Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to be here as the federal member for Indi to acknowledge the traditional owners, the first people of this country, to thank them for the custody and care they have given this wonderful country of ours for so long, and to make a public commitment to be their effective and independent representative in this parliament. We have heard a lot already on this debate about national issues. We have seen the report and we know that there is a long way to go.

Today, I want to allocate the amount of time I have to talk in particular about Indi and some of the wonderful things that the people in my electorate are doing around closing the gap, around raising awareness of traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander first people and around my commitment to continue to work with them as we grow their impact in our community. So much is happening in Indi, so I would like to talk a little bit about the some of the activities we are taking to enable me to better represent the first peoples of Indi in parliament.

I have regular meetings with local people. In December I met with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community representatives Darren Moffitt from Aboriginal Victoria; Tammy Campbell, who at that time was working with Wodonga Institute of TAFE; Liz Heta from the Department of Health and Human Services; and Bangerang elders Aunty Betty Hood-Cherry and Uncle Freddie Dowling. We had a really good conversation about some of the activities that were happening in then planning for the new year. They told me about the proposed new home in Wangaratta for allied health outreach services and the study which is due to be completed in March or April 2017. They talked to me of the workplace activities that are happening in TAFE and DHS. Darren made the very warm invitation for me to travel with him as he does his work around the electorate, visiting the various network groups. So we have put some dates in the diary for me to go out and spend quality time with my Aboriginal communities.

I had a wonderful visit hosted by David Noonan, the CEO of Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service. I was delighted to learn about the services they operate cross-border and to understand what the board does—employing 50 staff, 20 of whom are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and looking after between 3,500 and 4,000 clients a year—and to bring a report of that visit to this House to make sure that they were being represented. Last year I also had the great pleasure of hosting Minister Ken Wyatt, who visited Benalla as a guest at the Central Hume Primary Care Partnership. He was able to talk about aged care. He then met with Aboriginal people and talked to them about some of the specific issues they have in the health area.

A real highlight for me last year was a wonderful event that happens up in Bright, in the Ovens Valley: the Marngrook Family Footy Day event. There was a huge crowd. Aboriginal people from all over Victoria came, as well as our guests from the Northern Territory. There is a sister-town relationship between Wadeye, in the Northern Territory, and Bright. Young people from Wadeye come down to Bright; they attend school and they have a business operating in the main street. But the footy event is the big, big event of the day. Thanks to all the team for that; it was just fantastic. I was really proud to be able to come to this parliament, to make a speech and to acknowledge the work of our community. Particularly to Jean—Principal of the Bright P-12 College—and all your partners in The Thathangathay Foundation there—thanks for the wonderful work you do.

I would particularly like to talk about two incidents that happened last week that make me really proud and show that change is happening. Last week I had the great pleasure of having two of my community come and volunteer in Parliament House. Judith Ahmat and Tahlia Biggs came to Canberra and spent the week here. Among the many things that they did, they had the delightful pleasure of meeting Linda Burney, Ken Wyatt and other Aboriginal people in this House, and talking about their experiences.

Today I would like to talk a little about Judith. She is a very, very proud Gunditjmara woman who has lived and worked in north-east Victoria for the past 26 years. She is a mother of four daughters and has eight grandchildren. Judith has been a really active member of the Albury-Wodonga Aboriginal community since 1991. She is one of the co-founders of the Mungabareena Aboriginal Corporation, which was established in 1994. She has been a board director there, on an off, for the past 21 years—what a contribution!—and she has been on the board of the Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service. She has been involved in several steering, reference, planning and advisory committees, both throughout north-east Victoria and also statewide.

One of the things about Judith that I am so proud of is that in 2015 she was inducted into the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll for the important contribution she has made to community services, justice and education. Not only is she a respected leader she is also achieving the recognition that she deserves. And while busy doing all of that, she holds a Master of Social Work (By Research) degree from La Trobe University in Albury-Wodonga. It is fantastic, Judith, to have you up here, to have you get to know that this is our place. We welcome you anytime you want to come; we would love to have you back.

Tahlia Biggs is one of our future young leaders. She is just a breath of delight and gorgeousness, representing the fantastic future that the Aboriginal people of Australia are going to bring to this parliament. Tahlia works as a mentor and facilitator, and as a volunteer. She mentors Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly young people from all around Victoria and, in some cases, around Australia. She tells me that she is engaged in areas of education, voting, health and wellbeing. What she is really keen about is to uplift and ensure that voices are heard. She says, 'I have found that my work has inspired the participants to be leaders in our community.' As a result of her visit here, Tahlia is now going to apply to be a participant in the National Indigenous Youth Parliament. I say to any young Aboriginal people that this is a fantastic opportunity: put your hands up for it. The National Indigenous Youth Parliament comes to this parliament for a week, giving you the opportunity to really learn how parliament works. I will look forward, Tahlia, to welcoming you back, as part of that.

I also want to spend the few minutes that are left to me talking about what is happening in my electorate with Aboriginal people. I want to thank Senator Nigel Scullion for the brief he has prepared for me on Aboriginal people in Indi. Indi has an overall population of 136,000. Approximately 1.6 per cent of the population—that is 2,224 people—are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Their school attendance rates in 2015 in my electorate were 88.2 percent, and that is compared to an average for non-Indigenous students of 92.3 per cent. So clearly, in Indi, we have a long way to go with getting more Aboriginal kids in school. For schools publishing attendance rates by indigeneity, 60 per cent had an Indigenous attendance rate of at least 90 per cent. But we have 93.3 per cent of non-Indigenous attendance, so we have still got a way to go there. The employment rate in Indi was 48.2 per cent, compared with a non-Indigenous employment rate of 72.9 per cent across the electorate. We still have a long way to go with employment.

The other statistic that I want to pay some attention to, and it was mentioned by the Prime Minister, is the large number of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care in my electorate. It is great to see that the Gateway Health service is doing some work here, and I really stress how important it is. When I had my meeting with my Aboriginal elders, they told me that this out-of-home care is a real concern, and I am glad that the Prime Minister picked it up and gave it attention in his speech. It is something you would not think in north-east Victoria would be an issue we have to pay attention to. That is certainly something I will focus on and I will work with my community around those statistics and what we need to do.

In closing, what I would really like to say to the people of my electorate is that we have a most magnificent tradition and history of first peoples and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's contributions to our community. They have been there forever, and I want to acknowledge them and thank them for what a fantastic job they have done looking after this wonderful country of ours. I want to make the commitment that in the future, my role, in my position of power being a member of parliament, is to shine a light on your work, to offer the support that I can and to make sure I am your representative here in parliament. I want to work very closely with all the groups to make sure that you come to parliament and that you can find your voice and use it here as you need to in this people's place. I am looking forward to continuing to do this work over the next three years, and I thank you for the assistance you have given me so far to enable me to represent you in this place.

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