Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

The 2018 budget demonstrates the neglect of First Nations peoples by this government. Most Closing the Gap targets will not be met. I think three out of seven were on track and the others will not be met. There is no clear identification of what this refresh program of the Closing the Gap strategy is. We do not know what it means, and the government cannot explain it. Despite the efforts of First Nations people and our peak organisations trying their best to cooperate with government, the Closing the Gap strategy has been left to languish under this government, while the gap widens. There has been no refunding of the Implementation Plan for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-2023.

In this year's budget, the budget papers make clear that there is no further funding for the National Partnership on Remote Housing, which is going to be an absolute disaster as the years roll on. In 2008 the then Labor government entered into a National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, aimed at tackling overcrowding and poor living conditions in remote communities. According to the review of the program, by 2018 the strategy will have delivered 4,000 new houses and 7,500 refurbishments. This increase in supply is estimated to have led to a significant decrease in overcrowding in remote communities, and that is very important for child safety and for health outcomes. The review suggested that this would fall further, down to 37.4 per cent in 2018.

It has been over a year since the historic gathering at Uluru and the release of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It's been nearly a year since the Referendum Council released its final report into constitutional recognition. The aspiration of First Nations people is to have a greater say in the decisions of this place as well as a voice to parliament. It is bitterly disappointing that the government has already rejected this proposal and has put forward the scandalous notion that somehow this would be a third chamber to the parliament. Of course, the very idea is never to challenge the sovereignty of this parliament in terms of a First Nations point. The government has claimed misleadingly that it will be a third chamber. That is certainly not the way in which it is being perceived. Labor has pushed for a joint parliamentary committee to do further work on this issue in the hope that there can be a future of bipartisanship and a return to bipartisanship.

I am pleased that the government finally agreed to establish the committee, but it took some doing and only happened in the very last minutes of the parliament. In the hearings of this committee First Nations people have reiterated their desire for a more meaningful say on the issues that affect their lives—our lives. They continue to call for a voice to the parliament and a makarrata commission to oversee a process of truth-telling and agreement-making. I ask the government these questions, and I would very much appreciate the minister in the chair, the Minister representing the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, answering these questions. I ask the government to approach this issue through committee in good faith and with goodwill.

My questions are: will the government return to bipartisanship and join with Labor to support the aspirations of First Nations people? Is there any hope of this government's supporting calls for a voice to the parliament? Is there any chance of this government's supporting calls for a makarrata commission to oversee the process of truth-telling and agreement-making? Given that these were the recommendations of the most significant consultation with Indigenous people ever undertaken, what proposals is the government willing to consider? These questions are incredibly important and must be answered by the government through the minister.

There is a significant consultation process being undertaken by the joint select committee. The worst thing that could possibly happen is that the aspirations of First Nations people be raised once again only to be dashed by government decisions that do not back in those aspirations. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said he wants to do things with Aboriginal people, not to Aboriginal people. What goes to the heart of this point is actually fulfilling the aspirations, clearly articulated by not only the Aboriginal community but the business community and civil society, that there must be a voice and involvement of Aboriginal people to the deliberations of this parliament without challenging the sovereignty of this parliament.

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