Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like the honourable member for Canberra, I am also a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. While I have also been participating in the discussions—that inquiry that she referred to concerning Indigenous employment outcomes—I must say that I have not drawn the same conclusion from all of the evidence that the member for Canberra has in her contribution.

Having said that, I respect the fact that the member for Canberra is relaying to the House what is her recollection. However, what I think is very reassuring for the country at large, and for our Indigenous communities in particular, is the fact that both sides of politics are now taking a very keen interest in improving Indigenous disadvantage. Historically in Australia, governments have sought to solve the problem of Indigenous disadvantage by throwing money at it. What we need to do, as this government is doing, is to look at outcomes and to look at what we are able to achieve, and to look at practical reconciliation to make sure that ultimately Indigenous communities do attain the same opportunities and the same standard of living as the general Australian community at large.

This government and the current Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs have focused on what have been some of the endemic problems in Indigenous communities. So often governments in the past have tended to throw these problems in the too-hard basket. They find that it might be politically incorrect to talk about violence in Indigenous communities and that it might be politically incorrect to state some of the home truths that this government has stated. It really is important that we spend money as required to redress Indigenous disadvantage. But what is important is not the process; what is important is the outcome. This is what this government has sought to achieve.

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