David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I second this motion. The Australian people gave us a clear message on Saturday. They didn't want division. They didn't want a Voice. They want practical action and they want this parliament—those that have been given the privilege and the honour to be elected to come here and make real change—to make real change and to listen to the courage and convictions of those that are our most vulnerable. We proudly have elected 11 Indigenous Australians to both this place and the Senate, and they are strong voices for those Indigenous Australians, particularly in rural and remote Australia. But when you have young children, with the courage of their conviction, coming forward with their experiences of the abhorrent acts that have taken place, then it's beholden on us to act. It's beholden on every one of us to come together, to put away our political persuasions and to work together, to understand there is a greater good here. When you have the courage and conviction of Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who is prepared to come and give voice to that wrong, who comes with the lived experience of living in those communities and hearing those voices, then we here today have to move forward as a nation, and as political leaders in this country, and support Senator Price—and Senator Liddle—in their conviction and their courage for the people they represent and what they see and how they can fix it.

This is a practical measure. This is a strong message. We are saying to the Australian people: a line has been drawn in the sand after Saturday. This nation that was divided can now come together, can now walk together to make sure that, where there is disadvantage, we draw on the practical, lived experience that we have and that we actually deliver. Why are we afraid? Why are we afraid to open it up and really understand the absolutely abhorrent acts that those most vulnerable, in our most isolated communities, are facing, away from many of the places where all of us live. These people have this lived experience, and they want to be heard. What have we got to fear? It's the right thing to do.

I was elected to represent the people of Australia to do the right thing. I don't think there's a member here that, in all honesty, in the deepest recesses of their hearts, would say that this is not the right thing to do. We've got to do something different, and this will lay the foundation stones to be able to achieve that. As difficult as it may be, as difficult as it may be to hear, Australia needs to hear this, and we need to fix it with the lived experience. But it's also about making sure that that lived experience goes beyond just the abhorrent acts that young children are facing in rural and remote communities and that it goes to the practical lived experience of how we close the gap in those communities. It's not about repeating the mistakes of the past, which what the Prime Minister put to the Australian people with a representative body would be.

ATSIC didn't work. It did some good. There isn't disadvantage right across this nation, but where it is most prevalent is in rural and remote communities. And who's best at fixing that? It's their elders. It's not about repeating the mistake of sending someone who represents hundreds of thousands of square kilometres and hundreds of different, diverse communities to Canberra, where their feedback and their lived experience is generalised and then nationalised into a program. You need bespoke solutions that empower local elders. That's where you close the gap where we haven't.

Those are the practical solutions about which the Australian people said to us, this parliament—no matter which side you sit on—in an emphatic way: the proposition that was put to the Australian people is not the one that we want to move forward on. They expect us to be able to use the instrument of this building to be able to change the lives of those that are disadvantaged for the better. That is the opportunity that lies before each and every one of us right here, right now. That's the most important thing.

When Senator Price and Senator Liddle, who bring that lived experience and were elected to this place only in the last 18 months, have the courage of their convictions and then are treated in the way they have been, that is a reflection on our parliament. It's important that the lived experience that they have is acted upon. That is what a parliament should do. That is something that, with the privilege and honour that we've been given, we should never turn our backs on, particularly when it's for something as important as this: those who are most vulnerable and the way forward for this great nation.

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