Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Sadly, the Closing the gap report has once again become an annual reminder of what this government is not doing and what it has not done for Indigenous Australians. This year's report is no different. In fact, the Productivity Commission's data shows that only four of the 19 targets in the national agreement are actually to be met. I say that again—four. That is not progress, despite the speech we just heard. Quite frankly, it is a disgraceful national failing, and, disturbingly—despite the speech, again—it is actually worse than last year, when at least five targets were on track.

Let that sink in, everybody. The Albanese government have gone backwards when it comes to closing the gap. After four years of this government, after billions of dollars in spending and after an enormous and divisive national debate about a voice to parliament, we now have—this is the reality for Australians—fewer Closing the Gap targets on track than when Labor came to power. I certainly wouldn't sit here and ask for congratulations if I were the minister. The number of children being removed from their families and placed in out-of-home care is getting worse under the Albanese government. Suicide rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are getting worse under the Albanese government. The proportion of Indigenous children who are developmentally on track is getting worse under the Albanese government. That is the Albanese government's record when it comes to Closing the Gap.

In fact, if I cast my mind back to October 2023, Australians gave the Albanese government a very, very clear message about the way they wanted these issues approached. They said no to the Voice referendum by an absolute majority. In the wake of that result, what has this government done? Quite frankly, they have pretended that it all never happened. Instead of rolling up their sleeves and getting on with the work of closing the gap in health, in housing, in education, in employment and in safety, the Albanese government consumed the better part of its first term and enormous political capital and public goodwill on a referendum that Australians ultimately resoundingly rejected. Then what did it do? As I said in the beginning of my speech, we have gone backwards. Last year, it was five targets; this year, it is four targets. That is an appalling record. They have left behind Indigenous Australians. That is the leadership, sadly, that we have come to expect from the Albanese government: give a great speech, don't go anywhere near the failures and pretend it is all alright. Well, it's not alright, and the Closing the Gap annual statement clearly shows that.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, my colleague and someone who, as we all know, has dedicated her public life to the genuine wellbeing of Indigenous Australians, has said for many years that these issues should be approached not solely on the basis of race but on the basis of need, and Senator Nampijinpa Price is right. The Australian people agreed with Senator Nampijinpa Price in 2023, and the data in the latest Productivity Commission report again proves Senator Nampijinpa Price right today. Senator Nampijinpa Price, with the full backing of the coalition, has persistently and courageously called for a complete and independent audit of government spending on Indigenous Australians and the programs that are supposedly supporting them.