Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

This is extraordinary, really quite extraordinary. We're trying to have a debate that takes the temperature out of the result on Saturday, that gives time for the dust to settle, that listens to Indigenous communities about the way forward in reconciliation and Closing the Gap. We've made very clear, as have almost all Indigenous leaders, that the vote on Saturday night—as I think we all accept across this parliament—was not a vote against closing the gap in any of the key indicators, whether they are health or housing or the abuse of women and children. Frankly, I think we are all, across the parliament and across the Australian community, much better educated about the detail of that gap after the debate over the last few months and reaffirmed—

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