Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Warringah for her question. I, too, was at the meeting you referred to, and I thank the Speaker for welcoming the members of the Save Sorry Business coalition into the Speaker's rooms yesterday.

What happened in Youpla, previously known as the Aboriginal benefits fund, was a disgrace. It wasn't for Aboriginal people, it wasn't for the benefit of Aboriginal people and it wasn't run by them. What we saw over a period upwards of 30 years was Aboriginal people being flogged dodgy insurance products, manipulating their concern to ensure their funerals were paid for. It was a disgrace. It was why one of the first things the Minister for Indigenous Affairs and myself acted upon when we came into government was to ensure we could put in place an interim arrangement. When we came to government, there were bodies in morgues because the company had collapsed and could not afford to bury them. Our first act when we came into government was to put in place an interim scheme to make sure that we could get those bodies out of morgues and that families could bury their loved ones.

Over the course of this week there has been a lot of discussion about the sorts of things Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should have a voice to parliament on. I can only think that if, over the last 30 years, we had been listening to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we would not have let this scheme go on for so long and we would've ensured that the people the member for Warringah has drawn our attention to had their issues dealt with and that this scheme was closed down. The government is committed to ensuring we put in place an enduring solution for these people, but in the meantime we'll ensure the funerals get paid for.

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