Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Disability Reform) Share this | Hansard source

I would say at the outset how wonderful it is today to see so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people around the corridors of Parliament House, so many people joining in the Reconciliation Australia showcase in the Great Hall. If anyone here has not been in to meet with some of the companies and organisations represented there today, they should do so.

I thank the member for Greenway for her question and acknowledge her commitment, along with the government's, to make sure that we do everything possible to close the gap, because it is unacceptable that, in Australia today, we still have such a life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It is unacceptable that we see Indigenous children being born today still not having the same expectation of the long and healthy life of other children. It is something that this government has been determined to change. We know that that change does not come easily. As the Prime Minister has said, sometimes you can face setbacks but they require all of us together to be determined to make sure that we continue to progress towards our goals and not to let any of our progress be eroded.

Our approach has enabled us to have very clear targets and goals with a timeline attached to them, with very clear investments attached to those timelines and a determination to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to make sure we achieve our goals. As the Prime Minister outlined in her statement to the parliament today, we have met our first target—to make sure that all those little kids in remote Australia have the chance to go to preschool, like children in other parts of Australia; to make sure that a child born today is not going to die before they turn five; to make sure they get antenatal care and early childhood care; and to make sure that their mums and dads get the parenting help they need. We also can see from the report tabled today that we are on track to meet our targets with year 12 attainment, which is so important if we are to make sure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people get the jobs they need so that they can look after their families. We know we have an enormous amount to do. We will do it with clear and strong hearts— (Time expired)

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