Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Make Indigenous Poverty History campaign is an initiative of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission of the National Council of Churches in Australia. The campaign aims to ensure that the Millennium Development Goals do not overlook the poverty suffered by indigenous peoples around the world, especially in Australia. The development goals do not specifically target indigenous peoples, yet worldwide they are the most affected by extreme poverty and are usually ranked at the bottom of most social and economic indicators.

This is certainly true in Australia, where statistics show that Australian Indigenous people are living in poverty, that they suffer more from preventable diseases, that they experience higher unemployment and lower home ownership, that they have lower engagement with education and, in some places, that they are six times as likely to be murdered. Indigenous children are also twice as likely to die in infancy, and we are all too well aware of the ever present threat they face of abuse.

The Make Indigenous Poverty History campaign is calling on state and federal governments to adapt the Millennium Development Goals to ensure that by 2015 the living standards and levels of health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are comparable to those of the rest of Australia. A poverty pole, one of which I have brought along today for the benefit of those present, is a creative and personal way to support the objective, as is the Poverty Pole Charter, which is all about remembering the past, recognising the present and rectifying the future. People can sign or write comments on it to represent their understanding of Indigenous poverty and hope, and all members have the opportunity to go to the website and see how these are put together, and take them around their community.

The Shire Poverty Pole, which this is, was initiated by Sutherland Shire Citizens for Native Title and Reconciliation, of which I am patron, at their special journey-of-healing ceremony at Cook’s landing site in Botany Bay National Park on 31 May as part of National Reconciliation Week. The pole was also taken to local National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Day of Celebration events held just last week, and I will be pleased to present the pole as a gift to the parliament and to the Speaker on Thursday.

Now that the national apology has been made, it is important that we move forward and do the practical things necessary to ensure that Indigenous Australians can one day enjoy the same quality of life as all other Australians. Above all, I want to see that everyone who lives in these communities is afforded the peace of mind that comes from living in a safe and secure environment, which in turn enables them to have the self-respect and confidence to realise their potential as individual human beings. It is nice to show our commitment by signing a poverty pole, but on its own it will achieve nothing. On all these fronts we have a long way to go. However, through initiatives such as the poverty pole we can maintain a public focus on these issues that keeps the pressure on all of us to live up to all our commitments.

The pole has been signed by local Aboriginal elders including Merv Ryan, Uncle Max Harrison and Deanna Schreiber, as well as by community leaders including me, the federal member for Cook; the state MP for Cronulla, Malcolm Kerr; the Sutherland Shire Mayor, David Redmond; and ward councillor and former mayor Kevin Schreiber.