Senate debates

Thursday, 20 August 2015

Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers

Answers to Questions

3:26 pm

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

I too rise to take note of answers to questions from us, particularly to Senator Abetz on the disgraceful comments made by Mr Hassell from the WA Liberal Party. Again Senator Abetz just failed to answer our questions on whether the Prime Minister would repudiate the views of Mr Hassell and indeed the motion that is going to be put to the state Liberal Party, which says that we should not recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution.

Let me just take a few moments to spell out, to people watching and listening, the disgraceful comments, the racist comments, that have been made by Mr Hassell. He said:

I don't think the Australian people will support it however they dish it up … and however much of our money they spend trying to jam it down our throats …

He did not stop there. He went on to say:

This is a moving feast—every time you deal with one issue such as Aboriginal land rights through the Mabo decision, they're onto the next …

How insulting. 'They're onto the next.' Who does he mean there—Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people? He then goes on to say:

… with a new demand, a new claim.

In here today, the Abbott government absolutely failed to put the Prime Minister's repudiation of those statements and those attitudes on the record. Significant numbers of senators in this place will attend that conference on the weekend. Let us see how they vote on that issue, because I can tell you that Mr Hassell is the number cruncher in WA, and their preselections rely very heavily on Mr Hassell and others.

But why should we be surprised about what Mr Hassell says? What is happening in Western Australia under the Barnett government to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is a national disgrace, despite Senator Scullion coming into this place and bragging about his truancy efforts in the Kimberley in Western Australia and how much they are getting kids back to school. Yesterday the state Attorney General released the report of attendance at Western Australian schools. Every public school in Western Australia was measured against a similar report in 2009. Both of those reports span the period of the Barnett government. Do you know what it says? Not one single improvement—not one single improvement! In fact, there are five schools in the Kimberley where there are truancy officers where 50 per cent of Aboriginal kids, who make up almost 100 per cent of those schools, are at severe risk. So, despite Minister Scullion trying to tell us that somehow his truancy program is working, it is not. And who is saying that? The Liberal Attorney General in Western Australia is saying that the WA Department of Education has no idea, no strategy and no programs addressing truancy. And they are public reports, both of them spanning the period of the Barnett government. It is because racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people pervades the Barnett government, led by Mr Hassell.

But let us not stop there. Aboriginal incarceration rates are something I have spoken about over and over again in this place. Aboriginal people are six times more likely to commit suicide than non-Aboriginal people in—where do you think that might be? Again, in the Kimberley, on the watch of the likes of Mr Hassell, the Liberal Party and the Liberal government in Western Australia. Not only is that an appalling statistic and an absolute tragedy for every family involved in a suicide; it is the highest rate of suicide in the world. And what do Mr Hassell, the Liberal Party and the Barnett Liberal government do about that? They do nothing—because that rate is going up and not down.

But let us not stop there. Let us look at juvenile incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids in WA. On any night you choose, one in every 77 Aboriginal boys in WA will be in detention. What kind of statistic is that, when those kids make up just six per cent of our population in Western Australia? Again, where is Mr Hassell's resolution on that? Where is the WA Liberal Party on that? Where is the Barnett government on that? They are nowhere. They allow these racist statements and comments to be the topic of discussion at their conference on Saturday, which the Prime Minister will attend and on which in here today Senator Abetz absolutely failed to back the Prime Minister.

Question agreed to.

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