Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government supporting First Nations Australians living in remote parts of the country by securing good jobs, easing the cost of living and delivering essential infrastructure?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lingiari for her question. It was an absolute pleasure to be with the member at Uluru, just over a week ago, to celebrate 40 years since the handover of Uluru-Kata Tjuta to First Nations people, to the traditional owners. It was a wonderful celebration and it was indeed a great honour for me, as Prime Minister, to be there.

Labor promised to abolish the failed CDP, which was essentially Work for the Dole, providing no training, no skills, no real wages and no real advancement for First Nations people in remote communities, and to replace if with real jobs with proper wages and decent conditions. And we've done just that. As of Saturday 1 November, the CDP is gone for good, and it's good nationwide. We've replaced it with the Remote Australia Employment Service, building on the 1,700 remote jobs we're already rolling out—over halfway to the 3,000 that we will deliver. This is all about our government's focus on economic empowerment for Indigenous Australians—tangible, positive change creating new opportunities.

We also have a responsibility to ensure that every community has access to the fundamentals of a decent life, things that most Australians take for granted. Last year, our government made a generational investment in remote housing in the Northern Territory. Our 10-year agreement will deliver up to 2,700 homes in the Northern Territory. Many of them are up and running already, and I met people in that community who have already benefited from this program tackling overcrowding and creating local jobs. We have 33 remote water projects on track to bring clean and reliable water to 25,000 people.

In response to the Closing the Gap report, we promised new action to cut the cost of 30 household staples for families in remote communities. As of Saturday, more than a hundred community stores have signed up to that. That's about getting essentials like flour and tinned fruit and toothpaste—those essentials that most of us take for granted in Australia—so that people can stay healthy on country.

Our government is focused on making a real difference for First Nations people in remote communities, on economic empowerment and healthy lives supported by good jobs and wages. The member for Lingiari is such an outstanding advocate for people in those communities, and I congratulate her on the extraordinary work that she is doing which is why she was so well received by the local population, the Anangu people, there at Uluru.