Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion relating to the 2025-26 supplementary budget estimates hearings, as circulated.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to contingent notice of motion standing in the name of Senator Cash, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the 2025-26 supplementary budget estimates hearings.

The reason I do that is, today, Labor and the Greens did what we have been predicting for some time that they would—another dodgy deal. Today that deal dropped to an absolutely new low, and that low was, of course, the removal of scrutiny, which is incredibly important, in two areas. The motion we want to move today is one that relates to the cross-portfolio estimates hearings of, firstly, the Indigenous matters and, secondly, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

It is astounding that a Labor government that holds itself up as the champion of Indigenous Australians—in partnership with the Greens, who claim the same thing—would go and scrap a full day of hearings in the Senate estimates process relating to Indigenous matters when we consider that many of the key indicators around closing the gap are going backwards when it comes to Indigenous wellbeing in this country. This government, who promised us new levels of transparency, who promised us that they would ensure that Australians knew more about what was happening here under this government and who promised that they would provide accountability to the Australian people about things that mattered, have gone and slammed the door on accountability and have shut down scrutiny of what they should be offering to this parliament. But the worst part is that, for those who signed up to this terrible arrangement, it's the Greens who have backed this in. I do not know how it's the Australian Greens, who for so long have stood in here and told us that governments of either persuasion don't do enough for Indigenous Australians and that we need to do more. Former Greens, like Senator Cox, would probably have championed a different position inside the Greens but instead are now part of the Labor Party and signed up to this terrible arrangement. It is not good for democracy, it is not good for accountability, and it's certainly not good for Indigenous Australians.

Let's go through some of the key indicators we need to consider when this government has gone through a decision-making process as part of their sneaky deal earlier on in the chamber today to quash estimates for a whole day to consider cross-portfolio Indigenous matters. Youth detention under this government is up 11 per cent. But let's not have a day of Senate estimates; let's shut it down. Youth suicide, of course, is up by 9.4 per cent.

Government senators interjecting—

But, hey, you know what? There's no scrutiny. There's no accountability. If we talk about adult incarceration, it's up under this government by 3.5 per cent. Let's not have a day of hearing to examine what is actually going on and see where the policies of this government are failing Indigenous Australians. We've got colleagues who actually want to ask questions. Did anyone want to give a reason for that? No. They slipped it through the Senate, with the Greens, and just rammed it through. It's appalling. Preschool attendance in Indigenous Australians is down by 2.6 per cent. Again, let's not have a day of hearings to actually examine what's going wrong, why this government's policies are failing and why things need to change.

Government senators interjecting—