Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Before I commence, I too would like to acknowledge the Ngunawal and the Ngambri people—the traditional owners of the land on which we meet—pay my respects to elders past, present and future and acknowledge that this was and always will be Aboriginal land.

I rise today to speak to the Prime Minister's Closing the Gap report 2016 and his statement on that report. I would like to note that this is the 10th anniversary of the Close the Gap campaign. The Prime Minister's report clearly shows that we are not making enough progress. We are not on target to close the gap. We have not made significant progress on life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples since the last report. Although we have made very welcome progress on two of the targets—reducing infant mortality and school leavers look like they are on track—targets for life expectancy, reading and numeracy, school attendance, and employment are not on track or show mixed progress at best. It is clear that if we do not improve what we are doing we will not close the gap.

The Australian Reconciliation Barometer still shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience high levels of racial prejudice and discrimination: 33 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reported experiencing verbal racial abuse and 62 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents believe prejudice is high. Tragically, things are getting worse in many areas. We know that Aboriginal children are nearly 10 times more likely to be in out-of-home care and the number of Aboriginal children going into out-of-home care is increasing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are imprisoned at a rate 13 times higher than non-Indigenous adults. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men are twice as likely to be in prison as in university.

In this country, we still have unfinished business. Sovereignty was never ceded in this country. Sovereignty and treaties are still rarely spoken about outside of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and that has to change. If we are going to achieve constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, which I know many people want to achieve, we need to look at this issue of unfinished business as well. I contend that unless we deal with this unfinished business, we will not close the gap.

Each year, the Close the Gap Campaign Steering Committee reports on progress, through the Progress andpriorities report, which has in the past been known as the shadow report, and each year I table in this place a copy of that report. I seek leave to table that report. I also seek leave to table Reconciliation's Australia's report The state of reconciliation in Australia: our history, our story, our future.

Leave granted.

The Progress andpriorities reportsays:

… progress against this headline indicator of population health has been difficult to measure but appears to have been minimal. While there is some good news to report, improvements are yet to be reported at this high level. Both absolute and relative gains are needed in future years.

The report also makes several key recommendations. They include that political parties—that is this place, folks—commit to:

Make Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing a major priority for their election policy platforms, and fund the Implementation Plan for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan (2013–2023) until it expires in 2023.

It also recommends that we adopt a justice target, which is critical when you think about the incarceration rates that I have just gone through, and that we adopt a target for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a disability. I have asked the Social Justice Commissioner some questions about this in estimates and talked to the Disability Discrimination Commissioner as well, who articulated that in fact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a disability suffer double discrimination and prejudice through being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and also having a disability.

The report also talks about the need for    Aboriginal controlled health services to be the preferred approach for Aboriginal primary health care and planning, and says that there should be a national inquiry into institutional racism in healthcare settings. I urge you to look at The state of reconciliation in Australiareport. You would be quite distressed to see some of the figures for discrimination reported in some of our institutions in this country. The report also commented and made recommendations on the disastrous Indigenous Advancement Strategy changes. The report states:

Another area of concern for the Campaign Steering Committee is the impact of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) on the social determinants of health.

More than any single policy, it is critical that we work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In his speech, the Prime Minister quoted advice he received from Dr Chris Sarra on how to truly make a difference in policy. One of the pieces of advice he received he said was very important. It was:

Do things with us, not to us.

It is very good advice, and I wish politicians and decision makers would listen to it and take it to heart. Sadly, all too often the government—I have to admit not just this government—has done things to Aboriginal people and not worked with them. This is a consistent pattern of doing things to, not working with. Too often, government policies have left Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples worse off, with critical gaps in their services.

The Indigenous Advancement Strategy has been a disaster for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations. We heard about it yet again when the Finance and Public Administration Committee was in Darwin having another hearing on this matter just last week. We heard again of the problems that this has caused. There was no consultation. Mick Gooda, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner highlighted yet again in last year's report and in 2014 the lack of consultation on that program, which, in many cases, took funding off Aboriginal organisations and gave it to non-Aboriginal organisations. We had funding taken from Aboriginal legal services. Some of it has been given back. We heard in Darwin last week that funding is not assured for many of the programs that deliver critical legal supports and services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and that that funding runs out in June this year. It is time that that changed. They need long-term funding.

The Northern Territory intervention is one of the most recent glaring examples of doing things to Aboriginal people, and it is still having ongoing ramifications. It is still in place in another guise, called Stronger Futures. The final evaluation of that report shows quite clearly the failure of that policy. The cashless welfare card—income management on steroids—is yet another example of doing things to Aboriginal communities. We heard on Friday all about the Community Development Program, which many Aboriginal communities have been told is CDEP coming back

Well, it is not. Be very concerned about that particular policy. These policy failures make things worse. They have a real impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this country, who face the challenges of decades of inequality and injustice.

As we work to close the gap, we need to talk about reconciliation in Australia. I have just tabled The state of reconciliation in Australia report. I urge all people to read that report. Again, the things they talk about are critical if we are going to close the gap. They talk about five dimensions that need to be considered: race relations, equality and equity, unity, institutional integrity and historical acceptance—do you hear a theme here? This is a theme that we need to be working on. We need to be addressing all of those issues if we are going to close the gap.

We do not need shock jocks getting on the radio and saying that we need another Stolen Generation. That is ignorance, and a complete lack of understanding of the current situation facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this country and the way that Aboriginal children are taken disproportionately into care without looking at the broader context and without providing the necessary supports that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders need. They do not need chopping and changing programs, failing to address the issues around race relations, institutional integrity, equality and equity, unity, historical acceptance and realising that we have unfinished business in this country that is critical to address.

I look forward to hearing and seeing a much better report next year on this vitally important issue.