Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the matter of public importance—the impact of the Abbott government's decision to cut half a billion dollars from Indigenous programs in its first budget. I have to say that on the Labor side we were absolutely insulted to hear government members claim that this is some cheap political trick. The truth speaks for itself.

I want to start first with that insulting comment made by the Prime Minister last week in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, where disadvantage should have been visible on every street corner for the Prime Minister to see. When he claimed it was a lifestyle choice he was simply repeating that time-worn assertion that Aboriginal people represent little else but a drain on the public purse. And that is what we are hearing today in this place from government senators opposite.

I want to move now to some comments that Senator Nash made the other day when she was extolling the virtues of NACCHO. She was saying how she had met with them, how she had regular dialogue with them and what a wonderful organisation they were. I cannot believe that NACCHO would not have raised their concerns about the cuts to frontline services brought on by the Abbott government's harsh and cruel budget. I just cannot believe that, but obviously Senator Nash is either deaf to that or chooses not to mention it.

I want to quote Matthew Cooke, who is the chair of NACCHO. Speaking about the lack of information around funding and the cuts to organisations, he said that 'the result has caused confusion' among his members. He said:

Their concerns are being raised with me every hour of the day since the announcement was made by Minister Scullion.

I cannot believe that, if Senator Nash has this wonderfully close, respectful relationship with NACCHO that they have not raised the cuts with her. Perhaps we need to explore that some more at question time. The chair of NACCHO is saying, well and truly, that there have been cuts to frontline services. So it is not Labor senators saying it; one of the well-respected umbrella groups in Aboriginal health in this country is saying that every hour of the day they are hearing about the cuts.

This decision by the Abbott government to cut half a billion dollars from Aboriginal programs in the government's very first budget is disgraceful. Labor is not raising this here as a political trick or for some political advantage. I want to look at some of the comments that the Prime Minister made when in opposition. He said on 15 March 2013, at one of his favourite institutes, the Sydney Institute:

In any event, “Canberra knows best” will not be an incoming Coalition government’s approach.

I think Aboriginal Australians would say, 'Actually, that is all we have heard. All we have heard is that Canberra knows best.' Again, in that speech at the Sydney Institute on 15 March 2013, Mr Abbott said:

Should the Coalition win the election, Aboriginal people will be at the heart of a new government, in word and in deed.

To cut half a billion dollars from programs is not putting Aboriginal people at the heart of any government. To make the insulting—at one deep level—and ridiculous comment he made about lifestyle choices is not putting Aboriginal people at the heart of government; it is just repeating that time-worn statement that Aboriginal people are somehow a drain on the purse of the nation.

And it does not stop there. Senator Scullion said in the Northern Territory that only those providers who are 'completely hopeless'—his words, not mine—at delivering services would miss out on funding. Because we have had Senate estimates we know what has happened. There were 2,472 applications for the Indigenous Advancement Strategy funding. There were 4,948 projects and there were 2,345 organisations of which 1,233 were deemed non-compliant. That could simply mean that they were not incorporated; we do not have the detail of that. That left just 964 successful organisations—40 per cent of those that applied got the funding.

I invite Senator Reynolds to visit some of the organisations in Western Australia that have been defunded. Last week I was in Geraldton. I get angry even thinking about it. The federal government, through its budget cuts—whether it is to the council, the local legal service or the education support services—have cut millions of dollars out of that town. That will have repercussions right up to the Pilbara. That is what the Abbott government has done. There is service after service that has simply lost money; $534 million has been ripped from programs and front-line services. I witnessed that firsthand in Geraldton. I did not even have to go very far. I would challenge Senator Reynolds to get out of Perth and go and visit some of those front-line services that have lost funding.

I do not know what Minister Scullion proposes to do with the rest of the money that is apparently in his $2 billion kitty—there is a lot of it left. But, in the meantime, perhaps he could fund some of the services that have been lost. Fancy taking funding from smoking programs! Why would you do that when we have very poor health outcomes and the measure for that is closing the gap? We have very poor health outcomes—but $165 million has been taken from healthy lifestyle programs and tackling smoking.

We have heard a lot in this Senate recently—and, indeed, in this parliament—about family violence and partner violence. Yet what we have seen is $3.6 million cut from family violence prevention and legal services. Again, the West Australian service is a fine service that has been around for a very long time; they are not sure what is going to happen in their future. We have had child-care services in the north-west of Western Australia lose their funding and we have had cuts to community legal services. I witnessed that firsthand, again, in Geraldton last week. They have taken $15.6 million from community legal services.

It does not matter how you put it, they have been cut. Not only that—they have also been gagged. Part of their new contract says that they cannot come out and criticise the government. Even if the government chooses to gag those services, Labor will continue to criticise the government for gagging those services and cutting their funding. We will not see improvements in Closing the Gap targets if we have to continue to witness this disgraceful attack on front-line services which is cutting their budgets, cutting their voices and leaving them without any funding at all.