Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Why is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice important not only for Australian society but also for the Australian economy?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Blair for his question. I will stand next to him and campaign with him for a voice to parliament in South-East Queensland and in the nation beyond. The reason those opposite ask questions about what the voice isn't about is because they want to distract from what the voice is about. As the Prime Minister and the minister have said, the voice to parliament is about recognition and it's about listening. It's about giving First Nations people a say in the matters which impact them and it's about making a tangible difference to the lives of people and communities. That means it's about getting maximum impact for the billions of dollars that we invest each year in closing the gap.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why don't you tell us about that.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Groom is warned.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We shouldn't pretend that we have to choose here between good social outcomes and good economic outcomes, or that they are competing priorities. They're not. The Voice is about better outcomes, it's about better value for money, and that makes it good economic policy as well. We won't get better outcomes in this country by listening less. We won't get better outcomes by leaving this to our kids to sort out down the track in some kind of generational buck-pass or by surrendering to the scares and the lies and the cynicism and the misinformation which is egged on by too many of those opposite.

We'll get better outcomes if we listen more and if we build on a foundation of recognition and respect and decency and optimism. I think a lot about what Minister Burney has said. She said this:

For too long governments have made policies for Indigenous Australians, not with Indigenous Australians.

The minister is spot on. This is a chance to do things differently and to do them better. We won't get better outcomes by doing everything the same way that has delivered us a wasted decade of division, of disadvantage and of disappointment. We want more people in work, in training, in uni, in good health, in good schools, in safe communities and out of the justice system. Just last week the Productivity Commission laid out the challenges before us and said that we need more consultation. We need to involve and empower people if we want to make a real impact. So this is about value for money, but it's about much more than that as well.

This is our big chance, and we can't waste it. This is our generational opportunity to do the right thing and to grasp the hand which has been stretched generously out to us, to move forward together in a spirit of respect and unity and decency and optimism in a Commonwealth of common purpose, shaping a better future on our terms; making a tangible, enduring difference to First Nations people and communities around our country; and strengthening our economy and our society in the process.