Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I was on a government committee and it went up to the Torres Strait, and I did not want to go back there, because I had seen paradise and knew what I was going to see afterwards would be less than what I witnessed in those days. The meetings up there started with the singing of a hymn and the acknowledgement of the coming of the light—the coming of Christianity, which was brought by bike priests in the Anglican Church. Coming out of Vanuatu, they brought Christianity to the Torres Strait.

I think the best way is to quote the late Joey Mosby—who was not a fan of mine when I was minister. He was very much looked after by the department before I came along and introduced democracy, for the sake of a better word, and private ownership, and he was very hostile because he was getting a dream run before that. But Joey got up and he said, 'Bobby'—I do not think he had ever called me that before—'they are murdering our people.' He screamed at the top of his voice, 'They are murdering our people.' Every person in this place: when you go to bed tonight and you examine your conscience and you speak to the good Lord, ask yourself what you have contributed to stop what is going on in the Torres Strait. They have put 60 full-time employees in to close down all of the market gardens. I exaggerate; there are market gardens still up there. But the argument is, 'Oh, we have to close down all these farms because otherwise disease will get into the mainland.' Oh, so, we starve to death in the Torres Strait—I identify as a first Australian, so please excuse me for saying 'we'—because disease might get into Australia.'

To those ignoramuses who run this country: for heaven's bloody sake! The canoes have been going backwards and forwards, from New Guinea to islands to the mainland and back, for 40,000 years. Any disease that was going to come in would have come in over that 40,000 year period. There are good reasons why disease will not be carried that way. To the same people that did that we said, 'There are only two ways in from New Guinea into the Torres Strait through to Australia, and they are the Horn Island Airport and the Jardine Ferry. Put an inspector at Horn Island and the Jardine Ferry.' But they did not put an inspector at Horn Island and the Jardine Ferry. They had 60 full-time employees go out there and close down the market gardens.

As the minister I was probably up there at least once, or maybe twice, a month for a period of something like seven years, and I cannot remember ever having a meal up there that was not totally local produce: taros, yams, bananas, mangoes—whatever was in season. And, of course, most of all, there was seafood: dugongs, turtles, fish and crayfish—crayfish mainly. They were magnificent meals—all local produce and all fresh fruit and vegetables. With the closing of the market gardens, one-seventh of the space in one of the supermarkets—and I measured it; I paced it out—was rice. This is a third-world country. These people are dying of malnutrition. Their diabetes rates are 100 times higher than the average for Australia. What are we doing about it?

Mabo was supposed to have delivered private ownership to us, but we cannot get a title deed. There is no such thing as a title deed. If you want the answers as to why—and I have heard some grovelling drivel about being sorry and having treaties and everything else—why don't you just simply give the people the right to own a piece of land? Give to us the right to own a piece of land.

I will give a very specific example. I will not use the gentleman's name without his permission, but I will just say his name is Tony. He is an outstanding footballer and a bloke I know really well. He dropped in to see me. He said, 'Bob, I've got one of those 50,000 acre blocks.' I said, 'How's it going, mate?' He said, 'I can't get any money to get cattle.' I said, 'Have you been to see the banks?' He said, 'Of course I have.' He has trucks working with one of the mines. He had a reasonable quid rolling in. His complexion is very dark. He is very much 100 per cent an Aboriginal person—a First Australian. I said, 'Have you been to the banks?' and he said, 'Yep. They need security. They want a mortgage.' I said, 'Have you been to see the lands department?' He said, 'Of course I've been to see the lands department.' I said, 'What did they say?' He said, 'There is no such thing as title deed on blackfella land,' which there is not. He said, 'What about your legislation?' I said, 'That was overturned and abolished by the incoming Labor government in 1991.' It was abolished on a promise that, 'We will give you even better title deeds.' That was 1991. It is now the year of our lord 2016.

When the Liberals went in they said, 'We're going to give you good title deeds. We're going to overthrow the Labor legislation and we're going to give you good title deeds.' Everyone was telling us that they were going to give us good title deeds.

There were nearly 800 title deeds issued by the great and famous Eric Laws and the late Lester Rosendale—two blokes of First Australian descent from community areas themselves. They issued something like 800 title deeds in the space of 3½ to four years. In the 25 years or so since 1991, I doubt whether there have been a dozen title deeds issued.

You cannot get any money to have a service station. You cannot get any money to have a supermarket. You cannot get any money to have a takeaway food place. You cannot get any money to do anything, because you have not got title deed. It is the building block of an economy, and we—the First Australians—are told we are supposed to own 20 per cent of Australia. We do not own anything. We cannot get a title deed to an acre of land.

Each government has come up with some sort of process. The process is so complicated that no-one could possibly fulfil it in a lifetime, and consequently no-one has. So there were 800 in the space of about 3½ years when us blackfellas were running the thing. There were 800 title deeds that went out. When the white fellas—you people—were running the thing, you could not get two dozen out in the space of 25 years, because you do not care about us. You do not care that the diabetes rates are 100 times higher than the average for Australia. The last speaker went through the other horrific statistics.

I tell you: if the rest of the world find out what is going on here, there will be shock, horror and revulsion by the rest of the world. I am not hesitating to say these things, and I would like to speak a lot more strongly. But some of the damage to my country could be colossal if what is really going on here gets out. No-one on earth now is deprived of the right to have a title deed. In China, you can get a title deed. You can go in and apply for a title deed.

I left university at 23 years of age—or whatever it was—to float my own mining company. I took out 23 leases and I floated a company. I was in the process of floating a company when the mining collapse came. I would get $6 million for those leases. I will tell you how complicated it was to take out a lease: you got a block of wood, you carved your initials on it—'RCK,' in my case—you put it on the ground, got out a compass, and said, 'In that direction, 200 metres; in that direction, 400 metres; in that direction, 200 metres,' and you went in and filled out a form which took you about 20 minutes at the local magistrate's office, which also doubled as the mining warden's court. It took me about 20 minutes and it cost me 40 bucks per lease. Why can't that be done here? Six million dollars worth of value could be created by me going in, filling out a form and putting a peg in the ground, which was exactly the same as BHP did to take a mining lease up. Whether it was little tiny nobody Bobby Katter or a big great giant, it did not matter. Millions of dollars were created by simply putting a peg in the ground. For those of you who know the history of Australia, we are from goldmining. All of us that were here before the war are from goldminers, convicts or First Australians in our background. That was the way it was done all the way up until about 25 years ago.

Let me be more specific still. At Pormpuraaw, a brilliant young bloke called Lindsay Kimber went in there. He did no work himself; it was all First Australians. He provided profit incentive, ownership incentive, title deeds et cetera. We mustered 263 head of cattle, the most ever to muster down there. Lindsay Kimber and his team there, Jackson Shortjoe and Eddie Holroyd—I have a big picture of them on my wall in my office—mustered 6,000 in 2½ years. So you provide the incentive of private ownership and commercial operations, and these people can get the cattle in—don't you worry about that. Put them in a saddle, and they know what they are doing. Put them in a yard, and they know what they are doing. We can do that job. There were 12,500 on Aurukun, the community area north of Pormpuraaw, and 12,000 south.

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