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

I acknowledge the excellent work done by an excellent minister and we also deeply appreciate that he has committed to dealing with the member for Indi; however, ministers change and government attitudes change, so we would feel much more comfortable if it was written in the legislation.

I would like, by way of argument, to tell one small story, which explains closing the gap and your failure to close the gap. I hope the staff pass onto the minister my kind remarks. I was with the Catholic priest in Cloncurry at his house, which is a stilt house. We went up the stairway. The holding bar on the left-hand side had fallen off, so it was a bit scary walking up the stairs; they were pretty rickety and old. He only had one chair, and he gave that to me. I said, 'No way', so we both sat on the floor together. We were in the middle of discussions and he said, 'I have to terminate discussions because I've got to look after these people over here.' There was a group of about 12 or 13 little children, ranging from the age of about five or six, I would say, up to about 12. I said, 'What do you mean you've got to look after them?' He said, 'I've got to feed them.' I said: 'You're the poorest person I've ever met! How could you possibly afford to feed them?' He said, 'If I don't feed them, they don't get fed.' By the way, this was at sundown; it was very late in the afternoon. He said, 'Their parents' idea of feeding them is when they get very, very hungry and they start crying, their parents give them some money to go and buy a bottle of Coca-Cola and a packet of chips', which naturally kids would do.

It is a small story, but that story could be repeated all over Australia a thousand times. While there is an emphasis on First Australians, it is very hard to differentiate on that basis in country areas because of intermarriage over the years. And we should not be taking that as a special basis as to why it should be looked at. So the member for Indi has moved a very sensible amendment. Whilst we greatly respect the minister and the excellent work that he is doing, we also say that we would feel much more comfortable if it was locked into legislation because he may not be the minister soon—who knows what tomorrow brings.

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