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

Just in continuing—organisations in our regions, and particularly in the bush, are the most important drivers of social cohesion and opportunity in the regions and in communities. It has been the modus operandi of coalition governments for a few decades now to try and bring in bureaucracy-approved competitor entities from outside. Sometimes they claim not-for-profit NGOs, sometimes a favoured entrepreneur. That replacement entity gets the contract or contracts, and the local community organisation shrivels up. It is usually then that any governance problems which may have existed get worse.

I'm not suggesting there haven't been a few larger entities which have gotten themselves into difficulty without any outside pressure or assistance. But, when it happens, it isn't some phenomenon unique to Indigenous corporations. In the Northern Territory, there have been several organisations, such as NAAJA and the Northern Land Council, that need to look at why they are there—for the advancement and welfare of the people that they purport to represent. A failure to do this will be at their demise.

When it comes to calls for an audit, which were in the motion moved, I would like to suggest an alternative audit. The audit I would suggest would be put into practice and could be fostered and agreed to by a coalition government, especially when it comes to Indigenous affairs. There is a piece of legislation that could be extended to deal with some of these anomalies, and that is the PGPA Act. Under this act are the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014 and other federal legislative instruments that establish the requirements and procedures necessary to give effect to the governance, performance and accountability matters covered by the PGPA Act. In my opinion, and for what it is worth, it is time to transition all organisations that receive Commonwealth funding to be accountable under this legislation.

The second thing they've called for is a royal commission into child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities. I am just as committed as every member of the federal parliament to ensuring that perpetrators are detected, prosecuted and punished and that victims are protected and supported. Just as importantly, the values and mindsets of cohorts within the community who can become potential offenders need to be challenged and changed so that future victims are protected. I think having a royal commission is just a strategy for delaying and not taking action.

The cashless debit card has been reinstated in vulnerable communities. I don't comment too much about communities outside of my backyard, so I'll let others speak in relation to places outside of the Northern Territory. But, in the NT, people have become income managed since the intervention. They are stuck with the BasicsCard. The cashless debit card is pretty much a nonissue.

Summing up, I do want to acknowledge the important leadership and deep commitment shown by the Prime Minister, Minister Burney and Assistant Minister McCarthy to address across this country of ours, but particularly in the Northern Territory, the obvious inequity that has been happening across Indigenous affairs in this country for a long time. Maybe, when people stand up and point the finger at Labor, they should take note of the other fingers that are pointing at themselves. Many of them have just downplayed the severity of the issues facing the Northern Territory for a decade. I think that sometimes, particularly in relation to this issue, we've got to come to a place where both sides need to agree that we have, in this country, probably the biggest crisis facing Indigenous affairs.

I think it is imperative for both sides to put aside the politics, the finger pointing and the bickering and to work together to try and get the best outcome. That's what my constituents say to me: 'Why can't you politicians in federal parliament sit down and just work through a process where we're going to get better outcomes on the ground in our communities?' This is true. Sometimes, we've just got to let go of our own ideology and the politics and look at what we need to do to try to get the best outcome, particularly if we're looking at generational change. In a lot of communities that I travel in, suicide rates are still too high. We need to start looking at that.

So, on that note, I just hope that we can close the gap.

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