Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I will not delay the valedictory speech of the member for Chifley unnecessarily, suffice to say the opposition will not be opposing this motion. I do make a couple of points. Firstly, it is quite unnecessary to include welcome to country in the standing orders as part of the opening of the parliament. As the Leader of the House mentioned, a welcome to country ceremony formed a part of the opening of this parliament, and it is a matter for the government how the ceremony for the opening of parliament should be conducted. Therefore, it is quite unnecessary to include it in the standing orders. It is the prerogative of the government to alter the standing orders if it so wishes, and to include matters that it thinks are important. That is what is happening with this particular motion.

The opposition does not raise any objection to this, but we would also make the point that, while the Leader of the House said that this was part of the important task of bridging the gap, I do not believe, and nor would many members of the opposition, that a welcoming ceremony at the opening of parliament will make the slightest difference to the health, education, employment, housing or welfare outcomes of Indigenous Australians. Given the circumstances, and that it is the prerogative of the government to introduce such a measure, we certainly would not be churlish enough to oppose it. We do not believe it will make any difference to the outcomes for Indigenous Australians in this country, but we are quite prepared to see it passed.

Question agreed to.

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