Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a serious time for our country. Australians are facing greater pressure on their lives than ever. Australians are feeling a growing disconnect between their aspirations and the opportunities that they can grasp. Last week, I met with some young people in Adelaide. They were smart, undertaking study and had the world at their feet, but they reminded me that, while there is no shortage of jobs, well-paying jobs are getting harder to find. The economic pressure is felt by young and old alike.

I received an email yesterday from a constituent named Les. He's a retiree. He wrote:

Today I filled up at the pump and paid $2.28 a litre for unleaded. Premium was over $2.50.

I got a script at the chemist on Saturday and it had gone up by 18% compared with what I paid a month ago.

I was told I was not entitled to this new 2 for 1 script pricing arrangement because I wasn't a cardholder and in any event you had to spend a minimum of $30. When I said to the chemist that's the first time I have heard that he said it had been miscommunicated by the government.

Our power bill has gone up 30% this year. Where is our $275 rebate that Albo promised.

And if you do the shopping like me every week, grocery items are increasing. So the staple loaf of bread has gone from $2.50 to $2.70 in the last 3 months.

Les, like so many people in my community, is struggling. I have made several speeches on the cost-of-living challenges being faced by the Australian community.

Les then questioned why I was advocating for the Voice when so many Australians are hurting—surely I have better priorities? It's a legitimate question to ask. I think many Australians are asking why we should vote 'yes' in this referendum while the economy is so tight. For me, my response starts with my values. As a Liberal, I believe in opportunity, in creating settings where people have opportunity. I want to give people more choices and more opportunities to take risks and succeed. As a conservative, I believe that the strength of countries is found in the bonds between us all. It's found in citizens feeling connected to their country, their neighbours and their culture.

My concern as a Liberal is that Indigenous Australians are not sharing in this country's opportunities. It's the opportunities that come from growing up in a peaceful and secure home where taps work, where there is food in the kitchen and that is free of alcohol abuse and violence. It's being able to concentrate in school because you have good hearing and eyesight and because you are not hungry and sleepy because you were out on the street because home felt unsafe. It's having good health and being free of diseases, such as rheumatic heart disease, a childhood disease prevalent in northern Australia which means you will most likely die by middle age. It's having the economic and social opportunities that come from having an income and a job. Paul Kelly, the songwriter, wrote, 'How long can we keep walking with this stone in our shoe?'

I believe the disconnect between Indigenous communities and Canberra is the root cause of the economic disconnection in Indigenous communities and the lives of Indigenous people. In our country, the Indigenous employment rate is around 49 per cent. This compares to 75 per cent for non-Indigenous Australians. In terms of household income, the latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found 43 per cent of Indigenous adults receive a total weekly pre-tax income of $500 a week or less. The poverty line is $489 a week for a single person. Almost one in two Indigenous Australians live on the poverty line.

Closing the gap means creating economic opportunity. It is about jobs, not welfare. It is about universities, not prisons. This referendum is about the Voice. It is also about empowerment, respect and the strengthening of Indigenous civic infrastructure all within our democratic system. These are deeply Liberal and conservative ideas.

Les's email reminded me about where I started this year. It was at the Young Liberal National Convention, and I spoke about the Voice and also about empathy. We often think about empathy as identifying with people who are just like us. But, without an understanding of and a reckoning with difference, that's not true empathy. Empathy is bigger. It's not about accepting and embracing people because we can see ourselves in them; it's about standing with people and their right to dignity, freedom and self-expression when we can't see the similarities.

Les is right: Australians in our suburbs are feeling great pressures. These are pressures that the government has to work harder to alleviate. This reform, however, is an opportunity to take pressure off the federal budget. It's an opportunity to ensure we get better value for taxpayer dollars spent on Indigenous affairs, where we have too little to show for our efforts. So I want to invite all Australians to lift up their eyes and, despite their own challenges, see the gap that doesn't close. The Voice isn't about special treatment or privileges. It's simply about trying to get Indigenous Australians to the same starting line that other Australians are at. This is a moment of empathy. It's a moment of shared understanding and a moment of consequence. It's a moment I hope we seize.

See this speech in context