Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

Here's a bit of truth-telling: cross-portfolio day is a day to interrogate these critical issues. The Northern Territory, right now, is the worst performing place for your policies and their impact on Indigenous Australians. You have three members in this parliament from the Northern Territory. There have been 17 years of cross-portfolio estimates work, and you decide, when we're seeing the greatest failure in Indigenous Australians' portfolio areas, to axe the cross-portfolio days. It is bad enough that that day is truncated. For people out there in the Australian community: Indigenous Australians cross-portfolio day starts at 9 am and is over by 5 pm—unlike days for the other portfolio days, that sometimes go until 10 o'clock at night. They used to go to 11 o'clock. It is truncated across so many different areas. So many people come in that we can't get to them all, so eventually they have to go home.

This Labor government is actually about announcements, not accountability, and there's certainly no transparency in removing the cross-portfolio day. This is at a time when we see closing the gap going in the wrong direction—not just going in the wrong direction; going in the wrong direction under Labor's watch. Since 2022 youth detention is up 11 per cent, suicide is up 9.4 per cent, adult incarceration is up 3.4 per cent, preschool attendance is down 2.6 per cent, and 1.2 per cent fewer children are commencing school developmentally on track. I think that calls for greater scrutiny. I think that calls for greater time, not less time and not less opportunity. It calls for practical action over symbolism. It calls for action over announcements. It calls for greater scrutiny not just of the Labor government, its policies and how they've contributed to this terrible outcome but also of the bureaucrats and the programs that are delivered.

Recently I travelled to regional and remote Western Australia and the Northern Territory, visiting the Kimberley, Darwin and Katherine—that includes Broome, Wyndham and Kununurra—and I saw and heard of countless examples of the duplication of services where there is desperate need, and of programs that aren't delivering any change for Indigenous Australians. ORIC itself, the regulator, came out and defended the 1,254 Indigenous organisations that have failed to meet their reporting obligations for the 2023-24 financial year. That's under your watch, Labor. You've failed to enforce mandatory minimum requirements under the Indigenous procurement policy, the coalition's landmark Indigenous procurement policy for government contracts. That's your handiwork, Labor. What are you trying to cover up? According to the ANAO, only one in five government contracts is monitored for compliance with the IPP, and only one-quarter of those are compliant. You need to answer those questions.

The Prime Minister held events spruiking his Indigenous economic empowerment agenda—of course, largely consulting with people who've spent most of their lives in the public sector or in organisations that are paid for by the government purse. We didn't see anywhere near enough private sector companies or representatives, even though two-thirds of the people running successful Indigenous businesses are not even part of Supply Nation. This is under your watch.

When there are record insolvencies in this country and Indigenous businesses are struggling, we want to know what you've done and are doing to help them—not coming up with the next grand, big idea of economic development. The four targets going in the wrong direction are not actually about that. We want to talk about what you are doing about the drivers for those four targets. What you did on Friday actually made sure there is less capacity for scrutiny. Shame on you.