Mal Brough (Longman, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Let us make no mistake today that the speech by the member for Lingiari was not about addressing the fundamental issues; it was about revisiting an ideological approach that has failed. It is one that has failed miserably the people whom we should all seek to represent. I would like to address at the outset a few of the issues that the member for Lingiari raised. For starters, he said I should have a dialogue with him and some other people. Let me tell you that the people I have had dialogue with and continue to do so are not just Indigenous leaders and representative bodies—whether it be the NIC or Reconciliation Australia—but people over the fences, people sitting on the river banks, people who have been picked up by the night patrol and people sitting in their homes who do not have a voice. They do not know that this discussion is taking place in here today.

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