Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I begin my substantive contribution today, can I acknowledge the statement made by Senator Polley earlier in senators' statements in her role as co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Dementia on the work that Dementia Australia is doing, particularly the display that they have in the building today relating to technology. At the risk of invoking the ire of the Acting Deputy President, I will hold up a prop, which is the BrainTrack card for Dementia Australia—

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Colbeck, you know that's out of order.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the BrainTrack app from Dementia Australia to anyone who's interested. It is a new piece of technology. It has already helped diagnose people with dementia. I think it's a great piece of work by Dementia Australia. I want to endorse the words of Senator Polley and demonstrate clear bipartisanship in support of the work of Dementia Australia, which is really important.

The issue that I do want to talk about today, and it was my intention in it taking this position, is in relation to business of the Senate formal motion No. 1, which is a reference to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee. It's in my name and in the names of a number of colleagues. It's in relation to a reference for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representative organisations. I think this is very important reference, and I would have preferred to have been able to debate it later, but the fact is that the change in the way the chamber is operating today means that that's not possible, so I take this opportunity now.

The first question I ask, rhetorically, is: how did this motion come about? It came about due to some appearances by some of these organisations at Senate estimates prior to Christmas. There was a very concerning performance at Senate estimates. The committee offered some training to those organisations, and I have to say they took that training up and the resultant process was very good. But, at the subsequent Senate estimates, we had ORIC come in and place some information on the table in their opening statement that I think was genuinely very concerning, and that goes to their reporting process. One of the things that we do in estimates is scrutinise the spending of Australian taxpayers' money. This is what the opening statement said:

… reporting compliance across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations is unacceptably low, with 28% of corporations who have failed to meet their reporting obligations for two years in a row.

How is that acceptable? ORIC works with these organisations to remind them. The reporting obligations are not necessarily burdensome; they're catered to the organisations themselves. They have 371 corporations that are currently being deregistered. But then the opening statement goes on to say, '999 corporations have failed to lodge annual reports for both 2020-21 and 2021-22,' and, '829 corporations have not yet lodged 2021-22 annual reports.' If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is. This is a serious reference, and I don't understand why this can't be dealt with immediately.

We have crises in our Indigenous communities. We see it on our televisions every day. I have to say it is beyond me. It is tragic. It is tragic that we appear, because the government doesn't want to have a look at this, to be unable to deal with it. Why can't we be looking at the real problems? I'm not saying the Voice is not real. Don't get me wrong; I think it's a very important debate for this country. But why is it not possible for us to start looking at, dealing with and fixing the problems that are clearly reported in ORIC's opening statement in Indigenous communities across this country? We need to ensure that the taxpayers' money that is being provided to those organisations by Australians is doing the things that it needs to be doing. Why is it not possible to do that? I think it's completely and utterly lamentable that we may be in a position this afternoon, when the vote comes, where we will not be permitted to undertake what I think is a very, very important piece of work for this Senate.