Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I start by acknowledging the Ngunawal and Ngambri people, the traditional custodians of the land upon which we meet, and pay my respects to their elders. As shadow minister, I am pleased to stand in this place and speak on the achievements we have made together in a bipartisan way and the challenges that are before us as we continue to close the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country and non-Indigenous peoples.

Six years ago all governments, Labor and Liberal, made commitments to closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage. It has been a challenging journey, there being roads of red lights and green, tracks leading to both troughs and peaks—but a journey nonetheless embarked on together that has progressed us towards reconciliation. I mention reconciliation as we mark the sixth anniversary of the apology to the stolen generations—a watershed moment.

The Prime Minister's annual Closing the Gap report indicates positive outcomes in access to early childhood education, improvement in literacy rates for young people completing year 12 or an equivalent qualification and improvements in child mortality rates. Sadly, the report reminds us that there are other areas such as education outcomes, employment participation and the like which need further attention. Closing the gap is a journey no single government can make; it is a future that cannot be built alone. It must be a process that respects and includes the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a genuine partnership. Change will not come from Canberra or from government department. It comes from participation, consultation and genuine partnerships with Indigenous people, for they are the drivers of change and innovation within their communities. As Les Malezer, the co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, recently said to me: 'Nothing about us without us.' Closing the gap is and must remain a partnership of mutual respect, trust and acknowledgement. We cannot achieve our goals without good policy, program design and delivery and having Indigenous people own the policy program design and delivery.

The Closing the Gap strategy has provided a clear and properly funded framework for governments of all persuasions since 2008. We are on track with the first target—the early childhood target. That means every four-year-old in remote communities having access to the foundation of opportunity in later life through early education. We know that children enjoy the experience of reading and that those who read prosper and do better at school. We know that more needs to be done and can be done. That is why the former federal Labor government built on this achievement with a new Closing the Gap target in June 2013—a new target to ensure that 90 per cent of enrolled children across the country attend a quality early childhood program in the year before they start school—building on previous sustained efforts. We backed that up with a $655.6 million contribution over 18 months to the new National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education, to support progress on the new target. We are on track in relation to that, but more needs to be done. We are on the way to halving mortality rates for Indigenous children under five by 2018.

We have seen improvements in the proportion of Indigenous young people achieving year 12 or an equivalent qualification. We have even seen significant improvements in the reading results for years 3 and 5, but there is more work that needs to be done and now is not the time to cut back our commitment by cutting funding. We cannot cut our way to closing the gap. The report into closing the gap demonstrates the important interrelationships between health, education and employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We cannot address one outcome without working to improve the others. For many Indigenous people, a quality education is the passport out of poverty, but we cannot ignore that improving health outcomes have had a positive impact on education and employment outcomes.

We cannot close the gap on employment, education and health while so many Indigenous people are incarcerated. Employment, education and health outcomes are adversely affected by the interaction of Indigenous people with the criminal justice system and incarceration. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are vastly overrepresented in Australia's juvenile and criminal justice systems. Our first people are among the most imprisoned people in the world. An Indigenous person is 15 times as likely as a non-Indigenous Australian to experience incarceration. While making up just three per cent of our population, Indigenous people account for about a quarter of the adult population in prison in this country. These statistics are horrifying, but they are worse for juvenile incarceration rates: a juvenile Indigenous Australian is up to 25 times as likely to be incarcerated as a juvenile non-Indigenous Australian.

Many wonderful people around the country are dedicated to addressing these statistics through implementing justice programs and mentoring, education and employment programs. The Gold Coast Titans rugby league club in Queensland has a program called Titans 4 Tomorrow, which addresses school retention, career aspiration, mentoring and case management for disengaged youth and youth who are experiencing the criminal justice system. Joshua Creamer, the chair of the Gold Coast Titans board and himself an inspirational Indigenous barrister, has made an incredible commitment to closing the gap. Likewise, the Brisbane Broncos have a mentoring program that involves Indigenous young people in year 12 and participating in schools—and I have seen examples of this as a local federal MP as well. The Gold Coast is not the only place where this work is being done; it is being done in Brisbane, Ipswich and elsewhere. The Broncos CEO, Paul White, is a great supporter of the Commonwealth-funded Learn Earn Legend program. In the last parliament I acted as chair of the House of Representatives' ATSIA committee. The committee recommended the extension of the Learn Earn Legend program to the lower years of high school and also into primary school. That committee's report, Doing Timetime for doing: Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system, found that sport and recreational activities were a way to deflect youth from antisocial behaviour and self-harm. I have personally seen that in my electorate in the work done by the Ipswich Jets Rugby League Club towards a reconciliation action plan and a commitment to strategic partnerships through the community. I have seen Jonnine Ford, a prisoner throughcare officer, working with the Jets, with programs through the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal service and with the Southern Queensland Correctional Centre to develop strategic partnerships for Indigenous youth. The Labor party remains committed to the justice targets which we need in order to close the gap. I urge the Prime Minister and the Minister for Indigenous Affairs to solidly commit to those justice targets and develop those with us.

Ipswich, my home city, proudly hosts the hard-fought Murri Rugby League carnival for men and women every year. A State of Origin carnival takes place between the Murri and Koori peoples—between Queensland and New South Wales. I find it striking that both males and females who participate have to undertake mandatory health checks before taking the field. These health checks are undertaken by Selwyn Button and his team at QAIHC. This is an innovative and effective strategy for engaging Indigenous people about their health and social wellbeing. I commend the program and I urge the government to continue it into the future. We are making investments in the future which need to address eye difficulties across the country. We have seen Third World disease, in terms of eye afflictions, rob Indigenous people of their sight. Trachoma is a terrible disease which has affected a large number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Islander people. We need a commitment to eliminate this scourge in Australia by 2020.

I cannot speak of closing the gap without mentioning alcohol management. There has been a lot of media attention in relation to this, and alcohol abuse devastates the lives of many Indigenous families in this country. It is the centre of dysfunction and disadvantage for many Indigenous people. When we were in government we put in place a comprehensive approach to tackling alcohol abuse—one that addressed harm from alcohol, reduced alcohol supply and supported communities to drive local solutions. Our efforts resulted in a six-year decline in alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory. Tragically, the rivers of grog are flowing again. In the last year, alcohol-related violence in the Northern Territory increased by 15 per cent and domestic violence by 21 per cent. Currently there are 23 alcohol management plans ready and waiting for the government's approval, and I call on the minister and the Prime Minister to take action and approve these plans.

Integral to closing the gap is a recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as our first people in our Constitution. Labor is committed to pursuing meaningful change in the Constitution—change that unites and reflects the hopes, dreams and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The change must recognise the unique history, language and culture of these peoples. The change must reflect our nation's fundamental belief in equality and nondiscrimination. I want to acknowledge the work of Recognise, a people's movement to bring all Australians along on this journey towards reconciliation. As an Aboriginal man recently told me, Australia loses nothing but gains 40,000 years of history and culture by recognising the special place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution. I applaud the government's commitment to continuing the work of Recognise in the Closing the gap report.

Closing the gap needs to be undertaken. It seems a long way off, but there are just 17 reports to come. We cannot take our foot off the pedal now; we must redouble our efforts. Labor remains committed to a new Closing the Gap target for higher education, justice and access to disability services. I urge the government to continue that journey with us. (Time expired)

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