Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. Minister, the latest Closing the gap report shows that only four of the 19 targets are on track, and critical outcomes like incarceration, suicide and child removal are going backwards. How can your government continue to claim to be delivering outcomes for Indigenous Australians when your government's own report is damning and shows you are failing them?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle would be aware that the Productivity Commission report today updated on Closing the Gap. Obviously we are making progress in some areas and insufficient progress in others, and the government acknowledges that. I think you would have heard Minister McCarthy speaking about this publicly. Four targets are on track to be met. That is insufficient. Encouragingly, 10 targets are improving, and some states, like Victoria and South Australia, are making real progress. That is obviously good news. Unfortunately, the Northern Territory is not, and the report shows that in fact the Northern Territory is going backwards.

Obviously Closing the Gap is a long-term commitment. It's a commitment I hope that can continue to have bipartisan support. Obviously the minister is continuing to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the Coalition of Peaks to make a difference in the lives and life outcomes of Indigenous Australians.

As I said, we have four targets on track, including children enrolled in preschool, Indigenous employment, sea waters and land mass subject to legal rights and interests, all covered under Indigenous rights. But the targets that are improving, which do matter, are life expectancy, healthy birth weight, attainment of year 12, the completion of tertiary qualification, youth in employment, education or training, and Indigenous people living in appropriately sized housing. The really concerning ones are those not on track and worsening: early childhood, incarceration, which I know is something the chamber has been discussing, Indigenous children who are aged up to 17 held in out-of-home care, and Indigenous suicide rates. Obviously, as a country, we need to do better on those. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, first supplementary?

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister Wong. Of course we need to do better. Why does this government continue to talk about listening and reform when the reality is that, under Labor, since 2022, incarceration rates are rising—up 3.5 per cent; Indigenous suicide rates are worsening—up 9.4 per cent; and youth detention is up 11 per cent? Isn't this more proof that Labor governs with slogans, not substance?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No. I don't agree with you, and I don't think any government of any political persuasion—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So the statistics are just wrong?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, second supplementary?

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, let's try this one. The evidence is there. The latest—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, Senator Wong. I thought you had—

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I was sitting down because it would be good if, just on one issue, Senator Cash could show a modicum of bipartisanship.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very sorry. I did not hear Senator Cash. Senator Liddle, I think the minister has more to add on your first supplementary. And there needs to be silence across the chamber.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, I may not agree with every policy prescription you have, but I respect your commitment on these issues. What I would say to you—and I think you know this—is that no government of any political persuasion has delivered the sorts of outcomes on Closing the Gap targets that we would want, whether it's governments from your side of politics or ours, state or federal. We know that, and we have to do better.

I hope that, in this term, we see continued improvement on some of the targets that we are seeing now, and I hope the four targets you mentioned, which I was upfront about as worsening, are ones that we can turn around. We know that all of us—this parliament and governments of all political persuasions at state, federal and territory levels—have to work together to try and ensure we do better on these targets for— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, second supplementary?

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The latest Closing the gap report also shows that the target to reduce overcrowding in Indigenous housing is also not on track. Since the Albanese government was elected in 2022, how many new additional homes have been funded by the Commonwealth for Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory, and what is the net increase in housing supply in the Northern Territory?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will see if I can get more detail on the housing points and the specific issue of how much additional housing since we came to government in 2022. I would make the point that the information before me is that appropriately sized housing, which is target 9a, I think—I have it listed as improving but not on track. So I will certainly get for you whatever additional information Senator McCarthy can provide in relation to that. Obviously that means we're not meeting the target, but I hope what my brief says to me is that it is improving from where it was.