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

I thank the member for Moreton for his supportive interjection. We are not going to apologise for the fact that we do demand the same level of accountability for Indigenous organisations as for non-Indigenous organisations. Mr Deputy Speaker McMullan, I do know that you yourself have a keen interest in Indigenous affairs and have had for a very long time. I think that it is going to be so much easier for the government of the day to obtain the political support from the Australian community to spend what needs to be spent if we can guarantee to the Australian community that there are appropriate levels of accountability, achievement and successful outcomes.

This government’s approach has been spot on, and I am heartened by the fact that so many Indigenous leaders have supported the position taken by this government. What we need to do is get away from the sit-down mentality, the concept where Indigenous people are paid substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money to basically live a cycle of welfare despair. I am not saying that money should not be made available to those who need it as a helping hand and as a safety net, but ultimately our aim as a community ought to be to redress Indigenous disadvantage so that ultimately Indigenous people are like the Australian community at large. That is what this government is seeking to do. I hope that is what some members from the other side are seeking to achieve.

Ultimately, of course, no-one has ownership of this particular issue. Both sides of politics are endeavouring to redress what everyone accepts is an unacceptable situation. Where the opposition is not supporting everything that this government is doing I think it is, to an extent, playing politics. That is unfortunate and it is regrettable because this government, through the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2006, is endeavouring to assist Indigenous people.

We are endeavouring to bring forward the right policy parameters to ensure a successful outcome. Ultimately in any piece of legislation you can always say that, while what is being spent is great, more ought to be spent. What a responsible government needs to do, while looking at the resources available to it, is to spend taxpayers’ money in accordance with community priorities. What we have sought to do in the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill is to have a balanced situation. We have sought to achieve what we can achieve. I know that, for instance, one of the reasons that year 9 students are being looked at is that there are very strong levels of evidence that year 9 is the time when many Indigenous children actually drop out of the system.

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