Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pride to be able to contribute to this discussion today. We saw earlier in the week the report to the parliament on the Closing the Gap targets and we heard eminent speeches from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. We had a breakfast which, sadly, the Prime Minister failed to stay for and we had a wonderful opportunity just yesterday to see a great show of unity around the stolen generations—again, sadly, the Prime Minister wasn't present. I think that's indicative of some of the issues we're confronting here.

The Closing the Gap targets are to: close the gap in life expectancy by 2031, halve the gap in child mortality by 2018, have 95 per cent of all Indigenous four-year-olds enrolled in early childhood education by 2025, close the gap in school attendance by the end of 2018, halve the gap in reading and numeracy for Indigenous students by 2018, halve the gap in year 12 attainment by 2020 and halve the gap in employment by 2018. We know from the report that three of these targets are on track, which is a really good-news story. The target to halve child mortality is back on track. It had previously been on track and last year it fell off track, but, from 1998 to 2016, there's been a 32 per cent reduction in the gap in child mortality rates, and we are on track to halve those mortality rates by the end of this year. That's an important outcome. I want to pay tribute to all of those who are involved in that, particularly those involved in the primary healthcare networks across this country—most importantly, Aboriginal community controlled health organisations, who are a beacon as to what can be done when you work with local communities in addressing issues in those communities, including working on prevention.

The other targets, as we know, were commented on extensively by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The opposition has been proposing for some time now that there be an initial target around the question of justice. Sadly, this is yet to be picked up, but we understand that, as a result of the refresh of the Closing the Gap targets which is currently under way, it is very likely—we hope—that this target will be picked up, potentially along with others, but we are, most importantly, concerned that we address this justice target. As the Leader of the Opposition said in his contribution to this debate:

I think most Australians would be surprised to learn that, in 1997, 20 per cent of the children in out-of-home care were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but today it is 35 per cent and growing.

And he asked the question, 'How can this be?'—a relevant question to be asked. He went on to note the relationship between broken communities and the justice system, and he said:

It's why Labor has listened to First Australians and long called for justice targets to reduce incarceration rates and improve community safety.

I think that's a very important message to all of us.

A number of issues were raised this week in the debate around Closing the Gap, not all of which have addressed the Closing the Gap targets directly, but what I want to do is concentrate for a moment on some of the issues which are outside of the Closing the Gap targets but which are fundamental if we're ever to reach those targets. They are related to the social determinants of health in particular but also of other outcomes. How do we expect to have a healthy young child if we don't have adequate housing? I think it's a question which all health economists and those involved in prevention appreciate. Those addressing the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease in the world, which are in this country, understand that, if we don't address the housing problem, we're not going to address the health problems; and, if we don't address the health problems, we won't get the educational outcomes we're after. It is very simple, in my view.

Yet this week, we've had confirmed that this Prime Minister and his government have said that they will not renew the Commonwealth's commitment to the remote housing agreement. In the case of the Northern Territory, instead of matching the $1.1 billion stumped up by the Northern Territory government for the next 10 years, they are prepared to provide funding for two years only, transitioning out of supporting the Northern Territory community in the provision of remote area housing. In the case of Queensland and the other jurisdictions, they've said that the end of June this year will be the end of their relationship in terms of investment in those states for remote-area housing. That raises a very serious question about whether we will ever address all of those comprehensive Closing the Gap targets, because if we don't improve the housing outcomes for Aboriginal people in remote Australia we will not meet those targets. It's plain and simple.

The government says, 'We're concerned this is a state problem.' It is not a state problem. It's a national problem, and we as a parliament and as a country are embarrassed by the fact that this government has chosen to withdraw its support from the most needy community in the world—almost—in the context of housing and the prevention of diseases like rheumatic fever. If we don't provide support, we're going to see a continuing escalation of rheumatic heart disease, a continuing escalation of diabetes and renal failure, and a continuing escalation in the other health issues that confront Aboriginal people who live in remote parts of this country on a daily basis. You don't have to be Einstein to work this out. Most informed people in the community would be able to tell you that this is the inevitable outcome of the failure of the government to agree to be involved in that discussion.

Then we had what I think is probably one of the sorriest moments of this week: seeing the Prime Minister stand up in the parliament yesterday and reject, out of hand, the concept of a national voice emanating out of the Uluru statement.

An honourable member: His view.

As my colleague reminds me, that is his view. But it's not a view which can be readily accepted, because what he's tried to do is say that, somehow or other, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander Australians are saying to the rest of us that they want an extra chamber of the parliament solely for them. That's what he's implying, and that is just plain wrong. What they are saying is that they want an advisory body to the government. We had one of these in the past. It was called ATSIC. It was shot down in flames by the Howard government—one of the first acts of the Howard government was to get rid of ATSIC. There were issues around ATSIC, there is no question about that, but it didn't need to be abolished—reformed, yes; abolished, no. Instead of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people around the country, what the Howard government did is what this government is doing, which is to say, 'We're not prepared to listen.' What they should be doing is sitting down with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and listening to what they are actually saying, as opposed to what the Prime Minister thinks they're saying.

It is not beyond the wit and wisdom of us in this parliament, as a national organisation responsible for the governance of this country, to work out with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, by sitting down and listening to them, what a voice to parliament—called something else, if you like—might look like. It could be built on the sort of thing that was proposed in the context of a reformed ATSIC, but it might be something entirely different. The Leader of the Opposition said in his statement to the parliament the other day:

It's time we took the Statement from the Heart into our hearts. It's time we worked together to deliver on its key recommendations: a voice enshrined in the Constitution; a declaration to be passed by all parliaments—Commonwealth and state—acknowledging the unique place of the first nations in Australian history, their culture and connection; and a Makarrata commission to oversee a process of agreement making and truth telling.

He went on to say:

The truth is that the Statement from the Heart calls for what both sides of the House say they are committed to: genuine partnership with, not to; real empowerment; and solutions constructed by first nations people.

As someone who's been here all but three decades, I say to this government and I say to the Prime Minister: instead of listening to selected voices, it's time you actually sat down and talked to Aboriginal people in a fair dinkum way, listened to what they have to say, understood the messages they're giving and did not interpret them in a way that is politically convenient to you. It's time to act truly and to properly represent the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across this nation.

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