John Cobb (Calare, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think we all know that the importance of Closing the Gap cannot be underestimated. It also cannot be underestimated that it is not easy to do. Without doubt, if it was easy then the worst government Australia has ever had would have solved the issues a long time ago. What we all have to realise is that absolutely every member of this House, no matter what they stand for, would agree it is something that should be done in a very bipartisan way. We should all have that common goal whether we are in Western Australia, Tasmania or here, almost in New South Wales. Obviously, at some stage, our goal, our hope, our aim and our success must be that Indigenous Australians, like all Australians, must be able to reach their full potential.

We have always had the same issues and over recent years we have called it Closing the Gap. That is fine, but we also have to lift the game. The one thing nobody would ever want to do is leave here without being able to say that they did what they could to close the gap and to create the same opportunities for everyone in Australia, Aboriginal or otherwise. I have always been willing to stand up and fight for the Indigenous Australians in my electorate, whether it was Parkes, where I was originally, or Calare, where I am now. Parkes had a higher Aboriginal population than Calare. We are all together in that.

There is no point in beating around the bush on these issues. The latest Indigenous disadvantage report, like the six before it, does show alarming statistics—some improvements in some places but not in others. It is very common to talk about school attendance rates and, yes, they are bad. I too will talk about them. Getting kids to school, wherever they are, is incredibly important. Without it, you are closed. I think society has changed to the point where it is very hard for Aboriginal people and kids in particular to get some placements. We demand so much from education before anyone is even allowed to have a go at most of the jobs that exist.

Getting kids to school gives them the one thing they have to have in life—that is, the knowledge and how to go about things. They do not just learn maths and English—and I always say that maths is the No. 1 subject; they learn interaction skills, lifelong skills and social skills. We undoubtedly ask more of schools than we should and we probably ask more of them in remote areas where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander period predominate. Children in this day and age need to be at school mostly five days a week, without excuses. The onus is obviously on parents, carers and the authorities to make sure children go to school, and the onus is very much on us—state and federal politicians—to make that possible.

Education does go a long way too in keeping people out of jail, which is an enormous issue. The number of people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage in jail is far too high. The number of Australians in jail is far too high, but the number of Indigenous Australia in jail it is totally disproportionate. If you think to yourself what does education have to do with jail, you find it does not have very much; the lack of it has a lot to do with the reasons that people are in jail.

Education is not just about going to school, going to college or going to university. Education is about learning generally. Life skills are probably one of the most important issues we are talking about here. If your parents, your community and your local state and federal governments do not combine on that, it does not work. It is education about drugs and alcohol, and that is not to say that people with a good education do not fall by the wayside too. But with education, you do not have much of an excuse. Without education, maybe you think you do have an excuse. It is important that we do whatever we have to to get better outcomes for Indigenous Australians in their education.

Having said that, we talk about programs and we talk about a lot of things, but there is no program as important as a job. There is no program or family that will teach us more about life skills and how to combine with a community than when one of the principals in a family has a permanent job. It is so upon us to deal with that issue, but it is very hard in remote communities. But we do make it hard too. I remember years ago being north of Broome in the north-west of Western Australian—in your state, Deputy Speaker Randall—at a community on the coast where they were doing a very good job of building their own homes. I remember the elder of that community saying to me: 'Minister, you white guys make it very hard for us. I worked for 20 years in the mines as an operator. What I did you won't let us do now. I learnt to work as an offsider for an operator until I learnt how to do it. Today, you won't let us do that unless we can fill in a heap of forms.' I guess there is a good reason for that. It is OH&S, and we have got to make sure they can do all these things but we have made it harder for those people in remote—and mining is such a great opportunity in those more remote areas, particularly in your state, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker Randall, but in a lot of Australia. We have made it harder for them to learn how to operate a machine, because we demand the education that we are struggling to make sure they have. I think we sometimes have to think how to see around corners and how we help them to do that.

There are success stories, and we have them in my electorate—and I am sure we have them all through yours, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker. We have them all around Australia. We should not be totally negative about it. The Aboriginal Learning Centre of TAFE New south Wales in Orange is doing a very good job of getting young Indigenous people to get into trades and vocational learning which will give them skills that they need.

I believe we must make a much bigger effort on the education side so that we have got Indigenous nurses, teachers and police. It is much easier for them to listen to people they feel more comfortable with. I think this is a huge issue. Nurses, teachers and police—we need to make a huge effort in education to get those three professions, in particular.

We are not speaking for long tonight. All I can say is: it should be bipartisan. I think anyone has the right to ask a question of our government at question time on anything they like. But I think when we have bipartisan speeches, it should be that. Thank you very much.

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