Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kennedy for his question. The question goes to a number of complex issues that have been a challenge for this country for a long time. However, what we are working on is the whole issue around land title and the various titles. This morning I had a discussion with the chair of the IBA and the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation about optimising land assets to give Indigenous Australians an economic base, wealth creation opportunities, jobs, and also industries and businesses. If we consider landholdings of Indigenous Australians, they vary across state and territory jurisdictions. Whilst native title is a significant factor and 40 per cent of Australia is under native title, there are other agreements that prevail. For example, I've been having detailed discussions with the Northern Territory land councils about the economic realisation of land assets that they hold, so that there is a wealth creation opportunity, and also for the provision of market gardens in Queensland, as you and I have discussed in December last year, member for Kennedy. So, in the work that we're doing, including through the Closing the Gap strategy, we are tackling those very challenging issues of lower life expectancy, the out-of-home care challenges that prevail across this nation, and, more importantly, the way in which we have Indigenous Australians now co-designing their future so that it's not left to bureaucracies. We will continue to do that work to make sure there is a difference. In my discussions with the mayors of the councils in Queensland, we're looking at opportunities to create a better future.

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