I’m here to represent Senator Kerrynne Liddle, a South Australian senator and an Indigenous senator from Adelaide and, actually, from the Northern Territory as well.”
“It’s a bit rich standing up here listening to the member for Moncrieff talk about the need to focus on outcomes not headlines. In a nod to that comment, I had a look at not the headlines that were in the newspapers earlier this week, last week or a month ago but the headlines that are in the newspapers right here, right now, today.”
Renee Coffey ALP
“I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples as the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet here, and I pay my respects to elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across our country and to the children and young people whose rights and futures we are speaking about today.”
“Gerard Neesham is a celebrated Australian football player and coach in Australia. He played in five West Australian Football League premiership teams and is a member of the West Australian Football Hall of Fame. He’s a former coach of Fremantle. He played for the Sydney Swans as well as other clubs throughout his celebrated career.”
Carol Berry ALP
“I acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands across Australia, and I pay my respects to their elders past and present. I acknowledge and celebrate that First Nations Australians are the custodians of the oldest living culture in the world. As an Australian, I am deeply proud of our 65,000 years of First Nations history.”
Allegra Spender IND
“I rise to speak in support of the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. I’m honoured to speak on this legislation which places into statute the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People and establishes the national commissioner as an independent statutory officer. This is an important step.”
Kate Chaney IND
“I rise today to welcome the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill and the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (Transitional Provisions) Bill.”
Marion Scrymgour ALP
“I rise today with a sense of long-overdue relief that a legislated, independent and empowered national commission for Aboriginal and Torres Islander children and young people is being established.”
Bob Katter KAP
“I have no disrespect for the last speaker. But I’ve been here for 50 years, and every two or three years we get a new inquiry or body set up that’s going to save us all. All we blackfellas are going to be saved by you whitefellas setting up a body. That’s been going on for 55 years, and I’ve been following it. Every now and then we set up another body.”
Madonna Jarrett ALP
“I rise to support the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. First Nations people are the traditional owners of the land on which this House resides, of my electorate in Brisbane—Meanjin, the place of the blue water lilies—and of all parts of our great country.”
Ms PRICE
“I rise to speak on the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. As the member for Durack, I consider this bill to be an issue close to my electorate and to me.”
Sharon Claydon ALP
“I rise to speak in very strong support of the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. I just listened to the member for Durack’s contribution, and I’m really struggling.”
Barnaby Joyce PHON
“I do look into my conscience about how I deal with one of the largest communities, one of the strongest proportions, of Aboriginal people in an electorate in Australia, which is in New England. There are vastly more Aboriginal people in my area. They call themselves Aboriginal, so I will say ’Aboriginal’. There are more Aboriginals than farmers, to be quite frank.”
Ged Kearney ALP
“I rise to speak in strong support of this bill, the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. I have to say that I’m very proud to do so while you’re in the chamber, Deputy Speaker Scrymgour, because I know that you have been a longstanding champion for this over the years. Thank you for the work that you’ve done.”
Zali Steggall IND
“I rise to speak on the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2026.”
Sarah Witty ALP
“I’ve spoken in this House many times about my experiences as a foster carer, and it is on behalf of the children who have been in my care that I rise today to speak in strong support of the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (Transitional Pr…”
Andrew Gee IND
“I will be supporting this legislation, the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2026.”
Ash Ambihaipahar ALP
“I rise tonight to speak in strong support of the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. This bill is about responsibility.”
Anthony Chisholm ALP
“I move: That these bills be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted.”
Jana Stewart ALP
“I rise today to speak in support of the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. I think that the opposition’s position on this bill is very telling. They think that we would blame the national commissioner for the systemic failures across the nation that our children are experiencing.”
Larissa Waters GRN
“I acknowledge that I’m standing here today on the unceded land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and I honour their elders past and present and their future leaders.”
Matt O'Sullivan LIB
“I rise to speak on the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the accompanying transitional provisions bill. Let me begin by saying this clearly: every child in this country deserves to be safe, to be supported and to have the opportunity to thrive.”
Lidia Thorpe IND
“Today I wish to speak to the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. I welcome the statutory establishment of the commission with additional and ongoing resourcing for it to conduct its work. I hope that this role will be able to elevate the importance of justice for our children and young people.”
Ellie Whiteaker ALP
“It’s a real honour, as a senator for Western Australia, to represent the many, many First Nations communities and lands across my home state, and it’s a privilege to do that here on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. I want to particularly extend my respect to elders past and present in delivering this contribution.”
Charlotte Walker ALP
“The very first time I spoke in this place, I thanked in advance the First Nations emerging leaders from across the more than 250 nations of this ancient land, and I said how much I look forward to those future elders joining me in this place to represent their communities. That is my hope for the future of this place and our country.”