Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak of the great concern I have for the Indigenous people who live in my electorate of Cowan. I am always very keen to ensure that all children, young people and other residents of Cowan have the opportunity to thrive and make use of the opportunities that society presents. The greatest of those opportunities are education, employment and the ability to better one’s circumstances with respect for the law and the institutions of society. There must also be the will to take advantage of those opportunities. Young people are greatly influenced by the examples set by their role models. If they do not set a good example to take up the opportunities, who will?

This brings me to the situation at the Sydney Road Aboriginal community in Cowan. The community of 60 hectares in Gnangara was established by Ken Colbung in the late seventies, with Commonwealth funds assisting. The plan was to develop a series of ambitious projects, including education, recreation and the preservation of Aboriginal and other Indigenous cultures. The great dreams of the founders have not be realised. The positive opportunities which were envisaged at the start are far from the current reality. The place represents a risk to the 35 inhabitants and it represents a risk to local residences and businesses. It must be closed, and I will now tell you why.

When you visit the community, you notice the look of decay and that no-one cares. There is overgrown grass, poorly maintained or trashed houses, abandoned toys and bikes, and what can literally be called garbage lying around. The once proud school is wrecked, with smashed windows and computers, and books and other hallmarks of education strewn on the ground. This is testament to an experiment that has not lived up to its promise.

Elsewhere there is a yard of wrecked cars, cars without numberplates and a large shipping container secured behind high fences and locked gates. Anecdotal evidence suggests that stolen cars and property are brought into and secured in this area. The thieves, who are residents and nonresidents, see this place as a safe haven where they can stage their crimes and dismantle stolen vehicles and no-one will report to or tell the police what is going on. I understand that stolen vehicles from the northern suburbs are often concealed inside that container until they can be broken up for parts or disposed of for some other gain.

My concerns revolve around the issues of health, child safety and education. I am greatly concerned by what I have seen and the reports I have heard of alcohol and drug abuse, truancy and crime. Concerns have also been expressed about the physical safety of children resident in the community. It is my view that the people, particularly the children, of this community are at risk by being grouped in this one location, closed off by either gates, isolation or intimidation. Children are at risk and people feel that they cannot live safely and prosper. It is also my understanding that social and allied health workers, as well as female Aboriginal police liaison officers, avoid going there at certain times because it is a dangerous place. Furthermore, I have received reports that there is resistance to any investigation into possible criminal activity in the area. Sadly, children are being brought up and exposed to these sorts of examples, and this is not good enough.

One day in Lansdale, near Madeley Street, a local man told me about the day he saw an Indigenous man walk past his home, coming from the direction of the Sydney Road community. He was carrying a short tyre lever, with a yellow plastic handle at one end. He challenged the man, who then surrendered it. I have no doubt what that implement was intended for. I have had more recent reports of burglaries and thefts from residents in Lansdale and in Gnangara. Whilst I worry about the surrounding residents and local businesses, I am even more concerned about the grave risk that the continuation of the community poses to young and impressionable Aboriginal people. It is therefore my view that the community should be closed down. The residents should be relocated into less concentrated housing where the current leadership and negative attitudes will no longer be influential. We should move these people into a more positive and supportive environment where children can grow up without seeing crime and antisocial behaviour as the norm. The land could be better used for an Indigenous aged persons facility or the proceeds of the sales used for the benefit of the Nyoongar people.

I wrote to the state minister, Michelle Roberts, almost three months ago. Her silence and inactivity is an indictment of a state government that pursues a social engineering agenda of legalised prostitution in the suburbs rather than addressing the safety of children and providing an effective public housing system that does not have a waiting list of 17,000 people on it. The last time I spoke about the safety of children in this place I was called a racist and a few other things. But I would like to make it plain that, where the safety of any child is concerned, I will not retreat from the issues because of the political correctness brigade. These truths are self-evident and I will speak these truths.