Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 18 January, Senator Chris Evans, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, as the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs, made the following comments in a media release. He did this following the release of the survey on child protection released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, a report that painted a grim picture of all children in protection but particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The findings showed that Indigenous children were vastly overrepresented. In this release, Senator Evans said:

‘While Labor acknowledges the sensitivity of these issues, this should never be used ... as a reason to justify inaction.

‘The abuse and neglect of any child is completely unacceptable.

‘Unfortunately, it seems clear that particular problems exist in Indigenous communities, and Labor is committed to working to identify ways forward to improve this situation.

‘This is not an Indigenous culture problem, it is a social problem that we need to try and overcome.’

He concluded:

‘The report shows that there is [an] urgent need for coordinated national action involving Indigenous leadership to address these problems in the future.’

Three weeks later, on 7 February, Minister Brough was installed as the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Four months later, after visiting different communities over a period between his appointment and now, Minister Brough has discovered the issue and put it on the agenda.

I do not mind things like this being put on the agenda. I mind if it is done in a sensational way and then, that being done, it is done in the context of putting up simplistic solutions. I also object when ministers in this government—and this is yet another example—place on the national agenda a very important topic but will not come into this chamber, make a ministerial statement and allow that important topic to be debated. Question time is not the vehicle for that debate to be carried on. As I have said before, Mr Speaker—and I hope that you understand, as other occupants of the chair have done, that this is not a reflection on the way the chair operates here—the rules of engagement of question time mean that it is an inappropriate way of floating problems and floating solutions.

What we have seen over the last week is an inability for us to sit down in a calm, cool and collected way to discuss this in a bipartisan way, which is the only way of going forward. It is just too simplistic and knee jerk to have the Acting Prime Minister talk about the measures that are necessary to target child abuse and family violence in Indigenous communities. The measures include additional policing, bringing offenders before courts and proper penalties. We agree that there is no cultural or other justification for offences, as the Acting Prime Minister said, but surely the government must see that there must be more in the efforts than simply the policing in the way that they have described. They do not even describe it in the context of community policing, actually having the police in the communities—not just putting the perps behind bars but assisting the victims and assisting the communities to tackle the problems.

I hope that somewhere in all this discussion there is a broader agenda. But bring it in here, allow us to understand it and do not abuse us because we say there has to be more. We do not decry that an aspect of this has to do with putting police into the communities and ensuring that the victims can come forward. But do we talk about the increase in legal services to allow the victims to confidently come forward and offer them some protection through the judicial system? Do we look at the other aspects, the reasons that lead to this type of violence—the poverty, the dysfunction? These things have bases in things that have gone on for generations: the lack of employment, the lack of education, the appalling health, the appalling housing. We can go forward together to achieve in a bipartisan way in this place, with the state and territory governments, and importantly with the communities and Indigenous people themselves. (Time expired)