Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I am with you. I am not going to claim that we have built the nation yet, but I am confident that, with the wise guidance of the Labor Party and under the wise guidance of Kevin Rudd as captain of the ship, we will get to that objective. And I am sure you will support us in that aim. It is a budget which is also aimed squarely at giving Australians a fair go.

It is really a first instalment of a coherent agenda to deal with the realities of 21st century life and it puts the importance of education and a smarter society squarely at the forefront. The measures and priorities in this budget are clearly an investment in Australia’s future and an investment in the Northern Territory, not the least of the reasons being the nature of the socioeconomic disadvantage that exists within the Northern Territory. This is recognised in the budget with a record amount of spending on specific purpose payments to the Territory up by 41 per cent over the previous year. This money is being invested in our Territory communities and, through those, in our future. This budget achieves on all fronts. It provides projects to improve our communities today, it invests in tomorrow and it is responsible and fiscally sound. Most importantly, from my personal perspective, it provides for the people of my electorate of Lingiari.

I want to pay particular attention to the resources made available for Indigenous Australians who live in my electorate and comprise about 40 per cent of my constituents and a significantly larger percentage of my voters. When it comes down to it, we know that budgets are ultimately about the implementation of policy. This budget does delivers on our policy commitments prior to the election. The single most important element of those in the context of Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory is our commitment to closing the gap. This budget is testament to that government commitment, tackling inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, about which I have spoken on many occasions in the parliament since I was first elected almost 21 years ago. I will continue to make comments about those inequalities for as long as is required, and I will call all governments to account because it is absolutely imperative, if we are to address Indigenous disadvantage in this country and if we are to address the terrible problems that beset many Indigenous Australians, particularly those who live in the north in my electorate, that we have the type of commitment which this government has shown under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin.

In this budget we have contributed $1.2 billion over five years to tackling the inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Of this, $666.1 million, more than half, is dedicated to addressing the dire situation of Indigenous communities in the Territory, with more than $320 million allocated in the next financial year. This is being spent across a number of areas and involves serious, practical measures. They include investments in Indigenous health, with $90.3 million over five years for national Indigenous child and maternal health services, $7.4 million in 2008-09 for school nutrition in the coming year and $10 million over five years to upgrade remote health clinics. Nationally, there is also $49.3 million over four years to improve access to drug and alcohol services, $14.5 million over four years to help tackle high rates of smoking in Indigenous communities and $9.5 million in 2008-09 for youth activities which are an alternative to drinking and other substance abuse.

I am most heartened by an allocation in the budget following the apology on that momentous day in this place, which I am sure was felt deeply by all Australians who observed it and most keenly by those who participated in it and, most importantly, by those people who were the subject of it: those Indigenous Australians who were members of the stolen generations. I am pleased to see that there is $15.7 million over four years committed to reuniting families of the stolen generations. These are positive steps which form a solid starting point.

I have said on many occasions in this place how important I believe education is to improving the opportunities for Indigenous Australians. I have commented on many occasions in this place about the dearth of opportunities that exist for Indigenous people in the Northern Territory. I have observed on many occasions the paucity of services available, the fact that, in my estimation, there are between 3,000 and 5,000 young Territorians over the age of 13 without access to any educational services. It seems to me that we have to do something real to confront those issues. I am pleased to see that this government is committed to doing so.

Significantly in this budget, something which is dear to my heart is a commitment of $28.9 million to provide three boarding colleges to service the educational needs of Aboriginal students from the remote parts of the Territory. This is long overdue. I am pleased to say it is a commitment which I was able to obtain from Mr Rudd when he was opposition leader and is something I have been advocating for over a decade. I am very pleased to see that this significant contribution is being made available in this budget. It will do a great deal to demonstrate the importance of educational opportunities for secondary age students in particular in their home communities. It will provide them with the capacity to attend school, building upon the work being done by the Northern Territory government in providing secondary opportunities for these students, opportunities which were neglected, indeed deliberately bypassed, by the previous CLP administration in the Northern Territory, which of course was kicked out in 2001.

In addition, this budget provides $98.7 million for 200 additional teachers in remote locality schools in the Territory. Both of these commitments will be supported by over $19 million for the continued professional development of teachers of Aboriginal children. I recall representations I have received from teachers at Minyeri and other places on the importance, value and need for this aspect of teachers’ professional development. Indigenous children will also benefit from $56.4 million over four years to assist in the delivery of literacy and numeracy programs. After too many years of neglect, Indigenous students in the Northern Territory will have real opportunities thanks to this government, opportunities which were denied to them by the lack of interest of the previous administration.

Indigenous employment, along with Indigenous education, provides for life opportunities and is a major focus of this budget. The federal government in this budget provides a much-needed $66.3 million in 2008-09 to enhance employment opportunities and to provide employment services to Indigenous job seekers who were previously on remote area exemptions.

There is a range of other employment initiatives, not the least of which is a review of CDEP underway at present, as well as a review of labour market programs being undertaken by my colleague the Minister for Employment Participation, Mr O’Connor, along with the minister responsible for Indigenous issues, Ms Macklin. The initiatives contained in this budget aimed towards achieving real outcomes for Indigenous people in the Northern Territory are many. Another interest is the investment into ranger programs, which I have commented upon on many occasions in this place.

It is not my intention to canvass all the other features of this budget as they impact upon the Northern Territory but I will say that, in investing in the future of Australia, there can be no more important investment than that being made into the development of opportunities for Indigenous people in my own electorate.

I say to people in this chamber and to people who might be listening to this debate elsewhere that until we address the fundamental issue of the poverty which exists among Indigenous Australians we will not improve the outcomes for them. We will certainly not improve the health outcomes. That requires us to accept the duality of  approaches providing not only for social programs and educational opportunities but also for infrastructure such as housing and roads, both of which are addressed in this budget, for Indigenous people and people who live in remote communities.

There are many other aspects of this budget which are worth commenting on but which I am unable to comment on this evening. I do want to make this observation as I finish my contribution: this is the first government since the mid-1990s which has absolutely committed itself to improving the lot of people who live in the bush. My colleague the member for New England, who will be speaking shortly, will no doubt be making comments about the National Party and even about the Labor Party, and I expect him to do that with much vigour. But I say to those in the National Party: a once-proud organisation is fading, fading, fading. It is fading because of its lack of commitment to representing the interests of people who live in the bush and the contorted way in which it administered policy under the last government—the way in which it corruptly administered public policy; the way in which it actually drove public policy and the public purse by personal political preference rather than by need or what is in the best interests of all Australians. More is the pity. I say to the people in the National Party: I would listen to what the member for New England is about to say. I will certainly be listening to it. I often feel chastened when he gets up to speak. I do not always agree with him, but on the issue of the National Party I think he is right on the money. As I travel round the bush, as often I do, I do not hear many people say they think the National Party is doing much for them. And when I see proposals for it to become something that it is not: another Liberal Party—

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