Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This annual Closing the Gap statement is an important occasion for our parliament. Improving the lives of Australia's first people is a challenge beyond partisan politics. Two centuries of occasional, partial success and frequently dashed hopes have taught us that neither side of politics can achieve meaningful progress without working with the other. So none of us should seek to score a point, or defend a legacy here—just to reach out across the aisle because that is the only hope of success.

For so many of us in this place, few things matter more than the lot of Indigenous people. For so many of us, this is personal—not political. So we speak and act not in the service of party, but in the service of country. We know that until Indigenous Australians fully participate in the life of our country, all of us are diminished. On days such as this, we should acknowledge where we have failed. Equally, we should acknowledge where we have made progress and stir ourselves to keep persevering on this vital but difficult journey. Long after most of today's debates and squabbles pass, this journey will continue.

Last year, when I presented the Closing the Gap statement, I said that our challenge was to turn good intentions into better outcomes. It is now one year into our plan to address the intractable disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The past year was about developing practical reforms to give us a platform from which to deliver improvements.

At the invitation of respected Gumatj leader, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, with senior ministers and officials, I spent almost a week last September running the government from North East Arnhem Land. We listened and saw first-hand, some of the challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in remote communities. My Indigenous Advisory Council, chaired by Warren Mundine, has been regularly consulted on practical ways to get kids to school, adults to work and communities safe. Because we know getting kids to school, adults to work and communities safe is what matters most.

This year will be one focussed on action that will, over time, accelerate progress towards the Closing the Gap targets, including the new target of closing the school attendance gap within five years. Much more work is needed because this seventh Closing the Gap report is profoundly disappointing. Despite the concerted efforts of successive governments since the first report, we are not on track to achieve most of the targets.

There are some improvements in education and health outcomes. We are on track to halve the gap in year 12 attainment rates for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders aged 20-24. The target to halve the gap in mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children looks achievable by 2018. The new target of closing the school attendance gap within five years should be achievable; I look forward to reporting good results on this in the years to come.

However, the other targets—to close the gap in life expectancy within a generation; to ensure access to early childhood education for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander four-year-olds in remote areas; to halve the gap in reading and numeracy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students; and to halve the gaps in employment outcomes—have either not been met or are not on track to be met. This is not because of any lack of goodwill or effort by successive governments. We are trying to change entrenched and multigenerational disadvantage. This will not happen overnight and may not ever change unless we place high demands on ourselves of what we can achieve together.

When I presented this report last year, I also noted that for every step backwards, there could be two steps forward. There are backward steps in this year's report—too many—but there have been many steps forward. At Bwgcolman Community School on Palm Island, success is ensuring that when students graduate, they not only have a Queensland Certificate of Education, but they also have a boat licence, a first aid certificate, a learner driver's permit and industry-specific qualifications.

At Elliott in the Northern Territory, success is the school and the community working with the night patrol and the Commonwealth's Indigenous Engagement Officer to increase attendance at school. On Bathurst Island, success is introducing year 13 for mature-age students who want to increase their employment options. And, in Sydney, success is a vocational training and employment centre run by an Aboriginal owned and operated organisation, which connects Indigenous job seekers with specific work in the health sector.

Each community is different, but in every community the foundations of success are the same—education, jobs and a safer living environment, underpinned by better health. These foundations are self-evident. These success stories, and others like them, suggest that it is the practical delivery of programs and policies that is the key. Government programs can be a catalyst but success—where it is achieved—is due to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who want better for themselves.

Governments can fund and governments can urge but governments cannot change attitudes and behaviours. It is those who make the choice to send their children to school, those who make the choice to attend school and stick at it, those who make the choice to get a job and stick at it, and those who choose to abide by the law who are closing the gap. Closing the gap is not something that Canberra can do on its own. Closing the gap is not something to be granted by this parliament to Indigenous Australians. Closing the gap is to be grasped by them. Closing the gap starts with getting the kids to school. It starts with expecting much of them while they are there.

Dr Chris Sarra tells the story of getting 75 per cent in a test in year 11. His teacher said: 'Sarra got 75 per cent. Must have been an easy test!' At the time, he laughed along with the rest of the class. It was only when he was studying to be a teacher that he questioned whether or not his teachers' low expectations had stifled his sense of self and what he could achieve. As he said, 'I was being sold short; therefore, I sold myself short.' Too many young Indigenous students are being sold short through the tyranny of low expectations.

Schools attendance is fundamental. It is foundational. It is hard to be literate and numerate without attending school; it is hard to find work without a basic education; and it is hard to live well without a job. While most Indigenous families make sure their children attend school regularly, too many are still missing too much school—especially in remote areas. The government is determined to break the cycle of truancy and to ensure parents and carers take responsibility so that children get a great education.

Once those children have graduated, they should have jobs to go to. We are already acting on the recommendations of the Forrest report. We will partner with Australia's largest employers to get more Indigenous Australians into jobs—because a job is more than a pay cheque. A job is the key to social relationships, and to a sense of personal achievement and wellbeing.

And, if we are asking the private sector to take on more Indigenous employees, then we must do the same in the Commonwealth Public Sector. We intend to use more of the Commonwealth's $39 billion procurement budget to encourage Indigenous businesses to grow. We will provide job seekers in remote Australia with pathways to real employment through the reformed Remote Jobs and Communities Program and end sit-down money with continuous Work for the Dole. We will put in place stronger incentives to encourage potential employers to look to the bush for workers. And we will fund new enterprises that provide jobs and work experience opportunities in remote communities.

We will address violence in communities by focusing on the prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug problems; improved policing in remote areas and better support for victims of crime. Without good physical and mental health, it is hard to go to school, work, raise children, contribute to the community or live a long life. The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan does capture the voices of the community and the experts and through this plan we will continue to support families and communities to manage their health and wellbeing, to access health services when they are needed and to reduce harmful behaviours.

These are some of the practicalities of closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians—but there are other gaps to close. We continue to work towards constitutional change acknowledging the First Australians. Minister Scullion will have responsibility for progressing an extension to the recognition act.

It is always our responsibility to acknowledge the contribution of Indigenous Australians to the nation that we have become today. In coming months, we will be commemorating the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign. We will remember all who served. Among them we will remember Richard Norman Kirby from Quambone in New South Wales who joined the 1st AIF in July 1915 and served at Gallipoli and in France. For his actions in 1918, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The citation read:

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an attack. He rushed a machine gun post single-handed and, although wounded in the attempt, succeeded in capturing and holding two machine guns and 14 of the enemy until the remainder of his section came up. He set a fine example of courage and initiative to the men with him.

He died nine days later from his wounds and is buried in France.

Lance Corporal Kirby's gallantry is remarkable because that was a time when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not even counted in the census. Yet, despite so many slights and mistreatments, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served our country with distinction. When they returned home they were denied the same entitlements as their mates. The door was shut on every day but Anzac Day. While abroad the Aboriginal soldier was a valued brother; back in Australia he returned to an unequal life and was gradually forgotten by all but his kin and closest mates.

We owe it to Lance Corporal Kirby and his brothers to build the Australia that they fought for, that they hoped in and that they shaped, which is both free and fair. We do have much work to do, but there is a superabundance of goodwill. We must strive and strive again to ensure that the First Australians never again feel like outcasts in their own country. If we do, our parliament is at its best, our country is at its best and we are at our best. I present a copy of the report.

Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent Mr Shorten (Leader of the Opposition) speaking in reply to the ministerial statement for a period not exceeding 15 minutes.

Question agreed to.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today especially I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet, the first law-makers of our continent, and I pay my respect to their elders both past and present.

It was on the morning of 25 April 1915 that Private John Miller of the 12th Battalion was killed in action. His body is one of 493 buried in Baby 700 Cemetery on the Gallipoli peninsula. Four hundred and fifty of those soldiers from Australia and New Zealand are still unknown and unnamed. Private John Miller was one of over 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people known to have volunteered to serve our nation in the First World War. Like their brothers in arms many never returned from Gallipoli, Palestine or the Western Front but, unlike their comrades, many of those who did return were banned from their local RSL and from wearing the uniform in which they had served or even the medals they had won. They watched as land originally promised to Aboriginal people was confiscated for soldier settlement schemes, which they were shut out of. Indeed, even today few of our capital cities have a modest monument to their sacrifice.

It is true that the injustice inflicted on successive generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people runs right through every chapter of the Australian story. Throughout our history the First Australians have been treated as second-class citizens. Today in reaffirming our commitment to closing the gap we rededicate ourselves to historical truth. We declare once more that only when we recognise the wrongs of the past can we make them right, only when we face our national failures can we fix them. Constitutional recognition is part of this. It is long past the hour that the first members of our Australian family have their name on our nation's birth certificate.

Today, however, is about practical change—change that improves, elevates and lengthens the lives of First Australians. Forty years ago Gough Whitlam poured a handful of Wave Hill sand through Vincent Lingiari's fingers. 'We're all mates now,' Vincent said. It was the end of an eight-year demonstration—recognition at last of their rights to the land. That day marked a great step forward. There is a famous photograph to remind us of the moment, yet when most of us look at that photo we are also reminded of all the failures since. That is the tragedy. That its Australia’s continuing tragedy.

A great nation includes everyone, and a good society leaves no-one behind, but this report confronts us with two nations—two Australias. One Australia is the country that we experience, the one that we live in and the place where our children go to school and our partners go to work. In this Australia we plan for a long life and for two decades, or more, of retirement. In this Australia we encourage our children to study hard, to seek a degree or learn a trade and to find fulfilling and rewarding work. The other Australia is a nation that most of us in this place have little knowledge of or rarely glimpse. In this other Australia life is harder and shorter, poverty and disadvantage are rife and illiteracy, depression, addiction and suicide are common. Homeownership is a distant dream. Jobs are twice as hard to find. A young person leaving school is more likely to go to jail than to university. A woman is 30 times more likely to know the pain and fear of family violence, and 15 times more likely to be driven from her home as a result.

Today we shine a light on this other Australia. We stop looking away. Today, people who have been banished to the margins of our national mind are brought to the centre of our consciousness. Today we promise to do better; we promise to do more until we can honestly say that the gaps that separate us in health, in education, in employment, in justice and in so many areas are closed. As the Prime Minister has outlined, our progress on some of the Closing the Gap targets is on track, but elsewhere we are moving too slowly or not at all. We cannot lie to ourselves. We have to continuously, rigorously and independently measure ourselves against these long-term goals. We must constantly ask ourselves what is working and what is not. We have to remember that every ill-judged policy, every failing of bureaucracy and every retreat from responsibility has a human cost in opportunity and in life itself. There are really hard problems, and there are problems that can be solved readily and relatively cheaply. For example, preventable blindness is six times more frequent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and partial vision loss is three times more common. Addressing vision loss alone would close 11 per cent of the gap in health.

Above all, we must be unafraid of speaking out when our system or our parliament is failing; silence and guilt achieve nothing. If we need proof and inspiration, we need only to look at Rosie Batty. A year ago, none of us knew Rosie Batty’s name and today she is our Australian of the Year. From unimaginable tragedy, she has become the face and voice of women who have been neglected for far too long. Her award gives us all hope, the hope that we can completely and utterly eliminate family violence. Rosie reminds us that endemic problems are not solved by good intentions alone, but by the courageous actions of courageous people. Parliament understands that family violence is no respecter of postcode, race or faith. No community is immune.

Sadly, Indigenous women and children are more likely to experience family violence than any other group in our nation. An Indigenous woman is 35 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of family violence and five times more likely to die. This is shocking. This is shameful. This is the other Australia. This means raising awareness and not cutting, and tackling ignorance and ambivalence head-on without apology, qualification or delay. We have a national responsibility to put an end to the acts of cowardice and cruelty that divide too many households, scar too many childhoods and claim too many lives. For our First Australians the elimination of family violence will be a watershed. It will mean safer communities and happier families, fewer young people in child protection and more women freed from debilitating fear.

The Closing the Gap framework stretches beyond the life of any government. It goes further than the electoral cycle. We cannot afford for progress to ebb and flow depending upon who is in power. This is an endeavour where every opposition wants the government to succeed. But when a government cuts $500 million from essential services, we are compelled to point out what these cuts mean. Right now, a host of vital organisations do not know whether their funding will be continued or withdrawn. When people fleeing family violence need a safe place to stay, cuts mean that shelters close. When having a lawyer can determine whether a first-time offender gets a second chance or a prison sentence, these cuts will rob Indigenous Australians of legal aid. When family and children centres are supporting children in those vital early years, cuts will see these doors close. When essential preventative health programs are helping to tackle smoking, cuts will jeopardise that progress. When strides are being made to prevent chronic disease, cuts will hobble our advance. I say to the government: it is not too late to reverse these matters. It is not too late seek to repair that harm.

The current Closing the Gap targets are designed to span a life: birth and early childhood; starting, attending and completing school; and finding a job, staying healthy and living longer. But there is an essential plank missing from this platform: justice. Incarceration is a misfortune that blights the lives of too many of the First Australians, particularly our young people. Around three in every 100 of our population are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, yet they are more than 25 in every 100 of our prison population. This shameful situation is deteriorating. The rate of jailing Indigenous Australians has almost doubled in the last decade.

It is time to speak out against this silent emergency. It is time for the Closing the Gap framework to include a justice target. Today Australia spends nearly $800 million imprisoning Indigenous Australians, but our country pays a price far greater than this. Higher numbers of incarceration mean more children in care, more mental health issues, more broken families, fewer people in work and fewer children in school. If action is not taken and something is not done, this failure will betray the next generation of Indigenous people. Right now half of the young Australians in our juvenile detention centres are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. And on release there is a fifty-fifty chance that they will end up in jail again within 10 years. At the same time, the school retention rate for years 7 to 12 is slightly less than fifty-fifty.

In 2015 the future of the next generation of Indigenous Australians rests on the toss of a coin: school on one side, jail on the other side. We must change this and we can. Two years ago, the town of Bourke in New South Wales topped the state for six of the eight crime categories, including family violence, sexual assault and robbery. In February 2013 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that if it was an independent nation, measured on a per capita basis, Perth would be the most dangerous country in the world. But the people of Bourke, including the large Aboriginal communities at nearby Moree Plains and Cobar decided to change that headline. The community brought together police, magistrates, legal services, mental health experts and community groups to examine the causes of crime to prevent crime—to break the cycle of disadvantage that hope-killing, morale-sapping treadmill of offending and incarceration. It is a model we can learn from: a community-owned approach championed by local people, local knowledge and local expertise.

We are blessed in Australia with inspirational Indigenous leaders, educators, advocates and role models in every field. We need to be better as a parliament and as a nation in channelling their knowledge and their ideas. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage cannot be overcome by unilateral decree. We have got to meet the challenge out there on the ground, in communities, and recognise that every community is different and that programs that serve one community will rarely serve all.

Developing and meeting a new justice target means working with state governments, law enforcement agencies, legal clinics and social services. Above all, we need to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and empower them to control their own futures. This is the approach that Labor will always take. We believe in partnership, we believe in community, we believe in local expertise. This is the promise that we make to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today: We will never talk about you without talking to you; we will always work for you by working with you.

Closing the gap is our national responsibility. It is a shared journey and our job will not be done, our journey will not be over, until our two Australias are one.