Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question. The levels of incarceration of our First Australians is a disgrace. I do not think there would be any argument from any Australian about that. There is broad agreement that we should move in every way to try to deal with that matter. I am aware of the Change the Record program, calling for a justice target. I also know that the Leader of the Opposition also calls for a justice target. The challenge with both the report and the submission from the Leader of the Opposition is that the calling of a target is all very good; in fact, we could probably all agree now—it would probably take us about a minute or so. The circumstances of people going into incarceration will not change a bit and, frankly, just having a justice target without a passage to get there is a bit lazy and a bit trite. And, Senator, I am not accusing you of that. But we know the circumstance is—