Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Cash gave a very sensitive answer to the question that was posed to her earlier in question time. Let's be very clear in this debate. There is the suggestion that we on this side are somehow racist, but we were the first party to endorse and have elected to this parliament somebody from the First Nations—namely, former senator Neville Bonner. This just destroys Senator Dodson's political argument. And it is a very political argument that is not based on the evidence.

We then move on to ask: which party provided the first Indigenous minister of the Crown in the federal parliament? Well, it's Minister Wyatt, from Western Australia. Yet, somehow, we are trying to discriminate against the First Nations people when we have embraced them into our party, endorsed them and, indeed, ensured that they are part and parcel of mainstream democracy in Australia. I would invite Senator Dodson to listen to a former president of the Australian Labor Party, Mr Mundine, who has a lot of things to say about the sort of politics and rhetoric in which Senator Dodson has just engaged. It is not assisting the Indigenous community or in building bridges between the various communities within Australia. I would also invite him to listen to the Indigenous councillor, the Country Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Lingiari, Councillor Jacinta Price. She has also spoken very strongly about the sort of divisive rhetoric that Senator Dodson engaged in and which is not helpful.

Let there be no doubt that this country has to continually deal with the legacy of white settlement and the impact that it has had on the Indigenous community, but it's not assisted by the sort of language that was unfortunately used by Senator Dodson. I would just invite him to come with us on the journey of seeking, for example, to engage the Indigenous community with education, because, within the Indigenous community, if people have achieved a certificate IV, then in relation to matters economic and being part and parcel of mainstream society it is very difficult to show that there has been discrimination. That is part and parcel of the work that Andrew Forrest has been able to provide to this parliament on a number of occasions. That is why Minister Scullion, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, is so anxious to ensure that we get our Indigenous community to have their children attend school so that they too can benefit from the economic wellbeing within Australia. If they are able to achieve certificate IV, they are well and truly on the track, along with every other Australian.

That is how we seek to address the difficult elements that the Indigenous community face. That is how one deals with these things, not by the sort of rhetoric, with respect, from Senator Dodson. That does not help the debate. That does not help Indigenous people to become part and parcel of enjoying all the things that we all, as Australians, ought to be able to enjoy. So I say divisive rhetoric does not help; practical solutions do. We on this side do celebrate the likes of former senator Neville Bonner, the Hon. Ken Wyatt, Country Liberal Party candidate Jacinta Price and, of late, Warren Mundine. (Time expired)