Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the Aboriginal people from this land that we stand on today and also acknowledge different Aboriginal peoples in my electorate of Durack—from the Aboriginal people of the beautiful wilderness of the Kimberley, down to and including the Yamatji people in the mid-west.

I rise today to join members of both sides of the House in thanking the Prime Minister for his commitment to Aboriginal affairs and policy. In my maiden speech, only a few months ago, I made a plea: that history will show that this 44th Parliament had the courage and the foresight to adopt policies that improve the lives of Aboriginals. I believe it is safe to say that yesterday's commitment by the Prime Minister to no longer work for Aboriginal people but rather work with them and to introduce new measures to close the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples has put Australia on track to achieve these outcomes. My electorate of Durack has the nation's third highest proportion of Indigenous residents, so I welcome this government's commitment to achieving all Closing the Gap targets for the betterment of all Aboriginal peoples, but in particular my constituents in Durack.

It is important to note that Australia is already on its way to achieving some of the Closing the Gap targets implemented by the former government. Such targets include halving the gap in child mortality within a decade and halving the gap in year 12 attainment by 2020. I particularly welcome yesterday's announcement by the Prime Minister that an additional target would be added: to achieve a 90 per cent plus attendance rate in all schools within five years, regardless of their percentage of Aboriginal students. By closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, particularly in education, it is my belief that other social issues such as high rates of Indigenous youths entering our justice system will also be addressed.

In the electorate of Durack, I am proud to say, we are not short of people with goodwill and good ideas who continue to work towards improving the lives of all Aboriginal peoples. Western Australia's highly successful Indigenous education initiative, Clontarf Foundation, is just one fabulous example of commitment and innovation. Clontarf's vehicle for increasing school attendance and participation is through Australian Rules and/or Rugby League, using these sports to not only attract young aboriginal boys to go to school but also keep them there. The program is not just about sport; this is simply the tool being used to improve education, discipline and self-esteem and to teach life skills, with the aim to better equip these students to participate more meaningfully in society.

The foundation has continued to grow since it opened its first academy for 25 boys on the campus of the Clontarf Aboriginal College in Perth in Western Australia in 2000. It now caters for over 2,800 boys in 54 schools across Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Victoria and New South Wales. In 2012 alone, the foundation opened nine new academies, including one in Fitzroy Crossing, which is in my electorate of Durack. Other Clontarf academies in Durack are based in Derby; Carnarvon; East Kimberley in Kununurra; West Kimberley in Broome; Halls Creek; Karratha; Roebourne; and in the Midwest, in Geraldton.

Speaking of Geraldton, Geraldton's John Willcock College has developed a unique intervention program which, compared to Clontarf, is specifically targeted at improving the attendance and education standards of young women. The SHINE program was founded in 2010 by former hairdresser turned welfare worker, Mandy Jolley, with the support of school principal Julie Campbell. This is a program that turns traditional thinking on its head, with a new approach to increase the attendance of girls aged between 13 and 15 and to spark their interest in learning through a hairdressing salon environment. The program is strategically focused on empowerment and developing life skills such as customer service, responsibility and trust. This is achieved through their community work in aged-care homes, discussing with guest speakers issues such as healthy lifestyles, women's health, drug and alcohol abuse and being responsible for the upkeep and operations of the hairdressing salon.

This not-for-profit organisation relies on sponsorship from various private organisations and government departments, including the state Department of Education. Ms Jolley is currently looking to expand the program to the Geraldton senior high school in order to offer the SHINE program to older girls. Gaining more support from government and private enterprise will be critical in ensuring its ongoing success and expansion, and is something I plan to help this school and this program achieve.

A new concept that is currently being developed by the Shire of Derby, West Kimberley, is yet another measure that I believe will help Australia to successfully meet its Closing the Gap targets if it is implemented. I recently met with Shire President Elsia Archer and council staff to discuss the prevailing issues of Indigenous youth suicide in rural and regional towns. Members on both sides of the House will know that the discussion of mental illness or suicide is a sensitive issue in our society but even more so when related to Aboriginal mental health. My meeting with the shire did however shed some light on the gravity of this issue in the town, while also providing, I believe, a good concept for future prevention. The shire's concept is for the establishment of a safe house in at-risk towns, which would be staffed by qualified people with experience in both Indigenous issues and suicide prevention.

The safe house idea has three key aims: to help reduce the rate of youth suicide in the town, to provide a safe place for at-risk youth to go after school, and to reduce the risk of young Aboriginal youths entering the justice system. The shire has already done a lot of work to develop this concept, which I believe would be an important service for Aboriginal youth, not just in Durack but across Australia. I believe this concept, if established, has the potential to help break the cycle of Indigenous youth suicide, but it must be resourced appropriately. It is a concept that I would seek all members' and senators' support for and one that I will continue to actively promote through all available avenues. I have already raised this concept with Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Alan Tudge, and plan to further encourage its implementation through my role on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs.

I commend the Closing the Gap: Prime Minister's Report 2014 to the House and congratulate the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition on their speeches yesterday, which were full of sincerity and understanding but most of all hope: hope for a better future for Australian Indigenous people.

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