Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

According to Tony Abbott, good government started on Monday, 9 February—520 days after he was elected as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia. He said on that day:

So, all of us are determined to lift our game and the fundamental point I make is that the solution to all of these things is good Government, and good Government starts today – good Government starts today.

Is it good government that we now have higher unemployment—at 6.3 per cent? There are now 800,000 Australians on the unemployment queue. That is more than at any time since 1994. Is it good government when he fails his own test to support the needs of Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal families in the Northern Territory?

Is it good government when he fails to live up to his own core promises of getting kids to school, getting adults to work and building better and safer communities by closing the Atitjere, Yuelamu and Nyirripi childcare centres, losing 17 jobs in those communities and denying those community members access to those services? Is it good government to ensure that these communities no longer have these centres remaining open to maintain environmental health standards that parents can have confidence in and provide the quality of safety that is involved in those services? Is it good government to deny these young Aboriginal kids an opportunity to learn about school before they attend school? Is it good government to take these young kids out of the system and the oversight of health workers? It is not good government. It is a shame. (Time expired)