Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] At the outset, I acknowledge that I am speaking to the chamber from the land of traditional owners the Dharug people. I acknowledge them and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Importantly, I acknowledge also that the House sits on Ngunawal and Ngambri land, and I pay my respects to the traditional owners of the land on which the parliament sits.

I'm proud of the fact that Chifley is home to the largest urban based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in the country. We have over 9,000 First Australians living in Chifley. Participating in this debate means something to them. Making sure that we are able to achieve what is set out in the Closing the Gap initiative means something to them on a number of levels, not least of which is in a very deeply day-to-day quality-of-life respect.

Before I go to the Closing the gap report that was brought down this year, I think it's important that we recognise that this year's report represents the failing of a concept that was championed some time ago to deliver for Indigenous people. Back in the early 2000s, when the push was on to say sorry and to spearhead reconciliation, conservatives at that point in time were pointing out very strongly that symbolism didn't matter. Conservatives, mind you, hold symbolism dearly whenever it counts towards or aligns with their political interests or values. Then they have no problem with embracing symbolism, but they were telling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that symbolism was empty. Practical reconciliation was in order, and, by that, other things would be done to improve the quality of life for Aboriginal Australians.

On coming to office Kevin Rudd, as Prime Minister, and the Labor government did two things. They rightly addressed the issue of the stolen generations and said sorry to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders across the country in a landmark statement that was recognised the world over. They also took steps through the Closing the Gap initiative to start the process of practical reconciliation. But for conservatives who believe that this type of symbolism alone didn't matter and that there was only practical reconciliation through a focus on some of these things that are measured in Closing the Gap, it showed that there are a number of things that have to be dealt with in tandem. Some of those things were touched on by previous speakers—notably the impact of racism on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country and the impact it has on their sense of self-worth and their right, their absolute right, to have a say in the direction of the nation. These things have to be called out, and they have to be considered more by the nation's parliament. We also have to wonder whether or not that is driving some of the massive underperformance we've seen in this year's Closing the gap report.

To be honest, this is a shameful report. There is no way anyone can sugar-coat what is in this year's report. This report is normally presented in February, but it's been shifted to August and presented to the government then. The targets were largely previous government targets that had been reset. I would argue that the resetting was used essentially to sweep prior failures under the table. The government is still failing. Of 17 targets, only three have been met or are on track—14 are not. After all this time, we have not been able to make headway on the majority of targets. All we've been able to achieve is failure. This has to stand as a massive concern to so many people, particularly the people that I care about in my part of Western Sydney. If you look at the national average for life expectancy and compare it for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women, there is a huge gap, an eight-year difference in life expectancy. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are almost twice as likely not to be assessed as developmentally on track in all five domains of the Australian Early Development Census.

It's so important for kids to meet their development milestones, and it is so hard for them to catch up when they aren't given the opportunity early in life. I do want to acknowledge that there's a lot of great work being done in the Chifley community by organisations from the Western Sydney Local Health District—Greater Western Aboriginal Health Service, Yenu Allowah Aboriginal Child and Family Centre and the Ngallu Wal Aboriginal Child and Family Centre. But their funding, in many instances, is always hanging in the balance and has to be fought for. In education, there's no clear data tracking on year 12 completion rates, tertiary qualification or youth engagement. On housing, the findings have highlighted that one in five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people don't have appropriate housing to live in, which is a massive issue, and it's only set to worsen with waiting times in the area of public housing being five to 10 years as a standard, at a time when the cost of private rentals is simply going through the roof. We're also seeing incarceration rates—after the royal commission into this over 20 years ago—still getting worse. Deaths in custody are still an issue, and there are increasing numbers of children in out-of-home care. Suicide rates are getting worse. We don't have datasets on how the government is performing in terms of reducing family violence.

I have a lot of other great organisations in my area: Butucarbin, run by Aunty Jennifer Beale and Jack Gibson; Baabayn, run by aunties; Marrin Weejali, which is led by Uncle Tony Hunter; and also Link-Up, which is helping the stolen generation, based out of Ropes Crossing. I was devastated, like Link-Up were, that COVID had meant we couldn't hold the COOEE Festival in Mount Druitt this year, but I'm confident this is going to happen very soon. A lot of these organisations do not need other organisations or levels of government coming in and telling them how to get stuff done. We need to have government listening more to locally based solutions around what can help in terms of improving the quality of life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our area. That absolutely has to occur, and we're not getting that. I think, in part, it's still a very paternalistic view that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities don't have the knowledge or wherewithal to be able to chart their own direction with respect to their own quality of life, which I think is an indictment. When you constantly hear Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups saying the design, the concept, the architecture and the way it's all constructed should be done from the ground up, and it's still not being done, it's an issue; and I suspect, in part, it's what's driving these poor outcomes.

But the other thing we do have to acknowledge is that racism is an issue. Every time it has been raised in the public context, people resile from it. I think we need to have difficult conversations around the way in which, over generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been treated and the way it was done deliberately to prevent them from being able to have a say in the way this country was run. I have to say it is a profound disappointment that what had been promised in terms of advancing the say of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in this country with a voice to parliament and should have been championed very strongly is being held back. It is not being held back by the opposition, I might add. Labor is not standing in the way of this. We believe this is a just and proper step that should be taken. But it is being held back, and Labor is determined, as we have said, to rectify this in the years ahead.

I want to make another point too. When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples raise the issue of racism, we should not be criticising them or making the point that it's unrealistic, in terms of what's being put forward, or simply doesn't exist. Racism is being felt by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It's clearly the case. The double standards are clear. When they get up to protest Aboriginal deaths in custody, they go out in large numbers in rallies and are told that their super-spreader events are not allowed, but we have a member of this chamber who refuses to follow medical advice and won't even be mentioned or upbraided by his own Prime Minister. You can see those double standards would really hurt. I think we've got to do more. I think we've got to have honest conversations, and I think we've honestly got to improve a lacklustre and shameful performance when it comes to closing the gap.

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