Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs (Senator Scullion) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today relating to funding for services for Indigenous Australians.

Today I and my colleagues attempted to seek some clarification and find some facts about what is actually happening in terms of funding for Indigenous programs in our country. I sought clarification and I quoted the budget papers, which say:

The government will achieve net savings of $534.4 million over five years through efficiencies resulting from the rationalisation of Indigenous programs, grants and activities administered by the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Health portfolios.

That is irrefutable. It says absolutely clearly in the budget papers that there will be net savings of $534.4 million over five years. That is why, again, Labor senators have asked how the minister can say, as he did on ABC radio recently, that there will be no cuts at all? He said it in here and he said it on the radio.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Put it in context—

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He did take the opportunity to put that into context, Senator. He did say 'to front-line services'. So where are the cuts? There are half a billion dollars in savings. So where are these cuts going to fall? They have got to fall on front-line services. I have said before that nobody—in particular, those in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and services—believes him that there are going to be no cuts.

I then went to the issue of the Family Violence Prevention Service and asked the minister why he cannot guarantee that that program will be continued. This program has been providing services for 15 years. In 2013-14 they had 5,330 clients, 15,707 advices, 60 per cent were of major or medium complexity and 409 community legal education projects have been delivered. This service need some certainty. It needs to know what is going to happen at the end of this financial year. But more concerning is that this program—and the Attorney-General has just referred to this program—was transferred from the Attorney-General's Department to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. I am advised that the funding guidelines state that the government intends for much of the funding to be available through open competitive grant rounds—the minister actually confirmed that—which will open on 8 September. But as of 14 August this year, the Family Violence Prevention Legal Service has not been able to confirm that legal assistance services are even eligible under the guidelines.

This service needs some certainty. We need to know what will be provided to women and their children who are experiencing family violence into the future. We need to know not only for services to clients but also for continuity of staff. Everyone of us here knows that when an organisation is facing potential closure staff will always go and look for alternative employment. That is just a reality. So this minister needs to give these services some certainty and he needs to give it right now. That is why I asked him today: would he guarantee that the Family Violence Prevention Legal Service could be guaranteed funding after 30 June next year? He did not answer that question. He could not answer that question and he should be able to. These services and their clients need certainty into the future.

With respect to the program that has been operating for over 35 years in the Ballarat community, I asked the question: can you guarantee that this service will be able to provide health services to the Aboriginal community of the Ballarat region? He, once again, could not answer. He would not and could not guarantee that those services will continue. I call upon the minister: please take hold of your department so that these services can have some certainty into the future to provide the services that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people so rightly deserve.

Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we are today witnessing the latest in Labor's confected scare campaigns about the budget. Labor had two approaches before last year's election. Both were cruel. We have seen this right across the budget papers, but today we have seen it in a particularly cruel way. There was the first approach, which was Labor's magical mystery budget tour. They made all these incredibly large promises in the future, including in my own portfolio of education, some off the forward estimates, which were dramatically unfunded and they did this with the intention of later running these fear campaigns. They did it with the intention of making promises they knew they were never going to deliver not only because they were not confident going into the last election but also because they knew they never had a way of funding it.

Another plan that Labor adopted was kick the can along so they expired at the end of this financial year or they were kept going only for the first year of government, as they did in some other parts of the budget, providing no funding certainty whatsoever.

If the previous government cared about programs, they could have made them ongoing but they did not. They left these time bombs and landmines in the budget that actually meant, absent any activity from government on either side, the programs were expiring. In some cases there are good reasons for programs to expire. But right across this budget, the previous Labor government kicked the can down the road, as they did with programs like Youth Connections, and simply tried to pass the problem off to future governments. If they cared, they would have made the budget allocations ongoing. But they chose not to. And Senator Wong was the finance minister at that time.

Labor are seeking to make Indigenous affairs partisan. They cannot bear the fact that, under this Prime Minister and under this government, we have the most committed leadership to dealing with the problems in our Indigenous communities that this country has ever seen. We have a Prime Minister who is uniquely committed to improving the lot of Indigenous Australians. But Labor, stuck in the identity politics of the 1970s and 1980s, cannot cope with that, so they try to confect a partisan fight with misleading examples of budgets in order to create some partisanship. They cannot stand the idea that Indigenous leaders stand with this Prime Minister, a Prime Minister of a coalition government, of the Liberal Party, who actually say, 'We've finally got a leader who is dealing with the real problems in our community. We've finally got someone who is giving Indigenous Australians a unique level of attention.' Not only has he spent time with them as Prime Minister, including last week when he went up to Arnhem Land, but he has done it for a decade as a minister, when it was unheralded. We have a Prime Minister who is uniquely committed to improving the lot of Indigenous Australians.

But the Labor Party cannot cope with this. The Labor Party seeks to create partisanship here because it does not want this issue dealt with in this way. The Labor Party is also making its historic error of mistaking money for actually solving problems in communities. If money were going to be the solution to the challenges in our Indigenous communities, everyone in this parliament would agree that there would have been more improvement in recent decades. There are many reasons that are not related to money. We need complex solutions to deal with complex challenges in our Indigenous communities. I do not think any of those challenges are made easier when the Labor Party seeks to confect partisanship fights.

What is the truth of some of the issues raised today? The children and family centres are able to apply for funding through the Indigenous Advancement Strategy's funding round, which is currently open to applications. They are able to make applications for that. It would be inappropriate for the minister to provide answers before those funding rounds are closed. But the number that Labor throws around needs to be put in context. The number that Labor has thrown around does not affect frontline services. It is not over four years; it is over a longer period. It includes Public Service savings of staff in the public sector here through the rationalisation of programs into the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It includes programs right across government and the savings that come from there. This government is uniquely committed to Indigenous affairs.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I look forward to making my contribution but before I do, through you, Mr Deputy President, it must be noted for all those poor devils having to sit out there and listen to some of the hyperbole that Senator the Hon. Scott Ryan is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education. Do not go away, Senator Ryan! You made some stupid statements and you should, at least, man up and cop the response. You would think that the parliamentary secretary would have some clue or some idea of what the heck he is talking about. I know what happened. He got tapped on the shoulder and told: 'Take notes; we don't know what on,' so he has to make it up as he goes. I have to tell the Senate—

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's how you used to do it!

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, but I am good at it, Senator Williams—through you, Mr Deputy President. The National Partnership Agreement provided the capital funds for these centres to be built—these early childhood and family centres. In reference to education, one would think the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education would understand that Mr Andrew Forrest, in the Forrest report, identified the No. 1 issue in improving Indigenous disadvantage as making sure that Aboriginal kiddies get early childhood education. The funding, and these centres we were asking the minister about, all go to providing that opportunity for a quality early childhood education for Aboriginal kids in remote communities and—shock, horror!—to white kids, and Aboriginal kids, whose mums and dads work. The previous government, through the National Partnership Agreement, funded these centres. We worked extensively with the communities. Each centre is completely different because, as we progressed through the program, centres were changed and moved around after consulting with parents, allied health specialists and educators. I want to go back to the silly assertions made by the parliamentary secretary that this government cares about childhood and early childhood education: if you cared about early childhood education, you would continue to fund this vital education stream.

I haunt the Kimberley. To me it is a second home; it has been a second home since 1980 when I first started driving trucks through there. I know the disadvantage that is created in these remote centres. When you go to Fitzroy Crossing, the only childhood centre is the Baya Gawiy centre that we, the previous government, built. We funded it. We also funded them for administration costs to keep them going. We met with senior Aboriginal leaders in Fitzroy Crossing including June Oscar AO, who is one of the most respected Aboriginal people, a mother and a grandmother. She has made it very clear; she came out and said in The Australian newspaper—that left-wing oracle, TheAustralian; that is really tongue in cheek!—that if the Baya Gawiy children and family centre in Fitzroy Crossing closed it could 'end programs that prepared children for school entry, as well as feeding and caring for them, in a facility paid for from Closing the Gap funds.' It would be catastrophic. It would be absolutely disgraceful if this centre and other centres, like the Little Nuggets centre in Halls Creek, closed. The federal government has come out and clearly said: 'No more funding! It's all Labor's fault and the state governments' fault because they will not fund.' I beg and I plead that those opposite put down their stupid political arguments and concentrate, and think about what this could mean for Aboriginal kids and the children of workers in Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and other remote centres throughout our great nation. If you take away their only childhood centre, what the heck to those parents do?

Let us not gloss it up. It is not all chocolates and flowers. I have visited these centres. You see children who are in these centres who not only have the ability to learn but are getting access to allied health. There is nothing more sad than seeing some of these kiddies—these little tackers—getting their first decent sleep. They are getting a decent sleep for an hour or two where they know they are safe and cared for. This has nothing to do with the 'Prime Minister for Indigenous affairs'—how grand he is! If Mr Abbott was truly a champion of Aboriginal people we would not even be having this conversation. I would not have to come into this chamber and plead and beg to continue this vital funding program.

I am not playing politics. I am truly standing up for Aboriginal people who need this vital funding stream.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to contribute to this debate. I, like Senator Sterle, spent some time in Aboriginal communities back in my days of driving trucks in the 1970s. It was interesting. We would go up to Yunta, out on the road to Wertaloona Station—Bob Wilson owned the property. Four or five trucks might pull up at two or three o'clock in the afternoon and settle down for the day, to load at daylight next morning. When we arrived at the station, there were two or three Aboriginal stockmen in the yards drafting cattle. It was hot and dusty and there they were with their horses tied up under the trees—great workers, great Australians and very proud of what they were doing.

Money does not solve problems. I will tell you what we did: we threw money at the problem. I doubt whether there are many Aboriginal Australians employed in the Flinders Ranges now on those stations. In fact, I took previous minister Mark Arbib out to Wilcannia, where I learnt of this disgusting situation: the average lifespan of an Aboriginal man in Wilcannia is 33 years. That is disgraceful. I ask this question of people: find me somewhere in the world that has an average lifespan of 33 years or worse. I do not think you could find one. This is what we have done.

I am saying this to Senator Sterle and others here: when it comes to passion about our First Australians, no-one in this chamber has a greater passion for our First Australians than Senator Scullion, the Leader of the Nationals in the Senate. It is his passion and he is determined to do whatever he can to get best value for the taxpayer's dollar in assisting these people who need so much assistance. Education is the first thing, and I am very proud of what our minister is doing in relation to getting kids to school. Where are they going to go in this world without an education? What future do they have? Sure, there are traditional jobs out there, and a great history and culture, but we have to help these people get jobs and the first part of that is education. Mr Deputy President Marshall, you know full well we inherited a budget mess. We inherited $320 billion of gross debt when we were won government on 7 September last year. A billion rolls off the tongue pretty easily, doesn't it? One million and one billion—let us just focus on those amounts. Put that figure into seconds: one million seconds in time is 11½ days. In 11½ days we go through a million seconds. One billion seconds in time is 31.7 years. There is a big difference between one million and one billion, and we are talking billions.

The IAS, the Indigenous Advancement Strategy, is a major refocusing of Indigenous funding, streamlining over 150 programs and services from eight government departments—I repeat: eight government departments—into just five streams. These are: (1) jobs, land and economy; (2) children and schooling; (3) safety and wellbeing; (4) culture and capability; and (5) remote Australian strategies. Together they constitute the $4.8 billion Indigenous Advancement Strategy or IAS—a most important scheme.

To say that that is being cut—well, for Senator McLucas, I will put it into context. Those front-line services are not being cut. We do have a budget problem. Every Australian realises we have a budget problem. We inherited that budget problem from you, the financial messes on that side of the chamber, who have a history, a legacy, of sending the place broke, whether it be the state of Queensland, Victoria in the late eighties, South Australia, Western Australia or Tasmania—you name it, that is your legacy of spending money and borrowing up to the hilt.

We have to make every dollar count. That is what our Indigenous affairs minister, Senator Scullion, and the Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, are making their utmost and best effort to do: to make sure that the dollars get to the forefront so that we get the education, the health and the exercise, and so that we especially look after those in very remote areas who need so much assistance.

The claim that the Family Violence Prevention Legal Services are not eligible for funding under the government's Indigenous Advancement Strategy is incorrect; they can apply, and I encourage them to do so. I will repeat that: the claim that the Family Violence Prevention Legal Services are not eligible for funding under the government's Indigenous Advancement Strategy is incorrect; they can apply, and I encourage them to do so.

The Indigenous Advancement Strategy funding round opened on 8 September and will close on 17 October. Time restricts me from going on, but I will say that to make this a political issue, a partisan issue, is simply wrong, and it is those opposite trying to get political points.

Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers given by Senator Scullion to questions without notice. I will firstly say that I think it was fantastic that our Prime Minister went out to East Arnhem Land and spent some time there with the Yolngu people. However, in saying that, a lot of people in the Northern Territory would know that, whilst Yirrkala and the Yolngu people certainly have their challenges, it is not as challenged a community as most others. Next time I would recommend that the Prime Minister go to a community called Whitegate, which is just 10 kilometres outside of Alice Springs, where the mates of this government have turned off the water to the Aboriginal people of that community, to remove them from their country.

I want to ask the question: what did the Prime Minister learn on his trip to Arnhem Land? There was never any mention of the reversal of these half-a-billion-dollar cuts. A couple of weeks ago, I went to a childcare centre with our leader, Bill Shorten—Bubup Wilam childcare centre. That childcare centre told Bill Shorten and me that it is in need of $500,000—$500,000 that will keep 80 Aboriginal kids at school, in early childhood education. What we are saying is: you have seen the Twiggy Forrest report where they talk about the importance of early childhood education; what this government is doing is denying one of the most basic, most fundamental human rights of every child—that is, access to early childhood education. There are 38 of these centres around this country that are clearly underfunded.

I will now turn to the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, a legal centre in East Arnhem Land. That service will close its doors, which means that we are going to continue to incarcerate Aboriginal people at an absolutely disgraceful level. This country should not be proud of its history. And when you hear the people on the other side, those in this government, talk about funding and money and all that sort of thing, think: it is $350 a day to keep an Aboriginal man or person in jail—$350 a day. It is $200,000 a year to keep an Aboriginal kid in a juvenile detention centre. We are asking for half a million dollars to keep 80 Aboriginal children in a facility that will allow them to grow and to appreciate the value of education in this country.

The minister today said that everyone was delighted with his decisions. I do not know who he is talking to, because that is certainly not the case. I, as an Aboriginal woman, speak to a lot of people, day in day out, and Aboriginal people are hurting. They are hurting, every single day, because people are confused. You come up with an Indigenous advancement strategy and you ask Aboriginal people to go and compete in an open tender. You could have a person in New South Wales delivering a service to a remote community that was never even consulted, without setting foot in that community. This whole system is unfair.

We have a Prime Minister who says that he wants to be the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Australians, but he has not done one single thing that has been of positive effect for Aboriginal people in this country. And we should not stand by and think that Australia is a country full of opportunities and we are about advancing the cause, because it is just not true.

As to the cuts to the Family Violence Prevention Legal Services: an Aboriginal woman in the Northern Territory is 80 times more likely to be hospitalised through assault, and cutting this service will see that go through the roof. Everyone says, 'I've been to this community; I've met Aboriginal people.' Well, guess what? Until you are an Aboriginal person, you do not know what it is like. I can put my hand on my heart and say I know that my people across this country are hurting. If the minister were fair dinkum—he says he understands Aboriginal people—he should know that levels of chronic disease in this country are unacceptable and the only way to combat that is to invest in primary health care. Primary health care is the one-stop shop where someone goes to an Aboriginal medical service. He says that he is doing all the great things. Well, guess what, Minister? Thirteen Aboriginal people from World-Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, where he is running around trying to get people to sign over their leases, have lost their jobs, including rangers, due to the government budget cuts. It will do harm to other gainful employment skills. All gone; kaput.

Question agreed to.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are there further motions to take note of answers?