Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As shadow minister for child protection, I raise this: new data released just last week puts four of the 19 Closing the Gap targets on track. Only four is less than a quarter of the Closing the Gap targets. This means 15 targets—issues that affect real people—are not on track. I'm talking about child protection, life expectancy, learning, health, justice and safety. We see the emotion and elation roller-coaster from the Labor Party and the Prime Minister on these challenging and complex issues, but it needs evidence based decision-making and common sense to make a real difference. Emotion is not the answer. What is needed is high expectations and greater accountability.

On Aboriginal lands in South Australia, locals need improved infrastructure, less interference—not more—in their lives and the smartest people working on solutions. Today all Australians are doing it tough, and yet yesterday, today and tomorrow it is, unfortunately for them, all about Voice. For remote areas, fuel is around $2.49 a litre today. I saw a report on the weekend with the price of a single pumpkin at $28. These are real everyday issues for remote regional Australians. There are so many Indigenous commissioners, ambassadors, advocates, working groups, conventions and expert panels, as well as 11 federal parliamentarians and people who identify as Indigenous, who can provide advice to government and its executives. The Albanese government and the Minister for Indigenous Australians have got their priorities wrong. Australians are hurting, and disproportionately so. It's a shame your priorities are not focused on real people and issues that matter to them where they live every single day.

In my other shadow minister role, I'm focused on family violence. I also acknowledge it is International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.