Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I get into the policy and delivery aspects, I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners here in Canberra, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, but also of the electorate that I'm honoured to represent, greater Darwin, the Larrakia people.

I was privileged in February to attend the launch of 'Our Ways—Strong Ways—Our Voices', the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander plan to end family, domestic and sexual violence over the next decade. It was a wonderful event where I connected with a lot of old friends—First Nations elders, legends, both from the Territory and from around the country—but I also made some new friends. There was one thing everyone had in common, which is to end the violence. The launch was inspirational. Maybe if the previous speaker, the member for McPherson, had attended that event and talked to and listened to some of the elders there, he might have some ideas.

The vision that was set out in the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children is to end gender based violence in one generation. Under the national plan, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan was developed, which aimed to address the immediate needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Comprehensive consultation was undertaken—that's the listening part—with community to develop 'Our Ways—Strong Ways—Our Voices'. A driving factor in its development was that the government listened deeply and heard what is needed now: community led solutions that are flexible and grounded in best practice and local decision-making. The old saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth so we could do double the amount of listening as we do speaking is a good one for a very good reason.

Regardless of the politics that some people on the other side still like to play with this issue, the reality is that there are complex issues at play and we need a coordinated and bipartisan focus. So I am pleased that the our ways plan was endorsed by the Commonwealth and all states and territories in late 2025. That even included the Liberal led states and territories. I look forward to working with the Northern Territory CLP government and other stakeholders to implement the plan and to deliver the plan because we all need to be working together. But we also need those jurisdictions to take action, and, whilst we want to work in a bipartisan way, people must be accountable for their lack of action.

One of the main commitments that I took to the 2022 election was funding from the Commonwealth to establish a youth engagement hub in the northern suburbs of my electorate in Darwin. But, with the change of government to the CLP, nothing was done until last week. After almost 18 months, they put out a media release to say that they've chosen a new location for the youth engagement hub—despite the fact that it was shovel ready to build—and they would be doing something at some point in the future. So I think that governments need to be accountable. We're approaching this in a bipartisan way.

I was extremely pleased last week to attend the opening of the Turtle Back program in the other city in my electorate, Palmerston. The Turtle Back program is funded by the Albanese Labor government, with almost $2 million supporting the trial program for adolescent boys. The federal government is funding these community led programs, which will get great results. I want to thank my colleague Minister Tanya Plibersek—the member for Sydney and Minister for Social Services—for her support for that program. I also want to thank Kat Lee and her team at Grassroots Action Palmerston for their fantastic work, which absolutely will get results. Let's see some more action and a collaborative effort to end violence while we can.

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