Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all knew last week that the Prime Minister was up in north-east Arnhem Land. No doubt, prior to his departure and when he arrived, he would have been briefed on the health status of the north-east Arnhem Land community—the Yolngu community—as he was based at Gulkula, just outside of Yirrkala. He would have learned, had he been briefed properly and had he asked, that there is high incidence of diabetes, renal failure and chronic disease across the region and, indeed, across Indigenous populations right across this country. He would have explained, no doubt, that his government had cut $165 million out of health programs dealing with prevention in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

I wonder what the logic is here—the Prime Minister goes to north-east Arnhem Land in this big parade, explaining to people that he is the Prime Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians at the very same time that he is cutting $165 million out of health programs. He did not answer the questions yesterday. He showed yesterday how incompetent he is. We know that this government are not fair dinkum about improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes. If they were, they would not be cutting $165 million out of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health programs, particularly those that deal with prevention, such as cutting down on smoking.