Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This evening sees the culmination of a great deal of hard work that I have put into this place on behalf of my Indigenous constituents. This evening gives me the opportunity to speak to the legislation that has emerged because the Prime Minister and the minister responsible for Indigenous affairs, the Hon. Mal Brough, have taken a decision on behalf of all of the people of Australia to be ratified by the members of this parliament to make a difference in Indigenous communities—Indigenous communities that I have the pleasure of representing in very large numbers. From the northernmost part of the Kimberley, both east and west, down through the Pilbara, down into the goldfields, through the Murchison, through the Gascoyne, into the Esperance region and through the wheat belt, I represent Indigenous people living in mainstream towns and living in communities that are incredibly isolated. I have the whole gamut of people in my electorate, including the whole gamut of Indigenous people working in a huge range of positions across my electorate and enjoying, in many cases, all of the rewards that are offered to Australians living in this wonderful country. But, unfortunately and all too often, so many of them are living in absolute Third World conditions that provide no safety or security whatsoever, and members of these communities have no hope, no aspirations, to achieve education to go out and get employment to contribute to this society. There is absolute rampant despair. This legislation in the main is aimed at like people in like circumstances across the Northern Territory.

The member for Lingiari quite rightly speaks for the people of the Northern Territory. He has a great deal of experience; therefore, he cannot be accused of being ignorant as to the affairs that exist in the communities across the Northern Territory. Yet he takes to task the members of this government that have been responsible for the drawing up of legislation to address these issues. He says that they ignore due process. The member for Lingiari is concerned about due process. He says nothing about the fact that, whilst one pontificates, whilst one spends weeks, months and possibly years—13 in the case of the last Labor government—whilst members of this House and members of a previous government drag their feet and talk about due process, the tiny, the most vulnerable and the least able to defend themselves by definition in these communities are abused. They are abused physically, psychologically and sexually to the point where irreparable damage is done. These children so often grow up and as adults indulge in exactly the same sort of behaviour.

It is not acceptable, and for a member of the opposition to stand in this place and talk about the abuse of due process when this government is endeavouring as quickly as possible to get legislation in place that just may save one more fragile individual from abuse, is, I believe, absolute hypocrisy. What is important is that we get this legislation in place, that we get it to all corners of all the communities across the Northern Territory, and start making a difference. Mere dollars have not made a difference. We have put some $3.367 billion each year into Indigenous affairs across Australia and still the whole system is riddled with problems of all sorts of dimensions, so money is not the answer. Resources, vision and tenacity make up the combination that will make a difference in Indigenous communities.

The Prime Minister and the minister responsible for Indigenous affairs have acted in an appropriate way—much later, of course, than I would have liked, in my humble opinion. We have also had the involvement of Noel Pearson, a very courageous leader in Indigenous affairs, the participation of Dr Sue Gordon and the handing down of her report, Little children are sacred. With that report being handed down and knowing the content of it, this government was correct in taking immediate action and declaring a national emergency which had to be addressed. That was approximately six weeks ago, and in those six weeks the most complex of problems has brought together the best minds to consider the legislation necessary to address those problems, in a manner outlined in this place those six-odd weeks ago. They are complex problems and require a great deal of legislation. Unfortunately, through the media generally, I have heard much about how this strategy would be flawed, how the legislation would be inappropriate, how modifications would need to be made to the legislation and how so many aspects that would be addressed by the legislation were not being considered appropriately.

We hear so much from the member for Lingiari about the removal of the permit system across communities of the Northern Territory. I know about the permit system in the Northern Territory, I know the humbug it creates and I know the ramifications of that humbug, because some people are allowed into communities while others are not. One would like to think that those access permits were awarded on the basis of some lofty ideal and that consideration was always in the best interests of the community. They are not. The permit system is abused time and time again. You cannot have the intervention proposed by this legislation being foiled by the existence of a permit system that would prevent the people responsible for the enactment of the legislation from carrying it out. That is nonsense. You cannot be credible if you talk about having in place a system where those who are responsible for carrying out the legislation cannot gain access. We know the problems, and so many more Australians know the problems, that exist in these communities today. There are so many more than were prepared to recognise the problems some six or seven weeks ago, before this report was handed down.

In travelling from Adelaide to Perth on the Thursday evening that this legislation was proposed, I had the good fortune to spend time with Dr Sue Gordon, a woman whose credentials are immaculate in relation to her knowledge of what happens in Indigenous communities. We discussed at length her findings during the preparation of the report, her previous knowledge, her understanding and her depth of passion about the necessity for solutions to be found. I must say that she exhibited understanding and she exhibited the passion and the determination required to come up with solutions that would be part of a long-term strategy to make a difference.

All manner of strategies have been put in place in the past, with all manner of dollar resources from governments, but still the problems have persisted. One must ask oneself: why have the problems continued to be exacerbated in the lives of Indigenous people? So many people, so many good brains, have put their minds to solutions over so many decades. Why do the problems still exist? Let’s look at the mainstream style of life in Australia and see what some of the foundations of that in-the-main cohesive, motivated, socially acceptable community is like. It relies on a few cornerstones. It relies on education, it relies on the acceptance of personal responsibility, it relies on the security that comes through the knowledge that the law will be upheld by an ever-present police force and, of course, it relies on a judiciary in the situation of dispute. Many of those cornerstones of our mainstream society are non-existent in so many of the Indigenous communities across Australia.

I remind you, Mr Deputy Speaker, that I know about those communities. I have in excess of 200 of them in my electorate and I visit them frequently. I know the problems that exist and I know the services that do not exist. One primary service that does not exist and has not existed in so many communities for so long is a reliable, consistent, permanent presence of law enforcement. If there is no law enforcement present in a community, and there is booze and drug-taking and evidence of sexual abuse of young children, and that is a generational situation, then what motivation for change is there for the community?

It is all very well for us to discuss the niceties of mainstream law and order and social norms in our community, in mainstream Australia; it is absolutely inappropriate to consider the values we hold dear while the day-to-day existence in so many Indigenous communities continues without the presence of that cornerstone of law enforcement. For decades it has been ignored by state governments. For decades they have turned their backs on the problem, saying—and I hear it so many times from those responsible for community stability, advancement, law enforcement, education, job training et cetera—’We don’t need to have our sights set high; they’re only blackfellas.’ It is sickening.

If the same attitudes existed with regard to mainstream society in Australia, the perpetrators of those comments would be exposed and thrown out and replaced with people who would take responsibility. But time and time again those that are given the responsibility of assisting Indigenous people in communities simply lower their sights when they move into the job because their expectations are so poor. They say: ‘It doesn’t matter what I do or what I don’t do; I’m going to get paid to do the job. I’ll tick the boxes to fulfil my budget expectations, I’ll see out my time and I’ll move on.’ It is a major tragedy and it has contributed to the situation today.

A good education is a cornerstone of our mainstream society and it is provided for in communities. There are of course some tiny communities that are poorly resourced as far as education is concerned, but, in the main, communities that are stable and perhaps have in excess of 60 or 70 people, with a proportionate number of children, are provided with a school and the hardware and the staffing required to provide a good level of education. But there is so much lack of faith in the education system. There is so much despair. There is so much social disorder in those communities that there is a total disrespect for education. Unless parents, children and educators alike share the passion for an education, the provision of the infrastructure necessary for an education is an absolute waste of time.

It is not fair to name communities specifically on the basis of their performance in any one particular area, but I know of a community where there are 65 students registered and funded by the federal government. I have visited it on a number of occasions and have never found more than 15 students in attendance. Why? Because of so many responsibilities for the parents of those children. They have to attend to law. I accept and respect the fact that Indigenous law is a very demanding process, but it is overdone. An unacceptable number of children are denied continuity of education simply because, with modern communications, people know about occasions that are happening 2,000 kilometres away, for example, and will take their children out of school, in the name of culture, and not bring them back for four or five months. This is unacceptable and needs to be modified.

If one destroys the future of one’s race in the name of promotion of the culture, isn’t that an enigma? Aren’t we in fact recognising what is eventually effectively genocide and condoning it by saying, ‘You pursue your culture. You might be denying an opportunity for your children, for your future generations, but you are doing so in the name of continuity of culture.’ It is a conundrum. I could not honestly look at the situation and suggest it is appropriate.

So we need to have children attending these facilities that provide an education so they can go on and get a job. With that job will come all the benefits of employment, of financial independence, of self-esteem. Many people will say, ‘We know much more about Aboriginal culture and the expectations of Indigenous people than you do, Haase.’ They will say, ‘What’s the good of an education and expectations of a job if you’re living in a community and there is no real employment in that community?’ I have not been to a community yet where there was not employment that could very easily deserve a solid wage—not a CDEP wage, not a half-wage, not a furphy wage, but a real wage. Those jobs need to be funded by the appropriate organisations. That would give self-esteem to those individuals, coupled with the responsibility of doing a job on a regular basis. But no. Too often we see—and the member for Lingiari raised the point—CDEP being abused. CDEP simply becomes a process.

I say to children in high schools: ‘What are you going to do with yourself when you leave school? You’ll have an education and you’ll be equipped to get job training; what are you going to do?’ ‘Mr Haase, I’m going to go on CDEP.’ CDEP was never intended to be a permanent job. CDEP was meant to be a process that made people job ready and allowed them to get out into the community. So many situations exist in communities that would be totally unacceptable in mainstream society today. This government has had the gumption, the vision and the determination to put solutions into place across the Northern Territory, and it is now going through the legislative process. Hopefully we will have parallel legislation enacted by the states to make sure that that effect takes place right across Australia. I commend these bills to the House.

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