Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last year, the government delivered on its election commitment to put the Voice to Parliament to a referendum and to put it to the Australian electorate. While it may not have been the outcome that many in our country had hoped for, we respect the decision that was made by the Australian people. I certainly do. This motion proves, though, that the only people still politicising the results of that referendum are those opposite. They accuse the federal government of having no plan B for Indigenous affairs. I reject that really weird assertion, given that for 10 years they had no plan A, B, C or D—no plans at all. When they did have a plan, it was for an intervention. I worked as part of that intervention. There was very minimal benefit to that enormous expense, but it also came at the expense of the disempowerment of a whole generation of First Nations people in the Northern Territory. That's the reality. What those opposite love to do is paint those out there in First Nations communities with the same brush, and that did a lot of damage.

All we hear is relentless negativity from those opposite, for opposition's sake. Opposition raised to a performative art form, dividing Australians with every opportunity they get. Those opposite's big vision for Australia, particularly when it comes to First Nation's people, is to have a royal commission. They had a royal commission into youth justice that came out of the Don Dale Detention Centre in the Northern Territory and then didn't fund a dollar of putting the recommendations in. If those opposite got back onto the Treasury benches, we wouldn't see anything happening at all. I agree with those who say that we need to talk to the experts. Again, those opposite aren't that keen on talking to the experts, but they love fanning fears of woke corporations like the big two, particularly the big, bad Woolies that decided not to sell a particular type of flip-flop. So they thought, 'Let's tell everyone to ban that organisation.'

Meanwhile, we're looking into both of the big two and getting the ACCC to do an inquiry into them. We're not so worried about flip-flops and the culture wars. We want to see the big two stop ripping off Australians. We all know the cost of living is expensive. But, again, after 10 years of those opposite doing next to nothing and getting us in the situation we're in, we find ourselves having to act on a whole range of issues. So I reject that we have no plan B—especially from those opposite.

There is an entrenched inequality in this country. There's entrenched poverty in a lot of communities. We have been acting since the referendum, and any fair-minded person, any person looking at the state of affairs in Australia, would see that the Minister for Indigenous Australians has been out consulting, as have Senator McCarthy and Marion Scrymgour, my colleagues in the Northern Territory. They've been out there all across Australia and, in Marion's case, all across the Territory. The priorities are clear: health, jobs, education, housing and justice.

We're not just listening to them; we're acting on their advice. The new Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program will change lives in remote communities. After a decade of those opposite and their failed CDP programs that did next to nothing to lift people up in those communities, we want real jobs out in those communities, and it'll be a game changer. We're also investing $4 billion in housing in remote communities. Again, there was not enough done by those opposite over 10 years.

That's what real plans mean. You fund them; you fund the initiatives in housing, education and health that will improve lives; and you make real jobs—real jobs like the ones we're going to see First Nations Territorians working in in the Northern Territory. And that's what leadership is.

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