James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I agree with Senator Moore: this is a very serious issue. It is also a very complex issue. It is not a simple issue. No Australian—no-one in the government included—who watched that episode of Four Corners could be anything other than horrified and disgusted at the vision that was included. No-one could watch it and be anything other than appalled and shocked. No-one could be anything other than determined to fix it as soon as possible. That is why the coalition federal government acted as decisively as any in memory to establish very quickly a royal commission and to appoint two very eminent royal commissioners to look into this issue.

I think all senators would agree that the royal commission should be allowed to do its job effectively. I think all senators would agree that the commission should be supported to fully and thoroughly investigate this matter and to propose solutions which will be considered by both the Northern Territory government and the federal government. I think it is important that we recognise, though, that this is not just a recent failure and it is not just a failure of one side of politics or the other. There is a cultural problem in the Northern Territory corrections system; that much is clear. It is a problem which has existed for many years. It has existed under governments of both political persuasions. No-one in the Northern Territory has covered themselves with glory in administering this system.

I do not think that getting to solutions and implementing solutions for this problem are aided, however, by partisan attacks on the federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs. Let's remember that he does not administer the Northern Territory corrections system. He is not responsible for appointing or employing any of the people who were seen in the footage. He is the federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs and, as a result, he takes a great deal of interest in this matter but it is not on his watch that this occurred. It is not his responsibility that this occurred.

The coalition government is committed not just to reforming the Northern Territory criminal justice system in terms of juvenile detention but also to looking at wider, related issues. This is a complex problem and it starts at high rates of Indigenous offending and high rates of Indigenous incarceration. That needs to be addressed in a holistic, systematic way. That is something which probably is going to require extensive legal reform and the goodwill and bipartisanship of all sides of politics, particularly in the Northern Territory. We are committed to assisting in that process. This year alone we are providing $256 million through the Indigenous Advancement Strategy to help improve community safety and address the drivers of Indigenous incarceration. The Prime Minister has also put the issue of transitioning Indigenous people from incarceration to employment—in order to reduce the risk of offending and reoffending—onto the agenda of the Council of Australian Governments.

Before I conclude, I want to also take a moment to reflect on our colleague Minister Scullion. I do not think anyone in this place would doubt his sincere commitment to the advancement of Indigenous Australians. He has spent more time, more energy and more effort focused on these issues than almost anyone in this chamber, with a very few honourable exceptions. No-one can doubt his passion and his dedication to the advancement of the causes of Indigenous Australians. I think he is very well placed, as a senator for the Northern Territory, as the Indigenous affairs minister. Long before he came into that role, he had a commitment to these issues, and, I suspect, long after he leaves this role and leaves this place, he will still have a long-term commitment to these issues.

I invite opposition senators who think they have done more on this issue, who think they might have devoted more time on this issue, to tell the Senate about their track record, about their years of commitment and service to this issue. I look forward to hearing how they have done more than Senator Scullion to address these issues, how their commitment is more sincere, how they have spent more time in remote Indigenous communities and how they have spent more time with young Indigenous men and women and talked to them and listened to them about the issues that they face. I very much look forward to Labor senators demonstrating in a partisan way—as they seem to want to handle this issue—that their interest is superior to that of the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion.