Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I will be supporting this legislation, the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the transitional provisions bill. Almost eight per cent of Calare's residents are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and I believe that the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People can make a very important contribution to closing the gap that still, disturbingly and, quite frankly, disgracefully, exists in so many different ways in this country.

When the Prime Minister announced the establishment of the national commissioner, he noted that Indigenous children are almost 11 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children. This must change. I think the establishment of the commission and the office of commissioner is squarely aimed at effecting this change. This can happen through identifying the issues, recommending solutions and ensuring that the government of the day is held to account for policy on Indigenous children and young people.

We need this commission to succeed. Every year the parliament pauses to hear the annual update on Closing the Gap, and, yes, while progress is being made, last year only five of the 19 targets were on track to be met, in the modern, prosperous Australia that we live in.

In 1965, Charlie Perkins and a group of young Australians got on a bus in Sydney and embarked on what became known as the Freedom Ride through western New South Wales. One of the places they stopped—in fact, I believe it was the first place they stopped—was Wellington, in our electorate of Calare. They went to Nanima Mission, now called Nanima village, and saw what were, in effect, shanty houses with earth floors and no running water. They saw discrimination—effectively apartheid—in the Australia of 1965. There was segregation in the cinemas, with separate seating for Indigenous Australians and a separate entry and exit as well.

There was segregation in the hospital. Indigenous women were not allowed the same maternity services that non-Indigenous women were provided and could not have their children inside the hospital. I've heard accounts of being out on the verandah or even in a shed out the back.

There was segregation at the pubs. There were pubs that would not allow Indigenous Australians to enter. Interestingly enough, I spoke to one of our local Indigenous representatives, who was a member of the Australian Army, and he told me that, even as late as the 1980s, when he and his mates came through Cowra in their army uniforms and stopped at a pub for a drink, he was refused entry. It's hard to believe but it happened.

We've made significant progress on closing the gap since 1965, but the gap continues. It's still there. Reconciliation in this country is not complete and the work of the Freedom Riders in this country is not complete. The detention rate of young Indigenous Australians is 21 times higher than non-Indigenous young people. Sixty per cent of young people in detention are First Nations, which is three in five of those that are incarcerated. So this bill can be a very important driver of change, and that's why I'm supporting it.

I've listened to what the opposition has said about this bill and I'm very disappointed by the negativity in their response. They criticise this bill, but they put forward no meaningful policies of their own. Perhaps that is to be expected, because quite frankly their performance over recent weeks almost amounts to an abrogation of their responsibilities as an opposition. They're totally self-absorbed in their own vainglorious grandstanding rather than coming up with meaningful policies that move this country forward.

As I've said, there is still a lot of work to be done on moving reconciliation forward in this country. But, as I've said, this commission can be a very important step along that long and winding journey that this country is taking. So I would commend this legislation to the House and I would encourage the opposition to start taking a more constructive approach to not only Indigenous issues but many other issues that are affecting this country rather than focusing on themselves, which quite frankly is not resonating with the Australian people. They see through what you're doing and they are appalled by it. I commend this legislation to the House.

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