Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was listed to speak in this debate on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs report entitled Indigenous Australians at work: successful initiatives in Indigenous employment following the honourable member for Grey but, given the fact that I had to chair another House of Representatives standing committee report consideration, I was not able to do that. So I just want to thank my colleague Mr Wakelin for deferring to me to allow me to say just a few words in support of the report and his chairmanship of the committee during the period of this parliament.

At the outset, I want to mention to the House what a privilege it has been to serve on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs under the chairmanship of the honourable member for Grey. I have served, as other members have, on very many parliamentary committees, but I have never come across such an easygoing, accommodating and reasonable chairman as the honourable member for Grey. I suspect that even those honourable members who signed a minority report would agree that Mr Wakelin is an excellent and very accommodating chairman. He wants everyone to have his or her say and he wants the widest possible range of views and thoughts so that the committee, in its deliberations, is able to bring forward the most appropriate report.

I do have to place on record that I was sorry that the four Labor members found it necessary to lodge a minority report. I suppose I am pleased it is called a minority report and not a dissenting report in one sense, because all of us, regardless of where we sit in the House, are seriously concerned about Indigenous disadvantage—and that is one of the reasons why, I suspect, each of us comes from our life’s experience to be part of this particular committee. Having said that I regret the fact that there is a minority report, I do respect the right of the honourable members to sign up to a minority report so that they feel that their views are adequately expressed. I do not, however, support the minority report; I support the majority report, which was carried by a majority of the committee.

The honourable member for Canberra made a very valid point when she said that Indigenous Australians are probably being more reported on and there have been more inquiries into Indigenous disadvantage than probably any other area of government or social activity in Australia. When I was Chairman of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs, the member for Grey and, I think, the member for Canberra were part of an inquiry we had into Indigenous health.

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