Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

The motion moved by the member for Deakin refers in paragraph (1)(b)—I assume ironically—to 'the coalition's commitment to listening to affected communities'. We're here today talking about the cashless debit card, which, not exclusively but overwhelmingly, was placed upon Indigenous communities. There were some examples of Indigenous communities that wanted it, but overwhelmingly it was implemented to and on Indigenous communities, and we have a former minister of the former coalition government—one who has been quite vocal about his opposition to the Voice—putting in a motion 'the coalition's commitment to listening to affected communities'. It is rank hypocrisy for two parties that are opposing the Voice to Parliament to suggest that they listen to Indigenous communities.

In May of 2017, the Uluru Statement from the Heart was signed by over 250 people among some 1,200 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates to Uluru, who were chosen by an exhaustive process across the country, a democratic process of selecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to meet at Uluru to say: 'Where to from here? Where to for reconciliation? Where to for closing the gap? And how can we be listened to? How can we be a part of reconciliation and closing the gap?' I know that the members who are in the Federation Chamber as I speak all know what's in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It's not clear to me that, were there any members of the coalition in this chamber, they would know what is in it. The Uluru Statement from the Heart includes this line:

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.

Its final stirring paragraph says:

In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

Every single member of the coalition that stood up and professed to support the cashless debit card because they want a better future for Indigenous communities and passionately—and, I think, in many respects truthfully—stood in this Chamber and said they want to be able to address the issues that are affecting the communities that they represent has said no to a Voice enshrined in the Constitution, which is what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities asked for. So they come into this Chamber and they try to get the House to note 'the coalition's commitment to listening to affected communities' while taking every opportunity to run every bit of misinformation and disinformation and every overtly or implicitly racist argument, with tropes that don't belong in public debate in this country and haven't for decades, and simultaneously they want to cry their hearts out because of the disadvantage that exists in Indigenous communities.

Just last week, we had the Productivity Commission, not necessarily known as a woke organisation with progressive policies, hand down its Review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap: draft report. The executive summary says this:

It is too easy to find examples of government decisions … that do not reflect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's priorities and perspectives and that exacerbate, rather than remedy, disadvantage and discrimination.

And the Productivity Commission notes that 'a legislated Indigenous Voice to Parliament in South Australia, legislated Treaty and Truth telling processes in Victoria and Queensland, and the upcoming referendum to change the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice' are initiatives which 'may result in new decision-making and accountability structures that could provide a further catalyst for changes to the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.' The coalition should listen. (Time expired)

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