Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to put to the assistant minister one very important issue within the Aboriginal community. Just the other day, I had reason to talk to some community members. I know from my own experience that, while the level of youth suicide is a national tragedy, in the Aboriginal community it is even more pronounced. I was talking to a woman from Yarrabah who lives up near Palm Island, and three young people have taken their own lives just in the space of two weeks. I would like to ask the assistant minister about this important topic. It needs to be understood that if there is a youth suicide in the Aboriginal community it is not isolated—people are related through kinship structures, and the grief and the trauma is felt not just by one family; it is felt right across that community.

Assistant Minister, I would like an update on the roundtable on Indigenous suicide held in the Kimberley on 14 October that got quite a bit of publicity. There were some issues that became obvious from the community: they did not want to see it as a talkfest. I would like that issue to be specifically addressed and to hear what the actual outcomes are. I noticed that the minister said there would be further discussions, but it seemed to me that it was just a bit of a talkfest, and I cannot see any real outcome from that. I would also like to ask the minister about the incidence and the strategies that are taking place across the country, not just in the Kimberley region, in relation to this particular issue.

The other thing I would like to mention is the issue of the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, and I understand my colleague has also raised this issue, around who knew what and when. It is very clear that not the whole truth has been told about that. I do not want to jump to conclusions but I would like some definite answers there.

I would also very much like to know what the methodology was for the implementation of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy and, within that, how many of the Aboriginal advocacy groups have been defunded. I am aware of at least three and, if the government's overall approach to funding Indigenous organisations includes the defunding of advocacy groups, that is a very big concern.

The third issue I would like to raise is the outbreak of syphilis that is occurring across the north of Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. We know just how difficult this issue is. It is not an issue that is easily spoken about, but I would very much like to know what the government is doing about this, particularly in terms of community education, how Aboriginal health services are being supported, what access there is to primary care facilities and what good sexual health education programs and preventative health programs are in place and are being supported by the government.

Finally, can I say that the area around social justice for Indigenous people is something that everyone is responsible for, not just governments. I would like to know about those three specific issues: the methodology in relation to the Indigenous Advancement Strategy; what is happening in terms of primary health care and supporting primary healthcare facilities in relation to the north and the west with regard to that difficult issue of syphilis; and, most critically, what the outcomes were in relation to the discussions in the Kimberley on suicide, and what is happening nationally in taking this as an important and serious issue.

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