Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In rising to support this bill, like so many of my colleagues I do so with a deep concern for the welfare and safety not only of Aboriginal children but of all children in our great country. I also support it mindful of the fact that there are those in our community who regard politicians as all talk and no action. That is simply not the case with this government or with Minister Brough. Tonight I recognise the support of the Labor Party and Family First for the bill and the urgent need for the changes that this bill makes.

I have to contrast this with the zealotry of the Greens, who have advocated all manner of drastic and dramatic action and extremism in all manner of things. They have talked about extreme action for greenhouse gas emissions and crazy drug policies but, when it comes to the things that really matter, the protection of our sacred children, they just want more talk. Last week I heard Senator Siewert talk about how abhorrent this bill is but I heard very little about the abhorrence of the ongoing child abuse in some of these communities that this bill seeks to redress. The Greens have called for an injection of funds to redress Aboriginal disadvantage but they do not support a $500 million program to save those who cannot save themselves.

Let us be frank about this: the self-determination of Aboriginal communities simply has not worked. Self-determination was designed to defeat the cult of victimisation afflicting Aboriginal Australia. It has failed despite Senator Bob Brown’s earlier assertions that Aboriginal people have done a good job of managing for themselves with little government support. In fact, almost every latte-sipping leftie has had a go at supporting the self-determination of Aboriginal people.

John Ah Kit, the Northern Territory Aboriginal affairs minister, stated in 2002 that the most important objective was to restore to Aboriginal people the power to make their own decisions about their way of life. Former Senator Aden Ridgeway was reported in The Age newspaper blaming poverty, health, education and nutrition problems as a failure to acknowledge Indigenous rights. Sadly, even in the face of the growing failure of self-determination, Senator Kim Carr referred to this process as a ‘powerful force for community and economic development’. I am sure Senator Carr would not approve of how Aboriginal communities have developed in the Northern Territory. Rivers of grog, pornography and substance abuse have all contributed to the current malaise.

But the time for talk is over. The federal government has to act and it has to act now because the Northern Territory government has simply failed to do so over many years. It has had many reports and, in the face of very vocal criticism by the minister for Indigenous affairs, Mal Brough, it has simply failed to act. This fact was recognised by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Chris Evans, in his myth-busting speech delivered for the Canberra South Branch of the ALP last year in which he acknowledged that law and order issues in many Indigenous communities require urgent attention. Whilst not specifically acknowledging the complete failure of the Northern Territory Labor government, he called upon the federal government to play a greater role in this area. Where the Northern Territory government has failed, this federal government is taking on the role of protecting children in Indigenous communities.

We are not going to allow others to hide behind customary law, which permits young girls to be promised in marriage and raped as a right. This is not right; it is simply wrong. In this case, the government’s action speaks louder than the hot air of those who oppose this bill for some twisted and kooky extreme mantra. There is a national emergency confronting the welfare of Aboriginal children, and the well-meaning intentions of the past have become a trap rather than a solution. Values, virtues and societal norms have broken down in a slurry of alcohol, pornography, lawlessness and excuses. The time for self-serving excuses is over. Breaking the cycle requires dramatic action and drastic changes—a fact supported by many Indigenous people.

After many years of calls for self-determination and independent government systems, sovereignty and self-government we now have a clear call for change. Noel Pearson has called for an ‘immediate dismantling of the welfare paradigm and an end to permissive policy’. He went on to state:

Our outrageous social problems and our current widespread unemployability followed passive welfare

Evelyn Scott has said that welfare has almost totally destroyed Aboriginal Culture. She said:

People are off their faces and wives get bashed up because they are drunk and ... you know the interference of children. It all happens.

So what has this government done? We are prepared to quarantine some of the welfare moneys to prevent them using it in socially irresponsible ways. This includes alcohol restrictions and a ban on the possession and dissemination of prohibited pornographic material. It will be no surprise that the usual hysterical suspects have described this as a land grab. They have described this bill as racist, discriminatory and abhorrent. There is no land grab. The underlying ownership of land by the traditional owners will be preserved. People will not be removed from their land. Land is not being stolen; it is being leased for fair and just compensation in accordance with our wonderful Constitution. We need the leases to ensure access to land and assets to repair and rebuild dysfunctional communities. We need to deal with town camps as normal suburbs rather than second-rate ghettos—and this legislation allows that. This bill also endorses the COAG agreements that customary law or cultural practise excuses do not excuse violence or sexual abuse’ and it will make sure it does not happen in the Northern Territory.

In concluding, I want to put on the record that mainstream Australia supports this emergency response. Sure, there are some fringe groups and extremists who will shout very loudly—they make the most noise—but ordinary Australians know in their hearts that something is wrong and something needs to happen. The Australian public want to see real change and improve the lot of their fellow Australians. It is regrettable that we are forced to take this position by the inactivity of the Territory government, but the time for talk is over. The time for action is now. Australia’s children are sacred, and it is the responsibility of all of us to protect them from a clear and present danger to their health and wellbeing.