Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate Madam Deputy Speaker Burke on her election to her new position. I know she will carry it out with great care and attention. First of all, I want to say to the House what a wonderful morning we have had here in this parliament. It can only be described, I think, as a new chapter in our nation’s history. For the first time ever there has been a true indication of bipartisan support for tackling Indigenous issues and for ensuring that these very important matters are above politics. We have today dealt with unfinished business. As the Prime Minister said, it is time for all of us, right across the political spectrum, to come together to build a new future. The Leader of the Opposition has outlined in his remarks both this morning and again now the extent of the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians—not only the horrific 17-year life expectancy gap but also the gap in educational attainment. We have set ourselves targets to close those gaps, and we intend to do everything we can to achieve those. I hope that in the spirit of bipartisanship the Leader of the Opposition and his coalition will join us in making sure that we do everything to close those gaps.

I do think it is important to have an opportunity to update the House on the progress of the Northern Territory intervention. I should just say at this point that the government’s position on the intervention is very clear. We supported the intervention when it went through the parliament last year and it remains our firm position in government. It is unfortunate that the Leader of the Opposition did not see fit to also read into the Hansard the remarks that Dr Sue Gordon made after I had met with the task force. She indicated that she did understand the government’s strong commitment to the intervention and our strong commitment to taking a number of issues forward, which is the subject of this matter of public importance. I will touch on those in a minute.

We do understand that one of the critical issues with this intervention is that it is very complex. There have been a number of areas that have been implemented with, you might say, not a lot of care and thought beforehand. As a result, implementation has not always gone smoothly. One area in particular where we have had continuous work to try and address the problems has been income management. We certainly support the introduction of income management, but there have been many, many issues that have needed to be addressed by either Centrelink or other agencies because of the very complex nature of the project that has been put in place.

The other area that really was the subject of very poor planning was the previous government’s decision to just dramatically close down some community development employment programs. We are now starting to get reports from communities. The Leader of the Opposition may have seen the article in last weekend’s Australian which was headed ‘Policy made in haste locks communities in a jobs vacuum’. Unfortunately we are hearing similar things back from communities ourselves—that is, as a result of the previous government’s dramatic closure of CDEP, without thinking about what was going to be put in its place, a number of community members are participating less than they were when CDEP was in operation.

Our fundamental approach in this area, our guiding principle, is that of evidence. We intend to base our actions on the facts. We want to make sure that we identify what works and what does not work. That is what will guide our policy. There is not a member in this House that does not want to see the reduction of child abuse. We want to make sure that in this intervention we look at what is working, we look at what is not working and we make the changes that are needed so that we have effective and evidence based policy. As all of us know, policy decisions that are made poorly will have an impact on Indigenous children into the future. So we all have a responsibility to address these issues. That is why we have made a commitment, as the new government, to have a review of the intervention at the 12-month point. It will be a properly independent and transparent review and will make sure that the results are available for all to see so that we can go forward with evidence that tells us all about what will make a difference for children in the Northern Territory. It will also be important for us to assess, through that review, the effectiveness of the actions taken to date.

I indicated before that the new government has already outlined where it intends to put additional measures in place that will help children in the Northern Territory. Unlike the previous government, we have made a very significant commitment to deliver 200 extra teachers into schools in the Northern Territory. It is the case that at least 2,000 children—and we suspect the number is higher—are not even enrolled to go to school in the Northern Territory. Unfortunately, the previous government did not see fit to address this issue. Those children are not even enrolled to go to school and, if they did turn up at school, there would not be a teacher to teach them. So the government has announced that it will make sure that 200 additional teachers are put in place to make sure that when the children do go to school—and we certainly want them at school—there will be a teacher to teach them.

My colleague the Minister for Health and Ageing will be talking about the additional measures that we intend to put in place in the Northern Territory to improve primary health services. We know that the situation for children—and adults, I have to say—is very serious in the Northern Territory. But I will leave my colleague the Minister for Health and Ageing to talk further in this debate about the improvements we intend to bring forth in the health area.

We have also committed to building three additional boarding schools because we know that, for many senior or older students in the Northern Territory, there are no secondary schools for them to go to. We want to make sure that these boarding schools are built and that children have the opportunity to continue their secondary education so that they have the chance to get an education and get on in life. At the moment they do not have those opportunities.

We have also put in place something that was not done at all by the previous government, and that is a proper process of consultation. One of the important things in any area of public policy—and I have to say that it is particularly important in this area of Indigenous affairs—is to bring people with you, to make sure that you talk with people, consult with them and, in that way, guarantee that your policies are more likely to be well received and implemented.

In December, not long after the election of the new government, the Prime Minister and I went to Darwin and met with a range of Indigenous leaders about the Northern Territory emergency response. We have committed to continuing that consultation and working with representatives throughout the Territory to make sure that what we are doing is effective in reducing, in ways that people in the Northern Territory can commit to, the shocking levels of child abuse.

I thought it might be helpful for members of the House if I gave them an update on progress with the Northern Territory intervention. As I said, my colleague the Minister for Health and Ageing will go through the health areas, so I will leave her to talk about the health checks. In addition to the health checks, in the area of welfare reform, there are now over 5,800 people currently being income managed. We have certainly continued to roll out the program of income management. I have taken the advice of the chief of operations, Major General Chalmers, in each case, and there are now 24 communities and associated outstations and two town camp regions where income management is taking place.

At the moment, of course, we have only anecdotal information about the impact of income management. There have been difficulties, as I outlined before, and I say to all members of the House—and this particularly applies to our colleagues in the Northern Territory—that if there are difficulties we want to hear about them. I know my colleague the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, who is sitting behind me, has been very responsive in helping us in that regard.

Even though there have been difficulties, there have also been positive stories, particularly of mothers and grandmothers saying that they understand that now they have more money to spend on food, that they are able to make sure that the humbugging and pressure on them that comes from people who want money from them is reduced. As I said before, at the 12-month point we will make sure that we do a proper review of the income management process.

Twenty licensed stores in 16 communities have been engaged in the Family Income Management program, and a further three stores are being operated by Outback Stores. There have been almost 600 non-CDEP jobs created. It has been a very positive change to see that people are now getting paid the proper wages that, frankly, they should have been paid a very long time ago.

On the issue of police, we certainly agree that it is a critical issue and one that should have been addressed a very long time ago. During the current financial year, an additional 35 to 40 police were assigned to the Northern Territory by both the Australian Federal Police and state governments. Sixty-six members of the Australian Federal Police will be put in place over the next two years. The additional police will gradually be introduced from mid-year, replacing those police that other jurisdictions generously gave to the Northern Territory. That has led to a new police presence in 17 communities, which demonstrates just how important this is.

At this point I want to acknowledge the role of the task force. It has been a very big operation that they have been asked to supervise. I have asked Dr Sue Gordon to stay on as the head of the task force and she has kindly agreed to do that. Major General Dave Chalmers continues to head the operations side. Roger Corbett is a very important member of the task force, and his role in Outback Stores is critical to making sure that communities have the good food and other things that they need in their stores. Dr Bill Glasson is an important member of the task force and I am sure my colleague will talk about his role; it has been a very important one in this intervention.

Finally, I want to go back to where I started. I welcome the new opposition’s interest in a bipartisan approach to Indigenous affairs. I hope that we can genuinely pursue our approach to Indigenous affairs in this way. We know that governments of all persuasions in the past have failed. We have made a big start this morning—a very big start. For a lot of people that is going to help with the pain and hurt, but I hope that it will also mean that we can now embark together on the very important task of closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. I sincerely invite the opposition to support the targets that we have set out in our election commitments, which we intend to meet. Together we can make a difference for Indigenous people.

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