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

He is not interested in substance or developing policy. He is completely captured by his senators and the populism that we have seen, and Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory are sick of it. If you look at the votes for the referendum, they are sick of it—places like Wadeye, 92 per cent, and Maningrida, 86 per cent. People are sick to death of politicians beating down on them.

I draw this chamber's attention to the words of SNAICC, the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care. One year ago, the SNAICC CEO, Arrernte woman Catherine Liddle, said:

Seven per cent! In 31 per cent it was neglect. Of those numbers, seven per cent were substantiated cases of sexual abuse, compared to 10 per cent in the non-Aboriginal population. So this isn't only about Aboriginal kids; this is about vulnerable children, regardless of whether they're black or white. It is about all of our families and making sure, in particular, that our government is committed to targeting domestic and family violence, because when women are vulnerable to violence so are their children.

This government has its policy on track, and rightly so, because when you assist a woman, you save a child. It is not about playing politics, because every time child protection is politicised, perpetrators go underground, and that is a concern. When Howard and Brough intervened in the Northern Territory because of allegations of child sexual abuse, not one perpetrator was ever caught. Do you know why? It's because it was completely politicised from the side of those opposite. Women and children wanted those perpetrators found, but the minute it was politicised by you blokes on the other side, those perpetrators went underground. So our children and our women were left vulnerable.

This is too important an issue to continually play politics. The other side gutted Aboriginal communities, and the Leader of the Opposition—his hypocrisy in terms of standing up and preaching. The man should look in the mirror. He should hold a mirror up to himself.

See this speech in context