Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Makin for bringing this motion to the House. I think the electorate of Parkes possibly has, after the Northern Territory, more Aboriginal people living in it than any other. Indeed, for a rural electorate, I represent more Aboriginal people than I do farmers. It is a job that I take very seriously and with a great amount of pride. I think the greatest discrimination and injustice we have shown to our Aboriginal brothers and sisters is that of lower expectation, and what we have seen with changes to the budget and the Abbott government's philosophy of managing our Indigenous communities is an area of responsibility. Over the years, we have seen programs that have been put in place, set and forgotten. While that might benefit some of the people who manage to get a job in management, more often than not the trickle-down effect to the people that need that help the most does not get there. It is with great shame and regret that even today an Aboriginal child born in the Parkes electorate has a much lower life expectancy than a child of another background.

This government has been implementing policies that have outcomes attached to them. We are supporting Indigenous businesses and work programs in the western part of my electorate which are putting many people into work. A couple of weeks ago I was in the Pilbara in Western Australia where, at one of the mines, over 300 Aboriginal men and women are earning good money. Many of those people are the first in their family, through many generations, to have meaningful employment.

Through the indigenous schools program we are encouraging children to attend school because it is known that, without an education, inequality is very difficult to eliminate. I have now been in this place for eight years. Over that time I have seen former ministers come to my electorate, speaking in slow, measured voices so that the local people can understand. For too long we have measured our commitment to things that we are trying to do in dollars and cents, without real commitment. This government and my philosophy in particular is to take ownership, to work with the people to give them what they desperately need.

In the last 12 months we have seen funding come to my electorate for the Aboriginal health organisations which are at the cutting edge in places like Bourke, Condobolin, Coonamble, Walgett and Wellington, particularly with the drug and alcohol strategy. The funding that has gone into Moree for the refurbishment of Roy Thorne House enables rehabilitation facilities to be put in the community where they are needed. The program I would like to highlight today is the Clontarf Foundation. The coalition government, state governments and the corporate world is funding Clontarf, where young boys right throughout Australia are encouraged to stay at school. I would particularly like to mention a couple of young lads from Coonamble who are working with Leightons Construction in Sydney and are very proud to do so. The former school captain of Brewarrina is doing a fine arts degree at the University of Newcastle this year because of the work of the Clontarf Foundation. This is not an academic debate from me; this is something I take very personally. The people I represent are relying on me to deliver programs that will make a real difference to their lives, not just measuring this in dollars and cents.

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