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

I applaud entrepreneurial spirit. Garma is a festival of cultural exchange over several days of Yolngu culture, just one Indigenous language group. Every single senator in this place comes from a different language group. We're not the same; we're diverse. We come from different country as well, and, even when you understand our cultures, they're diverse too. So we should be respected for our diversity. At Garma, guests pay between $2,500 and $5,000 of the privilege of participation, and they can choose to do that. This year I suspect the numbers are in record numbers for public servants, Labor politicians, teals, Greens, people from big consulting firms, people from land councils and people from those companies that have RAPs. They would have all been there. We already know their position on Voice.

What if, instead of flying in for a photo opportunity, the Prime Minister and his ministers dropped in to Port Augusta or Central Australia, where their attention is really needed? They'd welcome less talk, more action and accountability from politicians, public servants, policy advisors, program providers. During the three days of Garma, in Port Augusta police were forced to use pepper spray to break up a youth brawl, and just a couple of weeks ago 25 children were among 66 arrests. Translated, that means more of our kids in custody, more damage to property, more families impacted. In Alice Springs, a gang of youths ran amok, this time stealing a bus from an aged-care home and using axes to break into an aero club, Qantas freight and the airport firefighting facility. You need to focus on what matters now and what matters most. Accountability matters. The PM and your ministers are accountable. The organisations you fund are accountable. Your risky Voice is not the answer; accountability is.