Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

I begin my remarks on this statement by acknowledging a person who devoted her life to closing the gap for Indigenous Australians. I refer to Josephine Marjorie Agius, who passed away on 30 December 2015, aged 81. More widely known as Auntie Josie, she devoted almost all of her life to closing the gap by lifting health and education standards amongst Aboriginal people throughout South Australia and the Northern Territory. She worked in schools across the Adelaide metropolitan area, teaching the Kaurna language and Indigenous culture. She also worked in the health sector. In more recent years, she was quite often the smiling face that welcomed people to country at community events. Auntie Josie was farewelled by what I estimated to be thousands of people who came from across South Australia and gathered at the Port Adelaide Football Club to show their respects when she was farewelled at the service held for her. I think that was a fitting tribute to a person who not only was a much loved South Australian and a wonderful person in her own right but had done so much to close the gap, the very issue that we are talking about today. I knew Auntie Josie well. She attended many functions which I hosted when I was the Mayor of the City of Salisbury, and I know just how passionate she was in working for the people of her own heritage and culture.

It seems almost contradictory that, in such an advanced nation with one of the highest life expectancies, one of the best health systems and one of the best education systems, we can simultaneously have, after decades of effort, so much disadvantage across one sector of this country. Whether it is education, employment, health, crime rates, incarceration or drug and alcohol abuse, and perhaps other measurable statistics, there is no question at all that we have failed as a nation when it comes to the Indigenous people of Australia.

I also accept that when we look at all those statistics, quite often if we could address one—if we could resolve one—then it would have an important flow-on effect to many of the others. By fixing one problem we can perhaps fix a whole range of them. Again, we have not had that much success. I have quite often asked the question, 'why?' I ask that as someone who actually understands the Indigenous people pretty well. I have come up with some conclusions which I think need to be considered when we look at what the solutions are, what the strategies are that we need to adopt. I accept that many Indigenous people live in outlying, remote, rural areas, but I also accept that there are non-Indigenous people who live in those same regions who do not suffer the same level of disadvantage. I also accept that there are a lot of Indigenous people who live in metropolitan parts of Australia who equally suffer much greater disadvantage to their non-Indigenous counterparts. It is not just a question of remoteness, and being isolated and the like.

I have come up with some views which I think need to be factored in. Firstly, I note that the injustice that was perpetrated against the Indigenous people for almost 200 years—right through to 1967, and even beyond, until land rights in 1992—much of that injustice still causes resentment within many Indigenous people and we need to find a way of overcoming that. Secondly, I also accept that there are vast cultural differences between Indigenous and Western cultures. We cannot expect that people of one culture will necessarily and automatically embrace the values of another culture. That will take time and needs to be considered. Thirdly, I have noticed what I call 'the manifestation of political correctness', which I believe at times inhibits open and honest conversation about the problems, their causes and possible solutions. Maybe we need to be a bit more honest and truthful about what needs to be done and what the real problems are.

When it comes to values, I also note that we have a society driven by what I call 'the worship of wealth', which is in stark contrast to the values of the Indigenous people, where ownership of material wealth was not an issue at all—it was non-existent. Fifthly, there are unique characteristics between the Indigenous people right across this country, just as there are unique differences in the cultures of people in India, Italy and in most countries of Europe if you travel across the nation. So too, is the case with the Indigenous people. There is not one solution that fits all of the Indigenous cultures either and we need to understand that. Sixthly, what I see as one of the most difficult problems—and it has been for years—is this relationship between state and federal governments and the responsibility as to who is responsible for what services, what programs and so on.

It is not surprising that we have seen little progress in closing the gap. In fact, I sometimes wonder whether the progress that has been made would not have equally been made with or without a particular policy—simply through the passing of time and the changes that we see in society in a more general way. I do not know—none of us ever will—but it seems that the progress we have made has not been sufficient and commensurate with the effort that has been put in for many, many years. I can well recall in the 70s, when the Whitlam government came to office, Indigenous issues were elevated in terms of their importance and commitments were made in a way that they had never been made before—and we are now talking 40-odd years ago. We still have so much to do, given the efforts that have been committed to over those last 40 years.

It is my view that the best solutions and the most effective solutions will come from the Indigenous people themselves. When I look back at the history and I look at people like William Cooper, who in 1934 led the Aboriginal people in the formation of the Australian Aborigines' League. That movement exists today and we recognise it each year as NAIDOC Week. William Cooper was a standout Indigenous person of the time. We then go to Vincent Lingiari and the Wave Hill Station walk-off. Again, initiated by an Indigenous person. Later, when Vincent Lingiari had the red sand poured into his hand by Gough Whitlam, it was another wrong being undone and the recognition of ownership of country by the Indigenous people. That was later upheld by the High Court, in 1992, with the Mabo decision. Again, Eddie Mabo drove that. The point I am making is that the Indigenous people have very capable leaders amongst them, and we need to listen to what they have to say.

In fact, when I look at some of the standout Indigenous people of this country, over the last couple of hundred years, the list is endless. They have excelled not just in sport, which quite often people talk about, but also in politics, the professions, business and the arts. We need to recognise their abilities and understanding of their own culture and take note of what it is they believe we ought to do.

The other point I want to quickly make is this: I have noticed that over the years there have been programs initiated and, then, they have stopped. We have just heard about the council that was abandoned by the previous government or one of the earlier governments. We cannot ever be in a position to properly evaluate a program if we do not give it a chance to run its full length. This idea of making programs and funding available and, then, cutting them serves no purpose whatsoever and, quite frankly, wastes resources. We need to allow programs to run their course. We also need to ensure that programs are carried out and developed in consultation with the Indigenous community that will be directly affected by them. Some of those programs need to be tailor-made for the particular communities we are trying to deal with.

We have, effectively, overcome—in the last 50 years, in particular—previous legal discriminations and barriers. I accept that. But we still have to overcome the most difficult barrier: the change in mindset required, by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, for working towards solutions to the problems we read about in the Closing the gap reports each year. Each report is important—if nothing else, it keeps the focus and discussion going—but is, in itself, not the answer. The answer is to work with the Indigenous communities of Australia and see how we can as a nation best address the problems that should not exist.

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