June Oscar
June Oscar is an Australian Aboriginal woman of Bunuba descent, Indigenous rights activist, community health and welfare worker, film and theatre, and since 2017 and as of 2022 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.
She is best known for her fight against Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and work in improving the lives of Aboriginal people in remote communities, in particular the Kimberley town of Fitzroy Crossing. In 2013 Oscar was awarded the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to the Indigenous community of Western Australia, particularly through health and social welfare programs".
In October 2019 she was appointed to the Senior Advisory Group to help co-design the Indigenous voice to government.
Early life and education
Born in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, Oscar was the second of her mother Mona's three girls and three boys. Her biological father was a local white Australian cattle farmer whom she only met once as an adult.At the age of seven, authorities removed Oscar from the care of her mother and placed her into the United Aborigines Mission in Fitzroy Crossing. Recognised by the missionaries as being a clever child, she was later sent for secondary education at John Forrest Senior High School in Perth, before leaving at the age of 16 to return to Fitzroy Crossing. Oscar didn't think she was capable of studying at tertiary level, but completed a Bachelor of Business degree in 2004 and commenced a PhD research degree in 2011 at University of Notre Dame, Australia.
Career
After returning to Fitzroy Crossing, Oscar worked in state government community welfare and health departments, before becoming the Junjuwa Community Women's Resource Officer in 1989. She then became the Chairperson of the Marra Worra Worra Aboriginal Corporation, one of Australia's oldest and most respected Aboriginal community centres, until 1991, when she was appointed Commissioner of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission for a two-year term. When she was 29 years old, Oscar received a phone call from Aboriginal Affairs Minister Robert Tickner asking her to join the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. She hung up the phone because she thought the call was a hoax but then decided to call him back.In 1992, Oscar became Chairperson of the Western Australia Aboriginal Women's Advisory Committee, in 1997, deputy director and Executive Member of the Kimberley Land Council, in 2000, Director of Bunuba Films Pty Ltd, and in 2001, Director of the Bunuba Cattle Company. In 2007, she was chosen to be chief executive officer of the Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre.
In 2009, Oscar was appointed Chief Investigator of the Lililwan Prevalence Study on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Early Life Trauma. In 2010, she became Chairperson of the Kimberley Language Resource Centre, and was considered a strong advocate for the recognition, rights, preservation and promotion of Australian Aboriginal languages. In the same year, Oscar also became a member of the Western Australian Pastoral Lands Board. In 2013, Oscar was elected Councillor to the Derby / West Kimberley Shire, and in 2015, appointed Board Member of the Kimberley Development Commission.
Current positions
In February 2017, Attorney-General for Australia George Brandis announced that Oscar was the new Australian Human Rights Commission's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said, "Ms Oscar's appointment demonstrates the central role Indigenous women play in bringing about social change and I look forward to working closely with her in the future". she is still in this position.She joined Quentin Bryce as joint patron of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in September 2019.
In November 2019, it was announced that Oscar would be one of 20 members of the Senior Advisory Group to help co-design the Indigenous voice to government set up by Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Australians. The Group is co-chaired by Wyatt, Marcia Langton and Tom Calma.
Oscar is co-chair of the Close the Gap campaign, along with Rod Little.
Building on her term as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Oscar launched the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute For First Nations Gender Justice in 2024 at the Australian National University where she acts as chair. The Institute continues the Wiyi Yani U Thangani project beginning at the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2017 to elevate the voices and rights of First Nations women, girls and gender-diverse peoples.
Community reconstruction
In March 2007 Oscar became CEO of the MWRC in Fitzroy Crossing, that incorporated initiatives such as the Baya Gawiy Children and Family Centre, The Shelter women's refuge, a legal aid unit, a community garden, and a social enterprise. The MWRC were committed to protecting the safety and wellbeing of children, and wanted to stop the violence that was occurring in their communities as a result of alcohol abuse.In 2007, the Fitzroy Crossing Hospital was treating around 30 to 40 people per night for alcohol related injuries and the community was in a state of crisis. In the same 12-month period, 55 funerals and 13 suicides were recorded in Fitzroy Valley, a town of approximately 4000 people. In a city the size of Perth, this would have been equal to 500 suicides per month. In response to calls from the community, the State Coroner for Western Australia, Alistair Hope, commissioned a coronial inquest into 22 recent deaths by self-harm in the Kimberley region. The number of deaths by self-harm in Fitzroy Valley were found by the Coroner to be extraordinarily high and there was a "very high correlation between death by self-harm and alcohol and cannabis use".
Oscar then organised the 2007 Annual Women's Bush Meeting, a traditional gathering of Bunuba, Gooniyandi, Walmajarri, Wangkatjunka and Nyikina women. They represented a significant segment of the community and gave their consent to the MWRC beginning a campaign to limit the sale of take-away alcohol in Fitzroy Valley. A community-led intervention to the crisis was formed that proved to be fundamental to its success.
After the Women's Bush Meeting, Oscar wrote to the Director of Liquor Licensing asking for an initial 12-month suspension of take-away liquor sales in the Valley. The MWRC maintained that alcohol restrictions were required because high numbers of alcohol and drug related suicides were happening in the Valley, people were in a perpetual state of grief and despair and their women's refuge was not able to cope with the number of people seeking protection from domestic violence. Unacceptably high numbers of medical outpatients were suffering from alcohol abuse, and at the local hospital 85% of trauma patients were affected by alcohol and 56% of all patients were under the influence of alcohol when they were admitted. It was even becoming normal for children to drink alcohol. Crime rates included a disproportionately high number of alcohol related incidents, local employers had difficulty retaining staff, school attendance was reduced, and a substantial number of children under the age of five had FASD-related symptoms.
During this period, the MWRC networked with community cultural leaders through the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Cultural Centre, an Aboriginal organisation that supports the traditional practices of the 30 language groups in the Kimberley. Oscar revealed the significance of their support in the alcohol restriction campaign:
Oscar's move to get the backing of elders and cultural leaders was a major factor in persuading the Director of Liquor Licensing to impose the alcohol restrictions. Certain sectors of the community were against the restrictions and the support from elders gave the MWRC campaign the legitimacy it needed. In the face of fierce opposition from some members of her community who had a vested interest in the sale of alcohol, Oscar stood firm. She knew the restrictions would give her people much needed relief from the trauma and chaos caused by alcohol abuse.
Western Australia Police supported the fight against take-away liquor and a strategic partnership was formed. The campaign was strengthened by this partnership, though it did not affect how it was managed. Western Australian Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said: "When I first went up to Fitzroy Crossing, looking down from the air I saw what looked like green emeralds on the ground", "They turned out to be thousands and thousands of cans of VB beer, where people had sat around drunk." Fitzroy Crossing Police were spending much of their time on alcohol-related crime. When Oscar received threats and slander while running the campaign, commissioner O’Callaghan gave her his personal phone number and said "ring me anytime".
In September 2007, the Director of Liquor Licensing announced take-away liquor sales were a major cause of alcohol-related harm in Fitzroy Crossing. The Director considered the harm serious enough to enforce a six-month trial in which the sale of take-away alcohol was restricted. Under the restrictions, only low-strength beer could be sold at the take-away liquor store in Fitzroy Crossing. Full-strength beer, wine and spirits were only available for consumption during opening hours within licensed premises.
A review meeting was held in May 2008, approximately eight months after the restrictions began, which was attended by the Director of Liquor Licensing and members of the Aboriginal community. Oscar said the meeting was 'the most important minutes of our lives'. The views of people who attended were that women now felt more empowered, confident and able to participate in community-level discussions, the Valley was a much more quiet and safe place to live, and other Aboriginal communities had noticed the positive example set in the Valley. Alcohol restrictions had encouraged government and non-government agencies to become more involved, a strong desire to not return to the chaos of pre-restriction times prevailed, and change needed to be substantial and long lasting. The people felt priority needed to be given to children's health and welfare, and they wanted the next generation of children to be raised without alcohol affecting their lives, families were stronger and sober, old people were being cared for, young people were thinking about buying homes, and children were learning new skills. They also believed sly grogging had become an issue, communities with people suffering from FASD needed help, and if the restrictions were lifted, all of the confidence that now existed in the community would be 'stripped away'.
After the meeting, the Director of Liquor Licensing ruled that restrictions on take-away alcohol in Fitzroy Crossing would exist indefinitely. Oscar and the MWRC had secured the first community-led limit on the sale of alcohol to an entire town. Four of the Aboriginal communities in Fitzroy Valley, Wangkatjungka, Noonkanbah, Yakanarra and Bayulu, embraced alcohol restrictions after the Director's decision was implemented. The nearby town of Halls Creek also later adopted the restrictions.
In July 2009, the University of Notre Dame released the findings of its review on the first 12 months of restrictions. Their report, Fitzroy Valley Alcohol Restriction Report: An evaluation of the effects of a restriction on take-away alcohol relating to measurable health and social outcomes, community perceptions and behaviours after a 12-month period, suggested that nearly all people surveyed on the impact of restrictions believed some type of limit on alcohol consumption was required, and none of them wanted their community to go back to what it was like before restrictions were introduced.
Notre Dame found that the communities gained many health and social benefits from the restrictions, including: a reduction in the severity of domestic violence; a lower tolerance of domestic violence – domestic violence reporting increased by 23% and alcohol related domestic violence reporting increased by 20%; a reduction in the severity of injuries caused by general public violence; a 36% reduction in alcohol related patients at the hospital emergency department during its busiest period, October to March, and a 42% reduction in other periods; a reduction in drinking alcohol in the streets; the Valley became a quieter and cleaner town; increased awareness in family and children's health; a reduction in humbug and anti-social behaviour; reduced pressure on service providers led to an increase in the effectiveness of assistance they provided; an increase in the level of care for children and their recreational activities; a 91% reduction in take-away purchases of pure alcohol; an overall reduction in alcohol consumption by residents of the Valley.
The Notre Dame review also noted that benefits from the restrictions were not enough to address the deep-rooted issues associated with alcohol abuse, and communities in the Valley needed continuing support. In her speech at the Western Australian Equal Opportunity Commission Forum, Perth, 10 August 2009, Oscar stated that Aboriginal leaders in the Valley had taken their first steps on the path of reconstructing their communities but now needed the government to support them: