Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I join with everyone in wishing you a very happy birthday, Member for Kennedy. You are indeed 78 years young!

I thank you for your question. But I want to recognise the very close relationship that the member for Kennedy has with places like Garawa, Doomadgee and Mornington Island. I very much respect that relationship and I am very conscious, as the member for Kennedy has pointed out, of the huge gap in life expectancy, particularly in the communities that he represents. I thank the member for Kennedy for his question. I know that it is very heartfelt.

Constitutional recognition through a voice to parliament is all about making a difference on the ground in communities like those in North Queensland. It is about making sure the voices of Indigenous Australians in remote and regional communities are heard and not ignored, and I think that, when you have a look at the Uluru dialogues and the way in which attention was particularly paid to Queensland, that is very obvious. In fact, recognition through a voice is about making sure communities like those in Far North Queensland, who I know the member for Kennedy cares about, have a say in the policies that impact them and their communities. It is indeed those practical outcomes that the member for Kennedy is very much concerned about.

The stark reality is that Indigenous Australians in the remote communities that the member for Kennedy represents experience a shocking and unacceptable gap in life expectancy. Something has to change. More of the same is not good enough. Later this year, all Australians will get a chance to do something about it, and I invite the member for Kennedy to be part of that journey by voting yes for recognition through a voice and giving people like the people in North Queensland a real say.

Can I finish up by saying that Mayor Andrews and the Yarrabah Council support the Voice, and it is very strong. On the issue of market gardens, I have spoken with the member about this previously, and I look forward to having further conversations with the member for Kennedy about things like market gardens that make a real, practical difference in the lives of First Nations people in North Queensland.

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