Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the government’s efforts to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the Northern Territory Emergency Response, and it is an important time for the House to soberly reflect on what progress has been made, both in the Territory and elsewhere, on the critical challenge of closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. As those opposite will know, the government supported the NTER in opposition and welcomes the current opposition’s continued support, as the NTER continues to make some progress. Many families in remote communities are reporting that they feel safer because of the increased police presence, reduction in alcohol consumption, more night patrols and safe houses in communities. There are currently some 51 extra police serving in communities that previously had no police presence. That is a good thing. Then, 13,000 people are being income managed in 52 communities, and women in many of these communities say that the new income management arrangements mean they can buy essentials such as food and clothes for their kids. Shopping habits in licensed stores, we are advised, have changed: more is being spent on fresh food and sales of cigarettes have approximately halved. On the nutrition front, school nutrition programs providing breakfast and lunch for children in 49 communities have resulted in a small, but encouraging, increase in school attendance rates, and I think that is something which all members of this place would welcome.

Over 11,000 child health checks have identified kids who require surgery. This is a very important finding. Follow-up treatment, including surgery, is underway. Audiology services have been provided to 669 children, non-surgical dental services to 350 children, 46 children have undergone ear, nose and throat surgery and 40 kids have undergone dental surgery. In addition to that, 200 additional teachers are being recruited over the next five years to educate 2,000 young people previously not enrolled, and that again is an important measure, though that is very much a measure in progress.

The government is determined to move ahead in doing what it can to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and, consistent with what we said prior to the election, now that this intervention has reached its 12-month point, we will begin a process of formal review of the measures. That measure will take some months. We look forward to the findings of that formal review.

In conclusion, when in February we in this place engaged in a bipartisan way on the national apology to Indigenous Australians, that was very much the first step. I think all of us appreciate that.

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The first step was Mal Brough.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With respect to those opposite, including the member interjecting, I am seeking to make a bipartisan statement about a matter which I believe the Leader of the Opposition and I have a common interest. It is not only the prosecution of the national apology, which we did on a bipartisan basis in this place, but also a program which aims at closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. I have said quite clearly before that the government, when in opposition, supported the intervention. I have said quite clearly before that the government appreciates the continued support of those opposite in this important area of endeavour. That is the spirit in which these remarks are being made.

Consistent with the commitments by the government prior to the election, the review process is underway and we look forward to receiving those findings. On the question of the apology, I think we in this place would all agree it was but the beginning, and I think all of us in this place would regard ourselves as having a common objective, which is to do whatever we practically can, through the national government and through the state and territory governments of Australia, to bring about real, measurable, demonstrable progress on closing the gap in education, literacy and numeracy, health outcomes and security outcomes for Indigenous Australians. Today I have simply reflected on the fact that it is the one-year anniversary of the intervention and on the forward measures which the government is proposing both by way of review and continued action.

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, I wish to strongly associate the opposition with the remarks made by the Prime Minister in relation to the Northern Territory intervention to date and, in a spirit of bipartisanship, recognise the leadership shown by both the previous Prime Minister and the former member for Longman, Mr Mal Brough, in implementing the intervention and recognise the support from the then opposition in supporting it. I would also recognise that the apology offered by both sides of this parliament to the forcibly removed generations of Aboriginal children was an important step in the process, but we would not consider it the start.