Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise on behalf of the coalition to speak on behalf of this motion but more particularly to support the amendment that has been moved by Kumanjayi Little Baby's aunt Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. The reason that Jacinta has moved the amendment is that, as she expressed to all of us about her niece's life, the words that we pass in this chamber must be worthy of the life that we are today honouring. To be worthy of Kumanjayi Little Baby's life, we must be honest. We owe it not just to Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was just five years old; we owe the truth to her family, but, more than that, we owe the truth to all Australians.

There's a song that says: 'We believe the children are our future. Teach them well. Let them lead the way.' As we stand today here in this chamber, we have failed yet again. We have failed another Indigenous child. Jacinta, that was one of the most powerful speeches, I think, ever given in this chamber. Why? Because today you are the face, you are the reality, of what so many Indigenous parents, what so many Indigenous families, go through—the burying of a child. Worse than that, it's the burying of a child when we all know there was red flag after red flag.

As we've heard, Kumanjayi Little Baby was just five years old. She had her life ahead of her. She loved the colour pink. Just like all other children, she loved Bluey and she loved Cocomelon. She had brothers. She loved playing Minecraft with her older brother. This is her reality. This is the reality of a system that has failed, time and time again, despite the billions and billions of dollars that flow out of this place every single year. As Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said, we don't ever ask: what is actually the outcome of those billions of dollars that flow out of this place every single year? This is her reality. A little five-year-old was put to bed in a house in the Old Timers camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs. It was on Anzac Day this year. She was taken by a monster and she was killed in the most horrific manner. She had a name. She had a family. We have heard the raw emotion from her aunt today in the Senate about the impact that her death has had not just on the family but on the community. A five-year-old, despite the red flags, despite the billions and billions of dollars, the rivers of gold that flow out of this place every single year, has had a future taken from her.

That is why we have moved the amendment to the motion. It's because what we do not want in passing this motion today is to allow her death to become just another statistic. We stand here, we give words of condolence and we pat ourselves on the back that we've said the right thing and that the good news is another billion dollars will flow out the door. We don't want her death to become words that fade before they become action. As Jacinta has so eloquently put it, we must today go further than condolence. We must go further than sympathy, and we must—all of us. It doesn't matter what political party we are from. We all have collective responsibility here for a system that, under government after government after government, has failed our most vulnerable. We must start demanding accountability. Jacinta, on behalf of all of us, I can't begin to imagine what your family is going through, but we need to demand accountability on your behalf.