Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

Today was an opportunity for the government to back in constitutional recognition. Senator Wong asked Senator Abetz questions about constitutional recognition today. We have heard and all recall that the Prime Minister has said that he will sweat blood to achieve this goal. Today was an opportunity for Senator Abetz, representing the Prime Minister, to repudiate sections of the Liberal Party who are not coming along with the stated Liberal intention. It is very unfortunate that this motion is to be moved at the Western Australian conference this weekend:

That the Liberal Party of Western Australia oppose any move to recognise a single race to the exclusion of all others in the body or preamble of the Commonwealth Constitution.

Today was an opportunity for the Leader of the Government in the Senate to repudiate that position, to slap it down. This was a chance to ensure that the argument was made that we do support constitutional recognition, that we will work together across the aisles to ensure that constitutional recognition is achieved. Senator Abetz missed that opportunity today. He should have shown the leadership that Senator Wong invited him to show and said that the motion that is coming before the WA branch this weekend is wrong and given the reasons why it is wrong, but he did not take that opportunity.

Mr Abbott, with the support of Mr Shorten, is working towards achieving a referendum in 2017. That will be the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum. We have to work together to achieve that goal. Today was an opportunity missed by the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

The opportunity was then offered from Senator Wong to Senator Abetz to repudiate the words of Bill Hassell. Again, that opportunity was missed. Mr Hassell has said that Mr Abbott had seriously misread the mood of the party and was in for a rude shock when he attends the conference in Perth. We need to make sure that he understands that language like that will not encourage the community to come with us on this road to constitutional recognition. Again, Senator Abetz missed that opportunity.

Today a meeting was held between Indigenous leaders and the Prime Minister. Hopefully, that is another step forward towards the goal of constitutional recognition. But to achieve constitutional recognition, we have to take every opportunity to make the argument, to make the case and to bring the community with us. That is why it is disappointing that we have had in this period of time the bizarre spectacle of what has now been called 'Vegemite gate'. I asked Senator Scullion what evidence he had that Vegemite was being used to brew alcohol in Aboriginal communities. Senator Scullion said that he had been to Mornington Island—a place that I have visited many times, Senator O'Sullivan. Potentially you could tell us how many times you have been there as well.