Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Hansard source

This is the third ministerial statement by the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and it has been the first one that was really worth making. First, it has been on an important topic and, second, she has had something significant and useful to say. So I want to congratulate the minister on her commitment to the intervention. I want to congratulate the government on the presence of 51 extra police in the affected remote Northern Territory townships. I congratulate the government on the fact that 11,000 Indigenous children have received health checks. I also congratulate the government on the extension of income management to 13,000 people in the affected Northern Territory townships.

I welcome the minister’s assessment that, as a result of the intervention, there is now less gambling, less substance abuse and less domestic violence in the intervention townships and that there is now more food on the tables of the families living there. However, I remain concerned that, notwithstanding the government’s overall commitment to the intervention, the restoration of the permit system, the watering down of the pay TV porn ban and the restoration of CDEP and its implications for effective quarantining in the impacted townships are potentially significant steps backward. Nevertheless, in essence the government does remain committed to the intervention launched a year ago by former Prime Minister Howard and former minister Mal Brough.

The police have moved in. The booze has largely been removed. The children are at school to a greater extent than before and the adults are in work to a greater extent than before. Nevertheless—and I say this not by way of criticism of the minister but more by way of observation about the government and the party which forms the government—there is a hint of half-heartedness about the government’s commitment to the intervention. I cannot forget the statement of the now Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory that the intervention was ‘the black kids Tampa’ and I also cannot forget the fact that in other respects this government is somewhat watering down the practice of mutual obligation.

I am conscious of the stress on service delivery in the minister’s statement. Obviously the opposition welcomes the delivery of the best possible services in these townships, as indeed everywhere. But the problem is not so much lack of services in these places; the problem is more lack of an economic base. The problem is not so much lack of good quality housing; the problem is more building houses in places where there are no jobs.

I am conscious of a new stress on consultation. Consultation is something that almost no-one can oppose. Yet consultation has become a way of life in Indigenous communities; almost a substitute for getting on with life. I could not help but note the minister’s emphasis on creating ‘socially and economically viable communities’ in remote areas. I think I should in all honesty point out to the House that you cannot have socially viable communities that are not also economically viable, and you cannot have economic viability without a natural economic base. We will never close the gap in health without also closing the gap in employment, and we can never close the employment gap without equipping people to live in Australian cities as well as in Indigenous townships. I think we need to understand that we must do so much more than equip Indigenous people to live in an Indigenous version of old Sydney town.

Only Aboriginal people can maintain Aboriginal culture. The responsibility of government is less to facilitate the preservation of culture than to empower all Australians especially Indigenous Australians who need it most to operate effectively in the modern Australian society. That means essentially that the children have got to go to decent schools and the adults have to be involved in work programs that as far as possible reflect real jobs with real consequences for nonperformance. That in essence is the message which has been consistently given to Australians by Noel Pearson, and by Warren Mundine, the former national president of the Australian Labor Party, and I should acknowledge to the House that really they were a substantial inspiration behind the intervention and it is their courageous thinking to which we must stay true.

I want to conclude by saying that there was much that was mistaken in the mission era for which this House rightly apologised earlier in the year. But one thing that cannot be denied is the commitment of those missionaries to the people they served. The central error of the modern era has been to think that Australia is occupied by two peoples, one Indigenous and one not. We are, or should be, one people all with the same commitment to our families, their prosperity and their safety, all with the same standards of decency, all with the same standards of humanity. That in the end is what the intervention has been designed to secure. That is why it should be strengthened and extended. That is why I welcome the good news that the minister has been able to announce to the House today.

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