Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to follow my colleague the member for Grey and certainly the member for Kingsford Smith, the education minister. I know the work he has done through his music, with Midnight Oil, to help the Indigenous cause in singles such as The Dead Heart, Beds are Burning, and Truganini. We can all sing along—as I often do when I am driving to Canberra on a Sunday night—to Midnight Oil. I do not always agree with the member for Kingsford Smith, but certainly his music touched the hearts of many. At a time when Indigenous issues were far more controversial than they are now, he helped in some sense to close the gap before Closing the Gap really became a common phrase in Australia. I know he has worked as a parliamentarian since 2004, and I acknowledge him for that—for doing what he can to help bridge that divide between Indigenous Australia and the rest of society.

In 2008 the Council of Australian Governments committed to six targets to help close the gap for Indigenous Australians. These targets relate to life expectancy, infant mortality, education and employment. Closing the gap—Prime Minister's report 2013 outlines that there are still serious gaps across the board. Even the Prime Minister herself has stated her personal disappointment that it appears that they are failing to close the gap. I commend the Prime Minister for her words in opening this particular—I will not call it a debate—series of speeches. It is not a debate; it has bipartisan support, for something that really is important to all Australians.

I also recall the fine words of the opposition leader, who goes out of his way each and every year to live amongst Aboriginal communities to see how tough they are doing it. I know that if the coalition is fortunate enough to be voted in as the government and he becomes the Prime Minister he will do some fabulous work in this important area for all Australians and particularly for Indigenous Australians.

Currently Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders live substantially shorter lives than the rest of the Australian population—up to 20 years less in some cases, with the current gap generally estimated at 11½ years for males and 9.7 years for females. That is not acceptable—not in this day and age. It is simply unacceptable. Over the past 30 to 40 years there has been a decline in Indigenous mortality rates while life expectancy has increased, and that is good. While the rise in life expectancy is good, it will be challenging to meet the target. Whilst working towards increasing Indigenous life expectancy, non-Indigenous life expectancy will also be on the rise. The 2013 report says that the target of closing the gap on life expectancy will not be met until 2031, and that is still a long 18 years away. Health outcomes also need to be achieved to help combat mortality rates, with circulatory disease, cancer, injury—including, sadly suicide—respiratory disease, and endocrine, metabolic and nutritional disorders being the leading causes of Indigenous mortality between 2006 and 2010.

The target to halve the gap in mortality rates for Indigenous children under five years of age by 2018 is on track, thankfully, and can be achieved, based on mortality rates between 1998 and 2011 declining at a rate of 29 per cent, faster than the decline in non-Indigenous mortality rates. Ensuring access to early childhood education for all Indigenous four-year-olds in remote communities by 2018 is set to be achieved this year—and that is fantastic. The target sets the benchmark at 95 per cent. It is a shame it is not 100 per cent, but 95 per cent at this stage, given what would have been the case perhaps even only a decade ago, is still certainly a staggeringly good statistic.

Data from the new National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection showed that 91 per cent of Indigenous children in remote areas were enrolled in preschool programs in August 2011. The Prime Minister's report states this target will be met, based on the latest available data and the commitment by state and territory ministers to the target. Progress on halving the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for Indigenous children by 2018 has been only mixed, based on NAPLAN data. Currently, only three of the eight literacy and numeracy outcomes are on track to be reached by 2018. That is unfortunate. The data also revealed that Indigenous students in metropolitan areas are achieving significantly higher results in literacy and numeracy than those in rural areas. We all know that the tyranny of distance is such a factor in that regard. Seven per cent of constituents in the member for Grey's electorate are Indigenous and I know how remote some parts of his electorate are. I have visited those areas of the Northern Territory and Western Australia and even New South Wales and outer Queensland where the great distances are certainly a factor in disadvantaging Aboriginal children.

There is promising progress on halving the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 or equivalent attainment rate by 2020, with the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians closing by 4.3 per cent, whilst attainment rates amongst Indigenous students grew faster than amongst non-Indigenous students. However, to meet the target there will need to be continued rapid improvements from 2011 to 2016, according to the Prime Minister's report.

The 2011 census data shows the gap in total employment outcomes has widened since 2006 by 2.2 percentage points, which is due to a decrease in the proportion of Indigenous Australians aged between 16 and 24 against a rise by non-Indigenous Australians in employment. This data works against the target of halving the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and other Australians by 2018.

My electorate of Riverina had almost 7,000 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander persons identified in the 2011 census, with a very young median age of 20 and an almost 50-50 split between men and women. I spoke with Roger Penrith, who is the Indigenous community liaison officer at the Griffith City Council, to ask him what outcomes he would like to see achieved under Closing the Gap. Before I talk about Mr Penrith's comments, I should commend also the member for Gippsland on his extraordinary contribution to this series of speeches earlier this evening, in which he spoke of his personal experiences but also of the outcomes that they are achieving in his Gippsland electorate. It was, as I say, quite a remarkably good speech. The member for Gippsland always makes good speeches, but this one was of particular relevance. Anybody who is perhaps reading these words should backtrack in the Hansard to a bit earlier in the evening and read that contribution by the member for Gippsland. It was quite a wonderful speech.

Mr Penrith identified four key areas which need further attention in his local community. These were health, housing, community and aboriginality. Whilst there are some key improvements amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Mr Penrith mentioned that there are still a number of ongoing health issues that Indigenous persons in his area are struggling to overcome. Many people are still not seeking medical treatment for matters relating to the eyes, ears, nose and throat and in Griffith there are a large number of Aboriginal children who are not being treated for otitis media, an ear infection which can have long-lasting effects on hearing.

Many Aboriginal people are also not seeking dental treatment, which has the potential to create further health issues. Oral health is such an important issue amongst all Australians, but it is particularly important for Indigenous Australians. Whilst a simple filling may not seem like a life-and-death matter, the risk of infection increases and, in turn, has the potential to make someone extremely ill. If Aborigines were accessing dental care, this may be able to circumvent later medical visits for illnesses related to the initial problem.

The issue of child mental health, which Mr Penrith raised with me, has also been brought to my attention by many other Griffith organisations. People of Griffith would love to see a headspace organisation in their region. I have spoken to the member for Reid about a petition I have received with almost 2½ thousand signatures and he is helping me to ensure that it is tabled in parliament, because Griffith and the entire Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area needs such a facility to help give children, particularly Aboriginal children, a place to go to seek assistance in a friendly and safe environment. There are serious concerns about access to emergency housing for clients. Mr Penrith signalled that whilst there are houses designated for Aboriginal people these are also being offered to non-Aboriginal persons.

A wealth of talent and experience is held by many Aborigines within the business community. The Griffith City Council would like to see more enterprise opportunities made available by both state and federal governments for Aboriginal business, as well as more consolidated funding and better funding opportunities. Griffith is an extremely multicultural city—it puts out flags for 100 different nations on Australia Day. I believe it is the cradle for multiculturalism in Australia. There are concerns about non-Indigenous persons getting access to assistance reserved for those who are Indigenous. There is a feeling amongst the local Indigenous community that a more stringent process needs to be put in place to ensure that funding which is directed towards only those who are eligible and need it the most actually reaches that particular group of people.

One organisation in the area which is making great progress in helping Indigenous students gain year 12 qualification or equivalent attainment rates by 2020 is Tirkandi Inaburra, located between Coleambally and Darlington Point. Tirkandi Inaburra is managed by Anthony Paulson and is a community-run development and education centre offering Aboriginal boys aged between 12 and 15 a residential program aimed at reducing future contact with the justice system by strengthening cultural identity, self-esteem and resilience. I heard a lot of the speakers earlier this evening talking about the higher than proportional incarceration rates for Indigenous people. This is something that really needs addressing, not just by people in this place but by our state parliamentarians as well, to ensure that those incarceration rates are substantially lowered.

To be eligible to apply to become students at the wonderful Tirkandi Inaburra centre, the boys must live in communities located between the Lachlan and the Murray and between Balranald and the western side of the Blue Mountains. The boys must be prepared to make a commitment. They must be first time and/or non-serious offenders who are willing to make the shift to change their lives. They may be dropping out of school and are catching the attention of the police. If successful, the boys embark on a three- to six-month journey where they engage in educational, sporting, recreational, life, living skills and cultural activities which have been developed especially to develop their skills and abilities. The shadow minister for Aboriginal affairs and Deputy Leader of the Nationals, Nigel Scullion, has visited this centre and believes it is so good it should be replicated across Australia. It is unfortunate that this is currently the only centre in Australia offering this particular opportunity. We should be promising more such centres in an effort to help achieve the goal of more graduates by 2020 and, in doing so, to help close the gap.

Australia is on the way to closing the gap, but there is still significant work to be done by governments right across the country. Speaking of Tirkandi Inaburra, I had a visit on 20 February with the Clontarf Foundation's Chief Executive Officer, Gerard Neesham, its Chairman, Ross Kelly, and also Brendan Maher, who is in Parliament House tonight for a dinner for the foundation. It is an education and mentoring program for Indigenous youths to discuss plans to help better their lives and provide educational outcomes. I know the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, Julie Bishop, has had a powerful influence over the years in helping to promote and fund Clontarf, which exists to improve the education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem and employment prospects of young Aboriginal men and, in doing so, equip them to participate meaningfully in society. It has certainly played a great part in helping realise some of the Australian Football League dreams of young Aboriginal boys and it is now trying to branch into rugby league. If Aboriginal boys see that there is a pathway for them to a better life through sport such as football it helps their educational outcomes as well.

The foundation believes that failure to experience achievement when young coupled with a position of underprivilege can lead to alienation, anger and more serious consequences. As a prelude to tackling these and other issues, participants are first provided with an opportunity to succeed and, in turn, to raise their self-esteem. Gerard Neesham is a wonderful fellow. He is a former AFL coach. He is a wonderful motivator of people and he has a particular love and passion for improving the educational outcomes for young Australians, particularly young Aboriginal Australians. I commend him for his wonderful work with Clontarf. I hope the government sees fit to give Clontarf the funding it requires to help replicate this right across Australia. Gerard Neesham had important meetings in Wagga Wagga and throughout the Riverina to help develop the sort of program that is needed there. I commend Gerard for his work and I commend Clontarf for its involvement with Aboriginal youths. It is certainly helping to close the gap. Finally, can I say that improving the health outcomes for Aboriginal people is a wonderful initiative and we as parliamentarians should be doing everything we can to help that cause.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 22:06

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