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

We recognise that the temperature after the weekend is high. The Leader of the Nationals spent quite a bit of time talking to this. A lot of people were hurt through this campaign. As the minister for health, I can tell you that, as we monitor the rate of calls to hotlines used by First Nations communities, across the debate this has been a cause of very high levels of distress. From people who led the debate to people at a grassroots—

Opposition members interjecting—

I'm not quite sure why people are interjecting about this. There's a serious point that I'm trying to make. It is that people across the political spectrum were hurt and had distress caused to them through this. I don't think it's of any use after a period of such high temperature and such significant distress, particularly across the First Nations community across Australia, to start trying to rank the levels of distress.

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