Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation) Share this | Hansard source

There are a range of questions we still have not got through, so let me turn to your earlier question about housing. The government is absolutely committed to delivering better housing outcomes for Indigenous Australians to remote communities. We realise how important that is. Indigenous Australians deserve to be able to live in similar conditions to the rest of us, and that is absolutely crucial. I am keen, and I know the minister is keen, to see state and territory governments improve the construction and management of public housing in remote communities. There is no doubt that that improvement is necessary. The current investment in remote housing will achieve 11,500 more livable homes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by mid-2018, so that is a very important initiative, and 75 per cent of the existing stock has been improved. Overcrowding will have fallen by 15 per cent in 2018.

The member also asked more broadly about the Closing the Gap initiative and in particular how we are performing versus a range of targets. We firmly believe we are making the right choices with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and they were and are big winners from the federal budget. The cross-portfolio budget investment delivered fairness, opportunity and security for all Australians, with a particular focus on First Australians.

The 2017 report Closing the gap revealed important progress in key areas. There have been significant improvements in the proportion of 20- to 24-year-olds achieving year 12 or equivalent, and we all know how crucial that is. At high levels of education there is virtually no employment gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and that is a terrific achievement. There are significant improvements in health. We have seen significant declines in mortality rates, greater access to antenatal care, reduced rates of smoking, a reduction in mortality from chronic diseases, and declining infant mortality. Reading and numeracy are improving for Indigenous children. There has been a significant increase for female employment over the longer term. You made the point about Indigenous programs being skewed in a particular way, but the truth is that we have seen a very significant increase in Indigenous female employment, and that is a terrific thing. Although the reports note that there have been real challenges with meeting some of the targets, we have seen some very real progress in those areas that I have described.

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