Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the heart of the issues facing Lingiari—from Alice Springs to Bathurst Island, from Alpurrurulam to Kintore—is a neglect of the bush and of our remote communities. At the heart of this neglect is the failed Community Development Program. For too long there has been a severe shortage of meaningful work in our remote communities. Generationally, this creates a cycle. If you see your parents, aunties, uncles not working, why would you have any desire to work? If you don't have a job that respects your culture, your skills or your time, why would you turn up for your shift? And if you are not working, how do you have any chance of building intergenerational wealth? There is a reason our remote communities are struggling at the moment and it is clear that a lack of a remote employment program is at the heart of this.

It brought me immense pride to stand out in remote communities during the election and commit to a new employment program for our communities, one that would place community empowerment and Aboriginal enterprise at its heart. We are starting from very rocky foundations. The CDP, as it stands, is not good enough. I want to thank organisations right across my electorate like the Central Land Council, who are doing a lot of good work developing employment policies that are place based and culturally sensitive.

The new-look CDP needs to be highly localised, responding to the needs of individual communities. It needs to be community led and community governed. Central Land Council, like all the land councils, are trying to do that and are trying to work with government to make sure that we can respect and acknowledge the deep well of knowledge and skills that Aboriginal people hold. It is about real jobs. CDP is not an end in and of itself but it is about community and economic development. It is about Aboriginal enterprise and Aboriginal wealth building.

The Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network is also doing some fantastic work with communities developing Aboriginal enterprise and utilising business as a way of lifting people out of poverty. The Northern Land Council have their business arms. The Tiwi Islands has Tiwi Partners, a construction group I was fortunate enough to establish. All of these examples of Aboriginal enterprises are a testimony to the knowledge and skill of our mob back home. These skills need to be nurtured and enhanced, and that is what our new CDP reforms must focus on.

I end with a message for the people of Lingiari: our community has been through a rough ride the last few weeks, and indeed the last few years, but reform is on the way, change is coming, and the new look CDP will be testimony to this.

See this speech in context