Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Schools) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to make a contribution to take note of the Prime Minister's report on closing the gap. I do so recognising what a momentous week it is in this place as we all reflect on our responsibilities as lawmakers to do justice to first-nations people.

Yesterday, in particular, was a day to think—I was thinking—about the power of politics, what happens in this place and its limitations. It's 10 years since former Prime Minister Rudd apologised. He said sorry. The commemoration of that was fittingly done in the Great Hall. The video that was shown was terribly moving and I, like the previous speaker, the member for Lindsay, have reflected also on this Prime Minister's constant evocation about doing things 'with' rather than 'to'. That video showed the experience of those men who were stolen and had their identities ripped away from them, where people sought to diminish their humanity by referring to them as numbers. They had things done to them by us.

If we are to discharge our moral obligations to those men, to their descendants and to all first-nations people, we have to continue to acknowledge those injustices and our complicity in them. That's something that struck me in the power of the words spoken by Prime Minister Rudd—beautiful words—and the power of the statement that marked the opening of parliament 10 years ago. I acknowledge also the extraordinary work and commitment to this cause by my friend the member for Jagajaga. We also have to take stock of how far we have to go. Sadly, the Closing the gap report for this year shows how far we have to go. I will turn to that briefly.

I also wanted to acknowledge some former colleagues of mine. I am very proud to have worked at the law firm Holding Redlich. In the 1990s they acted on behalf of two incredibly brave people, Lorna Cubillo and Peter Gunner, members of the stolen generation in the Northern Territory, in litigation that was unsuccessful, on behalf of all stolen generation members. I want to acknowledge the work of that team of solicitors and their counsel, which includes the now member for Isaacs. They are Michael Schaefer, Andrea Tsalamandris, Mark Champion and Luke Brown in particular. Andrea Tsalamandris—now Her Honour Judge Tsalamandris—told me yesterday that while the litigation was unsuccessful in the court she regarded the apology as completing that journey. That's something I wanted to share with the chamber today.

I spoke about the power and limitations of actions in this place, of words spoken in this place, and I think that's something we should all reflect on. If we are to talk about doing things with rather than to people, we should accord people respect. Too little respect has been accorded to our first-nations people this week by our Prime Minister. On Monday, at the presentation of the report we are debating now, the Prime Minister left early. He did not attend the gathering in the Great Hall yesterday. He should have attended that gathering. So the Prime Minister can say 'with, not to', but these words are belied by his actions. In particular, they are belied by the government's approach to refresh, in its terms, the Close the Gap Statement of Intent. I think there is room to talk about how the Closing the Gap statement and its targets can be better considered, but we should think about how we do that. The member for Barton has made some very constructive suggestions in that regard.

When we talk about refreshing our approach to closing the gap let's think about what Aboriginal people have been saying about this. I just want to note the comments of Professor Megan Davis, someone who is always worth listening to on these matters, when she referred to the refreshing of the targets as reflecting the aspirations of the government and its policy priorities rather than those of Aboriginal people. I hope the Prime Minister and his minister will reflect on that criticism, and on the need to engage more broadly across the parliament around closing the gap.

On the Closing the Gap targets, I think all of us welcome the progress that we are seeing in three of the seven target areas but, in doing so, we also have to confront the fact that in four of the areas we are falling behind: in school attendance, in literacy and numeracy and in life expectancy, probably most problematically of all. As the member for Barton said, as well as looking to this mechanism to keep us on track—of course, one of the reasons we are not on track is that very significant cuts are inhibiting our progress at a federal level—let's also think about expanding our aspiration, because the Closing the Gap targets are a mechanism by which we can judge our progress towards equity and equality. They're not an end in themselves. It seems to me that to look only at the seven present targets is blinding us to some real imperatives.

I want to put on the record my strong support for two additional targets being looked at: incarceration—the Leader of the Opposition has looked at the injustices facing Aboriginal people, particularly young Aboriginal men, and that's a matter that requires much closer attention in this place—and also out-of-home care. If we are to reflect on the experience of the stolen generation, we cannot turn away from the moral stain that is the increasing number of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care today. I'd encourage all members to reflect on the contribution of the member for Barton in this debate in this regard.

I also want to touch very briefly on some issues that impact the communities that I'm so proud to represent in this place. Melbourne's northern suburbs are home to an increasing number of Aboriginal people and I want to acknowledge the leadership of the council in pushing for reconciliation and support for the Aboriginal communities that make up the City of Whittlesea in that part of my electorate. As I have in previous years, I also want to touch upon the extra ordinary work of Bubup Wilam early childhood centre. The leadership that's shown by Lisa Thorpe, the CEO, and her team is extraordinary. I am so proud of her fearsome advocacy, especially on behalf of young Aboriginal children in Melbourne's northern suburbs, and her determination to ensure that they can overcome intergenerational trauma. We're seeing extraordinary results, thanks to her work and the work of the community that is behind her. Of all the things I'm proud of in my electorate, Bubup Wilam is so dear to my heart.

I also want to acknowledge a conversation I had with another amazing Aboriginal constituent of mine, Marcus Stewart, who came to see me in parliament last week. I know Marcus will make a great impact right across public life. He drew to my attention the work that he is doing around language preservation, as well as work he is doing on behalf of traditional owners generally. In thinking about closing the gap in the wider sense, obviously, culture is so important and so is language. It does mean something that the Prime Minister acknowledges country in language—it matters—but it matters so much more profoundly that we don't allow language to die and with it so much of culture.

I am pleased to make a contribution to this debate. It is a really important debate. It forces all of us to look not only at what we say about our responsibilities towards Aboriginal people but how they can be realised. We have not done enough. We must all recommit ourselves to work hard; not just to use this as an exercise to mark off a date in the parliamentary calendar but as a reminder of the obligation that weighs so heavily on every non-Indigenous Australian to accept that we are responsible for dispossession and that we are responsible with Aboriginal people, with our first nation Australians, for ensuring the gap is closed.

See this speech in context