Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

One of the unfortunate challenges of the Australian Senate is that often statesmen in our community come to the Senate and succumb to the opportunity to be a politician. It's a great shame. Senator Dodson is someone from Western Australia, my home state, who is very well regarded and trusted across the Kimberley. He's a man of great eminence, and he's a true Australian statesman. That's why someone like me can't help but be very disappointed with the contribution that Senator Dodson just made, because he chose to be a politician and not the statesman that he is.

As disappointing as that is, I do accept that as we approach the end of this year, as we approach Christmas, unfortunately it does get a little bit silly in this place. As we approach the end of any parliamentary year, and as we succumb to the temptation to play politics in the lead-up to the next general election, I suppose it's beholden on each of us to think carefully and perhaps exercise greater caution when political opportunities like the one that we saw yesterday present themselves.

Senator Dodson stepped back from being a well-regarded Australian statesman to being a politician. I say that because of the evidence—two important sets of facts Senator Dodson chose to ignore. The first set of facts Senator Dodson chose to ignore was the set of facts that surrounded the unfortunate circumstances—and I'm a member of the coalition—of the vote yesterday in regard to a very bad, very unfortunate, very unnecessary notice of motion by One Nation. What are the facts in regard to that? The facts are very clear. Senator Cormann, as the leader of the coalition in the Senate, took ownership. He came to the Senate this morning and asked for the vote to be recommitted, meaning the vote was put again, and every coalition senator voted against that atrocious motion from Pauline Hanson's One Nation.

We took ownership of what was an error—not an error of policy, not an error of judgement but an error of administrative process. And I know that many Australians are not aware of the arcane nature of governing from the Australian Senate; they might not know what that means, but this is the point: coalition senators came back into the Australian Senate and corrected the situation. That's the first set of facts that Senator Dodson chose to ignore. He didn't even have the courtesy of reflecting on that in his five-minute contribution.

What's the other set of facts that Senator Dodson chose to ignore? Senator Dodson's contribution quite rightly pointed to the very, very serious disadvantage that Indigenous Australians face in our country. I know this. I'm a Senator from Western Australia. I spend time in the Kimberley and regional areas of my home state. I don't spend as much time in the Kimberley as Senator Dodson does, but I like to think that in my own way I, like him, am doing what I can be doing to draw attention to the issue of Indigenous disadvantage and improve it. So what is happening with regard to Indigenous disadvantage? I'll be the first to admit that we need to do more and that we need to act faster, and I've had lots to say about Indigenous health issues, particularly with regard to the explosion of STIs and HIV across Indigenous communities. There's always more to be done. But let's be clear, together, through bipartisanship, this parliament is doing the best it can do.

If Senator Dodson had chosen to be the statesman rather than the politician, he would have reflected on the fact that Indigenous child mortality has declined by 35 per cent between 1998 and 2016. The overall Indigenous mortality rate has declined by 14 per cent since 1998. Fewer Indigenous Australians are dying from chronic conditions. The rate of alcohol drinking during pregnancy has halved, and there's been a significant improvement in the proportion of Indigenous 20- to 24-year-olds achieving year 12 or equivalent schooling—up from 47 per cent in 2006 to 65 per cent in 2016. Like I said, there's always more to be done. And on the difficult issue of constitutional recognition, the coalition government has continued the process in an effort to bring Australians together on this. So, Senator McCarthy, your challenge is not to be a politician but to be a stateswoman. Over to you.